Importance

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Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a mobile communications network, method, base station comprising a controller, relay node and communications terminal. The base station can be arranged to receive measurement information from one or more infrastructure units, comprising one or more relay nodes and one or more mobile communication terminals, and this measurement information can be used by the base station to create a look-up table. The controller can then transmit, based on analysis of the measurement information, an indication of connections between relay node and communications terminals in the network, assigned communications resources to each of the infrastructure units in the network. The relay nodes in the network can then transmit channel sounding signals to be measured by other infrastructure units they have connections with as indicated by the controller, in their assigned communications resource, and with a specified transmission power, which is equal to the largest path loss between the relay node and any other infrastructure unit it is linked to. The infrastructure units which detect the channel sounding signals can then use them to measure and estimate a state of the channel, and as such, determine which frequency resources to use when scheduling transmissions. Time slots may be assigned periodically, aperiodically or in response to an event. Alternatively, channel sounding signals may be sent by more than one relay node simultaneously. The channel sounding signals may cover the entire bandwidth of the network, or may only cover a part of the network. In this latter case, a plurality of channel sounding signals may be transmitted in order to build up a profile of the state of the channel's entire bandwidth.

First Claim