Patent Application
20240178563
The present invention generally relates to radio communications and, more particularly, to lensed antennas that are suitable for use in cellular and various other types of communications systems.
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 antennas that are configured to provide two-way radio frequency (“RF”) communications with mobile subscribers that are geographically positioned within the cell. In many cases, the cell may be divided into a plurality of “sectors,” and separate antennas are provided for each of the sectors. These antennas are often mounted on a tower or other raised structure, with the radiation beam (“antenna beam”) that is generated by each antenna directed outwardly to serve the respective sector. Typically, a base station antenna is implemented as a phase-controlled array of radiating elements, with the radiating elements arranged in one or more vertical columns. Herein, “vertical” refers to a direction that is perpendicular relative to the plane defined by the horizon.
A common cellular communications system network plan involves a base station serving a cell using three base station antennas. This is often referred to as a three-sector configuration. In a three-sector configuration, each base station antenna serves a 120 degree sector of the cell. Typically, a 65 degree azimuth Half Power Beamwidth (HPBW) antenna provides coverage for a 120 degree sector. Three of these antennas provide 360 degree coverage. Other sectorization schemes may also be employed. For example, six, nine, and twelve sector configurations are also used. Six sector sites may use six base station antennas, each having a 33 degree azimuth HPBW antenna serving a 60 degree sector. In other proposed solutions, a multi-column phased array antenna (i.e., an antenna with multiple columns of radiating elements) may be driven by a feed network to produce two or more antenna beams from a single phased array antenna. Each beam may provide coverage to a sector. For example, if multi-column phased array antennas are used that each generate two 33 degrees azimuth HPBW beams, then only three antennas may be required for a six sector configuration. Antennas that generate multiple beams are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0205119 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0091767, the entire content of each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Increasing the number of sectors increases system capacity because each antenna can service a smaller area and therefore provide higher antenna gain throughout the sector and/or allow for frequency reuse. However, dividing a cell into smaller sectors has drawbacks because antennas covering narrow sectors typically have more radiating elements that are spaced wider apart than are the radiating elements of antennas covering wider sectors. For example, a typical 33 degree azimuth HPBW antenna is generally twice as wide as a typical 65 degree azimuth HPBW antenna. Thus, cost, space and tower loading requirements may increase as a cell is divided into a greater number of sectors.
Another complication is that as demand has grown for cellular systems to support increased capacity and provide enhanced capabilities, a variety of new cellular services have been introduced. The new services that are added typically operate in different frequency bands from existing services to avoid interference. When these new services are introduced, the existing “legacy” services typically must be maintained to support legacy mobile devices for years or even decades. 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, base station antennas are now available that include at least two different arrays of radiating elements, where each array of radiating elements supports a different type of cellular service. Supporting multiple cellular services, however, may further increase the complexity of a typical cellular base station antenna.
Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, multi-band phased array antennas are provided that include a backplane and first, second and third arrays of respective first, second and third radiating elements that are mounted in front of a front surface of the backplane. The first radiating elements are disposed in a first vertically-disposed column and configured to form a first antenna beam that points in a first direction, the second radiating elements are disposed in a second vertically-disposed column and configured to form a second antenna beam that points in a second direction that is different than the first direction, and the third radiating elements are disposed in a third vertically-disposed column and configured to form a third antenna beam that points in a third direction that is different than the first direction and the second direction. The antenna further includes a plurality of radio frequency (“RF”) lens that are in a vertically-disposed column in front of the front surface of the backplane. A respective one of the second radiating elements and a respective one of the third radiating elements are positioned between the backplane and each RF lens. At least some of the first radiating elements are positioned between the RF lenses.
In some embodiments, the first radiating elements may be low-band radiating elements that are configured to operate in a first frequency band and the second and third radiating elements may be high-band radiating elements that are configured to operate in a second frequency band that is at higher frequencies than the first frequency band.
In some embodiments, each first radiating element may comprise a pair of tri-pol radiators.
In some embodiments, each first radiating element may comprise three tri-pol radiators that are arranged in a triangle. In such embodiments, a first of the RF lenses may be disposed within the triangle defined by the three tri-pol radiators of one of the first radiating elements.
In some embodiments, each first radiating element may comprise a crossed-dipole radiating element.
In some embodiments, the first vertically-disposed column may be between the second and third vertically-disposed columns.
In some embodiments, the phased array antenna may further include a fourth array of fourth radiating elements that is mounted in front of the front surface of the backplane, the fourth radiating elements disposed in a fourth vertically-disposed column and configured to form a fourth antenna beam that points in a fourth direction. The fourth direction may be substantially the same as the first direction in some embodiments.
In some embodiments, a half-power azimuth beamwidth of the first array of first radiating elements may be substantially the same as the half-power azimuth beamwidth of the combination of the second array of second radiating elements, the third array of third radiating elements and the fourth array of fourth radiating elements.
