A spectrum efficient cellular base-station antenna architecture

A multiple beam adaptive base-station antenna is proposed to complement other solutions, such a spectrum efficient modulation, currently being developed to meet the proliferating demands for enhanced capacity in mobile communications. This novel approach employs an antenna array capable of resolving the angular distribution of the mobile users as seen at the base-station site, and then utilising this information to direct beams towards either lone mobiles, or groupings of mobiles, for both transmit and receive modes of operation. The energy associated with each mobile is thus confined to an addressed volume, greatly reducing the amount of co-channel interference experienced from and by neighbouring co-channel cells, and resulting in an increase in the overall network capacity. The realisation of such an antenna architecture and its inclusion within existing and future networks is addressed, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach