Patent Grant
11909102
The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202011306605.5, filed Nov. 20, 2020, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety.
The present invention generally relates to cellular communications and, more particularly, to base station antennas for cellular communications systems that have beamforming arrays.
Cellular communications systems are well known in the art. In a typical cellular communications system, a geographic area is divided into a series of regions that are referred to as “cells,” and each cell is served by a base station. The base station may include baseband equipment, radios and base station antennas that are configured to provide two-way radio frequency (“RF”) communications with subscribers that are positioned throughout the cell. Typically, a base station antenna includes a plurality of phase-controlled arrays of radiating elements, with the radiating elements arranged in one or more vertically-extending columns when the antenna is mounted for use. These vertically-extending columns are often referred to as linear arrays. Each linear array generates an antenna beam or, if the linear array is formed using dual-polarized radiating elements, forms an antenna beam at each of two orthogonal polarizations.
The antenna beams that are formed by a linear array (or by multiple linear arrays that are used to transmit a common RF signal) are often characterized by their Half Power Beam Width (“HPBW”) in the so-called azimuth and elevation planes. The azimuth plane refers to a horizontal plane that bisects the base station antenna and that is parallel to the plane defined by the horizon. The elevation plane refers to a vertical plane that bisects the base station antenna and that is perpendicular to the azimuth plane. Herein, “horizontal” refers to a direction that is generally parallel to the plane defined by the horizon, and “vertical” refers to a direction that is generally perpendicular relative to the plane defined by the horizon.
As demand for cellular service has grown, cellular operators have upgraded their networks to increase capacity and to support new generations of service. When these new services are introduced, the existing “legacy” services typically must be maintained to support legacy mobile devices. Thus, as new services are introduced, either new cellular base stations must be deployed or existing cellular base stations must be upgraded to support the new services. In order to reduce cost, many cellular base stations support two, three, four or more different types or generations of cellular service. However, due to local zoning ordinances and/or weight and wind loading constraints, there is often a limit as to the number of base station antennas that can be deployed at a given base station. To reduce the number of antennas, many operators deploy so-called “multiband” antennas that communicate in multiple frequency bands to support multiple different cellular services.
Cellular operators are currently deploying equipment that will support the so-called fifth generation of cellular service, which is typically referred to as “5G” service. One aspect of 5G service is the deployment of base station antennas that include one or more beamforming arrays. A beamforming array refers to a multi-column array of radiating elements that is capable of generating narrowed antenna beams that can be electronically steered in a desired direction. In most 5G implementations, each column of radiating elements in the beamforming array is connected to a separate port of a beamforming radio (or to two ports of a beamforming radio if dual-polarized radiating elements are used). The beamforming radio may generate an RF signal based on a baseband data stream and may then divide this RF signal into a plurality of sub-components (namely a sub-component for each radio port associated with a particular polarization). Each sub-component of the RF signal is fed to a respective one of the columns of radiating elements in the beamforming array. The amplitude and/or phase of each sub-component may be set in the radio so that the individual antenna beams formed by each column of radiating elements constructively combine to generate a more-focused composite antenna beam that has higher gain and a narrowed beamwidth in the azimuth plane. The amplitudes and/or phases of the sub-components may also be controlled so that the main lobe of the composite antenna beam (i.e., the portion of the antenna beam having the highest gain) will point in a desired direction in the azimuth plane. In other words, a beamforming array is capable of generating more highly-focused, higher gain antenna beams and can electronically scan these antenna beams to point in different directions in the azimuth plane. Moreover, the shape and/or pointing direction of the antenna beams may be changed on a time slot-by-time slot basis in a time division duplex transmission scheme in order to increase the antenna gain in the direction of selected users during each time slot. Base station antennas that include beamforming arrays may support significantly higher throughputs than conventional fourth generation base station antennas.
Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, base station antennas are provided that include a multi-column, multiband, longitudinally-extending beamforming array. These beamforming arrays include a first sub-array of first radiating elements, a second sub-array of second radiating elements and a third sub-array of third radiating elements. The first radiating elements are configured to operate in a first frequency band, the second radiating elements are configured to operate in a second frequency band that is different from the first frequency band, and the third radiating elements are configured to operate in both the first frequency band and the second frequency band. Each of the first through third sub-arrays has a same number of columns. A width of the first sub-array exceeds a width of the third sub-array, and a width of the third sub-array exceeds a width of the second sub-array.
In some embodiments, the third sub-array is positioned between the first sub-array and the second sub-array.
In some embodiments, an average spacing in a longitudinal direction between the first radiating elements in a first column of the first sub-array exceeds an average spacing in the longitudinal direction between the third radiating elements in a first column of the third sub-array. In some embodiments, an average spacing in the longitudinal direction between the third radiating elements in the first column of the third sub-array exceeds the average spacing in the longitudinal direction between the second radiating elements in a first column of the second sub-array.
In some embodiments, the second radiating elements have a same design as the third radiating elements but have a different design than the first radiating elements. In other embodiments, the first radiating elements have a different design than the second radiating elements and the third radiating elements, and the second radiating elements have a different design than the third radiating elements.
In some embodiments, the first frequency band is at lower frequencies than the second frequency band.
In some embodiments, at least some of the first radiating elements are configured to receive higher power sub-components of a first frequency band RF signal than are at least some of the third radiating elements. In some embodiments, at least some of the second radiating elements are configured to receive higher power sub-components of a second frequency band RF signal than are at least some of the third radiating elements.
Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, base station antennas are provided that include a multi-column, multiband beamforming array comprising a first sub-array of first radiating elements, a second sub-array of second radiating elements and a third sub-array of third radiating elements. A first average distance between the columns in the first sub-array differs from a second average distance between the columns in the second sub-array or a first average vertical separation between adjacent first radiating elements in a first column of the first sub-array differs from a second average vertical separation between adjacent second radiating elements in a first column of the second sub-array.
In some embodiments, the first average distance differs from the second average distance.
In some embodiments, the first average distance differs from a third average distance between the columns in the third sub-array.
In some embodiments, the first radiating elements are configured to operate in a first frequency band, the second radiating elements are configured to operate in a second frequency band that is different from the first frequency band, and the third radiating elements are configured to operate in both the first frequency band and the second frequency band.
In some embodiments, the third average distance differs from the second average distance.
In some embodiments, the first average distance exceeds the second average distance.
In some embodiments, the third average distance exceeds the second average distance.
In some embodiments, the first average vertical separation differs from the second average vertical separation.
In some embodiments, the first average vertical separation differs from a third average vertical separation between adjacent third radiating elements in a first column of the third sub-array.
In some embodiments, the first radiating elements are configured to operate in a first frequency band, the second radiating elements are configured to operate in a second frequency band that is different from the first frequency band, and the third radiating elements are configured to operate in both the first frequency band and the second frequency band.
In some embodiments, the third average vertical separation differs from the second average vertical separation.
In some embodiments, the first average vertical separation exceeds the third average vertical separation.
In some embodiments, the third average vertical separation exceeds the second average vertical separation.
In some embodiments, the first radiating elements have a same design as the second radiating elements but have a different design than the third radiating elements.
In some embodiments, the third radiating elements have a same design as the second radiating elements but have a different design than the first radiating elements.
In some embodiments, the first radiating elements have a different design than the second radiating elements and the third radiating elements, and wherein the second radiating elements have a different design than the third radiating elements.
Cellular operators are deploying an increasing number of base station antennas that include beamforming arrays in order to support 5G cellular service. Many cellular operators are deploying base station antennas that include multi-column beamforming arrays that operate in the 2.3-2.69 GHz frequency band (herein “the T-band”) or a portion thereof as well as multi-column beamforming arrays that operate in the 3.3-4.2 GHz frequency band (herein “the S-band”) or a portion thereof. Typically, these beamforming arrays include four columns of radiating elements each, although more columns may be used (e.g., eight, sixteen or even thirty-two columns of radiating elements).
It may be challenging to include both a T-band and an S-band beamforming array in a single base station antenna while also meeting cellular operator requirements on the maximum width and length of the base station antenna. While these requirements may differ based on cellular operator, jurisdiction, and location where the antenna will be deployed, there are many situations where the width of the base station antenna must be no more than 498 mm or no more than 430 mm, and there are also situations where the length of the antenna must be 1500 mm or less. In addition, in some situations, the base station antenna must also include linear arrays of “low-band” radiating elements that operate in part or all of the 617-960 MHz frequency band and/or linear arrays of “mid-band” radiating elements that operate in part or all of the 1427-2690 MHz frequency band.
Several solutions have been proposed for providing base station antennas that include both T-band and S-band beamforming arrays.
As shown in
Referring to
As shown in
Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, base station antennas are provided that include a multiband, multi-column beamforming array that has at least three distinct multi-column sub-arrays. The first sub-array may include a plurality of columns of first radiating elements that are configured to operate in a first frequency band, the second sub-array may include a plurality of columns of second radiating elements that are configured to operate in a second frequency band that is different than the first frequency band, and the third sub-array may include a plurality of columns of third radiating elements that are configured to operate in both the first and second frequency bands. The first and third sub-arrays may together form a first beamforming array that operates in the first frequency band, and the second and third sub-arrays may together form a second beamforming array that operates in the second frequency band. The base station antenna further includes a plurality of diplexers that allow the beamforming radios for each of the first and second frequency bands to share the third radiating elements. In an example embodiment, the first and third sub-arrays may together form a T-band beamforming array, and the second and third sub-arrays may together form an S-band beamforming array.
In the example embodiment where the multiband beamforming array supports beamforming at T-band and at S-band, the first radiating elements in the first sub-array may be spaced apart from each other in the horizontal and/or vertical directions by amounts that may be selected to optimize beamforming and antenna beam sidelobe performance for the T-band communications. Likewise, the second radiating elements in the second sub-array may be spaced apart from each other in the horizontal and/or vertical directions by amounts that may be selected to optimize beamforming and antenna beam sidelobe performance for the S-band communications. The third radiating elements in the third sub-array may be spaced apart from each other in the horizontal and/or vertical directions by amounts that may be selected as a compromise between T-band and S-band performance.
The widths of the first through third sub-arrays may be different due to the differences in the horizontal spacing between the columns of radiating elements. For example, the first sub-array may be wider than the third sub-array, and the third sub-array may be wider than the second sub-array.
The multiband beamforming arrays according to embodiments of the present invention may fit within the width and length constraints set by many cellular operators. The number of radiating elements included in the third sub-array may be set based on, for example, the area on the reflector of the antenna available for the multiband beamforming array, with more radiating elements being included in the third sub-array the smaller the amount of area available. Since the first radiating elements may be spaced apart from each other in the horizontal and vertical directions by amounts that are designed to optimize performance at T-band, and the second radiating elements may be spaced apart from each other in the horizontal and vertical directions by amounts that are designed to optimize performance at S-band, the multiband array may exhibit good beamforming and sidelobe suppression performance. Moreover, since diplexers are only required on the third radiating elements, the insertion loss of the antenna may be reduced as compared to the insertion loss of the base station antenna 100C of
In some embodiments, the radiating elements in the first, second and third sub-arrays may be spaced apart by different amounts in either or both the horizontal and vertical directions. For example, in some embodiments, the columns in the first sub-array may be spaced apart from each other by a first average distance, the columns in the second sub-array may be spaced apart from each other by a second average distance, and the columns in the third sub-array may be spaced apart from each other by a third average distance. The first average distance may exceed the third average distance, and the third average distance may exceed the second average distance. As another example, vertically-adjacent first radiating elements in the columns of the first sub-array may have a first average vertical separation, vertically-adjacent second radiating elements in the columns of the second sub-array may have a second average vertical separation, and vertically-adjacent third radiating elements in the columns of the third sub-array may have a third average vertical separation. In some embodiments, the first average vertical separation may exceed the third average vertical separation, and the third average vertical separation may exceed the second average vertical separation.
Example base station antennas having multiband beamforming arrays according to embodiments of the present invention will now be discussed in greater detail with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
As is also shown in
The base station antenna 200 further includes a partially-shared, multiband, multicolumn beamforming array 260 that includes four columns 262-1 through 262-4 of radiating elements. Adjacent columns 262 are staggered with respect to each other in the vertical direction in order to reduce coupling between radiating elements in adjacent columns 262. The partially-shared beamforming array 260 is positioned between the lower and middle portions of the first and second linear arrays of low-band radiating elements 220-1, 220-2. The partially shared beamforming array 260 includes at least three sub-arrays 270, 280, 290 that are each configured to operate in a respective different (although in some cases overlapping) frequency band. These sub-arrays 270, 280, 290 may each have different configurations in terms of, for example, the horizontal spacing between columns of radiating elements, the vertical spacing between radiating elements in a column, and/or in the type of radiating element included in the sub-array.
As shown in
The second sub-array 280 includes four columns 282-1 through 282-4 of S-band radiating elements 284. In the depicted embodiment, each column 282 includes two S-band radiating elements 284, but it will be appreciated that more than two S-band radiating elements 284 may be included in each column 282 in other embodiments. Each S-band radiating element 284 may be configured to operate in some or all of the 3300-4200 MHz frequency band.
The third sub-array 290 includes four columns 292-1 through 292-4 of Q-band radiating elements 294. In the depicted embodiment, each column 292 includes four Q-band radiating elements 294, but it will be appreciated that more or less than four Q-band radiating elements 294 may be included in each column 292 in other embodiments Each Q-band radiating element 294 may be configured to operate in some or all of the 2300-4200 MHz frequency band. Each Q-band radiating element 294 may be connected to a diplexer so that it can be fed with both T-band and S-band RF signals, as will be explained in greater detail below with reference to
The first and third sub-arrays 270, 290 together form a T-band beamforming array 240. The second and third sub-arrays 280, 290 together form an S-band beamforming array 250. Thus, the multiband beamforming array 260 implements two single-band beamforming arrays, namely the T-band beamforming array 240 and the S-band beamforming array 250, by sharing the radiating elements of the third sub-array 290 across both single-band beamforming arrays.
The radiating elements 274, 284, 294 are mounted in pairs on feedboards 276, 286, 296, respectively. As known in the art, a feedboard is a printed circuit board or equivalent structure that one or more radiating elements may be mounted on. Each feedboard 276, 286, 296 is configured to receive RF signals from other elements of a feed network for the array 260, to split each received RF signal into sub-components, and to pass each sub-component to a respective one of the radiating elements 274, 284, 294 mounted on the feedboard 276, 286, 296.
The first through third sub-arrays 270, 280, 290 may be generally aligned along a vertical axis L, with the third sub-array 290 positioned between the first and second sub-arrays 270, 280. While the first sub-array 270 of T-band radiating elements 274 is illustrated as being below the third sub-array 290 of Q-band radiating elements 294 and the second sub-array 280 of S-band radiating elements 284 is illustrated as being above the third sub-array 290 of Q-band radiating elements 294, it will be appreciated that the locations of the first and second sub-arrays 270, 280 may be reversed in other embodiments.
As shown in
Each radiating element 224, 234, 274, 284, 294 that is included in base station antenna 200 may be a dual-polarized radiating element that includes a first polarization radiator and a second polarization radiator. For example, each radiating element 224, 234, 274, 284, 294 may be a cross-dipole radiating element that includes a slant −45° dipole radiator and a slant +45° degree dipole radiator. It will be appreciated, however, that in other embodiments different types of radiating elements may be used to implement any of the arrays 220, 230, 260 (and this is true with respect to all of the embodiments disclosed herein). Thus, for example, in other embodiments the radiating elements 224, 234, 274, 284, 294 may be implemented as patch radiating elements, slot radiating elements, horn radiating elements or any other suitable radiating element, and these radiating elements may be single polarized or dual-polarized radiating elements.