In some embodiments, each RF lens may be a spherical RF lens.
In some embodiments, each RF lens may be an elliptical RF lens.
In some embodiments, at least some of the RF lenses may include a frequency selective structure that is configured to substantially reflect RF energy in the first frequency band and to substantially pass RF energy in the second frequency band.
In some embodiments, a half-power azimuth beamwidth of the first array of first radiating elements may be substantially the same as the half-power azimuth beamwidth of the combination of the second array of second radiating elements and the third array of third radiating elements.
In some embodiments, the RF lenses may each include a dielectric material that comprises expandable microspheres mixed with pieces of conductive sheet material that have an insulating material on each major surface.
In some embodiments, the RF lenses may each include a dielectric material that comprises small pieces of a foamed dielectric material that have at least one sheet of conductive material embedded therein.
Pursuant to further embodiments of the present invention, multi-band phased array antennas are provided that include a backplane, a first vertically-disposed column of low-band radiating elements mounted in front of the backplane that are configured to form a first antenna beam that points in a first direction, a second vertically-disposed column of high-band radiating elements mounted in front of the backplane that are configured to form a second antenna beam that points in a second direction that is different than the first direction, a third vertically-disposed column of high-band radiating elements mounted in front of the backplane that are configured to form a third antenna beam that points in a third direction that is different than the first direction and the second direction and at least one radio frequency (“RF”) lens that is disposed in front of the first vertically-disposed column of low-band radiating elements, the second vertically-disposed column of high-band radiating elements and the third vertically-disposed column of high-band radiating elements. A respective artificial magnetic conductor is disposed between a radiator of each of the low-band radiating elements and the backplane.
In some embodiments, the phased array antenna may further include a first secondary RF lens that may be between at least one of the high-band radiating elements in the second vertically-disposed column and the at least one RF lens and a second secondary RF lens that may be between at least one of the high-band radiating elements in the third vertically-disposed column and the at least one RF lens.
In some embodiments, the at least one RF lens may be a cylindrical RF lens.
In some embodiments, the at least one RF lens may be a column of spherical RF lens.
In some embodiments, the at least one RF lens may be a column of elliptical RF lens.
In some embodiments, the at least one RF lens may be a pair of cylindrical RF lens.
In some embodiments, a half-power azimuth beamwidth of the first antenna beam may be substantially the same as the half-power azimuth beamwidth of the combination of the second and third antenna beams.
In some embodiments, the phased array antenna may further include a fourth vertically-disposed column of high-band radiating elements mounted in front of the backplane that are configured to form a fourth antenna beam. The fourth antenna beam may point in substantially the same direction as the first direction.
In some embodiments, a half-power azimuth beamwidth of the first antenna beam may be substantially the same as the half-power azimuth beamwidth of the combination of the second, third and fourth antenna beams.
In some embodiments, the at least one RF lens may include a dielectric material that comprises expandable microspheres mixed with pieces of conductive sheet material that have an insulating material on each major surface.
In some embodiments, the at least one RF lens may include a dielectric material that comprises small pieces of a foamed dielectric material that have at least one sheet of conductive material embedded therein.
Many state-of-the-art base station antennas now include multiple vertical columns of radiating elements in order to support multiple different types of cellular service. A very common base station antenna configuration includes a first linear array of radiating elements that transmits and receives signals in a first frequency band (the “low-band”) and one or more linear arrays of radiating elements that transmit and receive signals in a second frequency band (the “high-band”) that is at higher frequencies than the first frequency band. Such an antenna is referred to as a “dual-band” antenna as it supports service in two different frequency bands using two different sets of radiating elements. Typically, the low-band includes one or more specific frequency bands that are below about 1 GHz, and the high-band includes one or more specific frequency bands that are above 1 GHz (and typically above 1.6 GHZ), although other definitions of the low-band and high-band may be used. The specific frequency bands may correspond to specific types of cellular service such as, for example, Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”) service, Universal Mobile Telecommunications system (“UTMS”) service, Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) service, CDMA service, etc.
It will be appreciated that the low-band radiating elements may be “wide-band” radiating elements that support multiple different types of cellular service that are within the low-band frequency range. Likewise, the high-band radiating elements may be “wide-band” radiating elements that support multiple different types of cellular service that are within the high-band frequency range. Thus, a dual-band antenna may support more than two different types of cellular service by using such wide-band radiating elements and using diplexers to split the signals in the two different cellular services that are received by the wide-band radiating elements and to combine the signals in the two different cellular services that are fed to the wide-band radiating elements. It will likewise be appreciated that while the present disclosure focuses primarily on dual-band antennas that support service in two different frequency bands using two different sets of radiating elements, the techniques disclosed herein may be applied to any multi-band antenna including, for example, tri-band antennas.
