Asymmetrical beams for spectrum efficiency

摘要

A method and apparatus for increasing capacity and performance of a base station for a sectorized cellular wireless network is disclosed in which one of the sector antennas is replaced or supplanted by a novel sub-sector antenna that generates a plurality of asymmetrical sub-sector coverage areas that collectively substantially cover the coverage area of the replaced sector antenna. The use of asymmetrical coverage areas permits the total coverage area to closely approximate the symmetrical sector coverage area without creating excessively large sub-sector handover zones or introducing severe degradation in the network performance. This in turn permits the selective replacement of a single sector antenna rather than the wholesale replacement of all sector antennas in a region, leading to lower transitional costs and the ability to provide a focused approach to capacity planning.