MXPA97005417A - High-capacity and spectrally efficient wireless communication systems - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wireless system for calculating uplink signals transmitted from a plurality of remote terminals using a common uplink channel, said system includes at least one base station, said system comprises: reception in said at least one base station including a plurality of antennas and receivers to produce measures of combinations of said uplink signals, from said plurality of remote terminals using said common upload link channel, processing means receiving space for determining and storing spatial reception identifiers for said plurality of remote terminals using said measurements, and spatial demultiplexing means, using said reception spatial identifiers and said measurements for calculating said sub connection signals.

Description

HIGH CAPACITY AND SPECTRALLY EFFICIENT WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to wireless communication system and, in particular, to use antenna arrays and signal processing to grammatically increase the performance capability of wireless communication systems. Wireless communication systems can be used to complement, and in some instances replace conventional wired communication systems where conventional line wire systems are not available, are not reliable, or are extremely expensive. Examples of these areas are: rural areas with a small number of users, underdeveloped areas with little or no current infrastructure, applications sensitive to reliability in areas where the wiring infrastructure is not reliable and in political lathes where the monopolistic suppliers of Wiring services maintain artificially high prices. Even in metropolitan areas and highly developed countries, wireless communication systems can be used for low-cost communication, new flexible data services and emergency communication systems. In general, wireless communication systems, in the same way as conventional telephone systems are used, and for data communications in a wide radio area or local area network. Users of wireless equipment have access to wireless communication systems using remote terminals such as cell phones and data modems equipped with radio transceivers. These systems (and in particular the remote terminals) have protocols to initiate calls, receive calls and general information transfer. The transfer of information can be done in real time, such as in the case of voice and fax conversations with circuit breakers, and with the system of storing and transmitting, as in the case of e-mail, pagers and other transfer systems of similar messages. Wireless communication systems are generally assigned a portion of the radio frequency spectrum for their operation. The allocated portion of the spectrum is divided into communication channels. These channels can be distinguished by their frequencies, by time, by code or by some combination of the above. Each of these communication channels will be designated herein as conventional channels. Depending on the frequency allocations available, the wireless system can have from 1 to several hundred communication channels. To provide fully duplex communication links, typically a part of the communication channels are used to communicate the base stations to the remote terminals of the users (link below) and others are used for communication from the remote terminals of the users to the stations bases (link above). Wireless communication systems generally have 1 or more radio base stations, each of which provides coverage to a geographical area known as a cell, and which generally functions as a point of presence (PoP) providing a connection to a wide area network , such as the telephone network with public switches (PSTN). Frequently, use a predetermined set of available communication channels are assigned to each radio base station, in an attempt to minimize the amount of interference experienced by system users. Within the cell, a radio base station can communicate simultaneously with many remote terminals using different conventional communication channels for each remote terminal. As mentioned above, base stations can act as PoP, providing as a connection to 1 or more cable communication systems. These systems include local data networks, large area data networks, and PSTN. Therefore, remote users have access to local or wide-area data services and the local public telephone system. Base stations can also be used to provide local connectivity without direct access to wiring networks, such as emergency communication system in local areas and on mobile battlefields. Base stations can also provide connectivity of various kinds. In the aforementioned examples, it was assumed that point-to-point communications were approximately equal amounts of information flow in both directions between 2 users. In other applications such as interactive television, information is transmitted to all users simultaneously, and responses from many of the remote units must be processed at the base stations. However, cable and conventional communication systems are comparatively spectrally inefficient. In conventional wired communication systems, only a remote terminal can use any conventional channel within a cell at any time. If more than one remote terminal in a cell attempts to use the same channel at the same time, the uplink and downlink signals associated with the remote terminals interfere with each other. Since conventional receiver technology can not eliminate interference in these combined uplink and downlink signals, remote terminals are unable to communicate effectively with the base station when interference is present. Therefore, the total capacity of the system is limited by the number of conventional channels available to the base station, and in the general system, by the way in which these channels are reused between multiple cells. As a result, conventional wired systems are unable to provide capacity accordingly, conventional wireless systems are unable to provide a capacity that can approximate that of wired communication systems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to use antenna arrangements and signal processing to separate combinations of received signals (link above). Another object of the present invention is to transmit downstream spatially multiplexed downlink signals. The result is a dramatic increase in spectral efficiency, capacity, signal quality and coverage of wireless communication systems. The capacity is increased by allowing multiple users to simultaneously share the same conventional communication channel within a cell without interfering with each other, and also by allowing a more frequent reuse of the same conventional channel within a geographical area that covers many cells. The quality of the signal and the coverage area are improved by intelligent processing of signals received from and transmitted by multiple antenna elements. Also, a further object of the present invention is to provide capacity gains by dynamically allocating conventional channels between the base stations and remote terminals. Briefly, the invention comprises antenna arrangements and signal processing devices for measuring, calculating, storing and using spatial identifications of receivers and transmitters in wireless communication systems to increase system capacity, signal quality and coverage, and to reduce the overall cost of the system. The antenna arrangement and the signal processing device can be used as base stations (PoPs) and remote terminals. Generally there may be different processing requirements at the base stations where many signals are concentrated than at the remote terminals, where in general a limited number of communication links are handled. As an example, in a wireless local closed path application, a particular base station can function as a PoP for many remote terminals, and use the array of antennas and signal processing described herein. Additionally, remote terminals could use antenna arrays and signal processing to further improve their signal capacity and quality over simpler remote terminals that handle fewer communication links. At present, the distinction between base stations and remote terminals is that base stations generally act as hubs that connect simultaneously with multiple remote units, possibly providing a high capacity connection for a broad area network. While for clarity, much of the following discussion is put in terms of simple remote terminals that do not use antenna provisions, nothing in the present should be construed as impeding this application. Therefore, as long as from now on the spatial identifications are associated primarily with remote terminals, when antenna arrangements are used in remote terminals, the base stations will also have associated spatial identifications. Briefly, there are 2 spatial identifications associated with each pair of remote terminal / base station in a particular frequency channel, where for purposes of the present discussion it is assumed that only the base stations have antenna arrangements. The base stations associate with each remote terminal in their cell a spatial identification related to the way in which the remote terminal receives signals transmitted to it by the antenna arrangement of the base station, and a second spatial identification related to the way in which the The arrangement of receiving antennas of the base station receives signals transmitted by the remote terminal. In a system with many conventional channels, each remote terminal pair / base station has spatial transmission and reception identifications for each conventional channel. The receiver spatial identification characterizes how the antenna arrangement of the base station receives signals from the remote unit in particular in a particular conventional channel. In one modality, it is a complex vector that contains responses (amplitude and phase with respect to a reference) of each of the receivers of the antenna elements, that is, for a vector of m elements, a.r [a.r (l), a_r (2) a > r (tn)] t, where abr (i) is the response of the receiver i-éCimo t with a signal to a unit of signal strength transmitted from the remote terminal. Assuming that a restricted band signal sr (t) is transmitted from the remote terminal, the receiver outputs of the base station at a time t are given by: Zb (t) = i \ brSr. { t - t) + nh. { t), where t represents the mean deferred propagation between the remote terminal and the antenna array of the base station, and nb (t) represents the noise present in the environment and the receivers. The spatial identification of transmission characterizes the way in which the remote terminal receives signals from each of the antennas array elements in the base station in a particular conventional channel. In one embodiment, it is a complex vector containing relative amounts (amplitude and phase relative to a reference) of each of the transmission outputs of the antenna element that are contained in the remote terminal's receiving output, ie, for a vector m elements, arfc = [ar »(l), arfc (2) a- n)], where arb (i) is the amplitude and phase (relative to a fixed reference) of the receiver output of the remote terminal for a power signal unit transmitted from the element i in the arrangement of the base station. Assuming that a vector of complex signals sb = [sb (l), sb (m) t were transmitted from the antenna array, the output from the remote terminal receiver could be given by Zr (t) = a, »_» ll -r) + rMi). where nr (t) represents the noise present in the environment and the receiver. These spatial identifications are calculated (estimated) and stored in each base station for each remote signal and in its cell, and for each conventional channel. For fixed remote terminals and base stations in stationary environments, spatial identification can be updated infrequently. However, in general, changes in the RF propagation environment between the base station and the remote terminal may alter the identifications, and require their updating. Note that from now on, the time argument between parentheses will be suppressed: the integers inside parentheses will be used only as indexes of vectors and matrices.

In the previous discussion, it was based on the assumption of temporarily adapted transmitters and receivers. If there are differences in the temporal responses, they can be updated using temporary filtering techniques, which are known in the art. Likewise, it was assumed that the channel band amplitudes were small in comparison with the central frequency of operations. High bandwidth channels may require more than one complex vector to accurately describe the outputs, as is known in the art. When more than one remote terminal wants to communicate at the same time, the signal processing device in the base stations uses the spatial identifications of the remote terminals to determine if some of their subsets can communicate simultaneously with the base stations when sharing a conventional channel. In a system with m transmitting antenna elements and m receiving antenna elements, up to m remote terminals can share the same conventional channel at the same time. When the multiple remote terminals share a single overhead conventional link channel, the multiple antenna elements of the base station each measure a combination of the uplink signals and the incoming noise. These combinations result from relative locations of the antenna elements, the locations of the remote terminals, and the RF propagation environment. The signal processing device calculates multiplexing spatial weights to allow the uplink signals to be separated from the uplink combinations measured by the multiple antenna elements. In applications where different downlink signals must be sent from the base station to the remote terminals, the signal processing device calculates spatial multiplexing weights that are used to produce multiplexed downlink signals, which when transmitted from the antenna elements in the base station result in receiving the correct down link signal in each remote terminal with appropriate signal quality. In applications where the same signal must be transmitted from the base station to a large number (more than the number of antenna elements) of remote terminals, the signal processing device calculates appropriate weights to transmit the signal, covering the area needed to reach all the remote terminals. Accordingly, the signal processing device facilitates simultaneous communication between a base station and remote multiplex terminals on the same conventional channel. The conventional channel may be a frequency channel, a time region in a time division multiplexed system, a code in a multiplexed code division system, or a combination of the above.

