Embodiments of the invention relate to
wireless communications networks, and more specifically to an antenna apparatus for cellular
wireless systems. Increasing
data capacity of cellular
wireless systems places increasing demands on the capacity of the two way connection, known as backhaul, between a cellular
base station and a
telecommunications network such as the PSTN backhaul, since this is the connection that has to convey the wireless-originating traffic to its destination, often in an entirely different network. Known backhaul links include leased lines,
microwave links, optical fibre links or radio resources for relaying backhaul traffic between base stations. The fixed line solutions are expensive to implement and maintain, while the radio solutions antenna configurations that are not ideal for relaying data between base stations. In embodiments of the invention, communication between base stations occurs in a first timeslot by use of a first antenna
system and communication between a given
base station and a
user equipment occurs in a second timeslot using a second antenna
system. The benefit of this method is that the first antenna
system can be optimised for use in communication between base stations, whereas the second antenna system can be optimised for communication with
user equipment which preferably occurs within the area of cellular wireless coverage of the sector served by the second antenna system.