Broadband wireless access network/internet and multimedia access system

872 368 ® FRENCH REPUBLIC

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY © Publication number:

(only to be used for reproduction orders) @ National registration number

07008

PARIS © Int Cl⁷

H 04 L 12/28, H 04 Q 7/22, H 04 B 7/00

X) A1 INVENTION PATENT APPLICATION

<td>(© Date of filing: 25.06.04. (© Priority:</td><td>©) Applicant (s): THALES Public limited company - FR.</td>

<td>@) Date the request was made available to the public: 12/30/05 Bulletin 05/52.</td><td>© Inventor (s): MAGNE FRANÇOIS, DUCASSE JEAN CLAUDE, CHIRON DAVID and JECKO BERNARD.</td>

<td>(56) List of documents cited in the preliminary search report: The latter was not established at the date of publication of the request.</td><td></td>

<td>(© References to other related national documents:</td><td>(© Holder (s):</td>

<td></td><td>@ Representative (s): MARKS &amp; CLERK FRANCE.</td>

V&gt; 4 / MULTIMEDIA AND INTERNET ACCESS SYSTEM -B-WAN.

FR 2 872 368 - A1

XJ Access system for one or more subscribers to a network offering very high speed services comprising at least the following elements:

o a base station equipped with transceivers operating at least in a frequency range G- | corresponding to multimedia services, Richmedia services, (Image and Internet synchronized), and in a frequency range G₂ corresponding to Internet and voice services, the frequency ranges G-ι and G₂ being divided into Groups of channels varying in number from 0 to N, each Group being assigned to a type of service on a waveform optimized for its content and for its frequency (performance, quality of service or QoS, etc.) o a subscriber comprising at least one sensor comprising a receiver operating in the frequency range Gj and a transceiver operating in the frequency range G₂.

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The invention relates to a system for multimedia and Internet access for subscribers to a data transmission network.

All NET services and information and communications technologies for all have become the major issue for communities. Operators must provide more quality services. Their offerings currently include Multimedia, Internet and telephone combined, an offer usually referred to as "Triple Play". This offer is made possible by network technology in the famous “convergence” of multimedia communications and computing. However, this offer is not offered on a radio network. However, in the regions, the installation of fibers up to the inhabitant would be too expensive and the telephone lines cannot support the speeds of a "triple play" of quality.

A regional or departmental network generally includes a transport or backbone network, in optical fiber (given the speeds to be provided to some 100,000 homes) and ACCESS networks to subscribers or groups of subscribers. From the backbones, each subscriber or group of subscribers must be connected. Subscriber access to the service has long been the bottleneck of networks.

For the performances envisaged in a moderately dense or dispersed habitat, ADSL cannot be suitable in the long term because of the lengths of the wires which limit the instantaneous flow. If it is necessary to reimplant shorter wires with more switches, then it seems preferable to put in fibers, but the cost is too high for an operator looking for profitability in three years.

Satellite solutions have the drawback of not ensuring sufficient capacity at all.

It therefore appears that radio solutions are preferable on condition that they provide: sufficient speeds to the subscriber, in particular for multimedia, and local capacity, i.e. the total band so that everyone can exchange their own Internet content. Such speeds are only obtained in radio at high frequencies, in the Ku and W bands corresponding to wavelengths of a few centimeters or a few millimeters. The idea is to combine and integrate these two bands while making the most of their possibilities and their characteristics and constraints.

In the remainder of the description, the following are defined: o The bit rate, which relates to the instantaneous band which the subscriber needs, for example for high definition television HDTV (private individual) or for the virtual office (business).

o Capacity, which concerns the number of customers that can be served with an acceptable quality of service (QoS).

The invention relates to a system for accessing one or more subscribers to a network offering very high speed services, characterized in that it comprises at least the following elements:

o a base station equipped with transceivers operating at least in a frequency range Gi corresponding to multimedia services (TV HDTV VoD, etc.) and to Richmedia services (Image and Synchronized Internet) and in a frequency range G₂corresponding to Internet and voice services o these frequency ranges are divided into GROUPS of channels of varying number, these Groups correspond to television broadcasting, Video on demand, rich media, INTERNET and downlink voice services / services. INTERNET and rising voice. The number of channels in each Group varies from 0 to N depending on the service needs of the area covered.

o these Channel Groups use, for example, the standardized waveforms best suited to the classes of content they convey and to the constraints of the frequency ranges.

o one or more relay stations comprising transceivers adapted to operate in the same ranges Gi and G₂ ensuring continuity of access, either to increase the access area, or to ensure total coverage by overlapping beams (or in Anglo-Saxon "cross-beam") o a subscriber comprising at least one sensor comprising a receiver operating in the frequency range G! and a transceiver operating in the frequency range G₂.