To increase communication capacity, operators often use a split-sector technique by employing multi-beam antennas that generate more than one antenna beam within a given frequency band. For example, multi-band, multi-beam base station antennas are known that include a first linear array of low-band radiating elements and second and third linear arrays of high-band radiating elements. In these antennas, the radiating elements in the low-band array may be designed to have a HPBW beamwidth in the azimuth direction of about 65 degrees, and hence a base station having three of these antennas may provide full 360 degree coverage for the low-band. The second and third linear arrays of high-band radiating elements may be fed by a feed network that includes a Butler matrix to produce a pair of adjacent antenna beams in the high-band that have a HPBW beamwidth in the azimuth direction of about 33 degrees. Thus, a base station having three such antennas may also provide full 360 degree coverage for the high band using six high band antenna beams that each have a HPBW beamwidth in the azimuth direction of about 33 degrees.
Most typically, wireless operators require more high-band antenna beams than low-band antenna beams. Since this case is most common, the example embodiments of the present invention discussed herein have more high-band arrays than low-band arrays. In multi-band, multi-beam base station antenna applications, currently a single low-band array coupled with two or more high-band arrays is perhaps the most commonly used antenna design, although other designs are used. In specialty applications, such as antennas for large venues, a greater number of low-band and high-band antenna beams may be provided.
Several different methods are currently used to generate multiple beams within the same band for purposes of sector splitting. As noted above, in one approach, a Butler matrix is used to generate multiple antenna beams. Unfortunately, the Butler matrix approach has several potential disadvantages, including relatively narrow bandwidth, less symmetrical antenna beams, degraded sidelobe suppression, high cost and the like. Another potential method of sector splitting is to include an RF lens on a base station antenna that includes multiple linear arrays. For example, a base station antenna may have multiple high-band linear arrays that point in different directions to provide multiple adjacent high-band antenna beams, and the RF lens may be used to narrow each of these high-band antenna beams to, for example, a suitable azimuth beam width.
As an example, cylindrical RF lenses have been combined with vertical linear arrays in base station antenna applications. One such antenna is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0070230, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. In base station antennas that include a cylindrical RF lens, the longitudinal axis of the lens is oriented to be approximately parallel to the longitudinal axes of the linear arrays (i.e., both the lens and the linear arrays extend vertically with respect to the plane defined by the horizon). The characteristics of the linear arrays define the elevation beamwidth of the resulting beam patterns (i.e., the cylindrical lens does not generally modify the elevation beamwidth). Thus, the number of radiating elements in each linear array and the spacing between these radiating elements, along with the design of the radiating elements and the frequency of operation, may be primary factors affecting the elevation beamwidth of the linear array. The cylindrical RF lens, however, acts to narrow the beamwidth of the azimuth pattern of each linear array. In one example provided in the above-referenced U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0070230, a cylindrical RF lens is used to narrow the azimuth HPBW of a vertical linear array from about 65 degrees to about 33 degrees. Thus, an advantage of a linear array with a cylindrical lens is that it may achieve the performance (in terms of antenna beam narrowing in the azimuth plane) of a multi-column phased array antenna with only a single column of radiating elements. In the above-referenced U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0070230, two linear arrays that point in different directions are positioned behind the cylindrical RF lens to form a pair of adjacent antenna beams that each have an azimuth HPBW of about 33 degrees.
While generally beneficial, cylindrical RF lenses may exhibit certain disadvantages. For example, in some cases, cylindrical RF lenses may generate cross-polarization distortion. As known to those of skill in the art, cross-polarization distortion refers to the amount of energy that is emitted by a cross-polarized antenna having elements designed to emit energy at a first polarization (e.g., a horizontal polarization) that is emitted at an orthogonal polarization (e.g., a vertical polarization). Cylindrical RF lenses also have a relatively high volume which may increase the size, weight and cost of the antenna, particularly as the materials used to form the lens may be expensive. Additionally, as discussed above, cylindrical lenses do not narrow the elevation beamwidth, and hence the length of the linear array may be the primary factor used to reduce the elevation beamwidth. As the radiating elements in a linear array often cannot be spaced apart by more than about 0.6-0.9 wavelengths of the RF signals that are transmitted and received therethrough without creating significant grating lobes, the increased length requirement for reducing the elevation beamwidth results in a corresponding increase in the number of radiating elements included in the linear array. The use of a cylindrical RF lens does not address this issue.
