Method and apparatus for implementing measurement based dynamic frequency hopping in wireless communication systems

A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to reduce interference in a wireless communications system comprising a plurality of base stations each adapted to communicate with one or more of a plurality of terminal stations by transmitting one or more of a plurality of system frequencies through a propagation medium, the computer-readable medium performing the steps of:

• measuring, simultaneously, an interference level for each system frequency;
• determining a frequency hop pattern for each base station/terminal station link, said frequency hop pattern comprising at least two system frequencies;
• analyzing each determined frequency hop pattern, using said measured interference levels, to identify each frequency hop pattern in which at least one system frequency should be replaced with a second system frequency having a lower interference level than said at least one system frequency;
• replacing no more than a predetermined number of said at least one system frequencies within each identified frequency hop pattern with a corresponding number of system frequencies having lower measured interference levels;
• and
• executing said measuring, determining, analyzing and replacing steps at each of said plurality of base stations.

A method for reducing interference in a frequency hopping wireless communication system comprising a plurality of base stations each adapted to communicate with one or more of a plurality of terminal stations by transmitting one or more of a plurality of system frequencies through a propagation medium, the method comprising the steps of:

• measuring an interference level for each system frequency;
• determining a frequency hop pattern for each base station/terminal station link, said frequency hop pattern comprising at least two system frequencies;
• analyzing each determined frequency hop pattern, using said measured interference levels, to identify each frequency hop pattern in which at least one system frequency should be replaced with a second system frequency having a lower interference level than said at least one system frequency;
• replacing no more than a predetermined number of said at least one system frequencies within each identified frequency hop pattern with a corresponding number of system frequencies having lower measured interference levels;
• executing said measuring, determining, analyzing and replacing steps at each of said plurality of base stations;
• and
• precluding more than one nearby interfering base station from simultaneously executing said replacing step.

A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to reduce interference in a wireless communications system comprising a plurality of base stations each adapted to communicate with one or more of a plurality of terminal stations by transmitting one or more of a plurality of system frequencies through a propagation medium, the computer-readable medium performing the steps of:

• measuring an interference level for each system frequency;
• determining a frequency hop pattern for each base station/terminal station link, said frequency hop pattern comprising at least two system frequencies;
• analyzing each determined frequency hop pattern, using said measured interference levels, to identify each frequency hop pattern in which at least one system frequency should be replaced with a second system frequency having a lower interference level than said at least one system frequency;
• replacing no more than a predetermined number of said at least one system frequencies within each identified frequency hop pattern with a corresponding number of system frequencies having lower measured interference levels;
• executing said measuring, determining, analyzing and replacing steps at each of said plurality of base stations;
• and
• precluding more than one nearby interfering base station from simultaneously executing said replacing step.

An apparatus for reducing interference in a frequency hopping wireless communications system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a wideband transceiver adapted to be connected to said processor;
• an antenna adapted to be connected to said wideband transceiver;
• a computer-readable memory adapted to be connected to said processor;
• and
• a quality measurement module within said computer-readable memory, said quality measurement module including computer program code segments executed by said processor to implement the steps of:
• measuring, simultaneously, an interference level for each system frequency;
• and
• transmitting values representing said measured interference levels to a second apparatus.

An apparatus for reducing interference in a frequency hopping wireless communications system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a wideband transceiver adapted to be connected to said processor;
• an antenna adapted to be connected to said wideband transceiver;
• a computer-readable memory adapted to be connected to said processor;
• a quality measurement module within said computer-readable memory;
• and
• a frequency hop pattern adaptation module within said computer-readable memory;
• wherein said quality measurement module and said frequency hop pattern adaptation module including computer program code segments executed by said processor to implement the steps of:
• measuring, simultaneously, an interference level for each system frequency;
• determining a frequency hop pattern for each base station/terminal station link, said frequency hop pattern comprising at least two system frequencies;
• analyzing each determined frequency hop pattern, using said measured interference levels, to identify each frequency hop pattern in which at least one system frequency should be replaced with a second system frequency having a lower interference level than said at least one system frequency;
• and
• replacing no more than a predetermined number of said at least one system frequencies within each identified frequency hop pattern with a corresponding number of system frequencies having lower measured interference levels.