The antennas present various diagrams on the transmitters and receivers conforming to the terrain to be illuminated.

The frequency range Gi corresponds for example to the frequencies [40.5 - 43.5 GHz] and the range G₂ at frequencies [10.7-11.7 GHz].

The receiver operating in the Gi frequency range interfaces the ether with a lens antenna and the transceiver operating in the G range₂ interfaces ether with a patch antenna.

The system according to the invention has the following advantages in particular:

o According to the needs of the subscriber, the system according to the invention, also referred to as B-WAN (Broadband Wireless Access Network) provides the subscriber's access to the infrastructure. This architecture can be "in multiple points". It connects each subscriber or group of subscribers on a local network or LAN (abbreviation of Local Area Network), to a point of presence (PoP) of the backbone fibers of the transport network, o The possibility of offering the offer designated by "Triple play", in a wireless system, o Dual frequency Ku and W operation, o A capacity of several gigabits, o The architecture of the system and its segments offers significant modularity to provide a large number of deployments: city, urban area, mountains, groups of villages, o The integration of several services in the same equipment appears to the subscriber and the operator as a single multifunction network, o The modularity of the Groups of channels makes it possible to provide the best capacity of services requested as well as the best load of the multifunction network (known by the English abbreviation "load balancing"), o Thanks to the assignment of waveforms to groups and contents, the best performance for each content, o The relay bases, the quality and the varied directivities of the antennas used at the subscriber or at the base station as well as their positioning ensure both:

o A good coverage of the topology to be illuminated, o An immunity to interference and therefore a high subscriber density, o A lower radiation power, compared to any other terrestrial radio-electric system, such as terrestrial television, WiFi or mobile radio (GSM), therefore leads to a very ecological system, o Point to a few points on the same standards, a base can supply several other bases connecting customers, thus achieving radio coverage of several tens of km² and a capacity close to 10 Gbps. A traveling wave tube is then used on the “master base” feeding highly directional antennas to the other bases, o Simple and compact integration of the subscriber's terminal thus allowing wide distribution, easy installation and a reduced price.

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will appear better on reading the description given by way of illustration and in no way limiting appended to the figures which represent:

• Figure 1 a diagram of the principle of the access system according to the invention, • Figure 2 a diagram of a routing mechanism, • Figure 3 an example of distribution of data flows over the frequency ranges, their Groups and channels • Figure 4 an example of the architecture of a base station according to the invention, • Figure 5 an example of a transceiver fitted to a subscriber, • Figure 6 an example of distribution of services at the level of a user, • Figure 7 an example of application of the system of figure 1 comprising relays arranged so as to increase the coverage, • Figure 8 an example of system coverage, • Figure 9 an example of use of the system of the Figure 1 adapted to achieve a "cross-beam".

In order to better understand the principle implemented in the invention, the example given in no way limiting relates to a system allowing subscribers access for frequency ranges corresponding to the range G_b corresponding to range [40.5-43.5 GHz] and G range₂or frequency range [10.7-11.7 GHz].

FIG. 1 schematizes from the access point or PoP, the access of a subscriber to the service transport network (the latter not being shown for reasons of clarity). The network can be shared by several operators who operate in fixed bands.

The principle is simple, a base 1 is upstream connected to an optical fiber 2 derived from the operator network at a PoP access point 3 and it communicates "downstream" with each subscriber 4, by means of transmitters and receivers which the multimedia and Internet content requested by a subscriber will respectively “descend”, and receive the service requests by the subscribers and the content transmitted from the subscribers. Each subscriber 4 or group of subscribers 5 (in a building for example) has a broadband transmit-receive antenna or ODU, “feeding” his decoder box 6 or in Anglo-Saxon “set top box” and his PC 7 for individuals, its local network 8 or LAN (Local Area Network) for professionals. A detailed example of an antenna that can equip a subscriber is given in Figure 5.