Typically, corporate feed networks are used with the above-described phased array base station antennas. In order to reduce costs, these corporate feed networks often have a 1:4 or 1:5 geometry (meaning the feed network has a single input and 4 or 5 outputs for RF signals travelling in the transmit direction). As the linear arrays typically have 8-15 radiating elements, the radiating elements are grouped into sub-arrays of radiating elements, where each sub-array is fed by a single output of the corporate feed network (and hence each radiating element that is included in a particular sub-array receives the same signal having a like phase and amplitude). For example, a 1:5 corporate feed network may be coupled to five sub-arrays, where each sub-array comprises one to three radiating elements. Increasing the number of radiating elements and/or sub-array assemblies adds to the cost and complexity of the antenna. Additionally, if element spacing is increased to approach one wavelength, to widen the aperture and narrow the elevation beamwidth while using a smaller number of radiating elements, grating lobes begin to appear as the radiation beam is electronically steered off of mechanical boresight, as would be the case when remote electronic tilt is used to electronically downtilt the elevation pattern of the antenna. Thus, it may be difficult to achieve a high performance base station antenna while simultaneously reducing the size and cost of the antenna when using a cylindrical RF lens.
Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, compact base station antennas are provided that may support both low-band and high-band service, with the antenna forming one antenna beam that supports the low-band service and two or more antenna beams that support the high-band service. These antennas may have approximately the same azimuth beamwidth for the low-band and high-band service, where the azimuth beamwidth for the high-band service is the azimuth beamwidth of the combination of the two or more high-band antenna beams. The low-band and high-band antenna beams may have the same or different elevation beamwidths. Both the low-band and high-bands may exhibit ultra-wideband performance and hence the base station antenna may be used to support multiple different types of low-band service and multiple different types of high-band service.
The base station and other antennas according to embodiments of the present invention may be formed using one or more RF lenses that are used to narrow the beamwidths of the arrays of high-band radiating elements. In some embodiments, a single cylindrical RF lens may be provided that operates in conjunction with two or more vertical arrays of high-band radiating elements and one or more vertical arrays of low band radiating elements. In other embodiments, multiple cylindrical RF lenses may be used. In still other embodiments, linear arrays of spherical or elliptical RF lenses may be used.
The antennas may be designed in some embodiments so that the RF lenses have little effect on the low-band signals. For example, in some embodiments, the low-band radiating elements may be positioned between the RF lenses and a backplane of the antenna, and the RF lenses may be designed to be substantially transparent to the low-band radiating elements. In other embodiments, the low-band radiating elements may be positioned between as opposed to behind the RF lenses to reduce the impact that the RF lenses have on the low-band signals. In some embodiments, artificial magnetic conductor (“AMC”) materials may be used to allow the low band radiating elements to be placed closer to the backplane to increase the compactness of the antenna. The low-band and high-band radiating elements may comprise ultra-wideband radiating elements in some embodiments.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be discussed in further detail with reference to the figures, in which example embodiments of the invention are shown.
Each low-band radiating element 122 may comprise a stalk 124 and a radiator 126. The radiator 126 may comprise, for example, a dipole or patch radiator. If the base station antenna 100 is a dual-polarized antenna, each radiator 126 may comprise, for example, a cross-dipole structure. Each radiator 126 may be disposed in a plane that is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the corresponding stalk 124 of the radiating element 122. The longitudinal axis of each stalk 124 may be pointed towards the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical lens 140.
Similarly, each high-band radiating element 132 may comprise a stalk 134 and a radiator 136. The radiator 136 may comprise, for example, a dipole or patch radiator. If the base station antenna 100 is a dual-polarized antenna, each radiator 136 may comprise, for example, a cross-dipole structure. Each radiator 136 may be disposed in a plane that is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the corresponding stalk 134 of the radiating element 132. The longitudinal axis of each stalk 134 may be pointed towards the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical lens 140.
Typically, the radiating elements of a base station antenna are spaced about one-quarter wavelength above an underlying reflector, where the wavelength is the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the RF signals that are transmitted/received via the radiating element. For the low-band signals, which typically are in the 690-960 MHz range, one-quarter wavelength is a relatively large distance, and hence it may be difficult to provide a compact base station antenna. For example, referring to
In order to ameliorate this issue, as shown in
In some embodiments, the AMC material may comprise a metallic ground layer, a grounded dielectric substrate on the metallic ground layer, and periodical patches on the grounded dielectric substrate, where the periodicity of the patches is much smaller than the wavelength. The inclusion of the AMC material 150 may allow the low-band radiating elements 122 to have much shorter stalks 124, and hence the radiators 126 of the low-band radiating elements 122 may be positioned much closer to the backplane 110 of the antenna 100.
While the RF lens 140 is described as being a cylindrical RF lens 140 that extends, for example, the length of the low-band array 120 and/or the high-band arrays 130-1, 130-2, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments the RF lens 140 may comprise a plurality of spherical RF lenses 140 that are arranged in a vertical column. One low-band radiating element 122 and two high-band radiating elements 132 may be positioned between each such spherical RF lens 140 and the backplane 110 in such embodiments. Elliptical RF lenses could be used in other embodiments.