In one embodiment, all elements of a single array of antennas transmit and receive radio frequency signals, while in another mode the array of antennas includes separate elements of transmit antennas and receiver antenna elements. The number of elements of transmitters and receivers do not need to be the same. If they are not the same, the maximum number of point-to-point links that can be established simultaneously in a conventional channel is given by the smaller of the 2 numbers. The invention, objectives and features thereof, will be more apparent from the following detailed description, together with the figures and appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a functional flow diagram of a compliance base station of the present invention. Figure 2 is a functional flow diagram of multiple channel receivers in the base station. Figure 3 is a functional flow diagram of spatial demultiplexer in the base station. Figure 5 is a functional flow diagram of a multi-channel transmitter in the base station. Fig. 6 is a functional flow diagram of a spatial processor in the base station. Figure 7 is a functional flow diagram of a remote terminal with a transponder switch.

Figure 8 is a functional flow diagram of a remote terminal. Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a network system comprised of 3 base stations and a multiple base station controller. List of reference numbers 1. Base station 2. Communication link of the base station 3. Controller of the base station 4. Received signal demodulated 5. Signals of link above spatially separated 6. Measurements of received signals 7. Demultiplexing weights 8. Data that are transmitted directionally 9. Modulated signal that must be multiplexed for transmission. 10. Modulated and spatially multiplexed signals to be transmitted. 11. Calibration signals to be transmitted 12. Multiplexing weights 13. Space processor 14. Multichannel transmitters 15. Multichannel receivers 16a. Multichannel receiver 16m. Multi-channel receiver 17a. Multichannel transmitter 17m. Multi-channel transmitter 18a. Transmission antenna 18m. Transmission antenna 19a. Receiving antenna 19m. Receiving antenna 20. Spatial demultiplexers 21. Adder 22a. Multipliers 22m. Multipliers 23. Space multiplexers 24. Signal modulator 25. Signal demodulator 26a. Multipliers 26m. Multipliers 27. Spatial control data 28. Spatial parameter data 29. Common receiver oscillator 30. Receiver control data 31. Transmitter control data 32. Common transmitter oscillator 33. Spatial processor controller 34. List of active remote terminals . Channel selector 36. Remote activity database 37. Space weights processor 38. Spatial identifier processor 39. Antenna of the remote terminal 40. Duplexer of the remote terminal 41. Output of the duplexer of the remote terminal 42. Receiver of the remote terminal 43. Signal received by the remote terminal 44. Signal received from calibration of the remote terminal 45. Scrambler of the remote terminal 46. Data demodulated from the remote terminal 47. Keypad and controller of the remote terminal 48 Keypad data of the remote terminal 49. Screen data of the remote terminal 50. Screen and screen controller of the remote terminal 51. Modulator of the remote terminal 52. Data of the remote terminal to be transmitted 53. Modulated data of the remote terminal to be transmitted 54. Transmitter of remote terminal 55. Exit of transmitter of remote terminal 56. Control data of the transmitter of the remote terminal 57. Data of the receiver control of the remote terminal 58. Microphone of the remote terminal 59. Signal of the microphone of the remote terminal 60. Horn of the remote terminal 61. Signal of the speaker of the remote terminal 62. Central processing unit of the remote terminal 63. Transponder switch of the remote terminal 64. Transponder control switch of remote terminal 65. Wide area network 66. Multiple base station controller 67a. Border of cell 67b. Border of cell 67c. Border cell 68. High speed message link 69. Remote terminal Description of the invention Figure 1 shows the preferred embodiment of the base station 1. A base station controller 3 acts as an interface between the base station 1 and any external connection via a base station communication link 2, and functions to coordinate the general operation of the base station 1. In the preferred embodiment, the base station controller 3 is instrumented with a conventional central processing unit, associated memory and programming. The input of uplink radio transmissions goes to an antenna array composed of a number, m, of receiver antenna elements 19 (a ...., m), where each output is connected to one of m multichannel receivers in a bank of coherent phase multiple channel receivers 15. Multiple channel receivers 15 have a well-adapted amplitude and phase responses over the frequency bands of interest, or, as is well known, correction filters are instrumented to compensate any difference. The illustrative embodiment describes a conventional frequency division multiple access system. Each multi-channel receiver is capable of handling multiple frequency channels. The Ncc symbol will be used to refer to the maximum number of conventional frequency channels that can be handled by the receivers. Depending on the frequencies assigned for the operation of the wireless communication system and the bandwidths chosen for particular communication links, Ncc can be 1 (a single frequency channel) or can represent thousands. In alternative embodiments, multiple channel receivers 15 can handle multiple timeslots, multiple codes or some combination of these multiple access techniques known in the art. In each conventional channel, the receiving antenna elements 19 (a, m) each measure a combination of the uplink signals arriving from the remote terminals and sharing this conventional channel. These combinations result in relative locations of the antenna elements, the locations of the remote terminals and the RF propagation environment and for narrow band signals are given by equation 2. Figure 2 shows individual multichannel receivers 16 (am) with connections of antenna elements, common local receiver oscillators 29, one for each conventional frequency channel to be used in that base station, and measurements of received signals 6. The common local receiver oscillators 29 ensure that the signals of the receiver antenna elements 19 (a) are coherently converted to base bands: their Ncc frequencies are set so that the multiple channel receivers 16 (a .... m) extract all the Ncc frequency channels of interest. The frequencies of the common local receiver oscillators 29 are controlled by a spatial processor 13 (FIG. 1) by receiver control data 30. In an alternative embodiment, where multiple frequency channels are all contained in an adjoining frequency band, it is used a common local oscillator to convert the entire band that is then digitized, and digital filters and decimators extract the desired subset of channels using known techniques. The illustrative embodiment describes a multiple frequency division access system. In a time division multiple access or multiple division multiple access system, the common oscillators 29 would be increased to transmit the common time slot signals or common code signals respectively from the spatial processor 13, by means of the data from control of receiver 30 to multiple channel receivers 16 (am).

In these embodiments, the multiple channel receivers 16 (a .... m) perform a selection of conventional time division channels or conventional code division channels in addition to the conversion to the baseband. Referring again to Figure 1, the receivers of the multiple channels 15 produce measurements of received signals 6 that are supplied in a spatial processor 13 and still a set of spatial demultiplexers 20. In this mode, the received signal measurements 6 contain m signals complex baseband for each frequency channel Ncc. Figure 6 shows a more detailed flow diagram of the spatial processor 13. The spatial processor 13 produces and maintains spatial identifications for each remote terminal for each conventional frequency channel, and calculates spatial multiplexes and demultiplexing weights to be used by the spatial demultiplexers 20 and the spatial multiplexers 23. In the preferred embodiment, the spatial processor 13 is instrumented using a conventional central processing unit. The measurements of received signals 6 go to the spatial identification processor 38 which calculates and updates the spatial identifications. The spatial identifications are stored in a list of spatial identifications in a remote terminal database 36 and are used by the channel selector 35 and the spatial weight processor 37, which also produce demultiplexer weights 7 and multiplexer weights 12. A controller of spatial processor 33 makes the connection to the spatial weights processor 37 and also produces receiver control data 30, transmitter control data 31 and spatial control data 27. Referring again to FIG. 1, spatial demultiplexers 20 combine measurements of received signals 6 in accordance with the space demultiplexing weights 7. Figure 3 shows a demultiplexer 20 for a single conventional channel. In this embodiment, the arithmetic operations in a demultiplexer 30 are performed using general purpose arithmetic chips. In Figure 3, Zb (i) denotes the i-eca-mo component of the vector of received signal measurements 6 for the single conventional channel, and WrI (i) denotes the complex conjugate of the i-ecJ-mo component of the vector of space demultiplexing weights 7 for remote terminals using this conventional channel. For each remote terminal in each conventional channel, the spatial demultiplexer 20 calculates the internal product of the spatial demultiplexer weights 7 for the conventional channel with the measurements of the received signals 6: rz_ = w; r (l) z »(l) + ... + w; r (m) z? (m), where (.) * indicates complex conjugation, the numbers in parentheses indicate the number of the element (for example Wrx (i) is the component i-ec? mo of the vector rx), the multiplication is done by the multipliers 22 (a, m ), and the sum is performed by the adder 21. For each remote terminal of each conventional channel, the output of the adder 21 given by equation 5 comprises the above spatially separated link signals 5. Referring again to FIG. 1, the outputs of the spatial demultiplexers 20 are spatially separated uplink signals 5 for each remote terminal communicating with the base station. The spatially separated uplink signals 5 are demodulated by the signal demodulators 25, producing demodulated received signals 4 for each remote terminal communicating with the base station. The demodulated received signals 4 and the corresponding spatial control data 27 are available to the base station controller 3. In embodiments where a channel coding of the signals transmitted by remote terminals is performed, the controller of the base station 3 transmits the demodulated received signals 4 from space processor 13 which, using well-known coding techniques, estimates the Bit and Error Indexes (BERs) and compares them with acceptable thresholds stored in the database of the remote terminal 36. If the BERs are unacceptable, the spatial processor 13 reallocates resources to alleviate the problem. In one mode, unacceptable BERs are assigned to new channels that use the same strategy, such as adding a new user, except that the channel in question is not acceptable unless the set in question of users of that particular channel changes. . Additionally, a recalibration of the reception signal for the remote terminal / base station pair is performed when that conventional channel is available. For transmission, the signal modulators 24 produce modulated signals 9 for each remote terminal to which the base station transmits, and a set of spatial multiplexing weights 12 is applied for each remote terminal to the respective modulated signals in the spatial multiplexers. to produce spatially multiplexed signals to be transmitted for each of the transmission antennas 18 (a .... m) and for each of the conventional channels Ncc. In the preferred embodiment, the number Ncc of conventional downlink channels is equal to the number Ncc of conventional uplink channels. In other modalities, there may be different numbers of conventional uplink and downlink channels. Likewise, the channels can be of different band types and amplitudes, as in the case of the interactive television application, where the link below is comprised of broadband video channels and the link above uses data / broadcast channels. Narrow band. Additionally, the illustrative embodiment shows the same number of antenna elements m, for transmitting and receiving. In other embodiments, the number of transmission antenna elements and the number of reception antenna elements may be different, including the case where the transmission uses a single transmission element in an omnidirectional sense, such as in the interactive television application . Figure 4 shows the spatial multiplexer for a remote terminal in a particular conventional channel. The arithmetic operations in the spatial multiplexer 23 are performed using general purpose arithmetic chips. The modulated signal component 9 intended for this remote terminal in this conventional channel is denoted by sb 'Y wtx denotes the speaker i ec: Lmo of the spatial multiplexing weights vector 12 for this remote terminal in this conventional channel. For each remote terminal in each conventional channel, the spatial multiplexer 23 calculates the product of its spatial multiplexing weights vector (of the spatial multiplexing weights 12) with its modulated signal sb (of the modulated signals 9): where (.) * indicates the complex conjugate (transposed) and the multiplication is done by the multipliers 26 (a m). For each conventional channel, equation 6 is evaluated by spatial multiplexing 23 for each remote signal that is transmitted in this conventional channel.