As shown in
In particular, as discussed above, optimum beamforming performance is typically achieved when the columns of the beamforming array are separated by a distance corresponding to about one-half of a wavelength of the center frequency of the RF signals that are transmitted and received through the beamforming array. Spacing the columns about a half wavelength apart also helps to suppress sidelobes and, in particular, grating lobes when the antenna beams are electronically scanned at large scan angles. Because less tilt angle is required, the radiating elements in each column of the beamforming array are typically spaced apart by less than 0.9 wavelengths of the center frequency of the RF signals that are transmitted and received through the beamforming array. In some applications, however, the radiating elements in each column of the beamforming array may be more closely spaced (less than 0.9 wavelengths), such as massive MIMO applications where three-dimensional beamforming is required. Since the beamforming array 260 includes three distinct sub-arrays 270, 280, 290, only one of which is shared across both T-band and S-band, the radiating elements 274 in the first sub-array 270 may be spaced apart from each other in the horizontal and vertical directions in a manner that is ideal for T-band communications, and the radiating elements 284 in the second sub-array 280 may be spaced apart from each other in the horizontal and vertical directions in a manner that is ideal for S-band communications. As such, the beamforming array 260 may exhibit improved performance as compared to the shared beamforming array 160 included in the conventional base station antenna of
In one example embodiment, the distance HS1 between adjacent columns 272 of the first (T-band) sub-array 270 may be 60 mm and the vertical separation VS1 between adjacent T-band radiating elements 274 in each column 272 of the first sub-array 270 may be 95 mm. In this embodiment, the distance HS2 between adjacent columns 282 of the second (S-band) sub-array 280 may be 40 mm and the vertical separation VS2 between adjacent S-band radiating elements 284 in each column 282 of the second sub-array 280 may be 70 mm, and the distance HS3 between adjacent columns 292 of the third (Q-band) sub-array 290 may be 46 mm and the vertical separation VS3 between adjacent Q-band radiating elements 294 in each column 292 of the third sub-array 290 may be 75 mm.
Two additional vertical separations are shown in
It will be appreciated that in other embodiments the above-described distances may be varied. TABLE 1 below shows ranges for the various horizontal and vertical distances HS1, VS1, HS2, VS2, HS3, VS3 that may be used to implement the partially-shared beamforming array 260 in other embodiments of the present invention.
It will also be appreciated that the distances HS1, HS2. HS3, between adjacent columns in each sub-array 270, 280, 290 need not necessarily be exactly the same for every pair of columns on a respective sub-array 270, 280, 290. For example, the first and second columns 272-1, 272-2 of the first sub-array 270 could be separated by a first horizontal distance (e.g., 57 mm), the second and third columns 272-2, 272-3 of the first sub-array 270 could be separated by a second horizontal distance (e.g., 58 mm), and the third and fourth columns 272-3, 272-4 of the first sub-array 270 could be separated by the first horizontal distance (in this example, 57 mm). Thus, reference is made herein to the average distances between adjacent columns in the sub-arrays. In the above example, the average distance between adjacent columns in the first sub-array 270 would be 57.33 mm. It will likewise be appreciated that the vertical separations VS1. VS2, VS3, between adjacent radiating elements in the columns of the various sub-arrays 270, 280, 290 also need not necessarily be exactly the same. In particular, the vertical separations between adjacent radiating elements in a particular column of a particular sub-array need not be exactly the same, nor must the vertical separations between adjacent radiating elements in different columns of a particular sub-array. Thus, reference is also made herein to the average vertical separation between adjacent radiating elements in the respective columns of a sub-array. This average vertical separation is determined by computing the average vertical separation between adjacent radiating elements in each column of a sub-array and then taking an average of these average vertical separations (assuming that all columns in the sub-array at issue have the same number of radiating elements).
