MXPA00000020A - Metropolitan wide area network - Google Patents

Abstract

A wide area communication network includes at least two hub sites which are interconnected by a communication backbone. Eachhub site provides wireless coverage in at least one sector. At least two remote sites reside in each sector and are coupled to a corresponding hub site via a point to multi-point broadband wireless system. The network preferably includes at least one service node which is accessible to the remote sites via the hub sites and backbone.

Description

BROAD METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Technical Field The present invention relates to a metropolitan wide area network for telecommunication system. Particularly, this invention relates to the integration of a wireless point-to-multiple system operating in the microwave radio range of the order of a millimeter with a broadband main network structure of an intelligent metropolitan area to allow various voice services enhanced, broadband data and multimedia telecommunication. 2. Description of the Related Art In the art, narrow-band, point-to-point, narrow-band, point-to-point, and wide-band, point-to-point broadband wireless systems are generally known. The point-to-point multi-point radio technology is also a known technology that has generally been employed for narrow band communications, such as speech. Narrow band systems are typically systems capable of generating 1,544 megabits per second of data or less in a single circuit or channel, while broadband systems are capable of generating data rates greater than 1. 544 megabits per second per channel. While narrow-band "point-to-point" systems have been employed for voice communications, multiple point-to-point systems have not been generally applied for broadband telecommunications networks. Today's narrow-band multiple point-to-point systems can add a group of up to 24 channels of 64 kilobits per second together in what is known as an "IT line". However, this IT line is still considered as a narrowband installation when used to support multiple voice channels. Narrow-band multiple point-to-point systems have also been used in Europe for voice telephony networks for many years. Point-to-point broadband technology is also a well-known technology. In the range of 37 Gigahertz or "GHz", at 40 GHz (what is typically known as "30 GHz"), point-to-point wireless broadband systems are employed. When a 38 GHz broadband wireless link is created appropriately, its performance is functionally equivalent to fiber optic telecommunications performance. Fixed wireless technology is becoming more popular as a means of transmitting telecommunications service due to its low cost, fast installation and ease of operation. The connection of two sites with a wireless point-to-point service consists largely of the installation of antennas on ceilings at the top of two buildings, with the related indoor equipment. You do not have to connect physical cables between buildings, which represents a significant advantage compared to copper or fiber technology. Bringing fibers or copper to buildings represents an important investment in labor and other costs associated with street excavations, obtaining permits, etc. Since the deployment of fixed wireless broadband systems does not require civil construction in most cases, it is therefore faster and more economical than the installation of traditional "last mile" interconnection methods in power networks. Telecommunication in metropolitan area. Today fixed wireless 38 GHz technology has several features that make it an attractive commercial telecommunication transport medium. The 38 GHz wireless technology offers a high bandwidth path for voice, data, multimedia and video. Current technology allows the linking of distances of up to 5 miles. Since all the microwell propagation of microwaves is subjected to degradation by rain, the real distance depends on the geographical location or "pluviometric region". In climates in which heavy downpours are common, shorter link distances may be required to obtain performance and availability equivalent to what you get with fiber. The propagation of millimeter-wave radio at 38 GHz usually requires an unobstructed list line transmission. In practice, antennas of small diameters are mounted on the roofs of office buildings and in some cases on the windows of office buildings. These antennas are typically located within a range of 12 to 24 inches in diameter, although smaller antennas may also be employed. The manufacturers indicate average time between failures (MTBF) statistics of more than 10 years in the case of radio and modem components, which indicates that the equipment is highly reliable. The current fixed 38 GHz wireless technology is therefore an ideally suited technology for high availability broadband point-to-point commercial voice and data applications within a range of 1,544 megabits per second (TI) to 45 megabits (DS3) . An example of a commercial wireless broadband point-to-point application is the interconnection of multiple servers in a local area network (LAN). Another application of this type is the creation of a metropolitan wide area network. Here several field LANs within the same city are interconnected through 38 GHz wireless installations. One dedicated access to inter-exchange bearers (IXCs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other alternative access arrangements are applications Common Point-to-Point Businesses for 38 GHz Wireless Links. In the 38 GHz range, cellular and personal communication service (PCS) operators can deploy high availability wireless facilities in their core networks to support recovery between antenna sites , base stations and mobile telephony switching offices (MTSO's). A 38 GHz wireless point-to-point technology is also being used to provide critical mission protection channels and other point-to-point alternative routing where extension from a fiber network is required to a location that is not served by fiber. Finally, an interconnection with the public switched telephone network (PSTN) for the provision of local dial tone by competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) employing a 38 GHz point-to-point wireless technology is becoming increasingly more popular. Figure 12 illustrates a basic point-to-point wireless installation that provides a