When the base stations are remote from the access point, it is possible to use a connection device 10 or Backhaul having in particular the function of redistributing the various information.

Schematically, the segments of the B-WAN access system according to the invention include, for example:

• A Connection (Backhaul) 10: comprising an access point for the infrastructures, the transport of information to various relays that can equip the system, IP (Internet Protocol) downlink links • Access to clusters, 11: comprising a base station provided with a system according to the invention with for example 0 to 3 relays and one or more relays or booster to meet the constraints of the coverage, an example of use of relays is given in Figures 7 and 9 , • Local networks of subscribers, 4, 5.

FIG. 2 represents an exemplary implementation of a one-way link routing (UDLR) mechanism for Internet information. At the PoP access point, the IP flows intended for user installations subscribed to very high speed are rerouted to commercial equipment 11 suitable and known to those skilled in the art which forwards them on the downlink at high speed 12 connected to a transmitter 14 operating in the frequency range Gi. Users simply subscribed to WiMaX are accessed directly (uplinks and downlinks) via the WiMaX link 13 in conjunction with a transceiver 15 operating in the frequency range G₂. For example, we have 2 subscriber profiles; the individual subscriber having a PC-type microcomputer equipped with a Bis interface card and Ethernet / USB interface to WiMaX modem, plus commercial router software; the group of subscribers, for example a local area network LAN of a company, equipped with a commercial edge router with the same interfaces (ethernet for example). The subscribers are equipped with a 16, 4-channel dual-band antenna adapted to receive the two frequency bands mentioned above.

The system according to the invention uses for example the following frequencies:

• for multimedia, such as television TV, high definition television (HDTV), VoD or professional rich media on the high performance DVB SM standard in radio (suitable for widely used satellite STBs) on the 40 W band, 5 to 43.5 GHz, • for bidirectional Internet (data and voice), the new standard Wi MaX very efficient in radio is installed on the range 10.7-11.7 GHz intended for terrestrial data links.

• The B-WAN system thus has 8 GHz (using the two polarizations) of band (to be shared between the operators) that can be reused every 3 or 4 kilometers.

The characteristics and capacities of the connection devices or Backhaul are given in figure 3. The table separates:

o downlinks corresponding to the frequency band 40.5 to 43.5 GHz, and o bidirectional links using the frequency band 10.711.7 GHz.

In this example, 5 groups are distinguished, each having several channels varying in number from 0 to N, each group being assigned to a type of service. For example, it is possible to have a group of radio broadcasting from one point to all the other points or Broadcast, a group of broadcasting from one or more points to a set of other points or Multicast, a UDLR Internet group ( UniDirectional Link Routing) for downlinks, two Internet groups uplink, downlink.

For each of the groups, the most appropriate waveform is chosen, for example the DVB-S or M form for the 40-44 GHz range (multimedia) and the 802.16 format for the 10-12 GHz range (Internet and voice over Internet). The chosen architecture of the Groups and their pipes and standardized waveforms notably allow unbundling. Thus, the system can accept to transport several service operators at the same time.

The system according to the invention offers the possibility of establishing a link between the 40 GHz frequency band and the 11 GHz. For example, for a subscriber using Internet services intensively, it is possible to equip it with an on-board router (either light in software on a PC or in separate equipment for a group of PCs in a local network). reduction for these subscribers will be three times greater than that offered by the equipment manufacturers of WiMaX systems.

For example, a subscriber is equipped with a UDLR (Unidirectional Link Routing) unidirectional routing function device in order to allow the routing of IP flows between the 40 GHz Internet band and the 11 GHz Internet band and thus to serve various types of customers (light or heavy) with services at several levels (SLA: quality of service approval at several levels

By virtue of its very high downlink capacity, its original channeling and the unidirectional link or UDLR over IP (Internet protocol) type techniques combined, the system according to the invention can adapt to the variation in traffic (to traffic symmetry, for example. ) and thus optimize the capacity offered (or in Anglo-Saxon load balancing).

The performances associated with such a system are for example 45 Mbps shared for downlink Internet link sectors, with an instantaneous throughput of 10 MBps; 30 MBps shared with channel return, with 4 MBps for a single subscriber.