Corresponding to each remote terminal, there is a vector of different multiplexing weight and modulated signals. For each conventional channel, the spatial multiplexing 23 adds the spatially multiplexed signals for each remote terminal that is transmitted in this conventional channel, producing spatially multiplexed and modulated signals 10 which are the signals that are transmitted for each conventional downlink channel of each antenna . The modulated and spatially multiplexed signals 10 are inputs to a bank of coherent multiplex channel transmitters of m phases 14. The transmitters of multiplex channels 14 have a well-adapted amplitude and phase responses over the frequency of bands of interest or, as is well known, correction filters are instrumented to compensate for the differences. Figure 5 shows multiplex channel transmitters 17 (a) with antenna connections, common local transmitter oscillators 32 and digital inputs 10. Common local transmission oscillators 32 ensure that the relative phases of the spatially multiplexed signals 10 are preserved during the transmission by transmission antennas 18 (am). The frequencies of the common local transmitter oscillators 32 are controlled by a spatial processor 13 (see Figure 1) by the transmitter control data 31. In an alternative embodiment, the spatial multiplexer 23 uses known baseband multiplexing techniques to multiplex all conventional channel signals calculated to be transmitted in a single broadband signal to be converted and transmitted by each multi-channel transmitter 17 (a). The multiplexing can be done digitally, or analogously, as appropriate. The illustrative embodiment shows a system with multiple frequency channels. In a time division multiple access or multiple division access multiple access system, the common oscillators 32 could be increased to address the common time slot or the common code signals respectively of the spatial processor 13 by means of the control data of transmission 31, to the multi-channel transmitters 17 (am). Referring again to Figure 1, in applications where spatial transmission identifications are required, the spatial processor 13 is also capable of transmitting predetermined calibration signals to 11 for each antenna in a particular conventional downlink channel. The spatial processor 13 instructs the multiplex channel transmitters 17 (a m), by transmitter control data 31 to transmit predetermined calibration signals 11 instead of spatially multiplexed signals 10 for a particular conventional downlink channel. These are one of the mechanisms used to determine the transmission spatial identifications of the remote terminals in this downstream conventional link channel. In alternative modes, where known channel coding techniques are used to encode the signals to be transmitted to the remote terminals, the remote terminals use well-known coding techniques to calculate the BERs that are then reported to the base station on their link channel above. If these BERs exceed acceptable limits, corrective actions are taken. In one modality, the corrective action involves reallocating resources using the same strategy as adding a new user with the exception that the channel in question is not acceptable unless the set of users in question of that particular channel changes. Additionally, the recalibration of the transmission identification for that remote terminal / base station pair is made when the conventional channel is available. Figure 7 shows the arrangement of components in a remote terminal that provides voice communication. The antenna 39 of the remote terminal is connected to a duplexer 40 to allow the antenna 39 to be used for transmission and reception. In an alternative modality, separate reception and transmission antennas are used, which eliminates the need for duplexer 40. In another alternative mode, where transmission and reception occur in the same frequency channel but at different times, a transmitter / receiver switch ( TR) instead of a duplexer, which is known in the art. The output of the duplexer 41 functions as an input to a receiver 42. The receiver 42 produces a converted signal 43 which is in turn the input to a demodulator 45. A received and demodulated voice signal 61 is the input to a horn 60. received and demodulated control data 46 are supplied to a central remote terminal processing unit 62 (CPU). The received and demodulated control data 46 is used to receive data from the base station 1 during call setup and termination, and in an alternative mode, to determine the quality (BER) of the signals that are received by the remote terminal and to relay them to the base station, as described above. The CPU of the remote terminal 62 is instrumented with a conventional microprocessor. The CPU of the remote terminal 62 also produces reception control data 57 for selecting the receiving channel of the remote terminal, the transmitter control data 56 for setting the transmission channel of the remote terminal and the power level, the control data to be transmitted 52, and screen data 49 for the remote terminal screen 50. The CPU of the remote terminal 52 also receives data from board 48 of the board of the remote terminal 47.

The voice signal of the remote terminal to be transmitted 59 of the microphone 58 is the input to a modulator 51. The control data to be transmitted 52 is supplied by the CPU of the remote terminal 62. Control data to be transmitted 52 is used to transmit data to the base station 1 during the fixation and termination of the call, as well as to transmit information during the call, such as call quality measures (e.g., bit error regimes (BERs)). The modulated signal to be transmitted 53, the output of the modulator 51, is converted and amplified by a transmitter 54, producing a transmitter output signal 55. The transmitter output 55 is then input to a duplexer 40 for transmission by the antenna 39 In an alternative mode, the remote terminal provides digital data communication. The demodulated received speech signal 61, the horn 60, the microphone 58 and the speech signal to be transmitted 59 are replaced by digital interfaces known in the art, which allows the transmission of data to and from an external data processing device ( for example, a computer). Referring again to Figure 7, the remote terminal allows the received data 46 to be transmitted back to the base station 1 by the switch 63 controlled by the CPU of the remote terminal 62 by the control signal of the switch 64. In normal operations , the switch 63 drives the transmitter 54 with modulated signals 53 of the modulator 51. When the base station 1 instructs the remote terminal to enter the calibration mode, the CPU of the remote terminal 62 outputs the switch control signal 64, which instructs the switch 63 to drive the transmitter 64 with the received data 43. Figure 8 shows an alternative embodiment of the calibration function of the remote terminal. The switch 63 of figure 7 is no longer used. Instead, the output of the receiver 42 is supplied to the CPU of the remote terminal 62 via data connection 44. During normal operations, the CPU of the remote terminal 62 ignores the data connection 44. In the calibration mode , the CPU of the remote terminal 62 uses the data connection 44 to calculate the spatial identification of transmission of the remote terminal, which is transmitted again to the base station 1 by the modulator 51 of the transmitter 54 as control data to be transmitted 52. In an alternative mode, no special calibration procedures are required at the remote terminal. In many conventional wireless protocol standards, remote terminals regularly report the strength of the received signals or the quality of the received signals back to the base station. In the present embodiment, the reports of the intensity of received signals are sufficient to calculate the spatial identification of transmission of the remote terminal, as will be described below. OPERATION OF THE INVENTION General Principles-Base Station In many aspects, the spectrally efficient base station shown in Figure 1 behaves very similarly to a conventional wireless communication system base station. The main distinction is that the spectrally efficient base station supports many more simultaneous conversations than conventional communication channels. The conventional communication channels may be frequency channels, time channels, code channels or any combination thereof. The multiplexed-spatial demultiplexer increases the capacity of the system by allowing multiplex space channels in each of these conventional channels. Also, by combining multiplex reception antenna signals, the spatial demultiplexer 20 produces spatially separated uplink signals 5 having a substantially improved signal to noise ratio., reduction in interference and better quality in multiplex trajectories environments compared to conventional base stations. In the illustrative embodiment, a wireless communications system comprising multiple remote terminals and base stations incorporating antenna arrays and spatial signal processing is described. These systems have applications, for example, to provide wireless access to the local PSTN. The information transfers (or calls) are initiated by a remote terminal or by a communication link 2 through the controller of the base station 3. The initialization of calls occurs in a control channel uplink and downlink, which which is known in the art. In the present embodiment, the downlink control channel is transmitted using transmission antennas 18 (a m). In an alternative mode, the downlink control channel is transmitted from a single omnidirectional antenna. The controller of the base station 3 passes the identification of the remote terminal involved in the call to the spatial processor 13, which uses the stored spatial identifications of the remote terminal to determine which conventional communication channel the remote terminal should use. The selected channel may already be occupied by several remote terminals, but nevertheless the spatial processor 13 uses the spatial identifications of all the remote terminals in that channel to determine that it can share the channels without interference. In a system with m receiving antenna elements and m transmitting antenna elements, up to m remote terminals can share the same conventional channel. More generally, the number of fully duplex point-to-point communication links that can occupy the same conventional channel at the same time is given by the smallest number of the reception and transmission elements. The spatial processor 13 uses spatial multiplexing and demultiplexing weights calculated for the selected channel and the remote terminal in question to configure the spatial multiplexer 23 and the spatial demultiplexer 20. The spatial processor 13 then informs the controller 3 of the selected channel. As in the case of conventional base stations, the controller 3 then transmits instructions to the remote terminal (via the link control channel below) to move to the selected channel to continue communication. In the event that the remote terminal had power control capabilities, which is known in the art, the controller 3 also sends instructions to the remote terminal to adjust its power to an appropriate level based on parameters such as power levels. of the other remote terminals that share the same conventional channel, and the signal quality required for each link, as will be discussed later. At the end of communications, the remote terminal returns to its neutral state, where it controls the downlink control channel waiting for its next call. This releases "Spatial channel" for another remote terminal. Spatial Processing - Base Station Figure 6 shows a flow diagram of the spatial processor 13. It is controlled by the spatial processor controller 33, which interfaces with the base station controller 3, through the link 27. The space processor controller 33 controls the gain and frequency of the multi-channel transmitters 14 and the multi-channel receivers 15 via the control lines 31 and 30. The spatial processor 13 maintains a list of active remote terminal 34 that catalogs which remote terminals are being used in a each conventional communication channel, as well as its transmission power levels at a given instant. Other parameters of the remote terminals, such as the modulation formats in question, can also be saved., the receiver noise levels in the frequency channels in question and the signal quality requirements. The spatial processor 13 also maintains a list of identifications in the database of the remote terminal 36, which in alternative modes includes the power control levels of the remote terminals, the conventional frequency channels allowed to receive and transmit, and a list of modulation formats that are understood. The list of spatial identifications in the database of the remote terminal 36 contains a spatial identification of transmission, arb and a spatial identification of reception, abr, for each operating frequency for each remote terminal. In another mode, the quality estimates (ie, error coverages of the estimate) of the spatial identifications are also saved. As mentioned before, the spatial identification of arb transmission for a particular remote terminal and a particular frequency channel and a particular frequency channel and a particular frequency channel, is defined as the vector of relative complex signal amplitudes that could reach the particular remote terminal as a result of identical narrow band power signals of the