Referring to
The cylindrical RF lens 240 is used to focus the radiation coverage patterns or “antenna beams” of the respective high-band linear arrays 230 in the azimuth direction. For example, the cylindrical RF lens 240 may shrink the 3 dB beam widths of the respective antenna beams output by the high-band linear arrays 230 from about 65 degrees to about 33 degrees in the azimuth plane. While the antenna 200 includes two high-band linear arrays 230, it will be appreciated that different numbers of high-band linear arrays 230 may be used in other embodiments.
The antenna 200 may be designed so that the cylindrical RF lens 240 does not significantly narrow the beamwidth of the low-band linear array 220. One way to accomplish this is to select a diameter for the cylindrical RF lens 240 that is sufficient to provide the necessary narrowing of the azimuth beamwidth of the high-band linear arrays 230 but that is small enough that the cylindrical RF lens 240 will not significantly narrow the azimuth beamwidth of the low-band linear array 220. The azimuth beamwidth of the individual radiating elements 222 in the low-band linear array 220 may, for example, be selected so that the low-band array 220 will have a half-power beamwidth of about 65 degrees in some embodiments. In other embodiments, the cylindrical RF lens 240 will perform at least some narrowing of the azimuth beamwidth of the low-band linear array 220. In such embodiments, the low-band array 220 may be designed to have a half-power azimuth beamwidth of, for example, about 90 degrees that the cylindrical RF lens 240 narrows to about 65 degrees.
The low-band radiating elements 222 that form the low-band linear array 220 may comprise, for example, dipole, patch or any other appropriate radiating elements. In some embodiments the low-band radiating elements 222 may comprise patch radiating elements as these radiating elements may have a relatively low profile. As shown best in
The high-band radiating elements 232 that form the high-band linear arrays 230-1, 230-2 may also comprise, for example, dipole, patch or any other appropriate high-band radiating elements. As shown in
The cylindrical RF lens 240 narrows the half power beam width of the antenna beams formed by each of the high-band linear arrays 230 while increasing the gain of the high-band antenna beams by, for example, about 2-2.5 dB. Both high-band linear arrays 230 share the same cylindrical RF lens 240, and thus each high-band linear array 230 has its HPBW altered in the same manner.
The high-band radiating elements 232 may be mounted in close proximity to the cylindrical RF lens 240. However, as discussed above with reference to
As noted above, a radiating element for a base station antenna is typically mounted at about one-quarter wavelength from an underlying backplane/reflector so that the radiation that is emitted rearwardly by the radiating element will be reflected forwardly to add constructively with the radiation emitted by the radiating element in the forward direction. By mounting the low-band radiating elements 222 on an AMC material 250 it may be possible to mount the low-band radiating elements 222 much closer to the backplane 210, as discussed above. This may significantly reduce the size of the antenna 200 and may help ensure that the low-band and high-band radiating elements 222, 232 point through the cylindrical RF lens 240 in the proper direction without overlapping each other.
The lensed dual-band multi-beam base station antenna 200 may be used to increase system capacity. For example, a conventional dual-band 65 degree azimuth HPBW antenna could be replaced with the lensed multi-beam base station antenna 200 as described above. This would increase the traffic handling capacity for the high-band, as each high-band antenna beam would have 2-2.5 dB higher gain and hence could support higher data rates at the same quality of service. The azimuth angles for the two antenna beams generated by the high-band linear arrays 230 may be approximately perpendicular to the respective portions of the backplane on which each high-band linear array 230 is mounted. The high-band antenna beams may be positioned adjacent each other and may each be designed to have a half-power azimuth beam width of about 33 degrees so that the antenna 200 may provide coverage for a 120 degree sector.
In some embodiments, the cylindrical RF lens 240 may be formed of a composite dielectric material 242 that has a generally homogeneous dielectric constant throughout the lens structure. The cylindrical RF lens 240 may also, in some embodiments, include a shell such as a hollow, lightweight structure that holds the dielectric material 242. This is in contrast to a conventional Luneburg lens that is formed of multiple layers of dielectric materials that have different dielectric constants. The cylindrical RF lens 240 may be easier and less expensive to manufacture as compared to a Luneburg lens, and may also be more compact. In one embodiment, the cylindrical RF lens 240 may be formed of a composite dielectric material having a generally uniform dielectric constant of approximately 1.5 to 3.0 and a diameter of about 2 wavelengths (2) of the center frequency of the signals that are to be transmitted through the high-band radiating elements 232.
The antenna 200 of
The cylindrical RF lens 240 may be formed using any of a variety of composite dielectric materials. Example composite dielectric materials that are suitable for forming the RF lens used in base station antennas according to embodiments of the present invention will be discussed in greater detail below. Any of the composite dielectric materials discussed below may be used to form the cylindrical RF lens 240, as may any other suitable dielectric material.