Without departing from the scope of the invention, it is possible to envisage extending the use of the method for frequency bands to the ranges [25 - 60 GHZ] for the range Gi (millimeter waves) and [2.45-11 GHz]. for the G2 centimeter wave range.

FIG. 4 represents a detailed example of a base station according to the invention. It comprises for example, a unit 20 or Indoor Cabinet comprising for example 3 inputs, 21, 22 and 33 intended respectively for satellite reception, for HFC (fiber) or microwave type beams, for Internet connections (IP net). The data received on these different connection channels are transmitted to a multimedia relay device 24, then to a means 25 suitable for carrying out the increase in frequency.

The information is then transmitted to several appropriate transceivers 26i of the base station. The latter will transmit or receive this data to the antennas 27 of individual subscribers or even to a group of subscribers 28.

An individual subscriber is equipped, for example, with a modem and a microcomputer as well as a decoder for the television receiver. In the case of a group of subscribers, there is a local network, for example Ethernet WiFi or CLP to which several microcomputers are connected.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of the architecture of an integrated transmitter / receiver for a subscriber. The left part of the figure represents an integrable circuit on SiGe and the right part the resulting integrated antenna.

The receiver unit operating in the frequency range G1 40.55 - 42.5 GHz; and the transceiver operating in the frequency range G2 (10.7 - 11.3 GHz) comprises for example 4 parts:

Two passive radiating elements consisting for example:

• of a lens antenna 30, for example made of polyurethane in the frequency range Gi in reception, having the characteristic of having very good secondary lobes, and • of a printed "patch" antenna 31 in the frequency range G2 in transmission reception preceded by an isolation device (not shown). The simplified reception function of this receiver allows in particular the integration of the whole on the same circuit or SiGe chip.

a receiver 32 adapted to operate in the frequency range G₂ comprising for example a low noise LNA GaAs amplifier, a mixer operating on the second harmonic of a single oscillator, for example a DRO oscillator. The output of the mixture is amplified and filtered so as to exit at the top of the BIS band of the cable (2.1 .Ghz at 900mhz), on the same subcircuit a receiver 33 in Ku band equivalent to the commercial satellite LNB and a transmitter composed of an amplifier of approximately 100mw, possibly preceded by a preamplifier (not shown) of a mixer activated by an oscillator stabilized by phase loop, transmitter and receiver operating as TDD, an adaptation sub-circuit 34 for filtering and mixing making it possible to isolate and group the signals respectively in accordance with the standards in force on domestic drop cables.

The assembly is housed in a watertight box, the front face receiving the two antennas and the rear face the domestic input / output cable to the subscriber's TV and modem decoders.

The antennas have patterns adapted for the basics to ground coverage and directional patterns with low sidelobes for subscribers providing immunity to high density interference and radio protection.

The characteristic patch antenna structure makes it possible in particular to cover sectors at precise angles.

FIG. 6 represents an example of distribution of services at the level of a user offered by the system.

FIG. 7 gives an example of use of the B-WAN system according to the invention using several microwave relays or boosters. These relays composed of transceivers use the elements of the base and the subscriber terminal to retransmit data, information or services in masked areas or beyond the range of the main base. These relays can be powered by solar panels when their power limits them to a range of km. The figure shows an example of a pilot base scanning 1 to 4 sectors, with 90 °, 60 ° or 30 ° angle transmission-reception beams. BS designates a secondary base or relay, the latter is for example a simple direct broadband amplifier.

A relay base covers sectors of various angles. Such an architecture makes it possible in particular to extend the coverage of the B-WAN system. The bases and their relays use antennas adapted to cover sectors from 30 ° to 360 ° and can implement 1 to 6 sectors for example.

Figure 8 shows an example of mountain coverage making it possible to find three towns at the same time 4 or 5 km apart from each other.

FIG. 9 represents another example of use of the system according to the invention comprising several relays arranged so as to scan all or almost all of a given geographical area. This arrangement leads to a crossing of beams or in Anglo-Saxon “crossbeam”. The relay bases are arranged in relation to the main station so that any point located within a given geographical area can see at least one base. The addition of very low power 20mw or booster type relays makes it possible to fill in any "holes" (areas of small dimensions not covered).