client interconnect for services. This connection will support broadband applications (data, video, etc.) and narrow band applications (voice) A customer building is illustrated at 200 and may contain several tenants. It is connected to another building 202 that houses a telecommunications network switch 203. These buildings are connected by a wireless link between two roof antennas: one antenna 204 in the customer building, the other antenna 205 in the building that houses the switch 203. The bandwidth of this connection could be up to 28 IT circuits, or DS3 (45 megabits per second). The switch 203 connects to the PSTN 206, or public switched telephone network for local service and long distance networks 207 for service long distance. Switch 203 can also provide dial-up access to Internet 208. Figure 3 is a representation of the FCC spectrum allocation plan for 38 GHz consisting of a total of 14 channels. Each channel has a bandwidth of 100 Mega Hertz (MHz). Each 100 Mega Hertz channel consists of 2 sub-channels of 50 Mega Hertz, one sub-channel to transmit and the other sub-channel to receive these two sub-channels of 50 Mega Hertz are separated by 700 Mega Hertz of spectrum. As shown in Figure 3, a sub-channel of 1A has a width of 50 Mega Hertz and it is a transmission channel, while the IB subchannel is 50 MHz wide and is a receiving channel. A sub-channel 1A is separated from the sub-channel IB by 700 megahertz. This band plan provides 14 channels (1400 MHz or 1.4 GHz) of spectrum in the FCC allocated within a range of 38 to 40 GHz. ^ £ & j & S & amp; amp; amp; & amp & amp; * £ -. ~? With reference to Figure 4, a basic problem of spectrum management associated with the use of wireless point-to-point systems in a metropolitan area is shown. Since buildings are close to each other in a metropolitan area, the broadcast of information in wireless links can be spliced making it impossible to use the same channel (1A / 1B) in contiguous systems. In this figure, an antenna of a building is transmitting its signal to the antenna of the intended receiver, but a part of the signal is also received by the antenna in the adjacent building. Such signal corruption is known as "co-channel interference". In Figure 4, a guest building 401 containing a switch 402 is connected through 4 roof antennas 403A, 403B, 403C and 403D, respectively, to remote buildings 404A, 404B, 404C, and 404D, each with its own corresponding roof antenna. Between these buildings, a conceptual representation of the spectrum that is being used by each of these wireless point-to-point systems is shown. As the buildings become more and more together, signals of transmission between buildings begin to merge. To avoid the co-channel interference described in the previous paragraph, different channels must be used to connect the nearby buildings. For example, channel 1A / 1B is used for the faith Sa ^^ jßg? jta ^^ M ^ k building 404D and channel 2A / 2B is used for building 404C. Even though channel 1A / 1B partially splices the 2A / 2B transmission, the use of different frequencies (channels) by another system offers protection against co-channel interference. Thus, the antenna of a building may be transmitting a part of its signal to the wrong receiving antenna, but each system is "tuned" to a different frequency and the transmission of neighboring systems using other frequencies is ignored. The frequency management technique illustrated in Figure 4 avoids what is known as co-channel interference in wireless networks deployed in dense urban areas, however, the use of FCC channels to avoid co-channel interference does not optimize transport capacity of information the spectrum concessioned and is therefore inefficient. A solution to this problem is required. Figure 5 illustrates a problem of administration of additional spectrum associated with point-to-point systems. Building 501 is connected to building 502 through channel 1. Building 503 is connected to building 540 through channel two. The solid connection lines 505, 506 represent the intended wireless transmission. However, because the "transmission beam" is approximately 2 ° at the source, the signals can be received by other systems that are not planned for this but are within the range of the transmission beam of the source system. The dotted line 507 represents said case, in which the system in building 4 incorrectly receives the transmission of the system in building 1. If two different frequencies are used, no co-channel interference would be found. Again, frequency management in wireless point-to-point networks requires of using multiple channels to avoid interference instead of allowing the use of spectrum to boost increasing bandwidth. The ceiling space is expensive and in many cases there are restrictions regarding the number, size and position of the antennas deployed on a roof. Because point-to-point systems employ separate antennas for each wireless connection, space becomes a limiting factor on the roofs of buildings. As the number of point-to-point systems increases in a building, not only spectrum management considerations limit the number of systems that can be deployed, but also the physical space available for each antenna in the ceiling poses a limitation as to the number of systems. Thus, a solution is required that allows the expansion of wireless network capacity and consequently the number of users, without a corresponding increase in the number of roofs for antennas. Point-to-point systems offer users what is known as a full-time connection. Full-time connections are "always activated" (connected and active) waiting for the transport of information. Full-time wireless connections employ a sensitive spectrum that once assigned, is not available to other users. Wireless point-to-point systems are therefore appropriate in the case of applications involving continuous or long transmissions. Point-to-point systems do not efficiently support bit rates or "packet" data services where the bandwidth requirement is not constant but variable. The bandwidth used by point-to-point systems for variable bit rate applications is wasted, since each system uses the assigned channel on a "full-time activation" basis regardless of the amount of information or regardless of the duration of the transmissions in the link. A more efficient solution is needed to use the spectrum more