The use of a cylindrical RF lens such as lens 240 may reduce grating lobes (and other far sidelobes) in the elevation plane. The reduction in the size of the grating lobes occurs because the cylindrical RF lens 240 focuses the main beam only and defocuses the far sidelobes. This allows increasing the spacing between the antenna elements 232 in the high-band linear arrays 230, and hence a desired elevation beam width may be achieved with fewer radiating elements 232 per high-band linear array 230 as compared to a non-lensed antenna. In non-lensed antennas, the spacing between radiating elements in the array may be selected to control grating lobes using the criterion that dmax/λ<1/(sin θ0+1), where dmax is maximum allowed spacing, λ is the wavelength and Go is scan angle. In the lensed antenna 200, spacing dmax can be increased: dmax/λ=1.2˜1.3[1/(sin θ0+1)]. So, the cylindrical RF lens 240 allows the spacing between the high-band radiating elements 232 to be increased for the multi-beam base station antenna 200 while reducing the number of radiating elements by 20-30%. This results in additional cost advantages for the lensed multi-beam base station antenna 200.
Referring again to
Thus, the lensed multi-beam antenna 200 is a dual band antenna that provides twin antenna beams in the high-band and a single antenna beam in the low-band. The antenna 200 may be very compact, as the diameter of the cylindrical RF lens 240 is based on the frequency of the high-band linear arrays 230, and hence a smaller cylindrical RF lens 240 may be used. In example embodiments, the diameter D of the cylindrical RF lens may be about D=1.5-6λ (where λ is the wavelength in free space of the center frequency of the transmitted signal). Additionally, because the AMC material 250 allows the low-band radiating elements 222 to be positioned very close to the backplane 210, the low band radiating elements 222 may be positioned between the cylindrical RF lens 240 and the backplane 210 and hence may require little or no extra space. The AMC material 250 also allows the low-band radiating elements 222 to be spaced farther away from the high-band radiating elements 232, which may reduce the amount that the low-band radiating elements 222 scatter the transmitted or received high-band RF energy.
As is shown in
When secondary lenses 338 are included in the antenna, the main cylindrical RF lens 140 may be positioned at a greater distance from the backplane 110. As a result, more room may be provided for the low-band radiating elements 122. In some cases, therefore, the AMC material 150 may be omitted.
The amount of focusing performed by the secondary lenses 338 may be highly dependent on the frequency of the RF signals. For example, in one embodiment, the antenna beam output by each secondary lens 338 may have a half-power beamwidth of, for example, 60 degrees at 1.7 GHZ and a half-power beamwidth of 40 degrees at 2.7 GHZ. Notably, the main cylindrical RF lens 140 may be designed to operate in the reverse manner. In particular, the diameter, dielectric constant and other parameters of the main cylindrical RF lens 140 may be selected so that 1.7 GHz a signal passes through most or all of the main cylindrical RF lens 140 while a 2.7 GHZ RF signal will only pass through a central portion of the main cylindrical RF lens 140. As a result, the main cylindrical RF lens 140 will focus the 1.7 GHZ RF signal more than the 2.7 GHZ RF signal. Consequently, the combination of the main cylindrical RF lens 140 and the secondary RF lenses 338 may be used to form high-band antenna beams having a beamwidth of, for example, 33 degrees across the entire 1 GHz frequency range of the high-band (i.e., from 1.7 GHz to 2.7 GHZ).
As is shown in
As shown in
The antenna 500 may produce two independent high-band antenna beams (with each beam supporting two polarizations) that are aimed at different azimuth angles. As a result, the antenna 500 may be used to further sectorize a cellular base station. For example, the antenna 500 may be designed to generate two side-by-side beams in the azimuth plane that each have a half power azimuth beamwidth of about 33 degrees. Three such antennas 500 could be used to form a six-sector cell.
The low-band linear array 520 includes four low-band radiating elements 522. Each low-band radiating element 522 is implemented as a pair of “tri-pol” elements 524 that are used, for example, to create a low-band antenna beam having an azimuth half-power beam width of 40-50 degrees. The tri-pol elements 524 are arranged in vertical columns along each side of the backplane 510. Each pair of tri-pol elements 524 is arranged between adjacent ones of the spherical RF lenses 540. The tri-pol elements 524 may be mounted at a relatively large distance from the backplane 510 so that the radiators of the tri-pol elements 524 are arranged at heights above the backplane 510 similar to the heights of the spherical RF lenses 540. As a result of the height and placement of the tri-pol elements 524, little or none of the forwardly-directed RF energy that is emitted by the low-band radiating elements 522 will pass through the spherical RF lenses 540, although some portion of the backwardly emitted low-band RF signals may pass through the spherical RF lenses 540. As a result, the spherical RF lenses 540 will only have a relatively minor impact on the low-band antenna pattern, while the spherical RF lenses 540 may be used to significantly narrow the high-band antenna patterns.
