Composite Signal Processing for Cellular Base Stations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cellular base stations face limitations in data throughput due to the number of cables required for signal processing between baseband units and remote radio units, which increases system cost and complexity while struggling to meet the demand for higher data rates.
Innovation Solution
Implementing signal processing operations at a composite signal level rather than per-carrier level, including processes like guards insertion, IFFT, and cyclic prefix insertion for downlink signals, and cyclic prefix removal, FFT, and guards removal for uplink signals, to facilitate higher data throughput and simplify task scheduling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If per-carrier signal processing is used in conventional base stations, then signal processing can be performed with existing hardware sub-systems, but data throughput is limited and system complexity increases due to multiple cables
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple per-carrier signal processing operations into a single composite signal processing operation. Instead of processing each carrier separately through multiple hardware sub-systems connected by separate cables, the invention combines multiple carriers into a composite signal that is processed together, thereby reducing the number of cables and hardware sub-systems while increasing data throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The baseband processor is designed to perform multiple functions by processing composite signals that contain multiple carriers simultaneously. This universal approach allows a single hardware sub-system to handle what previously required multiple specialized sub-systems, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high data throughput capabilities.
2Reliability
If multiple cables are used for per-carrier signal processing between baseband units and remote radio units, then signal processing can be performed with existing hardware, but system cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple carrier signals into a single composite signal that travels through a single cable between the baseband unit and remote radio units. This merging approach maintains signal processing capability while reducing the number of cables from multiple to one, thereby decreasing system complexity and cost.
3Productivity
If per-carrier signal processing is implemented, then existing hardware sub-systems can be used, but data rate capacity is insufficient to meet demand
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple per-carrier processing operations into a single composite signal processing operation that handles multiple carriers simultaneously. This approach increases data rate capacity by processing multiple carriers in parallel within a single hardware sub-system, meeting the demand for higher data rates without proportionally increasing hardware complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A downlink cellular communication signal processing method includes storing resource elements from multiple resource element sequences into multiple sets of consecutive data bins of a composite signal input grid that also includes guard band bins between the sets of data bins. A frequency-domain to time-domain transformation of all values within the composite signal input grid is performed to produce a sequence of time-domain samples (e.g., a portion of an OFDM symbol). The transformation has a number of points equal to or greater than the number of bins in the multiple sets of data bins and the guard band bins. An uplink processing method includes performing a time-domain to frequency-domain transformation on a sequence of time-domain samples to produce resource elements in multiple sets of consecutive data bins of a composite signal output grid that also includes guard band bins between the sets of data bins.