unit (equal amplitude and phase), at that particular frequency, which are transmitted through multiplex channel transmitters 14 and transmission antennas 18 (am) The spatial identification of transmission includes the effects of the propagation environment between the base station and the remote terminal, as well as any difference of amplitude and phase in the multi-channel transmitters 14, the antenna cables and the transmission antennas 18 (a ). The spatial identification of reception ar for a particular remote terminal and a particular frequency channel is defined as the vector of complex signal amplitudes that could be measured at the outputs of the multiple channel receiver 16 given a narrow band signal of unit power that it is transmitted through that particular remote terminal, at that particular frequency. When the base station controller 1 transmits a call initialization request for a particular remote terminal via link 27, a channel selector searches for list of active remote terminals 34 to find a conventional communication channel that can accommodate the terminal remote In the preferred embodiment, there is a list of active receiving remote terminals and a list of active transmitting remote terminals that are used by the channel selector 35 to form an array of multiplexing and demultiplexing spatial identifications for each conventional. For each conventional channel, the demultiplexing columns and the rows of the multiplex spatial identification matrices are the spatial identifications of transmission and reception that were saved from each of the remote terminals that are active when (using) that channel, more a column containing the appropriate spatial identifications of the remote terminal requesting a communication channel. The matrix of spatial multiplexing identifications for each channel, Arb p (where p denotes the conventional channel number) is used using spatial transmission identifications as shown in equation 7: where a1 rb p is the spatial identification of transmission for the remote terminal i-éci a assigned to the channel p, and np is the total number of remote terminals in the conventional channel p. The matrix of demultiplexing spatial identifications, Abr _, is formed using spatial reception identifications, as shown in equation 8: .-i p = [a .r., a;, r.pi Hr.pJ where a1 ^ »is the spatial reception identification for the remote terminal i-éc3-ma assigned to the channel p. The channel selector channel 35 calculates functions of these identifier arrays to assess whether communication between the base station and the new remote terminal in the conventional channel that was selected can effectively be performed. In the preferred embodiment, the channel selector 35 first calculates spatial multiplexing and demultiplexing weights for the remote terminal, and then uses these weights to estimate the performance of the link. In the illustrative mode, the spatial multiplexing weights are the rows of a matrix t? given in equation 9: U'ir = S »(- r_.?".)~ Arb, where (•) _1 is the inverse matrix, (•) * is the transposed matrix of complex conjugates, Arb is the matrix of multiplexing spatial identifications Arb, p associated with the relevant conventional channel, and S is a matrix (diagonal) that contains the amplitudes of the signals to be transmitted. The amplitudes to be transmitted, Sb, are calculated in the preferred embodiment using the matrix (diagonal) of the remote terminal receiver of the minimum square of noise voltages (9) and the diagonal matrix of the qualities of minimally desired signals (SNRes) given in Equation 10: Yes =. { SNRat, x N)? - now the channel selector 35 calculates the average least squares voltage (power) Pb to be transmitted from each element, as the sum of squares of the elements of each row Wtx. =? iag. { irt_K7r} . and the maximum square voltage (power) pPe kb to be transmitted from each element as the square of the sum of the magnitude of the elements in each row of WtXf that is, P? Tak = diag. { aisüf, -) I a65 (W't "r).}., where I is the matrix of all elements of the appropriate size and abs (-) is the absolute value of the elements. The channel selector 35 compares these values with the limits for each of the transmitters of each of the elements. If any of the voltages or maximum values exceed the acceptable limits, the remote terminal in question is not assigned to the candidate channel. Otherwise, the ability to receive otherwise, the ability of a good reception from the remote terminal is reviewed. In an alternative mode, the limits of the transmitter are used as inequalities in an optimization algorithm to calculate the transmission weights that meet the given specifications, and which also result in the minimum amount of transmitted power possible. If the transmission weights can not find the transmission weights that satisfy the limitations, the remote terminal in question is not assigned to the candidate channel. These optimization algorithms are known. To test the link above, the channel selector 35 calculates the space demultiplexing weights Wrx using Abr, the demultiplexing spatial identification array Abr, p associated with the relevant conventional channel, as is given for the preferred embodiment in equation 13: \ Vrx = (?> RPrM + íl «r> r i rP. where Pr is a matrix (diagonal) of least squared amplitudes (power) transmitted by the remote terminals, and Rnn is the covariance of reception noise of the base station. Then, the expected value of the normalized least squares error covariance is calculated in a modality as follows: ? 5E = Pr l / 2 ((¡- \ v; tAhr) P? I - v -u-r + vv ti? N-i rr) Pr - ?? the notation (') ~ * / 2 indicates the transpose of the square root of the matrix of complex conjugates. The inverse of MSE is an estimate of the proportion of signal against interference plus noise (SINR) at the output of the spatial demultiplexing: SINR = 173T if all the diagonal elements of SINR are in the above case the desired thresholds based on the signal quality required to be received from each remote terminal, the remote terminal is allowed to have access to the channel. If the candidate remote terminal is below the threshold and has the ability to increase its output power, the same calculations are made again to increase the output of the remote terminal until the maximum output power of that remote terminal is reached. , and if the SINR is still insufficient, another remote terminal SINR falls below the threshold, in which case its power is increased if possible, or all thresholds are exceeded. If acceptable powers of remote terminal transmission can be found, the remote terminal gains access to this particular conventional channel, and otherwise it is denied access and another conventional channel is reviewed. In an alternative embodiment, the calculation of the demultiplexing weights is performed using optimization methods known in the art, with the objective of minimizing the remote terminal transmission powers, subject to the signals calculated in the base station that satisfy or exceed SINR. desired minimum. Furthermore, in an alternative embodiment, in case conventional channels can not be found to accommodate the remote terminal, the channel selector 35 calculates if any of the rearrangements of the remote terminals existing between the conventional channels can allow remote terminal support. in some conventional channel. In this case, only the remote terminal will be denied communication at that moment, unless there is a rearrangement of existing users that allows an accommodation to the remote terminal. In an alternative mode that uses frequency division duplexing (FDD), the remote terminals are not restricted to being assigned to a pair of fixed conventional channels for transmitting and receiving. A sufficiently flexible system architecture is used when the channel selector 35 can choose the allocation of a particular remote transmission to transmit and receive conventional channels separated by different frequency duplexing parameters, in order to minimize the overall interference levels of the channel. system. The spatial weights of multiplexing and demultiplexing for remote terminals that already use a conventional channel must be recalculated, because adding a new remote terminal to that conventional channel can change it significantly. In the preferred embodiment, the channel selector 35, once it has already performed the necessary calculations, transmits the new multiplexing and demultiplexing spatial weights to the spatial weights processor 37 which are used to set the spatial multiplexing 23 and the demultiplexer 20. In an alternative embodiment, the spatial weights processor 37 uses the spatial signature arrays that were transmitted to them via the channel selector 35 to calculate different sets of multiplexing and demultiplexing spatial weights for all remote terminals in that conventional channel. The spatial weights processor 37 then transmits the new demultiplexing space weights to the spatial demultiplexers 20 and the new multiplexing spatial weights to the spatial multiplexer 23 for this conventional channel, updates the list of active remote terminals 34, and informs the controller of spatial processor 33, which in turn informs the base station controller 3 about the selected channel. The base station controller 3 then transmits a message to the remote terminal using the downlink control channel that instructs the remote terminal to switch to the desired conventional channel. It can be shown from equation 9 that multiplexing weights tx have the property: ? * "', _ = S .. this means that in the remote terminal i-ec? ma signal to be sent to that terminal is received with sufficient amplitude (real positive) S (i, i). The fact that Sb has elements that are not diagonally equal to 0 means that in the remote terminal i-ec ma, none of the other signals that are transmitted are received by that remote terminal. In this way, each remote terminal receives only the signals destined to it at the power levels necessary to ensure adequate communications. In alternative modalities, the uncertainties in the Arb estimates are incorporated by setting the transmission power levels of the base station, and calculating the weights to minimize the effect of errors and / or changes in Arb. Similarly, in the base station, the particular demultiplexing weights matrices given in 13 have the property that, conditional on the knowledge of the received spatial identifications and the transmission (power) voltages of the remote terminals, the estimated signals S given by : they are the most accurate in the sense of the least error of least squares. In particular, they must closely match the signals transmitted by the remote terminals, given the measurements made in the base station by the multiple antenna elements. Equations 9 and 13 represent only one way of calculating spatial weights of multiplexing and demultiplexing. There are other similar strategies that demonstrate properties similar to those shown in equation 16, which were described in the previous paragraph. Other known techniques for calculating the weight matrices Wt? and rx represent the uncertainty in the matrices of spatial identifications Arb and Abr, for conventional broadband amplitude channels, and may incorporate more complex powers and dynamic range limitations. Determination of spatial identifications As shown in Figure 6, the spatial processor 13 also contains a spatial identifier processor 38 to find the spatial identifications of the remote terminals. In the illustrative embodiment, the spatial identifier processor 38 utilizes calibration techniques described in copending US patent application 08234747. In the illustrative embodiment, each remote terminal is capable of entering a calibration mode where the received signal the remote terminal 43 is retransmitted to the base station 1. Referring to FIG. 7, this function is supplied by the switch 63 controlled by the CPU of the remote terminal 62, by the switch control signal 64. To determine the spatial signatures of transmitting and receiving a remote terminal, the spatial identification processor 38 instructs the remote terminal to enter the calibration mode by transmitting an instruction on the downlink channel. This command is generated by the base station controller 3, based on a request from the controller of the spatial processor 33, and modulated by the signal modulators 24. The spatial identifier processor 38 then transmits signals that the predetermined calibration 11 in the conventional channel occupied by the remote terminal, giving instructions to the multiplex channel transmitters 17 (a) through the transmitter control data 31 and the spatial processor controller 33. In the present embodiment, the m signals (for each antenna) between the predetermined calibration signals 11 are complex sinusoids of different frequencies. In another embodiment, the predetermined calibration signals 11 are any known and distinct signal. The remote terminal shown in Figure 7 retransmits the signal received at the remote terminal. This transponded signal is received by the multiple channel receivers 15 in the base station 1 shown in FIG. 1 and supplied to the processor of spatial identifiers 38 shown in FIG. 6. In a modality described in the patent application 08 / 234,747, the spatial identifier processor 38 calculates the reception and transmission spatial identifications from the measurements of received signals 6 and the predetermined calibration signals 11 in the following manner. Time