efficiently in the case of "packet" data services, such as LAN to LAN data transmission. It is an object to create a "full feature" local metropolitan area broadband telecommunication network infrastructure capable of supporting advanced voice and data services. It is another object to use the wireless spectrum as a key enabler for access to a broadband telecommunication network of local metropolitan area that offers advanced voice and data services. It is an object to optimize the use of allocated spectrum available in broadband telecommunication networks of the local metropolitan area. It is an object to overcome the limitations of spectrum management associated with the use of point-to-point fixed wireless telecommunications systems. It is an object to allow the use of multiple channels to boost the additional network capacity in broadband telecommunication networks of the local metropolitan area. It is an object to minimize the number of wireless telecommunication systems required in the roofs to provide access to broadband telecommunication networks of local metropolitan area. COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one form of the present network, a wide area communication network includes at least two core sites interconnected by a main communication network. Each core site provides wireless coverage in at least one sector. At least two remote sites are located in each sector and are connected to a corresponding core site through a wireless broadband system from point to multiple points. The network preferably includes at least one service node that is accessible to the remote sites through the core and main network sites. In accordance with another form of the present network, a telecommunication network of local broadband metropolitan area offers fixed wireless broadband local loop access to a plurality of subscribers. Subscribers include a subscriber radio unit that operates on a frequency that corresponds to a cell sector where said subscriber resides. At least one of the subscribers has various types of associated client location and includes a means for performing a statistical multiplexing between the plurality of client location equipment of the subscriber radio unit. The network includes a plurality of core sites interconnected by a main network based on Sonet the core sites include a plurality of core site radio units operating at a selectable frequency with at least one radio unit corresponding to a cell sector. The core sites also include means for dynamically allocating width of communication band between a plurality of subscribers ^ Yj ^^^^^^^ Sjí & ^^ ??? faj ^^^^^ j ^? ^ áSi ^^^ l ^^^^^ within each cell sector. The network preferably includes a plurality of value-added service nodes connected to the main network and accessible to the subscribers through the core and main network sites. The network further includes a central operations node connected to each of said core sites through a control network and which provides remote access and controls the core sites as well as remote control subscriber access to the service nodes. of added value. These and other features, objects and advantages of the current network modes will be apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative modes, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a broadband telecommunication network of local metropolitan area using fixed wireless point-to-point systems operating at 38 GHz to provide customer access to a telecommunication network of broadband of local metropolitan area. Figure 2 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a typical point-to-point system configuration known in the art to provide customers access to telecommunication service through a switch.

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Figure 3 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a spectrum allocation plan for 38 GHz, with 100 MHz channels divided into 50 MHz subchannels for signal transmission and reception, where each transmission and reception sub-channel is separated by 700 MHz of spectrum. Figure 4 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a fixed wireless point-to-point system deployed in a network configuration with cores in accordance with the prior art and where there is a one-to-one relationship between the core and the wireless system in building of client. The splice areas illustrate a co-channel interference that is found in fixed point-to-point wireless networks. Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating another co-channel interference phenomenon encountered in fixed point-to-point wireless systems of the prior art. Figure 6 (A) is a diagram illustrating a fixed point-to-multiple point wireless implementation in which there is a one-to-many relationship between the core and the client systems within a sector employed in the current system. Figure 6 (B) is a block diagram that further illustrates the core of Figure 6 (A) as used in the present network. Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating the present broadband telecommunications network of local metropolitan area current that employs a fixed point-to-multiple point wireless technology operating at 38 GHz to provide access to clients to a main network and various telecommunications services. Figure 8 is a block diagram of a mode of a subscriber system employed in the present system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES 1. Network Topology The current network employs a wireless microwave scheme fixed that allows a many-to-one relationship between core systems and remote systems located in customer buildings. This technology, known as "multiple access" or "point to multiple points" can support traditional voice and data telephony services as well as services commercial and residential broadband multimedia during the combination of improvements in spectrum efficiency (and consequently available bandwidth) with improved intelligence in the metropolitan wide area network. Figure 6 (A) illustrates a point-to-point system multiple, characterized by a "one to many" relationship between the core and radio systems of customer buildings. In Figure 6 (A), a core site 601 is equipped with antennas 602, 603 and 604. The antenna 602 transmits to a "sector" 605, which covers the physical space occupied by multiple subscriber buildings 606, 607, 608 and 609.

