Systems and methods for improved digital RF transport in distributed antenna systems

A communication device for providing digital transport of signals in a distributed antenna system, the communication device comprising:

• a transmission path circuit configured to output signals based on received digitized radio frequency spectrum;
• a logic device coupled to the transmission path circuit and configured to receive an input transport frame having a plurality of sets of timeslots, wherein each set of timeslots includes a first plurality of sets of digitized baseband data samples at one of the plurality of sampling rates, the set of digitized baseband data samples for each set of timeslots corresponding to a distinct spectral region of analog radio frequency spectrum;
• wherein the logic device is configured to generate second plurality of sets of digitized data samples for each set of the timeslots at an output sampling rate;
• and wherein the logic device sums at least two of the second plurality of sets of digitized data samples to produce a set of output data samples at the output sampling rate.

A method for providing digital transport of signals in a distributed antenna system, the method comprising:

• receiving an input transport signal comprising a transport frame having a plurality of timeslots;
• parsing the input transport signal into a plurality of sets of digitized baseband signals based on a timeslot configuration of the input transport signal;
• converting the plurality of sets of digitized baseband signals from first sampling rates to an output sampling rate;
• and
• summing at least two of the plurality of sets of digitized baseband signals to produce a set of output data samples.