Patent Application
20120263077
This application is a continuation of International Application No PCT/CN2010/080183, filed on Dec. 23, 2010, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200910189237.8, filed on Dec. 23, 2009, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
The present invention relates to communication technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element, and an antenna component.
With the development of wireless communications, an Active Antenna System (AAS, Active Antenna System) is applied to communication systems increasingly. The AAS is mainly characterized in that an antenna element is directly connected to a transceiver so that each element is used by only one transceiver. A Radio Frequency (RF) front end of n paths of AASs includes Ant element (an antenna element, also called an antenna oscillator) which is connected to a duplexer (DUP, DUPlexer). The DUP is connected to a receiving channel and a power amplifier separately. Generally, an antenna includes multiple paths of antenna elements so as to achieve a transmitting or receiving gain of a signal.
In the process of researching the present invention, the inventors find that great power loss is caused when an AAS and a passive antenna multiplex an antenna element by adopting a conventional combining technology (namely, in a direct combining manner).
In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element, and an antenna component to reduce power loss caused by multiplexing of the antenna element.
In an aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element, which includes an antenna element, a filter, and a DUP.
The antenna element is connected to the filter and the DUP separately, and the suppression band of the filter includes the bandpass band of the DUP.
The antenna element is configured to receive signals to be sent to the filter or DUP, and/or transmit signals sent from the filter or DUP.
The filter is configured to filter the signals sent by the antenna element and the DUP and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element and the DUP to make the signals of the first band pass through.
The DUP is configured to filter the signals sent by the antenna element and the filter and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element and the filter to make the signals of the second band pass through.
The first band is located on the non-suppression band of the filter, and the second band is located on the bandpass band of the DUP.
In another aspect, the present invention further provides an antenna component, which includes at least one path of any apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In still another aspect, the present invention further provides a base station, which includes any antenna component according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In yet another aspect, the present invention further provides a method for multiplexing an antenna element, which includes:
through an antenna element, receiving signals to be sent to a filter or DUP and/or transmitting signals sent from the filter or DUP;
through the filter, filtering the signals sent by the antenna element and the DUP and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element and the DUP to make signals of a first band pass through; and
through the DUP, filtering the signals sent by the antenna element and the filter and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element and the filter to make signals of a second band pass through, where
a suppression band of the filter includes a bandpass band of the DUP; the first band is located on a non-suppression band of the filter, and the second band is located on the bandpass band of the DUP.
By adopting the method and the apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element, the antenna component, and the base station according to the embodiments of the present invention, power loss caused by multiplexing of the antenna element can be reduced.
The embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element, and an antenna component, which are applicable to various wireless networks including various mobile networks such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and Long Term Evolution (LTE), and also applicable to other scenarios that require multiplexing of the antenna element, such as, a radar system, and a fixed wireless access system.
As shown in
The antenna element 101 is connected to the filter 102 and the DUP 103 separately, and the suppression band of the filter 102 is the bandpass band of the DUP 103.
The antenna element 101 is configured to receive signals to be sent to the filter 102 or DUP 103 and/or transmit signals sent from the filter 102 or DUP 103;
The filter 102 is configured to filter the signals sent by the antenna element 101 and the DUP 103 and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element 101 and the DUP 103 to make signals of a first band pass through; and
The DUP 103 is configured to filter the signals sent by the antenna element 101 and the filter 102 and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element 101 and the filter 102 to make signals of a second band pass through; and
The first band is located on a non-suppression band of the filter 102, and the second band is located on a bandpass band of the DUP 103. It is understandable that the first band does not intersect the second band.
By adopting the apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element according to the embodiment of the present invention, the antenna element may be multiplexed, power loss caused by multiplexing of the antenna element may be reduced, and the antenna element is made full use of, thereby reducing the cost of the antenna component.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the filter 102 in the apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element may be a bandstop filter, and the suppression band of the bandstop filter includes the bandpass band of the DUP.
The bandpass band of the DUP in the embodiments of the present invention refers to the band that the DUP can pass through. The DUP may be implemented by a bandpass filter, or a lowpass filter, or a highpass filter, or a bandstop filter, or any combination thereof, or the implementation manner of the DUP may be other manners in the embodiments of the present invention, which are not limited herein.
By adopting the apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element according to the embodiment of the present invention, the passive antenna and the active antenna are enabled to multiplex the antenna element, and power loss caused by multiplexing of the antenna element may be reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the antenna component.
As shown in
It should be understood that the receiving channel 105 is located on the receiving part, and the PA 106 is located on the transmitting part. An AAS may further include a feedback part, which processes the signals separated from the signals sent from the PA to the DUP and obtains corrected signals, so as to perform signal offset processing on the receiving part or perform digital pre-distortion processing on the transmitting part.
As shown in
The apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element according to the embodiment of the present invention is applicable to a scenario in which the antenna element is multiplexed by an ASS and a passive antenna. Generally, an ASS includes an antenna element (Ant element), a receiving part, and a transmitting part, or may further include a feedback part.
The receiving part may include a receiving RF part, an Intermediate Frequency (IF) part and a digital part.