^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^ Antennas in buildings 606, 607, 608 and 609 in sector 605 all communicate with the single-core antenna 602 of the sector 605. The sectors can have a width of 15 to 90 °. All buildings in a sector generally employ a single channel 5, so that co-channel interference is no longer a problem in the case of buildings within the same sector. To avoid co-channel interference at the edges of the sectors, the core site 601 assigns frequencies to adjacent sectors that are substantially separated from each other. For example, sector 602 can allocate channel 1A / 1B and sector 604 then allocate channel 2A / 2D. Thus, multiple point-to-point systems allow full use of each assigned channel within a sector to carry information, in contrast to the spectrum management requirements of point-to-point systems that require the use of multiple channels in the same geographical area simply to avoid co-channel interference. Figure 6 (B) illustrates an exemplary mode of a site of core 601 for use in the present network. The antennas 602, 603 .... 60n, correspond to frequency channels. Generally, a frequency channel is assigned to a corresponding cell sector 605. However, in cases where additional bandwidth is required, the present network offers the assignment of multiple channels to one or several cell sectors. Each antenna preferably includes a corresponding core radio unit 620. To avoid signal losses associated with coaxial lines and waveguides at 38 GHz, the core radio units are preferably coupled with a corresponding antenna as an integral unit. mounted on a roof or on a tower. The core site also includes inner core units 622 connected to the core radio units 620 through an inter-facility link 624. The inter-facility link 624 is a broadband connection, preferably having the form of a fiber connection. The Core IDUs are connected to one or more core controllers 626 that manage the operation and transfer data within the core site 601. A Main network interface 628 is included for the purpose of allowing the connection and transfer of data with the main network. Figure 7 illustrates one embodiment of the present network in a commercial metropolitan area network employing a technology wireless 38 GHz multiple access. The network includes a 702 broadband main network that can be implemented using fiber, copper or wireless technology. The large squares located in the ring represent multiple point-to-point cores 704, each covering at least one sector of cells 708. In an environment commercial urban, cell sectors 706 are deployed in such a way that the bandwidth is focused towards geographic locations with an appropriate density of buildings (client). Once in the main network 702, the client traffic is routed to any number of network nodes that provide value-added services. Examples of such service nodes are local exchange carrier switches 706, inter-exchange carrier switches 708, and Internet access points 710 as well as video service points 712. The present network also includes at least one central operation node 713 connected to each of the cores 704 through a control network 715, such as, for example, a frame relay network. The architecture of the 38 GHz point-to-multipoint wireless network generally consists of 714 cells with a diameter of 3 to 5 miles (link distances of 1.5 to 3 miles). Each cell 714 consists of a number of sectors 706-1, 706-2, ... 706-n, which are located within a sector width range of 15 to 90 °. A core 704 is located in the center of each cell, and multiple remote subscriber systems (subscribers) 716 located in customer buildings within a sector communicate a core radio equipment to establish wireless links. The bandwidth within a given sector is allocated among the remote subscriber systems supplied in this sector by the corresponding core 704. A sector can use the full bandwidth of a single allocated channel, or multiple channels can be "stacked" "in a sector to meet the global customer demand in terms of 5 bandwidth. When multiple channels are employed, an additional core radio unit 620 and an antenna for this sector are added to the core 704. The allocation of the optimum sector width is not a trivial problem. A design goal is to minimize the cost of Effective Radiated Energy (ERP) required. Narrow sectors provide a higher antenna gain, so that less energy is required to achieve effective radiated power. However, each sector requires its own radio system in such a way that sectors narrow costs increase the cost of the equipment that is required to cover a given geographical area. In the final analysis, the design of the core depends on the global demand of customers in terms of capacity and the geographical distribution of customer locations. Preferably, in the area network metropolitan current from point to multiple points, the 704 cores are interconnected in the main network 702 by means of high capacity microwave radio facilities or fiber in a SONET ring configuration. Service nodes such as inter-exchange carriers 708, Internet service providers 710, PSTN switches Local 706 as well as video sources 712 are interconnected to the fiber ring, in some cases through co-location with the cores. Thus, once the clients are connected through the wireless access links 5 to the network, each and every one of the services supported by the various service nodes will be available. This network approach requires a transport and routing capacity in the main network to facilitate connections between multiple customer locations and between customer locations and network service nodes. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is the preferred transport layer protocol for the current metropolitan area network architecture. It is also proposed that protocols of synchronous telephony transport or traditional connection oriented will be used as transition operators to complete ATM networks over time. For this reason, both ATM (OC-3c) and STM (DS-3) interfaces between the 704 cores and the network are preferably included. main 702. 