The first and second high-band linear arrays 530-1, 530-2 may extend in respective first and second vertical columns that may be generally perpendicular to the horizontal plane defined by the horizon when the base station antenna 500 is mounted for use. The spherical RF lenses 540 may likewise be mounted in a vertical column. The high-band radiating elements 532 may be mounted between the backplane 510 and the column of spherical RF lenses 540. As shown best in
The high-band radiating elements 532 are illustrated schematically in
Each spherical RF lens 540 is used to focus (narrow) the antenna beam formed by its associated high-band radiating elements 532 in both the azimuth and elevation planes. The spherical RF lens 540 may include (e.g., be filled with or consist of) a dielectric material having a dielectric constant of about 1 to about 3 in some embodiments. The dielectric material of the spherical RF lens 540 focuses the RF energy that radiates from, and is received by, the associated high-band radiating elements 532. A variety of suitable composite dielectric materials that may be used to form the spherical RF lenses 540 are discussed below.
The use of the spherical RF lenses 540 included in the antenna 500 may provide several advantages as compared to the cylindrical RF lenses used in the antennas 100, 200, 300, 400 that are described above. First, an array of spherical RF lenses 540 may be significantly smaller than an equivalent cylindrical RF lens. Accordingly, the use of the spherical RF lenses 540 may reduce the size, cost and weight of the antenna 500. Second, the spherical RF lenses 540 may be used to narrow the beam in both the azimuth and elevation directions, which may be desirable in many applications. Third, the spherical RF lenses 540 may maintain beam pattern shape when electronically tilted for purposes of changing the coverage area of the antenna 500. Fourth, the spherical RF lenses 540 may have less effect on the low-band radiating elements 522 than would a cylindrical RF lens since each spherical RF lens 540 may be tuned with respect to a single low-band radiating element 522 (assuming there is one low-band array 520).
As shown in
As shown best in
As shown in
While the embodiment of
As can be seen from
While not shown in the figures, the spherical RF lenses 740 may include a frequency selective structure such as the frequency selective structure 642 discussed above with reference to
As shown in
It will be appreciated that numerous modifications may be made to the dual-band multi-beam antennas disclosed herein without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, while various of the antennas disclosed herein use spherical RF lenses, it will be understood that elliptical or other RF lens could be used instead in other embodiments. It will likewise be appreciated that the numbers of radiating elements may be varied from what is shown, as may the number of low-band and/or high-band radiating elements per RF lens.
As another example, while each of the example embodiments described above includes a single low-band array, it will be appreciated that two or more low-band arrays may be included in other embodiments. The number of high-band arrays may likewise be varied.
As another example, the low-band radiating elements in the antennas described above may be designed so that the RF lenses will have at most limited effect on the low-band signals. In other embodiments, wider beamwidth low-band radiating elements such as patch radiating elements or dielectric loaded patch radiating elements may be used and the RF lens may be used to narrow the beam widths of bot the low-band and high-band radiating elements. For example, the low-band radiating elements may be designed to have an azimuth beamwidth of about 90 degrees, and the RF lens may be used to shrink the beamwidth to about 65 degrees.
While AMC materials may be used in some embodiments to position the low-band radiating elements closer to an underlying ground plane/reflector, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments a dielectric material may be used in place of the AMC material. The wavelength of the RF energy changes in the dielectric material (effectively becoming smaller), which allows the low-band radiating elements to be positioned closer to the reflector/ground plane.
The base station antennas according to embodiments of the present invention that are discussed above use RF lenses to focus the RF energy that radiates from, and is received by, at least some of the linear arrays to reduce the beamwidth of the antenna beams formed by those linear arrays. These RF lens may be formed using composite dielectric materials in some embodiments.
In some embodiments, the composite dielectric material that is included in the RF lenses disclosed herein may be a composite dielectric material 1000 that is formed using expandable dielectric microspheres 1010 (or other shaped expandable materials) that are mixed with conductive materials 1020 (e.g., conductive sheet material) that have an insulating material on each major surface. This composite dielectric material 1000 may further include a binder such as, for example, an inert oil. The small pieces of conductive sheet material 1020 having an insulating material on each major surface may comprise, for example, flitter or glitter. Flitter may comprise, for example, a thin sheet of metal (e.g., 6-50 microns thick) that has a thin insulative coating (e.g., 0.5-15 microns) on one or both sides thereof that is cut into small pieces (e.g., small 200-800 micron squares or other shapes having a similar major surface area). Glitter may be similar to flitter, but each piece of glitter may have a thicker insulating layer on one side of the metal sheet and a thinner insulative coating on the other side.
The mixture of the microspheres 1010, flitter flakes 1020 and the binder may, after heating, comprise, for example, a lightweight, semi-solid, semi-liquid material in the form of a flowable paste that may have a consistency similar to, for example, warm butter. The material may be pumped into a shell to form an RF lens for a base station antenna. The composite dielectric material 1000 focuses the RF energy that radiates from, and is received by, the linear arrays.
