Floating transceiver assignment for cellular radio

Abstract

A frequency allocation method for allocating carrier frequencies to a plurality of fixed beams in a cellular radio based transceiver station comprises maintaining a reserve pool of carrier frequencies, such that any available carrier frequency can be allocated to any fixed beam at any one time in order to deal with capacity demands from mobile stations within an area covered by a fixed beam. A frequency allocation algorithm operates such as to allow a plurality of transceivers to float anywhere across a plurality of fixed directional beams. More carrier frequencies can be added to a beam to deal with increased mobile station capacity demand. The occupancy of channels on the carrier frequencies is continuously monitored, and the number of carrier frequencies per beam is continuously monitored, with the object of releasing unused carrier frequencies to a reserve pool of carrier frequencies, allowing re-deployment of unused carrier frequencies to other beams where necessary. Carrier frequencies are periodically 'groomed' by assessing the number of vacant channels on the carrier, and reallocating any un-utilized vacant channels to other carrier frequencies. The grooming process can be constrained to operate during natural gaps in speech, to avoid channel degradation.