Each of the first through third sub-arrays 270, 280, 290 may have a respective width W1, W2, W3, where the widths W1, W2, W3 correspond to the horizontal distance between the leftmost part of a radiating element in the leftmost column of the sub-array to the rightmost part of a radiating element in the rightmost column of the sub-array. These widths W1, W2, W3 are shown graphically in
As shown in
The components of the feed network 263 that feed each column 262 of the beamforming array 260 may be identical. Thus, only the components of the feed network 263 that feed the first columns 262-1 of array 260 will be described. As shown in
The T-band RF connector port is coupled to a first T-band phase shifter assembly 264-1 that may divide the T-band RF signals input through the T-band RF port into three sub-components that are output at the three outputs of the first T-band phase shifter assembly 264-1. The first output of the first T-band phase shifter assembly 264-1 is coupled (via the feedboard 276) to the two T-band radiating elements 274 that are included in the first column 262-1. The second output of the first T-band phase shifter assembly 264-1 is coupled (via the lower feedboard 296-1) to the lower two Q-band radiating elements 294 that are included in the first column 262-1. The third output of the first T-band phase shifter assembly 264-1 is coupled (via the upper feedboard 296-2) to the upper two Q-band radiating elements 294 that are included in the first column 262-1. A first diplexer (“D”) 268 is interposed between the second output of the first T-band phase shifter assembly 264-1 and the lower feedboard 296-1, and a second diplexer 268 is interposed between the third output of the first T-band phase shifter assembly 264-1 and the upper feedboard 296-2. In addition to sub-dividing the T-band RF signal into three sub-components, the first T-band phase shifter assembly 264-1 also imparts a phase taper across the three sub-components in a manner well understood to those of skill in the art in order to impart a desired amount of electronic downtilt to the T-band antenna beam that is generated by column 262-1 in response to the T-band RF signal. The phase shifter assembly 264-1 may be an adjustable phase shifter assembly so that the amount of electronic downtilt may be changed by changing the setting of the phase shifter assembly 264-1.
The S-band RF connector port is coupled to a first S-band phase shifter assembly 266-1 that may divide the S-band RF signals input through the S-band RF port into three sub-components that are output at the three outputs of the first S-band phase shifter assembly 266-1. The first output of the first S-band phase shifter assembly 266-1 is coupled (via the feedboard 286) to the two S-band radiating elements 284 that are included in the first column 262-1. The second output of the first S-band phase shifter assembly 266-1 is coupled (via the upper feedboard 296-2) to the upper two Q-band radiating elements 294 that are included in the first column 262-1. The third output of the first S-band phase shifter assembly 266-1 is coupled (via the lower feedboard 296-1) to the lower two Q-band radiating elements 294 that are included in the first column 262-1. The diplexers 268 allow RF signals input at both the T-band RF port and the S-band RF port to be fed to the Q-band radiating elements 294, and to split RF signals received at the Q-band radiating elements 294 so that the T-band RF signals are passed to the T-band RF port and so that the S-band RF signals are passed to the S-band RF ports, as is well understood in the art. In addition to sub-dividing the S-band RF signal into three sub-components, the first S-band phase shifter assembly 266-1 may be an adjustable phase shifter assembly that may impart a phase taper across the three sub-components in order to impart a desired amount of electronic downtilt to the S-band antenna beam that is generated by column 262-1 in response to an S-band RF signal.
Typically, sub-components of an RF signal that are fed to the radiating elements in the middle of each column of a beamforming array have a larger magnitude than the sub-components of an RF signal that are fed to the radiating elements near the top and bottom of each column. Configuring the radiating elements near the middle of each column to receive higher magnitude sub-components of the RF signal may advantageously provide better sidelobe suppression without degrading the directivity and gain. This unequal power split can be accomplished by using unequal power dividers in the phase shifter assemblies 264, 266 shown in
It will be appreciated that the base station antenna 200 illustrates one specific example of an embodiment of the present invention, and may be modified in many ways. For example, in
It will also be appreciated that the beamforming arrays according to embodiments of the present invention can operate in other frequency bands than T-band and S-band. Any two frequency bands may be used. As an example, the T-band radiating elements 274 in base station antenna 200 could be replaced with radiating elements that operate in the 2.1-2.3 GHz frequency band, the S-band radiating elements 284 could be designed to operate in the 3.3-3.8 GHz frequency band, and the Q-band radiating elements 294 could be replaced with radiating elements that operate in the 2.1-3.8 GHz frequency band to provide a base station antenna with a first beamforming array that operates in the 2.1-2.3 GHz frequency band and a second beamforming array that operates in the 3.3-3.8 GHz frequency band. Many other combinations of frequency bands may be used.