As shown in
The LNA is configured to amplify the signals received by the antenna element, but the noise of the LNA itself is very low. The RF filter is configured to allow a specific RF signal to pass through, and suppress an outband interference signal to be sufficiently small; the mixer is configured to modulate the RF signal onto a proper IF; and the IF amplifier is configured to amplify the signal output by the mixer, and the amplified signal is filtered by the IF filter, sent to the ADC for analog-digital conversion, and then sent to the digital part for processing.
As shown in
The feedback part may include a power coupler (Cop), a mixer (Mixer), and an ADC.
In
Further, an embodiment of the present invention provides an antenna component. The antenna component includes at least one path of any apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element according to the embodiment of the present invention.
If the antenna component includes more than one path of any apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element according to the embodiment of the present invention (in this embodiment, taking the apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element shown in
The receiving/transmitting channel 104 may be a Remote Radio Unit (RRU).
The antenna component according to the embodiment of the present invention is applicable to a multi-band base station.
Further, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for multiplexing an antenna element. The method includes:
through an antenna element, receiving signals to be sent to a filter or DUP and/or transmitting signals sent from the filter or DUP;
through the filter, filtering the signals sent by the antenna element and the DUP and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element and the DUP to make signals of a first band pass through; and
through the DUP, filtering the signals sent by the antenna element and the filter and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element and the filter to make signals of a second band pass through, where
a suppression band of the filter includes a bandpass band of the DUP; the first band is located on a non-suppression band of the filter, and the second band is located on the bandpass band of the DUP. It is understandable that the first band does not intersect the second band.
In the method for multiplexing an antenna element according to this embodiment of the present invention, the filter may be a bandstop filter, and the suppression band of the bandstop filter includes the bandpass band of the DUP.
Further, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for multiplexing an antenna element. The method includes:
through an antenna element, receiving signals to be sent to a filter or DUP and/or transmitting signals sent from the filter or DUP;
through the filter, filtering the signals sent by the antenna element and the DUP and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element and the DUP to make signals of a first band pass through; and
through the DUP, filtering the signals sent by the antenna element and the filter and/or the signals to be sent to the antenna element and the filter to make signals of a second band pass through, where
a suppression band of the filter includes a bandpass band of the DUP; the first band is located on a non-suppression band of the filter, and the second band is located on the bandpass band of the DUP;
the number of antenna elements, the number of filters and the number of DUPs are equal, and are all greater than one path; and
through the combiner, signals of the first band that pass through each path of filter are received, combined and then sent; and/or through the combiner, signals of the first band to be sent to each path of filter are received, splits, and then sent to each path of filter.
Further, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base station. The base station includes any antenna component according to the embodiment of the present invention.
The method and the apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element, and the antenna component according to the embodiments of the present invention can multiplex an antenna element, reduce power loss caused by multiplexing of the antenna element, and make full use of the antenna element, so that the cost of the antenna component is reduced.
The following gives more details through a specific example:
As shown in
In this example, the filter is a bandstop filter. The frequency response features of the bandstop filter are contrary to the frequency response features of the DUP of the AAS. That is, the bandstop filter suppresses wanted bands of the uplink and the downlink of the AAS strongly, but does not suppress the band which needs to be transmitted and/or received through an antenna element, as shown in
In this example, because the frequency response features of the DUP are contrary to those of the bandstop filter, for the wanted signals of the AAS, the wanted signals of the AAS suffer no power loss in a conventional sense (namely, power loss caused by direct splitting, generally 3 dB) after the antenna element splits the signals and distributes the signals to the bandstop filter. As regards the wanted signals of the passive antenna which pass through the bandstop filter, the band of the wanted signals does not intersect the band of the wanted signals of the AAS. Because the DUP of the AAS suppresses the band of the wanted signals of the passive antenna, the wanted signals of the passive antenna suffer no power loss in a conventional sense (namely, power loss caused by direct splitting, generally 3 dB) after the antenna element splits the signals and distributes the signals to the DUP.
It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present invention, as long as the filter can suppress the band of the AAS by more than 20 dB, requirements of the filter may be not high. The filter may be implemented by using an integrated component or using a microstrip circuit on the antenna element. The filter may be a bandstop filter, or a bandpass or lowpass filter of other bands, as long as the filter suppresses the signals of the wanted band of the AAS sufficiently.
By adopting the method and the apparatus for multiplexing an antenna element, and the antenna component according to the embodiments of the present invention, an antenna element can be multiplexed, and the antenna element is made full use of, thereby reducing the cost of the antenna component.
Persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that all or part of the steps of the method according to any embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by a program instructing relevant hardware. The program may be stored in computer-readable storage medium. When the program runs, the program executes the steps of the method according to any embodiment of the present invention. The storage medium may be any medium capable of storing program codes, such as a Read-Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), magnetic disk, or optical disk.
Persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the names of the apparatuses or modules given herein may vary with the technical evolution or application scenario, and such variation does not affect implementation of the present invention and shall fall within the scope of the present invention. The apparatuses or modules described herein are termed functionally, and may be combined or split physically.
Given above are several embodiments of the present invention. Persons skilled in the art can make modifications and variations to the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. The present invention shall cover the modifications and variations provided that they fall within the scope of protection defined by the appended claims or their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200910189237.8 | Dec 2009 | CN | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2010/080183 | Dec 2010 | US |
| Child | 13530716 | US |