2. Wireless ATM This network architecture employs an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) as the primary means to transport on the network. An ATM is a packet transmission technology that organizes the information in cells. The cells have a "header" and a "load". The header describes what type of data is in the load and where the data ends. The cells propagate through the network through diverse trajectories and may arrive out of sequence at the termination point. The header information contained in the cells allows the reconstruction of the correct cell sequence before it is delivered to the equipment at the client's premises. ATM cells can carry many standard telecommunication voice, data and video services by encapsulating the data in the load. Thus, an ATM can integrate voice, data and video into a single telecommunication transport network. A key architectural element of the present network is the use of ATM in wireless transport in point-to-point system (air interface) specific services for clients (Ethernet, Frame Relay, DS-1, DS-3, ISDN, Voice ) are encapsulated in the ATM load between subscribers 716 and core 704. Consequently services that are handled more efficiently by a cell-based protocol benefit from an end-to-end ATM transport in the network, while services that for a time must be channeled into the main network are multiplexed by time division in the core 704. In any case, the transport of all ATM services in the air allows a significant bandwidth in demand functionality in network. 3. Modulation and System Capacity A wireless device employing a modulation technique such as QPSK and 4FSK, provides an effective data rate of one bit per hertz per second. Since the 38 GHz spectrum is allocated in fully-duplex 50 MHz channels (ie 50 MHz of spectrum in each direction totaling 100 MHz per allocated channel), the maximum data rate of point-to-point wireless technology fixed today is 45 Mb / s or DS-3. Higher-order modulation techniques such as 16 QAM and 64 QAM, together with improvements in overall system gain will provide data rates of 4-5 bits per second per second or more. This translates into an increase significant bandwidth available per channel. Thus, data rates of OC-3 (155 Mb / s) per channel per sector and higher can be obtained at 38 GHz. Spectrum efficiencies within a range of 6 to 8 bits per Hz per second are expected. Multi-sector cells, channels multiples that support global data rates of several gigabit per second of available bandwidth can already be obtained based on relatively conservative engineering. Less conservative designs will provide higher cell capacities. 25 4. Bandwidth on request Since the data is encapsulated in cells for transport by the wireless network, it is possible to employ a radio spectrum more efficiently than would otherwise be possible in non-ATM wireless implementations. This is the result of what is known as the "statistical multiplexing" technique. Statistical multiplexing takes advantage of the random origin of data transmission in a system and the fact that all users do not require bandwidth all the time. A statistical multiplexing allows cells containing data originating from different users to be transported by the minimum required spectrum. In this sense, users share the allocated spectrum in a wireless ATM network, and the combined bandwidth requirement of all users in the system is served by the spectrum available within the system at any given moment of time. This results in a "statistical gain" in data capacity that allows telecommunication network operators to "overwrite" wireless links based on the consideration that all users at a given subscriber location (for example, an office building) with several tenants) will not require all the capacity assigned to this location at all times. Oversubscription rates (statistical gain) of up to 10 to 1 (10: 1) are possible for links where most of the information is transported in small packets ("packet data") as in the case of LAN-LAN communications. Statistical gains of 2: 1 or 3: 1 are more typical in the case of networks where the mix of traffic is more strongly diverted to voice or other services that require point-to-point connections through the network (circuit ) during the communication session. ATM cell headers also contain parameters that allow individual cells to have priority. Thus, cells with the highest priority are transported in the network instantaneously, while cells with lower priorities can be delayed until the switching of cells with higher priorities. This attribute of ATM allows the support of services with several "qualities of services" or "QOS". When this priority system is used in combination with statistical multiplexing, it allows the very efficient transport of information in wireless networks. For example, a large file can be divided into cells and transmitted on the network with other smaller file cells interspersed in the packet stream. Thus, small files do not have to wait for the completion of large file transmission, and the network operates with greater overall efficiency. An allocation of dynamic bandwidth among subscribers & Ac ??: Í's, .- ^ ?: Y.SÍÍ -.?,. ~ 716 is provided within a given sector 706. Thus, momentary requirements for high bit rates for a given subscriber 716 are met by the use of bandwidth within sector 706 not employed by other subscribers at that time. This is achieved through a variable assignment on request of time segments (Time Division Multiple Access or TDMA) or frequencies (Frequency Division Multiple Access or FDMA) to subscribers, or through a combination of both multiplexing techniques (Multiple Access Assigned On Demand or DAMA). When these techniques for dynamically allocating bandwidth between buildings in a sector are combined with ATM statistical multiplexing (over subscription) of bandwidth allocated to customers within individual buildings, the result is a significant increase in the transport capacity of wireless spectrum information employed in networks of the present invention. The capacity is further increased by the use of highly efficient modulation schemes such as 16 QAM and 64 QAM. 5. Core Architecture The current system employs a deployment strategy known as "core training", which concentrates one end of these wireless links into a single building or core roof "each core can be connected to many radio systems 716 through the use of wireless links, the 704 cores in a metropolitan area can be interconnected in a ring, 5 maya, or another main network topology through wireless, fiber, or other telecommunication installations. High capacity The 704 cores are equipped with either ATM switching or TDM multiplexing equipment to create wireless link bridges between the main network 702 in order to establish connections between subscribers or to connect subscribers to other locations in the network for access services. Through the formation of nuclei, the network is used to significantly increase the effective range of wireless access links as well as to provide access to various voice, data and multimedia services. The present core formation architecture is