US 12,438,586 B2
Method and a network node for muting antenna elements of an active antenna system
Andreas Nilsson, Gothenburg (SE); Fredrik Athley, Kullavik (SE); Martin Johansson, Mölndal (SE); and Sven Petersson, Sävedalen (SE)
Assigned to TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL), Stockholm (SE)
Filed by Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), Stockholm (SE)
Filed on Apr. 20, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/724,935.
Application 17/724,935 is a continuation of application No. 16/071,747, abandoned, previously published as PCT/EP2016/051457, filed on Jan. 25, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2022/0352957 A1, Nov. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. H04B 7/06 (2006.01); H01Q 3/24 (2006.01); H04B 7/08 (2006.01); H04W 52/02 (2009.01)
CPC H04B 7/0693 (2013.01) [H01Q 3/24 (2013.01); H04B 7/0877 (2013.01); H04W 52/0206 (2013.01); Y02D 30/70 (2020.08)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A network node of a communication system for muting antenna elements of an active antenna system comprising M antenna elements wherein each adjacent pair of antenna elements is separated by a first antenna element separation, the network node being configured to:
obtain information relating to performance in the communication system dependent on antenna element separation, wherein:
the information comprises a set of performance data points,
each performance data point being associated with an antenna element separation, and
further wherein the set of performance data points comprises:
a first performance data point indicating a performance of the first antenna element separation for a first traffic load; and
a second performance data point indicating a performance of the second antenna element separation for the first traffic load, the second antenna element separation being greater than the first antenna element separation;
based on the first and second performance data points, determining that the second antenna element separation is expected to provide a greater performance than the first antenna element separation; and
in response to determining that the second antenna element separation is expected to provide a greater performance than the first antenna element separation, select a set of N of the M antenna elements to mute and mute the selected set of N antenna elements, wherein, after said muting, each adjacent pair of non-muted antenna elements is separated by the second antenna element separation.