Abstract: A wireless communication network includes base stations that operate with variable transmit power adjustments during soft handoff of a mobile station. Base stations adjust current transmit powers up or down using variable step sizes responsive to power control commands from the mobile station. Step size depends on the difference between current transmit power and a common reference power. Generally, power control commands that move transmit power away from the common reference power are attenuated by decreasing the step size, and those that move the transmit power toward the reference power are amplified by increasing step size. A base station controller adjusts the common reference power during soft handoff to reduce differences between it and the current transmit powers. Thus, step size may be large at the outset of soft handoff to quickly reduce transmit power imbalance between base stations, but tends to decrease with subsequent adjustments of the common reference power.

Abstract: A wireless communication network includes base stations that operate with variable transmit power adjustments during soft handoff of a mobile station. Base stations adjust current transmit powers up or down using variable step sizes responsive to power control commands from the mobile station. Step size depends on the difference between current transmit power and a common reference power. Generally, power control commands that move transmit power away from the common reference power are attenuated by decreasing the step size, and those that move the transmit power toward the reference power are amplified by increasing step size. A base station controller adjusts the common reference power during soft handoff to reduce differences between it and the current transmit powers. Thus, step size may be large at the outset of soft handoff to quickly reduce transmit power imbalance between base stations, but tends to decrease with subsequent adjustments of the common reference power.

Abstract: Uniformity of optical coupling of optical elements such as couplers and splitters is improved by heat treatment which causes dopants in the core of an optical fiber to diffuse into material from the cladding layer of the optical fibers from which the optical element is formed, resulting in a substantially homogeneous interior region of the star coupler or splitter. Increased lossiness of the optical element thus formed may be limited by termination of the heat treatment before dopant diffusion reaches equilibrium throughout the fibers so that a portion of the cladding layer of the fibers remains surrounding the substantially homogeneous region where the fibers have been fused together. Dopant diffusion is constrained to a substantially radial direction in each fiber by uniformity of heating over a region where at least two fibers are twisted together.

Abstract: Uniformity of optical coupling of optical elements such as star couplers and splitters is improved by heat treatment which causes dopants in the core of an optical fiber to diffuse into material from the cladding layer of the optical fibers from which the optical element is formed, resulting in a substantially homogeneous interior region of the star coupler or splitter. Increased lossiness of the optical element thus formed may be limited by termination of the heat treatment before dopant diffusion reaches equilibrium throughout the fibers so that a portion of the cladding layer of the fibers remains surrounding the substantially homogeneous region where the fibers have been fused together.