Access node for end-to-end beamforming communications systems

An access node for communication in a communication system comprising a plurality of access nodes at geographically distributed locations providing a communication service to user terminals distributed over multiple forward user beam coverage areas via an end-to-end relay comprising multiple forward receive/transmit signal paths, comprising:

• a network interface that obtains an access node-specific forward signal for transmission to a plurality of the user terminals grouped by the multiple forward user beam coverage areas via the end-to-end relay, the access node-specific forward signal comprising a composite of forward beam signals corresponding to a plurality of the multiple forward user beam coverage areas, the forward beam signals weighted by respective beam weights of a beam weight vector associated with the access node;
• a de-multiplexer that obtains forward signal transmit timing and phase information for the access node-specific forward signal;
• a transmitter that transmits a forward uplink signal comprising an access node beacon signal and the access node-specific forward signal to the end-to-end relay;
• a receiver that receives a downlink signal from the end-to-end relay, the downlink signal comprising a relay beacon signal and the relayed access node beacon signal relayed from the end-to-end relay;
• a controller that determines a timing and phase adjustment to align relayed transmit timing and phase information in the relayed access node beacon signal with received relay timing and phase information in the received relay beacon signal;
• and
• a transmit timing and phase compensator that outputs the forward uplink signal to the transmitter based on the timing and phase adjustment, the transmit timing and phase compensator multiplexing the access node-specific forward signal with the access node beacon signal such that the forward signal transmit timing and phase information is synchronized to corresponding transmit timing and phase information in the access node beacon signal.