samples of the received data are stored in any data matrix m by n Z which in the absence of noise and deviations of parameters is given by: where S is the matrix m by n of the predetermined calibration signals, and K is a known quantity by which the signal in the remote terminal is amplified before retransmission to the base station. The spatial identification of reception is to provide the singular vector (u?) Corresponding to the largest singular value (max of the data matrix Z). The transmission of a unit power signal from a remote terminal and received by the base station in an antenna element 1 provides the necessary scale gbr for the received spatial identification where u? (1) Is the first element of u? . Once abr is known, arb is calculated by: arfc =? - i ((7> ru1 / u1 (l)) tzs. where ux (l) is the first element of n1. Once ab is known, arb is calculated by: arb = -i (gbru1 / u1 (l)) + ZS +. where B + is the well-known pseudo-inverse of Moore-Penrose of matrix B that satisfies BB + = 1 (the identical matrix) for matrices B that have more columns than rows. B + B for matrices B that have more rows than columns. In alternative embodiments that are also described in copending application 08 / 234,747, already known techniques are used to explain the noise present in the system and the variations of parameters, such as oscillator frequency deviations. The spatial identifier processor 38 stores the new spatial identifications in the database of the remote terminal 36. Upon completion, the spatial identifier processor 38 instructs the remote terminal to exit the calibration mode by transmitting an instruction to the link channel. down. In an alternative embodiment, the calculation of the special transmission identifications of the remote terminal can be performed directly by the remote terminals. This embodiment of the remote terminal is shown in Figure 8. The calibration mode, the spatial identifier processor 38 transmits predetermined calibration signals 11 in the conventional channel to be calibrated by the remote terminals, as in the previous case. The CPU of the remote terminal 62 uses received calibration signals 44, and the known transmission waveforms to calculate the special transmission identification of the remote terminal using the same techniques used by the spatial identification processor 38 in the previous embodiment. The calculated transmission spatial identification is retransmitted to the base station 1 by the modulator 51 of the transmitter 54 as control data to be transmitted 52. When received by the base station 1, the spatial identifier processor 38 stores the new spatial identification of transmission in the database of the remote terminal 36. Since each remote terminal independently performs the spatial transmission identification calculations, this arrangement allows multiple remote terminals to simultaneously calculate their own transmission spatial identifications in the same conventional channel. In this embodiment, the spatial identifications of remote terminal reception are calculated by the spatial identification processor 38, in the same manner as in the previous mode. Using these techniques, the spatial identifier processor 38 can measure the spatial identifications of transmission and reception of a remote terminal for a particular channel, at any time when the channel is inactive. The efficiency of these calibration techniques allows the spatial identifier processor 38 to update the spatial identifications of numerous remote terminals for a particular channel, as long as it occupies that channel only for a short time.

Many other techniques are also available to obtain spatial identifications of remote terminals. In some RF environments, spatial identifications for remote terminals can be determined using known techniques that depend on knowledge of the geometrical arrangement of the receiving antennas 19 (a) and their individual directivity patterns (gain and element phase, with respect to to a reference, as the arrival angle function), and the address from the base station to the remote terminal. Also, techniques such as ESPRIT (U.S. Patent Nos. 4,750,147 and 4,965,732) can be used to calculate addresses in applications that are not known a priori. Similarly, and as is well known, the knowledge of the predetermined modulation format parameters of the underlying signals that are transmitted through the remote terminals (for example, the knowledge of certain training sequences or preamble, or the knowledge that the signals are constant modules) can also be used to determine the spatial reception identifications for remote terminals. Yet another example is the decision-direction feedback techniques, also known in the art, where the reception data is demodulated and then modulated to produce an estimate of the original modulated signal. These techniques allow the calculation of spatial reception identifications, even when multiple remote terminals occupy the same conventional channel. In some RF environments, spatial transmission identifications for remote terminals can be explicitly calculated, as is well known, using knowledge of remote terminal locations, and the location and directivity patterns of the base station's transmit antennas. This does not require any special capacity from the remote terminal. If the remote terminal has a capacity to measure and report the intensity of the signal it receives, the system can use this information to derive transmission spatial identifications, albeit less efficiently than the modality shown in Figure 7, where the The remote terminal has all the transponder capabilities, or the modality shown in Figure 8, where the remote terminal directly calculates its spatial transmission identification. The spatial identification of transmission is determined based solely on the signal strength reports received from the remote terminal as follows. First, the spatial identification processor 38 transmits identical unit power signals from two of the m antenna elements each time. The spatial identification processor 38 then changes the amplitude and phase of one of the two signals, until the remote terminal reports that it is not receiving signals. The set of complex weights for the antenna elements 2 to m, required to cancel a power signal of units of the element 1 are changed sign and inverted to produce the spatial identification of transmission for the remote terminal. In yet another embodiment, the system can be designed to continuously update the spatial identifications of the remote terminals in the form of a "closed path". This is done to explain the time variations of the spatial identifications due to, for example, the movement of the remote terminal or changes in RF propagation conditions. To do this, both the base station and the remote terminal periodically transmit predetermined training sequences. Each remote terminal that is active in a particular channel is assigned to a different predetermined training sequence, and receives the training sequences for all other active remote terminals in that particular channel. In one embodiment, the different training sequences are orthogonal in the sense that the internal product of any two of the training sequence waveforms is zero. At each instant that the training sequences are transmitted, each remote terminal calculates how much of each training sequence it received using known techniques, and transmits this information to the base station. In the illustrative embodiment, the base station uses the reception outputs and the knowledge of the transmitted waveforms to calculate the spatial identifications of remote terminal reception. In another embodiment, the base station calculates how much of each training sequence transmitted remotely passed through each output of the spatial demultiplexer, expressed with a complex vector of coupling coefficients. Knowledge of these coupling coefficients allows the active reception and transmission spatial identifications to be corrected to reduce mutual interference using known techniques. Finally, in systems using time division duplexing (TDD) for full duplex communications, as is known in the art, the transmission and reception frequencies are equal. In this case, using the well-known principle of reciprocity, the spatial identifications of transmission and reception are directly related. Therefore, this modality determines only one of the identifications, for example, the spatial identification of reception, and the other, in this case the spatial identification of transmission, is calculated from the first spatial identification (of reception) and knowledge of the amplitude characteristics of the relative phase of the multichannel receivers 15 and the multichannel transmitters 14. Space Processing at the Network Level In the embodiment illustrated herein, the spatial processor for each of the base stations in the system Wireless communication similar to cellular operates independently to maximize the number of communication channels in the immediate cell. However, significant improvements in system capacity can be made if the spatial processor for each base station communicates and coordinates its activities with the spatial processors of other nearby cells. In Figure 9 a specific modality is shown. A multiple base station controller 66 acts as the interface between the wide area network 65 through the link 68 and the base stations 1 (a.b.c) via the base station communication links 2 (a.b.c). Each base station responsible for providing coverage to a certain number of remote terminals. In one embodiment, each remote terminal is assigned to only one of the base stations, thereby defining the cell boundaries 67 (a.b.c), within which all remote terminals attached to a particular base station are located. Users equipped with remote terminals 69 are identified by the "R" within a box in the figure. Each spatial processor contained in the base stations 1 (a.b.c) measures and stores the spatial identifications of the remote terminals in its cell, and also the remote terminals in its adjacent cells. The determination of the spatial identifications of the remote terminals in adjacent cells is coordinated by the multiple base station controller 66 through the base station communication links 2 (a.b.c). Through the base station communication links 2 (abc) and the multiple base station controller 66, the spatial processors in the base station 1 (abc) of the adjacent cells inform each other about which remote terminals they are communicating in what conventional channels. Each spatial processor includes the spatial identifications of the remote terminals that are currently active in adjacent cells to form arrays of extended transmit and receive spatial identifications Arb and Abr that are transmitted to all adjacent base stations. The channel selectors of each base station, using these arrays of extended spatial identifications, jointly assign remote terminals to each conventional channel in each of the base stations 1 (a.b.c). The resulting weights matrices t? and Wr? for each base station they are then calculated using arrays of extended spatial identifications Arb and Abr. When calculating the weights, the objective is to minimize the signal transmitted to, and received from the active remote terminals of the adjacent cell, thereby allowing many more remote terminals to communicate simultaneously. In an alternative embodiment, the multiple base station controller 66 allocates remote terminals requesting access dynamically to the base stations using a list of remote terminal / base station / conventional channel links, the associated remote terminal databases, and the particular requirements of the link that you wish to assign. Additionally, remote terminals can use multiple (directional) reception and transmission antennas, to facilitate multiplying the directing links near the base stations, according to the instructions of the multiple base station controller 66 to further increase the capacity of the system . Advantages The device and method in accordance with the present invention provides a significant advantage over the prior art, in the sense that it allows many remote terminals to simultaneously share the same conventional communication channel. In particular, for a system with __ receiving antenna elements, and m transmitting antenna elements, even a single conventional communication channel can be shared by remote terminals. Also, the received and transmitted signals from the remote terminals have improved and substantially reduced signal interference against noise, and better quality in multipath environments compared to the conventional base station. Therefore, a wireless communication system can support many more conversations, or have a much greater data flow, with the same amount of spectrum. Alternatively, a wireless communication system can support the same amount of conversations or data flow with much less spectrum. Alternative Modalities In an alternative embodiment, the transmit antennas 18 (a, ..., m) and reception 19 (a m) in the base station 1 are replaced by a single array of antennas. Each element in this arrangement is linked to its respective component of multi-channel transmitters 14, and its respective multichannel receiver component 15 by a duplexer. In another alternative embodiment, the signals of the uplink control channel can be processed in real time, using spatial processing described in copending patent application 07 / 806,695. This would allow multiple remote terminals to request a communication channel at the same time. In yet another embodiment for applications involving data transfer in brief periods or data packets, no separate uplink control channel is required, and the system can handle communication requests and other control functions during the time intervals of control that are interspersed in the communication intervals. As stated above, many techniques are known to measure the spatial identifications of the remote terminal radios, and use these spatial identifications to calculate the multiplexing and demultiplexing weights that will allow many simultaneous conversations and / or data transfers by the same conventional channel of communications. While the above description contains many specificities, they should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present invention, but rather as an exemplification of the preferred embodiment. Many other variations are possible. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by the illustrated modes, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

