Extended Small Cell Base Station Coverage via Distributed Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing small cell base stations face challenges in providing large coverage areas due to their limited transmit power and interference from indoor buildings, making them unsuitable for applications in enterprises and public places.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an extended small cell base station system that includes network protocol processing, upper layer protocol processing, and physical layer protocol processing, along with data alignment and vector superimposition operations, to extend coverage while saving hardware resources by distributing signal processing across multiple components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If transmit power is increased to extend coverage area, then coverage area is improved, but power consumption and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The base station is divided into a central control unit and multiple distributed transmission units. The central control unit performs protocol processing and data alignment, while distributed units perform radio frequency transmission. This segmentation allows multiple low-power transmission units to work together to achieve coverage equivalent to or greater than a single high-power base station, thereby extending coverage area without increasing transmit power of individual components.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple distributed transmission units are combined to work cooperatively under the control of a central control unit. The central control unit performs data alignment operations to ensure synchronized transmission from multiple units, creating a unified coverage area that is the sum of individual unit coverages. This merging approach achieves extended coverage without requiring any single unit to operate at high power.
2Area of stationary object
If multiple base stations are deployed to extend coverage, then coverage area is improved, but device complexity and hardware resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The complex protocol processing functions (network protocol processing, upper layer protocol processing, physical layer protocol processing) are extracted from distributed transmission units and centralized in a central control unit. This extraction allows distributed units to be simplified to only perform radio frequency transmission, significantly reducing device complexity while maintaining extended coverage through coordinated operation of multiple units.
Solution Approach 2:
A central control unit acts as an intermediary between the core network and multiple distributed transmission units. It performs data alignment operations to synchronize data from multiple units before transmission, and coordinates their operation to create unified coverage. This intermediary approach manages the complexity of multiple distributed units without requiring each unit to be independently complex.
3Area of stationary object
If distributed components are added to extend coverage, then coverage area is improved, but hardware resources and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The distributed transmission units are designed as universal components that can be deployed in multiple locations to serve different coverage areas. Each unit performs the same radio frequency transmission function, and the central control unit manages them collectively. This multi-functionality approach allows the system to extend coverage by simply adding more identical distributed units rather than deploying different types of equipment, optimizing hardware resource utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention discloses a small cell base station system, and related devices and data processing methods, and the small cell base station system includes an extended small cell base station and at least one distributed component, where the extended small cell base station includes a network protocol processing module, an upper layer protocol processing module, a physical layer protocol processing module, a first baseband data processing module, and a first transceiver module; and the distributed component includes a second baseband data processing module and a second transceiver module, where in the downlink, the first baseband data processing module separates downlink baseband data into at least two branches, performs a data alignment operation on the at least two branches of downlink baseband data, sends one of the branches to the first transceiver module, and Ethernet encapsulates and then sends the remaining branches to the second transceiver module through the second baseband data processing module of the distributed component, thus extending a coverage area of the small cell base station system.