applicable to fixed point-to-point wireless systems as well as to point-to-point fixed wireless systems. multiple points. In a wireless point-to-point system, each core supports one antenna for each link that connects to the main network. Therefore, a ceiling space imposes a limitation as to the number of antennas (and consequently of links to the network) that can be supported by a single core using fixed wireless systems of ^^^^^^^^^ jjtetó ^ ^^^^^^^ t ^^^ gs £ tíi ^^^^ ^ ¿g¡ ^ point to point. Figure 1 illustrates a network architecture embodiment employing 38 GHz point-to-point wireless telecommunication systems wherein the wireless facilities connect customer locations to a metropolitan area core network. This system employs a point-to-point system, where communication occurs between a core 100 and specific buildings 102 or campuses 104. The main network consists of telecommunication transport facilities high capacity 106 that connect the cores in a ring configuration, with each core connecting to individual buildings or field locations in a "last mile" wireless connection. In fixed wireless systems from point to multiple points, a smaller number of core antennas provide connections to customer buildings in a sector that varies between 15 and 90 degrees and that contains many customer buildings. In either case, the core formation architecture provides efficient access to a main network thus allowing the communication between subscribers and allowing the access of subscribers to value-added services integrated in the network. 6. Remote Subscriber Systems Team and Service Support 25 In the present system, a 716 subscriber can take the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ form of a single subscriber, a multi-user system in a building or even a client campus. Figure 8 illustrates one embodiment of a subscriber system for use with a multi-user system in a building. With reference to Figure 8, antennas 802 are integrated with radio transceivers in compact external sealed units (ODUs) 804 for installation in building ceilings. External units are preferably fixed through standard 4-inch pole mounting devices for quick and economical installation and to limit clogging. The external units 804 are connected to internal units (IDU) 806 typically located in common space within a building through an inter-installation link (IFL) 808 consisting of either coaxial cable or fiber. Through the use of fiber in IFL 808 a significant benefit is provided in terms of installations where the conduit inside the building is already closely together with telecommunication facilities and there is little space to place a new cable. This is a frequently encountered installation problem. Since the fiber is much thinner than coaxial cable, it is much easier to place it through existing building conduits than a coaxial cable, which makes the installation work much faster and much more economical than otherwise. . Another advantage of the use of fiber in IFL 808 has to do with the loss of signals between the IDU 806 and the ODU 804. The physical properties of the coaxial cable limit the propagation of signals to less than 1000 feet in most cases. This poses a limitation as to the separation between the ODU 804 and the IDU 806 in a building. Since the common space provided for the type of communications (including the IDU) in most commercial office buildings are located in the basement and the ODU 804 is mounted on the roof, this poses a problem in the case of installations in the case of installations in large buildings of 15 floors or more. A fiber optic cable does not provide said distance limitation, between the IDU 806 and the ODU 804. Therefore, in the installations they are not limited by the location of common space for the type of communications in buildings. Indoor units 806 are used for communication with a device located in customer premises (CPE) 810. A preferred embodiment of the lower unit includes a chassis with slots to receive specific service 812 line cards. Line cards 812 they are physically inserted into the chassis when the clients are installed, and are activated through programmatic commands from a centralized network operation center. Line cards 812 are supplied to support specific telecommunications services (DS-1, DS-3, ISDN, Frame Relay, Ethernet, Token Ring, ATM, etc.). The 812 line cards in turn connect to a backplane for ATM protocol conversion for core transmissions, and from ATM to specific service protocols for core transmissions. A chassis can preferably support cards of 10-20 lines 812, each of which can provide several ports for interconnection with CTE. For example, a typical DS-1 line card allows the connection of 4 lines of DS-1 (4 x DS-1) per card. The line cards are cheap, therefore the additional cost of adding clients to the network once the basic remote system equipment is installed in a building is quite low. Once installed, the services offered by the line card 812 can be enabled locally, or preferably enabled remotely by commands generated by the central operations node 713 (figure 7) that are transported in the network. In this way, higher units are increased to meet the demand for telecommunications services in an effective manner in terms of cost. Most small and medium commercial office buildings can be supported by the 10-20 card chassis described above.

In the case of very large buildings, two or more IDUs can be interconnected in the form of a "daisy chain" to expand the number of available service interfaces, placed on different floors where the common space and the main distribution boxes can be indicated for give service to customers. The present invention also offers very small, low cost outdoor units with fixed service interfaces to service Small Offices / Home Offices (SOHO) and residential customers. Instead of using a chassis and backplane architecture, these small IDUs are fully integrated sealed units manufactured at low cost to support a predefined set of services. An example of such a lower-end IDU would provide interfaces for several 64 KB / s voice lines and an ISDN or Ethernet port for connection to a remote office LAN. 7. Operational Considerations In addition to improved spectrum efficiencies and resulting increases in bandwidth, significant savings in operating and equipment costs are achieved with a point-to-point multipoint radio technology at 38 GHz. Operational complexities are eliminated through replacement of multiple antennas in the roof of a core with one or several point-to-point core antennas, and the installation costs are correspondingly reduced.