Claims (35)

1. CLAIMS 1. A wireless system in a base station for receiving uplink communication signals transmitted from a plurality of remote terminals, using a common conventional overhead link channel comprising: receiving devices that include a plurality of antenna elements and receivers to produce measurements of combinations of these uplink signals, receiving spatial processing devices to determine and store spatial reception identifications for the plurality of remote terminals using these measurements, and spatial demultiplexing devices that uses spatial reception identifications and measurements to produce separate uplink signals, wherein the uplink signals from the plurality of remote terminals can be independently received, while simultaneously communicating in the common conventional overhead link channel. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the receiving spatial processing device comprises: a list of receiving spatial identifications comprising a spatial reception identification for each of the remote terminals, and the uplink channel common conventional, receiver spatial identification determining device for determining reception spatial identifications, a receiving channel selector that uses the receiving spatial identifications to determine whether the common overhead conventional link channel can be shared by an additional remote terminal , and a receiving spatial weights processor for computing the spatial demultiplexing weights for the plurality of remote terminals, where the spatial demultiplexing weights are used by the spatial demultiplexing device to produce the separate uplink signals. 3. The wireless system defined in claim 2, wherein the reception spatial weight processor determines the spatial demultiplexing weights as the columns of the matrix Wr? as follows: Wr.x (AbrPrA br + Rnn) AbrPr, where () denotes the transpose of complex conjugates of a matrix, Rnn is a covariance matrix of reception noise of the base station, Pr is a diagonal matrix of transmission powers of remote terminals, and Abr is a matrix of spatial identifications demultiplexing, whose columns are the spatial reception identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and the common conventional overhead link channel. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the common conventional overhead link channel is one of the plurality of conventional overhead link channels, and wherein the receiving spatial processing device comprises: a list of active remote terminals of receiving remote terminals assigned to each of the above conventional channels, a list of spatial reception identifications comprising a spatial reception identification for each of the remote terminals and each of the above conventional link channels, determination of reception spatial identifications for determining the reception spatial signals, a reception channel selector using the list of active remote receiving terminals, and the list of receiving spatial identifications to determine the assignments of the remote terminals with the channels link above conve and a receiver spatial weights processor for calculating the spatial demultiplexing weights for each of the remote terminals assigned to each of the above conventional link channels, wherein the spatial demultiplexing weights are used by the demultiplexing devices space to produce the separate uplink signals. 5. The wireless system defined in claim 4, wherein the base station is one of a plurality of base stations, and the channel selector in each of the base stations further comprises: communication devices for communicating with the channel selector in each of the base stations, and devices selection of joint channels to jointly determine assignments of the remote terminals with the above conventional link channels and the base stations, where the link signals for a maximum number of remote terminals can be independently received by at least one of the base stations, in so much that it simultaneously communicates in common overhead conventional link channels. The wireless system defined in claim 1, and including transmission devices comprising a transmitter and an omnidirectional antenna for transmitting downlink signals from the base station to the plurality of remote terminal stations. The wireless system defined by claim 1, wherein the spatial demultiplexing device calculates spatial demultiplexing weights for the common conventional overhead link channel as columns of a rx matrix in the following manner: Wr? - (ArPrA r + Rnn) AbrPr, where (•) denotes the transposed matrix of complex conjugates, (') _1 denotes the inverse of a matrix, Rnn is the receiving noise covariance matrix of the base station, Pr is a diagonal matrix of terminal transmission powers remote, and Abr is a matrix of demultiplexing spatial identifications, whose columns are the spatial reception identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and the common conventional overhead link channel, where the spatial demultiplexing device uses spatial demultiplexing weights to produce the separate uplink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the receiving spatial processing device determines the receiving spatial identifications using transponded transponder signals placed in each of the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the receiving spatial processing device determines the reception spatial identifications using localization and directivity knowledge of the antenna elements, and the direction of arrival of the uplink signals from the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the spatial receiving processing device determines the spatial identifications using knowledge of location and directivity of the antenna elements and knowledge of the location of the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the receiving spatial processing devices determine the reception spatial identifications using parameters of predetermined modulation formats of the uplink signals from the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, further comprising: the transmission device, including a plurality of transmit antenna elements and transmitters for transmitting downlink signals multiplexed to the plurality of remote terminals using a down link channel common conventional, transmission spatial processing devices to determine and store spatial transmission identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and spatial multiplexing devices that use the transmission spatial identifications and downlink identifications to produce the multiplexed downstream signals, in where the base station can transmit the downlink signals to the plurality of remote terminals independently and simultaneously in the common conventional downlink channel. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the receiving device and the transmission devices share common antenna elements using duplexers. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the receiving device and the transmission device share common antenna elements using transmission / reception switches. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the common conventional overhead link channel is one of a plurality of conventional overhead link channels, wherein the common conventional down link channel is one of a plurality of link channels below, and where the receiving spatial processing device and the spatial transmission processing device comprises: an active remote terminal list of remote terminals assigned to each of the downstream conventional link channels and each of the downlink channels conventional, a list of spatial identifications that comprise a spatial identification for each of the remote terminals, and each of the conventional downlink channels, and a spatial identification of transmission for each of the remote terminals and each of the conventional downlink channels, device for determining spatial reception identifications to determine the spatial identifications of receiver, device for determining transmission spatial identifications to determine the transmission spatial identifications, a channel selector using lists of active remote terminals, and the lists of spatial reception identifications, and spatial identification lists of transmission to determine assignments of remote terminals to the above conventional link channels, and the conventional downlink channels, a reception spatial weights processor to calculate the spatial demultiplexing weights for each of the remote terminals assigned to each of the channels of the conventional downstream, where the spatial demultiplexing weights used by the spatial demultiplexing devices to produce separate uplink signals, and a transmission spatial weights processor to calculate spatial multiplexing weights for each of the remote terminals assigned to each of the conventional downlink channels, where the spatial multiplexing weights are used by the spatial multiplexing devices to produce the multiplexed downlink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 15, wherein the base station is one of a plurality of base stations, and the channel selector in each of the base stations further comprising: communication devices for communicating with the selector of channels in each of the base stations, and a joint channel selection device to jointly determine allocations for the remote terminals to the above conventional link channels and the conventional downlink channels and the base stations, wherein the link signals Up to a maximum number of remote terminals can be independently received by at least one of the base stations, and the downlink signals can be independently transmitted a maximum number of remote terminals by at least one of these base stations, while communicating simultaneously in the common conventional overhead link channels, and the channels common down link. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the spatial multiplexing device determines spatial multiplexing weights for the common conventional downlink channel as the rows of the matrix tx in the following manner: wtx = sb (ArbA * br) "> _ • ' where (•) * denotes the transposed matrix of complex conjugates, (-) - 1 denotes the inverse of a matrix, Sb is a diagonal matrix of amplitudes of the downlink signals, and Ar is a matrix of multiplexing spatial identifications , whose rows are the transmission spatial identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and the common conventional downlink channel and the spatial multiplexing device uses the spatial multiplexing weights to produce the multiplexed downlink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the spatial processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications using signals transponded from the transponders placed in the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications using signals transponded by the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the transmission spatial identifications are determined by the plurality of remote terminals that use the predetermined modulation format parameters of the downlink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the spatial transmission identifications using knowledge of locations and directivity of the transmission antenna elements and estimates of arrival directions of the transmission signals. link up from the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the downlink signals and the uplink signals are transmitted on the same radio frequency and the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications by calculating them directly from the reception spatial identifications. 23. The wireless system defined in claim 12, wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identities using location and directivity knowledge from the antenna elements and location knowledge of the plurality of remote terminals. 