System and method of adaptive frequency hopping with look ahead interference prediction

A method of adapting a periodic frequency hopping sequence in a frequency hopping communication system having fixed slot timing, said method comprising the steps of:

• detecting the presence of repeated interference at a particular frequency having specific timing with respect to time slots at which that particular frequency is periodically used by said system, wherein said step of detecting the presence of repeated interference comprises the steps of:
• detecting the presence of periodic transmissions from neighboring coexisting systems occurring at said frequency assigned to a time slot having specific timing with respect to said time slots at which this frequency is used by said system;
• determining a drift in the relative timing between said periodic transmissions and the timing at which said system periodically uses said frequency;
• and
• declaring said particular frequency unusable if the detected level of said periodic transmissions exceeds a predefined threshold and
• replacing the potentially interfered frequency of said time slot with a replacement frequency.

A method comprising the steps of:

• adapting in an apparatus a frequency hopping sequence having a plurality of frequency channels by detecting an impact on a transmitted packet in a particular channel causing corruption of one or more bits in a redundant portion of said transmitted packet;
• declaring said particular channel unusable if said impact exceeds a threshold;
• and
• replacing the frequency of an unusable channel with an alternate frequency.

A mobile communications device for use in a frequency hopping communication system having a plurality of frequency channels, comprising:

• a frequency hopping based radio transceiver;
• a processor coupled to said transceiver, said processor operative to:
• detect the presence of repeated interference at a particular frequency having specific timing with respect to time slots at which that particular frequency is periodically used by said transceiver;
• and
• replace the potentially interfered frequency of said time slot with a replacement frequency.

A method of adapting a periodic frequency hopping sequence in a frequency hopping communication system having fixed slot timing, said method comprising the steps of:

• detecting the presence of potential periodic interference from transmissions by neighboring coexisting systems occurring at a frequency assigned to a time slot to occur in the future in the potentially interfered system and having specific timing with respect to time slots at which the frequency is used by said system;
• determining a drift in relative timing between said periodic transmissions and the timing at which said system periodically uses said frequency;
• and
• declaring said particular frequency unusable if the detected level of said periodic transmissions repeatedly exceeds a first predefined threshold, and replacing said unusable frequency with a replacement frequency.