Once a core 704 is installed, the addition of clients to the network becomes a matter of installing subscriber systems 716 in customer buildings within a covered section 706. This contrasts with the requirement to create and install equipment that supports two ends of each link as in the case of the current point-to-point 38 GHz wireless technology. Likewise, the provision of service and configuration change are handled remotely through programmatic service attributes that can be defined downloaded through the network to subscriber systems located in customer buildings. The services are provided, monitored, modified and controlled from a central Network Operations Center by technicians with appropriate authorization. A system programmatic enables the provision of services from the core to an end-user service interface card in the remote subscriber system. 8. Services This network can support each and every one of the services that can be supported by wireline telecommunications technologies. These services include two categories defined in general terms: traditional telecommunications services and emerging bandwidth multimedia services.

Traditional telecommunications services for the commercial market include: (1) local and long distance voice services, (2) dedicated point-to-point facilities at DS-1, nx DS-1 and DS-3 speeds for voice and data , (3) switched data services such as 56 Kb / s switched and Frame Relay, and (4) high capacity point-to-point data installations, operating at speeds OC-3 and higher. The emerging broadband multimedia services supported by this network include high-speed Internet access, Web hosting and information services, native LAN-LAN services such as Ethernet and Token Ring, and video services such as conference calls. desktop video, business-related commercial video programming as well as on-demand video training (distance learning). Access links to wireless clients with the network are provided at virtually any data rate to satisfy the bandwidth requirements of such services. Residential customers are provided with services that include a subset of the above for telecommunication applications and Small Office / Residential Office (SOHO). A package of services for these clients can include local and long distance telephone service, high-speed Internet access for information and email service, as well as selectable video programming. Access to the network can be provided at any speed for residential customers as well. ATM quality of service (QOS) parameters can be used to support broadband multimedia data services based on usage. For example, a customer can subscribe to a two megabit Delicate Information Rate (CIR) connection to the network. The general load in these client ATM cells would guarantee 2 megabits of real production each time the client requests this amount of bandwidth in the network. When the two megabits of network capacity (spectrum in a fixed wireless network from point to multiple points) is not used by the client, said capacity is available for other transmissions in the network. ATM QOS parameters can be used to provide various levels of production in the network allowing network operators to establish prices that match these production levels. In the case of voice services that are particularly intolerant to the delays inherent in non-sequential cell transport, the Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVC's) guarantee immediate production at predefined data rates. PVC's use a constant fixed bandwidth in the network every time there is a service request. Even when the delays associated with cell resequencing are measured in milliseconds, the cumulative effect of such delays can be detected by the human ear. The PVC's overcome this problem in ATM networks 5 by effectively establishing an end-to-end path through the network in which the cells are sent sequentially. In essence, a PVC is a connection circuit switched through an ATM network. In fixed wireless multiple point-to-point networks, the bandwidth is assigned on a full time basis between the subscriber system and the kernel for the entire duration of the voice call. Other ATM-based services are provided using Switched Virtual Circuits (SVC's) that allocate width of band to user transmissions in accordance with a hierarchical priority scheme that includes a range from the guarantee of data production speeds to data transport on a "capacity-available" basis. SVC's more effectively support data services from variable bit rates (packets), such as LAN communications, with QOS parameters used to handle the production in relation to the critical nature of the data and the cost of the service to the client. In the present network, event data are collected which are stored in the system to then carry out the Billing based on the type of service provided to the customer. Billing for data service can take into account the time of the day on which the service is provided, the network resources used by the client (for example, peak data rates, sustained data rates, number of transferred packets / bytes). ), Quality of Service Provided, Number of packages abandoned due to congestion or other network transmission errors, and other factors not typically considered in billing algorithms for traditional telecommunications services. In the case of voice services, data for billing is collected in traditional Call Detail Record (CDR) format through the switching equipment deployed in the network. The multiple-point wide-area metropolitan area network of the present invention will support a wide range of future business and personal telecommunications services such as vehicle data requests using on-board computer systems that integrate city and road maps with global positioning data and local traffic information. A radar to avoid collisions is another suitable vehicular application. In addition, multiple point-to-point networks can support a number of personal computing applications with wireless broadband connection capability, > «Safa. including personal digital assistants, manual Web terminals, as well as LAN, s mobile-sized campus. While the present system has been described in relation to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications in form and detail may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Accordingly, modifications such as those suggested above, but not limited thereto, are considered within the scope of the invention.

Claims (17)

1. CLAIMS A wide area communication network comprising: at least two core sites, where each core site is adapted to offer wireless broadband communication to several subscribers in a corresponding sector; at least two remote sites, each remote site corresponds to one of said sectors where each of said sectors comprises several subscriber locations and each of said subscriber locations also has several subscribers, said network is adapted to dynamically allocate bandwidth between said various subscribers, said network is further adapted to perform a statistical multiplexing among said multiple subscribers in each of said subscriber locations; a wireless broadband system from point to multiple points, each remote site is connected to a corresponding core site through said wireless broadband system from point to multiple points, said wireless system from point to multiple points encapsulates data in cells ATM for transport by the wireless system; a main communication network adapted to interconnect said at least two core sites, said ni kt ffiViitírS tivf ^ - main communication network allows the establishment of communication between said various subscribers in each of said corresponding sectors; and a plurality of value-added service nodes connected to said main communication network to provide access to value added services to said various subscribers through said at least two core sites.
