An active repeater device includes a primary sector and at least a secondary sector communicatively coupled to the primary sector receives or transmits a first beam of input RF signals having a first beam pattern from or to a base station, respectively. The primary sector includes an baseband signal processor and a first radio head (RH) unit. The secondary sector comprises a second RH unit. The first beam pattern covers a first geographical area. Beamforming coefficients are generated to convert the first beam pattern of the first beam of input RF signals to a second beam pattern. A second beam of output RF signals in the second beam pattern is transmitted from or received by, respectively, the secondary sector to or from, respectively, a plurality of user equipment (UEs) based on the generated beamforming coefficients and the received first beam of input RF signals.

An active repeater device including a first antenna array, a controller, and one or more secondary sectors receives or transmits a first beam of input RF signals from or to, respectively, a first base station operated by a first service provider and a second beam of input RF signals from or to, respectively, a second base station operated by a second service provider. A controller assigns a first beam setting to a first group of customer premises equipment (CPEs) and a second beam setting to a second group of CPEs, based on one or more corresponding signal parameters associated with the each corresponding group of CPEs. A second antenna array of the second RH unit concurrently transmits or received a first beam of output RF signals to or from the first group of CPEs and a second beam of output RF signals to the second group of CPEs.

A system for enabling signal penetration into a building comprising a receiver located on an outside of the building for receiving millimeter wave signals. At least one frequency downconverter for downconverts the received millimeter wave signals to a frequency level that overcomes losses occurring when the millimeter wave signals are transmitted from the outside the building to an interior of the building. Transceiver circuitry transmits the downconverted millimeter wave signals from the outside the building to the interior of the building. At least one frequency upconverter upconverts the received downconverted millimeter wave signals from the frequency level that overcomes losses occurring when the millimeter wave signals are transmitted from the outside the building to the interior of the building. A second transceiver transmits the upconverted millimeter wave signal in a second format to wireless devices within the building.

A base station includes: a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication with a relay device; a storage that stores information on a reflected wave of a communication channel used to communicate with the relay device; and a controller that: estimates from the information whether a communication channel upon establishing a wireless channel with the relay device is affected by a reflected wave; allocates the communication channel as the wireless channel with the relay device in a case where it is estimated from the information that the communication channel is not affected by the reflected wave; and does not allocate the communication channel as the wireless channel with the relay device in a case where it is estimated from the information that the communication channel is affected by the reflected wave.

A system for enabling signal penetration into a building includes a first transceiver, located on an outside of the building, for transmitting and receiving signals at a first frequency outside of the building, wherein the signals at the first frequency do not easily penetrate into an interior of the building. A first up/down converter converts between a first version of the signals at the first frequency and a second version of the signals at a second frequency. The first frequency is higher than the second frequency and the signals at the second frequency better penetrate to the interior of the building and overcome losses caused by penetrating into an interior of the building. A second up/down converter converts between the second version of the signals at the second frequency that overcomes the losses caused by penetrating into the interior of the building and a third version of the signals after transmission from the building exterior to the building interior. A router transmits and receives the third version of the signals within the interior of the building.

An apparatus and method are described for providing enhanced network coverage in a wireless network. The apparatus has a first antenna system for providing a first sector of a network, and a second antenna system for providing a second sector of the network. Further, the apparatus has a third antenna system for communicating with a base station of the network to provide a common wireless backhaul link for the first sector and the second sector. The apparatus also comprises control circuitry to monitor a performance characteristic of the common wireless backhaul link, and in dependence on the performance characteristic, to implement at least one mechanism to influence whether items of user equipment within at least one of the first sector and the second sector connect to the network via the apparatus.

An apparatus and method are provided for improving connectivity for items of user equipment in a wireless network. The apparatus has a first antenna system for providing a first sector of a network, and a second antenna system for providing a second sector of the network. Further, the apparatus has a third antenna system for communicating with a base station of the network to provide a common wireless backhaul link for the first sector and the second sector. In addition, an interface is provided to an internet connection of a building in which the apparatus is deployed, and backhaul management circuitry is then arranged, in at least one mode of operation, to control utilisation of both the internet connection and the common wireless backhaul link to provide backhaul connectivity to the network for items of user equipment connected to the apparatus via the first and second antenna systems. Through the use of such an apparatus, it has been found that significant improvements in network coverage can be readily obtained, and further the overall spectral efficiency of the network can be enhanced to improve network capacity, with the backhaul management circuitry maintaining an efficient backhaul connection through the combined use of the common wireless backhaul link and the internet connection.

A system for enabling signal penetration into a building comprising a receiver located on an outside of the building for receiving millimeter wave signals. At least one frequency downconverter for downconverts the received millimeter wave signals to a frequency level that overcomes losses occurring when the millimeter wave signals are transmitted from the outside the building to an interior of the building. Transceiver circuitry transmits the downconverted millimeter wave signals from the outside the building to the interior of the building. At least one frequency upconverter upconverts the received downconverted millimeter wave signals from the frequency level that overcomes losses occurring when the millimeter wave signals are transmitted from the outside the building to the interior of the building. A second transceiver transmits the upconverted millimeter wave signal in a second format to wireless devices within the building.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods that allow millimeter-wave communication signals to pass efficiently and reliably through obstructions are disclosed. An apparatus includes a first wireless transceiver and a first phased array antenna coupled to the first wireless transceiver. A second phased array antenna is also coupled to the first wireless transceiver. The apparatus additionally includes a second wireless transceiver and a third phased array antenna coupled to the second wireless transceiver. The third phased array antenna is adapted to emit a third millimeter wave beam through an obstruction. A fourth phased array antenna is also coupled to the second wireless transceiver. The fourth phased array antenna is adapted to receive a fourth millimeter wave beam through the obstruction. A controller is included in the apparatus for managing data transfer between the first wireless transceiver and the second wireless transceiver so that a fully duplexed communication path is available between the antennas.

The invention proposes a system and method for determining and controlling a reconfigurable relay device (e.g., a reconfigurable intelligent surface, RIS, or a smart repeater), wherein the reconfigurable relay device is registered and a wireless communication path is established from a network (e.g. access device) via the reconfigurable relay device to a terminal device. The network registers the reconfigurable relay device and determines parameters needed for its control. The control may be achieved by validated and accepted commands and queries. A relay state of the relay device may be set so that a beam for the wireless communication path is correctly redirected at the terminal device.