Method for providing angular diversity, and base station equipment

A method for providing angular diversity in a base station of a cellular radio system, which system comprises in each cell at least one base station (100) that communicates with mobile stations (102) located within its area and that transmits a data signal to the mobile stations by using antenna beams that change in time, characterized in that the direction angles of the antenna beams used over each connection are deflected (588a-588b) in the environment of given direction angles (580).

A method for providing angular diversity in a base station of a cellular radio system, which system comprises in each cell at least one base station (100) that communicates with mobile stations (102) located within its area and that transmits a data signal from a transmission unit having phasing means to the mobile stations by using antenna beams that change in time, and in which system each mobile station transmits a signal, characterized in that the direction angles of the antenna beams used over each connection are deflected (588a-588b) in the environment of given direction angles (580), and further characterized in that a search for the incoming directions and delays of the signals transmitted by the mobile stations corresponding to the signal components having the strongest power levels is performed in a separate searcher unit (604), which indicates the results of the search to a control unit (612), which controls the phasing means of the transmission unit.

A base station equipment for receiving and transmitting a signal of a desired user, which signal to be received may arrive at the equipment along several different paths with several different delays, and which equipment comprises one or more antenna arrays (500) composed of several elements, one or more channel units (504-508), which channel unit comprises means (600-606) for phasing the signal to be transmitted and received by the antenna array (500) in such a way that the gain from the antenna array is the greatest in the desired directions, characterized in that the equipment comprises a transmission unit having phasing means, and a control unit which controls the phasing means of the transmission unit, and in that the channel unit (504-508) comprises a separate searcher unit (604)for searching for the incoming directions and delays of the received signal components having the strongest power levels and indicating the results of the search to the control unit, and means (604) for controlling the phasing means (600-606) on the basis of said information in such a way that the angle of the greatest gain of the antenna beams is deflected in the environment of the desired directions.

A method for providing angular diversity in a base station of a cellular radio system, which system comprises in each cell at least one base station (100) that communicates with mobile stations (102) located within its area and that transmits a data signal to the mobile stations by using antenna beams that change in time, characterized in that the direction angles of the antenna beams used over each connection are deflected (588a-588b) in the environment of given direction angles (580), the base station receives a signal transmitted from each mobile station by means of an antenna array (500) composed of several elements, converts the signal into an intermediate frequency and into a digital form, the incoming directions and delays of the best signal components are searched for from the received signal transmitted from each mobile station, and the phasing and amplification of the signal to be transmitted in the opposite transmission direction are controlled on the basis of said measurement.