2. A wide area communication network according to claim 1, comprising at least one service node operably connected to at least one of said core sites.
3. A wide-area communication network according to claim 2, wherein said at least one service node includes at least one of the following: an Internet service node, a long-distance telephone service node, a service node, local telephone service, and a video service node.
4. A wide area communication network according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said at least two remote sites comprises: an outdoor unit, said outdoor unit includes a radio transceiver operatively connected to an antenna; several indoor units, said indoor units are operatively connected to several customer premises equipment; and an inter-installation link, said inter-installation link is connecting said outdoor unit 5 to said various indoor units, whereby said radio transceiver supports a plurality of said equipment in the premises of the customers.
5. 5. A wide area network according to claim 4, further comprising a means for 10 statistical multiplexing of the use of said radio unit between said various equipment that are in the premises of the customers.
6. 6. A wide area network according to claim 4, wherein said indoor units 15 comprise: a chassis, said chassis has receiving devices for several line cards; and a line card, said line card offers a specific service interface between said chassis and a device located in a customer's premises.
7. 7. A wide area network according to claim 6, wherein said line card line can support an additional indoor unit in a daisy chain configuration. 25
8. 8. A wide area network in accordance with the ^^? tó ^^^^^? íJÉ ^ ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ vibrates
9. 9. A wide area network according to claim 4, wherein said remote site is located in a 5 multi-storey abode and one indoor unit is installed on several floors of the building.
10. 10. A wide area network according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said at least two remote sites comprises an integrated unit that 10 offers selected services to a team at the client's premises.
11. 11. A wide area communication network according to claim 1, wherein said wireless broadband point-to-multiple system in said site of The core comprises: a first radio unit operating at a selectable first frequency and providing coverage in a first sector; a second radio unit operating at a second selectable frequency and providing coverage in a second sector, said second sector being substantially adjacent to said first sector; and means for selecting said first selectable frequency and said second frequency selectable from several available frequencies in such a way that ^^? & ^^^^^^^^^^ Jj & The first selectable frequency and said second selectable frequency are substantially separated thereby minimizing co-channel interference.
12. 12. A wide area communication network according to claim 11, further comprising at least a third radio unit operating at a third selectable frequency, said third radio unit offering additional coverage in one of said first sector and said second sector, said means for selecting further selects said third selectable frequency in such a manner that said first selectable frequency, said second selectable frequency and said third selectable frequency are substantially different.
13. 13. A wide area communication network according to claim 11, wherein said network includes a plurality of adjacent and non-adjacent sectors and wherein said means for selecting frequencies reuses said available frequencies in said non-adjacent sectors.
14. An area communication network according to claim 1, wherein said main communication network and said broadband wireless system each support a packet based on a data transfer protocol.
15. 15. A wide area communication network according to claim 14, wherein said packet-based transfer protocol is the Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
16. 16. A wide area communication network according to claim 14, wherein said packet-based transfer protocol for core-to-core site network communication includes both the Asynchronous Transfer Mode and the Synchronous Transfer Mode.
17. 17. A wide area communication network according to claim 16, wherein said packets are ATM packets that include a header portion and a load portion, said header portion includes a quality of service parameter and wherein said network comprises in addition a means for allocating a system bandwidth to said quality of service parameter. 8. A broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network adapted to provide fixed wireless broadband local access, comprising: a plurality of subscriber systems, wherein each of said subscriber systems includes a subscriber radio unit, said subscriber radio unit is adapted to operate on a frequency corresponding to a cell sector where said subscriber system has residence, at least one of said subscriber systems has several equipment in the premises of the associated clients and includes a means for carrying out statistical multiplexing between said equipment in the premises of the customers and said radio unit; several core sites, said core sites are interconnected by a structure based on Sonet; said core sites include several core site radio units, said core site radio units operate at a selectable frequency with at least one radio unit corresponding to a cell sector, said several core sites include means for dynamically assigning communication bandwidth among several subscribers within each cell sector, said several core sites communicating with said at least one radio unit by encapsulating data transmitted between them as ATM packets; several value-added service nodes, said service nodes are connected to said main network, said subscribers have access to said value-added service nodes through said core sites and said main network; and a central operations node, said central operations node is connected to each core site through a control network and is adapted to provide a mg & remote control of said core sites and a remote control of said subscriber access to said service nodes. 10 15 20 25 ^^^? Fc ^ & ^^^^^^ aguggjtóÁ ^^^^^^^^ tó