24. The wireless system in a base station for transmitting to a plurality of remote terminals, using a common conventional downlink channel comprising: transmission devices including a plurality of transmit antenna elements and transmitters for transmitting downlink signals multiplexed towards the plurality of remote terminals, transmission spatial processing devices for determining and storing spatial transmission identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and spatial multiplexing devices using the transmission spatial identifications and downlink signals to produce the signals multiplex down link, wherein the base station can transmit the downlink signals to the plurality of remote terminals independently and simultaneously in a common conventional downlink channel. The wireless system defined in claim 24, wherein the common conventional downlink channel is one of a plurality of conventional downlink channels, and wherein the transmission spatial processing device comprises: a list of active remote terminals of transmission of remote terminals assigned to each of the conventional downlink channels, a list of transmission spatial identifications comprising a spatial identification of transmission for each of the remote terminals and each of the conventional downlink channels, devices for determining transmission spatial identifications to determine the transmission spatial identifications, a transmission channel selector using the list of active remote transmit terminals and the list of transmission spatial identifications to determine assignments of the remote terminals to the conventional downlink channels, and a transmission spatial weights processor to calculate the spatial multiplexing weights for each of the remote terminals assigned to each of the conventional downlink channels, where the spatial multiplexing weights are used by the spatial multiplexing device to produce the multiplexed downlink signals. 26. The wireless system defined in claim 25, wherein the base station is a plurality of base stations and the selector of transmission channels in each of the base stations further comprises: communication devices for communicating with the channel selector of transmission in each of the base stations, and a joint channel selector device to jointly determine the assignments of the remote terminals to the conventional downlink channels in the base stations, where the downlink signals can be transmitted independently of a number maximum of remote terminals by at least one of the base stations, while communicating simultaneously in the conventional downlink channels. The wireless system defined in claim 24, wherein the spatial multiplexing device determines spatial multiplexing weights for the common conventional downlink channel as rows of the matrix of Wtx in the following way: where (') * denotes the transposed matrix of complex conjugates, (•) ~' L denotes the inverse of a matrix, Sb is a diagonal matrix of amplitudes of the downlink signals, and Arb is a matrix of spatial identifications of multiplexing, whose rows are the transmission spatial identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and the common conventional downlink channel, and the spatial multiplexing device uses the spatial multiplexing weights to produce the multiplexed downlink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 24, wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications using transponded signals from transponders placed with the plurality of remote terminals. 29. The wireless system defined in claim 24, wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications using signals transponded by the plurality of remote terminals. 30. The wireless system defined in claim 24, wherein the transmission spatial identifications are determined by the plurality of remote terminals that use predetermined modulation format parameters of the downlink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 24, wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the spatial transmission identifications using localization and directivity knowledge of the antenna elements, and location knowledge of the plurality of remote terminals. MODIFIED REVINDICATIONS [Received by the International Bureau on April 23, 1996 (06/23/96); the original claims 1-31 replaced by the modified claims 1-35 (12 pages)]. 1. A wireless system for calculating uplink signals transmitted from a plurality of remote terminals, using a common overhead link channel, where the system includes at least one base station, where the system comprises: receiving devices from at least one of the stations base, including a plurality of antenna elements and receivers to produce combinations measurements of the uplink signals from the plurality of remote terminals using the overhead common link channel, receiving spatial processing devices to determine and store spatial reception identifications for the plurality of remote terminals that use the measurements, and spatial demultiplexing devices that use spatial reception identifications and measurements to calculate the uplink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the receiving spatial processing device comprises: a list of spatial identifications comprising a spatial identification of reception for each of the remote terminals in the plurality of remote terminals, and common overhead link channel, devices for determining receiving spatial identifications to determine reception spatial identifications, and a receiving channel selector that uses receiving spatial identifications to determine whether the upstream common link channel can be shared by a additional remote terminal. The wireless system defined in claim 2, wherein the receiving spatial processing device further comprises: a receiving spatial weight processor for computing the spatial demultiplexing weights for the plurality of remote terminals, where the spatial demultiplexing weights are used by spatial demultiplexing devices to calculate the uplink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 3, wherein the receiver spatial weights processor determines the spatial demultiplexing weights as columns of the rx matrix in the following manner: Wrx = (AbrPrA * br + ^ nn) _1 brPr ' where () * denotes the transposed matrix of complex conjugates, Rnn is the noise covariance matrix of the receiving device, Pr is the diagonal matrix of transmission powers of the remote terminals in the plurality of remote terminals, and Ar is a matrix of demultiplexing spatial identifications, whose columns are the spatial reception identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and the upstream common link channel. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the upstream common link channel is one of a plurality of uplink channels, and wherein the receiving spatial processing device comprises: a list of active remote terminals comprising a list of remote terminals assigned to at least one channel of the plurality of uplink channels, a list of spatial identifications comprising a spatial identification of reception for each of the remote terminals of the plurality of remote terminals, and each channel of the plurality of uplink channels, reception spatial identification termination device for determining spatial reception identifications in the list of spatial identifications, a reception channel selector using the list of active remote terminals and the list of spatial identifications for determine assignments of each remote terminal in the a list of active remote terminals to at least one of the channels of the plurality of uplink channels, and a reception spatial weights processor to calculate the spatial demultiplexing weights for each of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals , and each channel of the plurality of uplink channels allocated to at least one of the terminals in the active remote terminal list, where the spatial demultiplexing weights are used by the spatial demultiplexing device to calculate the uplink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the upstream common link channel is one of a plurality of uplink channels, wherein at least one of the base stations is one of a plurality of base stations, where the device reception spatial processing is one of a plurality of reception spatial processing devices, wherein each base station in the plurality of base stations has a corresponding spatial reception processing device in the plurality of reception spatial processing devices, where each device of receiving spatial processing in the plurality of receiving spatial processing devices comprises: an active remote terminal list comprising a list of remote terminals assigned to at least one channel of the plurality of uplink channels, a list of spatial identifications which comprises a spatial identification of reception for each of the remote terminals of the plurality of remote terminals, and each channel of the plurality of uplink channels, reception spatial identification determining devices to determine the spatial reception identifications in the list of spatial identifications, and a weight processor receiving space for calculating the spatial demultiplexing weights for each of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals and each channel of the plurality of uplink channels allocated to at least one of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals, where the spatial demultiplexing weights are used by the spatial demultiplexing device to calculate the uplink signals, where the system further comprises: joint channel selector devices for jointly determining assignments of each remote terminal in each of the terminal lists active remotes to when minus one of the channels of the plurality of uplink channels, and with at least one of the base stations of the plurality of base stations, and communication devices for communicating the status of the assignments between each base station in the plurality of base stations, and the joint channel selection device. The wireless system defined in claim 1, and including transmission devices comprising a transmitter and an antenna for sending downlink signals from at least one of the base stations to the terminals of the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the spatial demultiplexing device calculates spatial demultiplexing weights for the upstream common link channel as the columns of the matrix r? as follows: Wrx = (AbrPrA * br + Rnn) _1 AbrPr > where () * denotes the transposed matrix of complex conjugates, Rnn is the noise covariance matrix of the receiving device, Pr is the diagonal matrix of transmission powers of the remote terminals in the plurality of remote terminals, and Abr is a matrix of demultiplexing spatial identifications, whose columns are the spatial reception identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and the upstream common link channel. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the system includes a transponder placed in each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals, and where the receiving spatial processing device determines the reception spatial identifications using transponded signals as minus one of the transponders. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals includes a transponder, and the receiving spatial processing device determines the reception spatial identifications using signals transponded from at least one of the transponders. . The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the receiving spatial processing device determines the reception spatial identifications using the known directivity and location of the antenna elements, and calculates the directions of arrival of the uplink signals from the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the spatial receiving device determines the reception spatial identities using the known directivity and location of the antenna elements and the known location of the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, wherein the uplink signals have predetermined modulation format parameters, and wherein the receiving spatial processing device determines the receiving spatial identities using the predetermined modulation format parameters of the uplink signals from the plurality of remote terminals. The wireless system defined in claim 1, further comprising: transmission devices including a plurality of transmit antenna elements and transmitters for downlink transmitting multiplexed to the plurality of remote terminals using a common downlink channel , transmission spatial processing devices for determining and storing spatial transmission identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and spatial multiplexing devices using the transmission spatial identifications and downlink signals to produce the multiplexed downlink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the receiving device and the transmission device share common antenna elements using duplexers. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the receiving device and the transmission device share common antenna elements using transmission / reception switches. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the common downlink channel is one of a plurality of uplink channels, wherein the common downlink channel is one of a plurality of downlink channels, and wherein the receiving spatial processing device and the transmitting spatial processing device comprises: an active remote terminal list comprising a list of remote terminals assigned to at least one of the channels of the plurality of downlink channels and remote terminals assigned to at least one of the channels of the plurality of downlink channels, a list of spatial identifications comprising a spatial identification of reception for each of the remote terminals of the plurality of remote terminals, and each channel of the plurality of uplink channels, and a spatial identification of transmission for each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals and each channel of the plurality of downlink channels, devices for determining spatial reception identifiers to determine reception spatial identifications, devices for determining spatial transmission identifications to determine the transmission spatial identifications, and a channel selector using the list of active remote terminals and the list of spatial identifications to determine assignments of each remote terminal in the list of active remote terminals to at least one of the channels of the plurality of uplink channels, and when less one of the channels of the plurality of link channels below. The wireless system defined in claim 17, wherein the receiving spatial processing device and the transmitting spatial processing device further comprises: a receiving spatial weights processor for computing the spatial demultiplexing weights for each of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals, to which the uplink channel is assigned, and for each channel of the plurality of uplink channels allocated to at least one of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals, and Spatial demultiplexing weights are used by the spatial demultiplexing device to calculate the uplink signals, and a transmission spatial weights processor to calculate the spatial multiplexing weights for each of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals to the that a downlink channel is assigned and each channel of the plurality of downlink channels to signaled to at least one of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals, the spatial multiplexing weights that are used by the spatial multiplexing device to produce the multiplexed downlink signals. 19. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein at least one of the base stations is one of a plurality of base stations, wherein the common downlink channel is one of a plurality of uplink channels, wherein the channel of Common downlink is one of a plurality of downlink channels, where the receiving spatial processing device is one of a plurality of spatial reception processing devices, wherein the transmitting spatial processing device is one of a plurality of devices Transmission spatial processing, wherein each base station in the plurality of base stations has a corresponding reception spatial processing device in the plurality of reception spatial processing devices, and a corresponding transmission spatial processing device in the plurality of devices Transmission spatial processing, where each space processing device of reception in the plurality of receiving spatial processing devices and each transmitting space processing device in the plurality of space processing transmission devices comprises: a list of active remote terminals comprising a list of assigned remote terminals of at least one of the channels of the plurality of uplink channels and remote terminals assigned to at least one of the channels of the plurality of downlink channels, a list of spatial identifications comprising a spatial reception identification for each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals and each channel of the plurality of uplink channels, and a spatial transmission identification for each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals and each channel of the plurality of downlink channels, devices for determining reception spatial identifications for determining reception spatial identifications, devices for determining transmission spatial identifications for determining transmission spatial identifications, a receiving spatial weights processor for calculating spatial demultiplexing weights for each of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals to which a link channel above is assigned, and each channel of the plurality of link channels allocated above to at least one of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals, where the Spatial demultiplexing weights are used by the spatial demultiplexing device to calculate the uplink signals, and a transmission spatial weights processor to calculate the spatial multiplexing weights for each of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals to the that he link channel below is assigned, and each channel is the plurality of downlink channels allocated to at least one of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals, where the spatial multiplexing weights are used by the spatial multiplexing devices to produce the multiplexed downlink signals, wherein the system further comprises: joint channel selector devices for jointly determining assignments of the remote terminals in each of the active remote terminal lists of at least one of the channels of the plurality of channels of link up, at least one of the channels of the plurality of downlink channels, and at least one of the base stations of the plurality of base stations, and communication devices to communicate the assignments between each station base in the plurality of base stations and the joint channel selection device. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the spatial multiplexing device determines spatial multiplexing weights for the common downlink channel, such as the rows of the Wtx matrix, in the following manner: -1 Wt? = Sb (ArbA r) Arb ' where () * denotes the transposed matrix of complex conjugates, Sb is a diagonal matrix of amplitudes of the downlink signals, and Ar is a matrix of multiplexing spatial identifications, whose rows are the spatial identifications of transmission for the plurality of remote terminals, and the common downlink channel and the spatial multiplexing device uses the spatial multiplexing weights to produce the multiplexed downlink signals. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the system includes a transponder placed with each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals, and wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications using transponded signals from at least one of the transponders. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein each remote terminal in the plurality of remote terminals includes a transponder, and wherein the spatial transmission processing devices determine the transmission spatial identifications using transponded signals of at least one of the transponders. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the downlink signals have predetermined modulation format parameters, and where the spatial transmission identifications are determined by the corresponding terminals in the plurality of remote terminals using the predetermined parameters of modulation format of the downlink signals. 24. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the transmission spatial processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications using the known directivity and location of the transmit antenna elements and estimates of the directions of arrival of the uplink signals from the plurality of remote terminals. 25. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the downlink signals and the upstream signals are transmitted by the same radio frequency and the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications to calculate them directly from the reception spatial identifications. 26. The wireless system defined in claim 14, wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the spatial transmission identifications using the known location and directivity of the antenna elements and the known location of the plurality of remote terminals. 27. A wireless system that includes at least one base station for transmitting a plurality of remote terminals using a common downlink channel, wherein the system comprises: transmission devices on at least one of the base stations that includes a plurality of network elements. transmission antenna and transmitters for transmitting downlink signals multiplexed to the plurality of remote terminals, spatial transmission processing devices for determining the transmission spatial identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and spatial multiplexing devices using the spatial identifications of transmission and downlink signals to produce multiplexed downlink signals, wherein at least one of the base stations can transmit the downlink signals to the plurality of remote terminals simultaneously in a common downlink channel. The wireless system defined in claim 27, wherein the common downlink channel is one of a plurality of downlink channels, and wherein the spatial transmission processing device comprises: a list of active remote terminals comprising a list of remote terminals assigned to at least one of the channels of the plurality of downlink channels, a list of spatial identifications comprising a spatial identification of transmission for each of the remote terminals of the plurality of remote terminals, and each channel of the plurality of downlink channels, devices for determining transmission spatial identifications to determine the transmitting spatial identifications, and a transmit channel selector using the list of active remote terminals and the list of spatial identifications to determine assignments of each remote terminal in the list of active remote terminals to at least one of the plurality channels of link channels below. The wireless system designed by claim 28, wherein the transmission spaced processing device further comprises, a transmission spatial weight processor for computing the spatial multiplexing weights for each of the terminals in the active remote terminal lists to which is assigned a downlink channel, and each channel of the plurality of downlink channels allocated to at least one of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals, the spatial multiplexing weights are used by the spatial multiplexing device to produce multiplexed downlink signals. 30. The wireless system defined by claim 27, wherein at least one base station is one of a plurality of base stations, wherein the common downlink channel is one of a plurality of downlink channels, where the space processing device of transmissions one of a plurality of transmission spatial processing devices, wherein each base station in the plurality of base stations has its corresponding transmission spatial processing device in the plurality of transmission processing device, wherein each space processing device of Transmission in the plurality of spatial transmission processing device comprises: a list of active remote terminals comprising a list of remote terminals assigned to at least one of the channels of the plurality of downlink channels, a list of spatial identifications comprising a spatial identification of transmission for each u n of the remote terminals of the plurality of remote terminals and each channel of the plurality of downlink channels, transmission spatial identification termination devices to determine the transmission spatial identifications, and a transmission spatial weights processor to calculate the space multiplexing weights for each of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals to which a downlink channel is assigned, and each channel of the plurality of downlink channels allocated to at least one of the terminals in the list of active remote terminals, where the spatial multiplexing weights are used by the spatial multiplexing devices to produce the multiplexed downlink signals, where the system further comprises: a joint selection device for channels to jointly determine assignments of each remote terminal in each of the active terminal lists at least one of the channels of the plurality of downlink channels and at least one of the base stations of the plurality of base stations, and communication devices for communicating the assignments between each base station in the plurality of base stations and the device for joint selection of channels. 31. The wireless system defined by claim 27, wherein the spatial multiplexing device determines spatial multiplexing weights for the downlink common channel as arrays of the matrix t? as follows: Wtx = Sb (rbA * rb) ~ lArb wherein () denotes the transposed matrix of complex conjugates, Rnn is the noise covariance matrix of the receiving device, Pr is the diagonal matrix of transmission powers of the remote terminals in the plurality of remote terminals, and Abr is a matrix of demultiplexing spatial identifications, whose columns are the spatial reception identifications for the plurality of remote terminals, and the upstream common link channel. 32. The wireless system defined by claim 27 wherein the system includes a transponder placed and with each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals, and wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications using transponded signals of when minus one of the transponders. The wireless system defined by claim 27 wherein each remote terminal of the plurality of remote terminals includes a transponder, and wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the transmission spatial identifications using transposed signals from at least one of the transponders. . 34. The wireless system defined by claim 27 wherein the downlink signals have predetermined parameters of modulation format, and wherein the transitional spatial identifications are determined by the corresponding terminals in the plurality of remote terminals using the predetermined parameters of modulation format of the downlink signals. 35. The wireless system defined by claim 27 wherein the spatial transmission processing device determines the spatial transmission identifications using the known location and directivity of the antenna elements and the known location of the plurality of remote terminals.