Apparatuses, systems, and methods for determining location of a mobile device(s) in a distributed antenna system(s)

摘要

Distributed antenna systems provide location information for client devices communicating with remote antenna units. The location information can be used to determine the location of the client devices relative to the remote antenna unit(s) with which the client devices are communicating. A location processing unit (LPU) includes a control system configured to receive uplink radio frequency (RF) signals communicated by client devices and determines the signal strengths of the uplink RF signals. The control system also determines which antenna unit is receiving uplink RF signals from the device having the greatest signal strength.

主权项

1. A distributed antenna system, comprising:
a plurality of antennas in known locations and configured to transmit RF signals into a respective coverage area and to receive RF signals from client devices located in respective coverage areas; a head-end unit configured to distribute downlink signals and combine uplink signals, wherein the downlink signals and the uplink signals are modulated according to the long term evolution (LTE) standard, the head-end unit including:
a unit of a combiner and a splitter configured to split downlink signals sent by a base station and combine uplink signals transmitted from the plurality of antennas; anda plurality of RF-to-FO converters configured to convert radio frequency (RF) signals to optical signals; and a location processing unit (LPU) at the head-end unit and configured to be communicatively linked to a base station, the LPU including:
a plurality of signal monitoring devices configured to receive each of the uplink signals transmitted from the antennas located in the known locations and acquire time slots of the downlink signals sent by the base station and split by the head-end unit; anda location server configured to identify a transmitting client device by monitoring usage of a frequency band and deliver location information to the base station via a communication link dedicated for delivering the location information to the base station.