As can be seen by comparing
In some embodiments the various average distances between columns HS1, HS2, HS3 as well as the average vertical separation of the adjacent radiating elements within the columns VS1, VS2, VS3 may be different for each sub-array 270, 280, 290 (i.e., HS1≠HS2≠HS3 and VS1≠VS2≠VS3). This may allow each parameter to be optimized for the frequency band of operation of the radiating elements within the particular sub-array. However, it will be appreciated that at least some of the benefits of the techniques according to embodiments of the present invention may be realized by having one of HS1, HS2, HS3 be different from the other two, and/or by having one of VS1, VS2, VS3 be different from the other two. Thus, embodiments of the present invention cover all variants where at least one of HS1, HS2, HS3 is different from the other two of HS1, HS2, HS3, and/or at least one of VS1, VS2, VS3 is different from the other two of VS1, VS2, VS3.
While the partially-shared beamforming arrays according to embodiments of the present invention discussed above include three distinct sub-arrays, embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. For example, in some applications partially-shared beamforming arrays may be provided that only include two distinct sub-arrays.
In particular, cellular operators may have different requirements for the elevation beamwidth of the antenna beams that are generated in different frequency bands of a multiband antenna at a macrocell base station. Such different requirements may arise, for example, because neighboring macrocell base stations may not support service in all of the frequency bands and/or because of small cell base stations located within the coverage area of the macrocell base station. In the example of
As shown in
The above example embodiments of the present invention are directed to partially-shared beamforming arrays that include two single-band beamforming arrays. It will be appreciated that the concepts of the present invention may be expanded to provide partially-shared beamforming arrays that include more than two single-band beamforming arrays.
As shown in
The second sub-array 580 of beamforming array 560 may be similar to sub-array 280 of beamforming array 260 except that the radiating elements in the second sub-array 580 are diplexed so that they may transmit and receive both S-band and P-band RF signals. Thus, as shown in
The base station antennas according to embodiments of the present invention may provide improved performance as compared to comparable conventional base station antennas. As discussed above, by partially sharing radiating elements across two single-band beamforming arrays, it is possible to fit all of the arrays desired by cellular operators within base station antennas that meet cellular operator requirements for the width and length of the antenna. Additionally, by only sharing some of the radiating elements of the multiband beamforming arrays across the single-band arrays it is possible to improve the performance of one or both of the single-band beamforming arrays. Moreover, the techniques according to embodiments of the present invention are very flexible in that the number of radiating elements shared across multiple single-band beamforming arrays may be varied based on the available space within the antenna, thereby allowing each individual antenna design to achieve the amount of performance improvement that is possible based on the amount of room available.
It will be appreciated that the present specification only describes a few example embodiments of the present invention and that the techniques described herein have applicability beyond the example embodiments described above.
Embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the present invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on” another element, there are no intervening elements present. It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (i.e., “between” versus “directly between”, “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent”, etc.).
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Aspects and elements of all of the embodiments disclosed above can be combined in any way and/or combination with aspects or elements of other embodiments to provide a plurality of additional embodiments.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202011306605.5 | Nov 2020 | CN | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20140375502 | Foo | Dec 2014 | A1 |
| 20170294715 | Wu et al. | Oct 2017 | A1 |
| 20210384641 | Tang | Dec 2021 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 111555031 | Aug 2020 | CN |
| 3686991 | Jul 2020 | EP |
| 2019018276 | Jan 2019 | WO |
| WO-2022199821 | Sep 2022 | WO |
| Entry |
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| “Notification of Transmittal of the International Search Report and the Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority, or the Declaration for corresponding International Application No. PCT/US2021/058205, dated Feb. 25, 2022, (13 pages)”. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 20220166129 A1 | May 2022 | US |