As shown in
While not shown in
In other embodiments, the composite dielectric material may be of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,518,537 (“the '537 patent”), the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. In one example embodiment, small blocks of the composite dielectric material are provided, each of which includes at least one needle-like conductive fiber embedded therein. The small blocks may be formed into a much larger structure using an adhesive that glues the blocks together. The blocks may have a random orientation within the larger structure. The composite dielectric material used to form the blocks may be a lightweight material having a density in the range of, for example. 0.005 to 0.1 g/cm3. By varying the number and/or orientation of the conductive fiber(s) that are included inside the small blocks, the dielectric constant of the material can be varied from 1 to 3.
In still other embodiments, the RF lenses disclosed herein may be formed using any of the dielectric materials disclosed in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/313,406 (“the '406 application”), filed Mar. 25, 2016, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. One of the composite dielectric materials of the '406 application is depicted in
As shown in
As is also disclosed in the '406 application, in other embodiments the RF lens may be a shell filled with a composite dielectric material that comprises a mixture of a high dielectric constant material and a lightweight, low dielectric constant base dielectric material. For example, the composite dielectric material may comprise a large block of foamed base dielectric material that includes particles (e.g., a powder) of a high dielectric constant material embedded therein. The lightweight, low dielectric constant base dielectric material may comprise, for example, a foamed plastic material such as polyethylene, polystyrene, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTEF), polypropylene, polyurethane silicon or the like that has a plurality of particles of a high dielectric constant material embedded therein. In some embodiments, the foamed lightweight low dielectric constant base dielectric material may have a foaming percentage of at least 50%. The high dielectric constant material may comprise, for example, small particles of a non-conductive material such as, for example, a ceramic (e.g., Mg2TiO4, MgTiO3, CaTiO3, BaTi4O9, boron nitride or the like) or a non-conductive (or low conductivity) metal oxide (e.g., titanium oxide, aluminium oxide or the like). In some embodiments, the high dielectric constant material may have a dielectric constant of at least 10. The particles of high dielectric constant material may be generally uniformly distributed throughout the base dielectric material and may be randomly oriented within the base dielectric material. In some embodiments, the composite dielectric material may comprise a plurality of small blocks of a base dielectric material, where each block has particles of a high dielectric constant dielectric material embedded therein and/or thereon.
In other embodiments, the RF lenses may be formed of a reticular foamed material that has conductive particles and/or particles of a high dielectric constant material embedded throughout the interior of the foamed material. In such embodiments, a plurality of small blocks of this material may be formed or the lens may comprise a single block of this material that may be shaped into the desired shape for the lens (e.g., a spherical shape, a cylindrical shape, etc.). The foamed material may have a very open cell structure to reduce the weight thereof, and the conductive and/or high dielectric constant particles may be bound within the matrix formed by the foam using a binder material. Suitable high dielectric constant particles include particles of lightweight conductors, ceramic materials, conductive oxides and/or carbon black. In embodiments that use small blocks of this material, the blocks may be held together using a low dielectric loss binder or adhesive or may be simply be filled into a container to form the lens.
In yet other embodiments, the RF lenses may be formed using one or more thin wires that are coated with an insulating material and loosely crushed into a block-like shape. As the wires are rigid, they may be used to form a dielectric material without the need for a separate material such as a foam. In some embodiments, the crushed wire(s) may be formed into the shape of a lens. In other embodiments, a plurality of blocks of crushed wire(s) may be combined to form the lens. In yet additional embodiments, the RF lenses may be formed using thin sheets of dielectric material that is either crumpled or shredded and placed in a container having the desired shape for the lens. As with the insulated wire embodiment discussed above, the crumbled/shredded sheets of dielectric material may exhibit rigidity and hence may be held in place without an additional matrix material.
In some embodiments, the dielectric constant of the lens material may remain relatively constant throughout the RF lens. In other embodiments, the dielectric constant may vary. For example, in some embodiments where the dielectric constant varies, the RF lenses may comprise Luneburg lenses, which are multi-layer lenses, typically spherical in shape, that have dielectric materials having different dielectric constants in each layer.
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.).
Relative terms such as “below” or “above” or “upper” or “lower” or “horizontal” or “vertical” may be used herein to describe a relationship of one element, layer or region to another element, layer or region as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that these terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures.
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, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, 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.
The present application is a continuation application that claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/320,201, filed Jan. 24, 2019, which in turn is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 national stage application of PCT Application No. PCT/US2017/045016, filed on Aug. 2, 2017, which itself claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/384,280, filed Sep. 7, 2016, the entire contents of each of which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62384280 | Sep 2016 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16320201 | Jan 2019 | US |
| Child | 18433743 | US |
