Patent Application
20210288414
This disclosure relates to antennas, and more particularly, to adding a new type of antenna array to be used to provide a wireless service using space already used by an existing antenna array to provide a different wireless service.
Acquiring new sites to place the antennas necessary for providing wireless service, especially for a wireless service that requires a new type of antenna, has become almost impossible in most dense urban areas. Also, the addition of new antennas supporting new frequency bands can result in very long, painful, and expensive negotiations with site owners. As a result, the deployment of active antennas systems (AAS), a key enabler of so-called “fifth generation (5G)” wireless service, will likely be a major challenge for mobile network operators. Given the foregoing, it is desirable to find ways to add new antennas onto already crowded sites, especially rooftops.
We have recognized that the installation issues can be avoided, in accordance with the principles of the disclosure, by the use of an arrangement which interleaves an array of 5G antennas amongst multiband antenna structures. In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, the multiband antenna structures may be passive antennas. In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, the multiband antenna structures may be low band (LB) antennas. In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, the 5G antennas may be arranged as a massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) array. The mMIMO array may be an active array. In such a case, where the 5G antenna array is an active array and the LB antenna array is a passive array, the overall configuration may be referred to as an active passive antenna (APA) arrangement.
In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, such an interleaved arrangement of antennas may employ low band (LB) antennas that are formed using conductive elements, including, for example, feeders and radiators, on thin supporting sheets. The supporting sheets are oriented so that at least one of their dimensions, e.g., their thinnest dimension, fits within the limited physical space between the 5G antennas. In accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure, one or more of the supporting sheets, which act as a substrate to which the conductive elements are affixed, may be, for example, a printed circuit board. The substrates may be arranged so as to generally appear to form four sides of a hollow rectangular parallelepiped, e.g., four sides of a hollow cuboid, which may have various protrusions and cutouts, where the missing two sides, which are open, may be considered to be the top and bottom sides of the cuboid, where the bottom side is closest to the plane from which the signals are supplied to the antennas. In other words, the substrates for the radiating elements of the LB antennas may be shaped to appear like an empty rectangular box with the top and bottom surfaces removed. The missing bottom surface is in the area from which the 5G to antennas receive their signal to transmit, e.g., near the chassis level, and the lack of the opposing top surface allows signals from the 5G antennas to radiate outward.
Herein, the terms top and bottom are to be construed irrespective of the position of the structure in space with respect to a horizontal plane.
The positions, dimensions, and heights of each LB and 5G radiating element are is set based on desired radio frequency (RF) performance of the LB and 5G arrays. Thus, the LB antennas may be thought of as having been “slipped in” amongst a preexisting array of 5G antennas and each LB antenna may surround one or more of the 5G antennas. In embodiments of the disclosure, portions of one or more of the substrates may be removed or missing.
In embodiments of the disclosure, the physical dimensions of each of the substrates of at least one of the LB antennas are substantially the same. In other words, the LB antennas, when viewed from the top, appear to be substantially square-like, i.e., having a square cross-section.
In embodiments of the disclosure, the radiating elements of the LB antennas are electrically arranged to form an arrangement of dipoles. These low band (LB) radiating elements may be passive or active, depending on the embodiment.
The 5G antennas may be located atop pillars so as to bring them to an appropriate height, e.g., with respect to the LB antennas. Thus, the 5G antennas may have their tops below, at the same level as, or above the plane of the missing top surface of the LB antennas.
In embodiments of the disclosure, each 5G antenna may be formed of at least one dipole. In some embodiments, two dipoles oriented at 90 degrees from each other are used to make up the 5G antenna. In embodiments of the disclosure, each 5G antenna may be coupled to a filter. In embodiments of the disclosure, such filters may be incorporated into stands or pillars on which the 5G antennas sit.
Some embodiments feature an antenna array, comprising:
a two dimensional array of multiband antennas;
a two dimensional array of fifth generation—5G—antennas for broadband cellular networks;
wherein at least some of the 5G antennas are interleaved amongst the multiband antennas.
In some specific embodiments at least one of the multiband antennas are each shaped like a hollow parallelepiped with two opposing surfaces missing, wherein one of the missing surfaces is proximal to a source of a signal that is supplied to the at least to one LB antenna to be transmitted therefrom and the opposing missing surface is distal to the signal source.
In some specific embodiments the hollow parallelepiped is a cuboid.
In some specific embodiments the hollow parallelepiped comprises support walls each of which fit within a gap between at least two of the 5G antennas.
In some specific embodiments at least one of the support walls has a conductor for radiating therefrom.
In some specific embodiments the multiband antennas are low band (LB) antennas.
In some specific embodiments the multiband antennas are passive antennas.
In some specific embodiments the 5G antennas are arranged as an N×M×2 element array where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1 that corresponds to the number of columns of antennas, M is an integer greater than or equal to 1 that corresponds to the number of rows of antennas, and 2 corresponds to the number of cross polarized channels of each 5G antenna.
In some specific embodiments at least one of the 5G antennas is mounted on a stand.
In some specific embodiments at least one of the 5G antennas is mounted on a stand that feeds at least one signal to be radiated by the at least one 5G antenna to the at least one 5G antenna.
In some specific embodiments at least one of the 5G antennas is mounted on a stand that feeds at least one signal to be radiated by the at least one 5G antenna to the at least one 5G antenna and wherein the stand incorporates a filter element through which the at least one signal passes.
In some specific embodiments at least one of 5G antennas is mounted above a reflector.
In some specific embodiments at least one of 5G antenna elements is mounted above a reflector that has an open at its base, hollow, truncated inverted pyramid shape.
In some specific embodiments the 5G antennas are arranged as a massive multiple input multiple output (mMIMO) antenna array.
In some specific embodiments at least one of the 5G antennas is located within one of the multiband antennas and wherein at least one of the 5G antennas is located between two of the 5G antennas.
Some embodiments feature an antenna array, comprising:
to a two dimensional array of multiband antenna structures;
a two dimensional array of fifth generation—5G—antenna elements for broadband cellular networks having a regular spacing between each of the 5G antenna elements;
wherein at least some of the 5G antenna elements are interleaved amongst the multiband antenna structures such that support structures and radiators thereon for is each of the two dimensional array of multiband antenna structures fit within space provided by the regular spacing of the two dimensional array of 5G antenna elements.
In some specific embodiments the two dimensional array of 5G antennas are spaced apart from each other only by a distance substantially in conformity with a thickness of the support structures of the multiband antenna structures so as to allow the multiband antenna structures to fit within said space.
Some embodiments feature a multiband antenna comprising:
four printed circuit boards that are joined to form a hollow rectangular box with its top and bottom missing;
conductive material forming on a respective first surface of at least some of the printed circuit boards first and second vertical conductive legs and a horizontal radiating conductor therebetween, each of the vertical conductive legs being connected at their respective end distal from the horizontal radiating conductor to ground, each said first surface facing exteriorly to the hollow rectangular box;
a respective feed conductor formed on a second surface, opposite to said respective first surface, of the at least some of the printed circuit boards, each said second surface facing interiorly to the hollow rectangular box, each of the feed conductors being located opposite to the first vertical conductive leg and extending behind the first vertical conductive leg substantially a length of the first vertical conductive leg, each of the feed conductors being couplable to a signal source at an end thereof distal to the horizontal radiating conductor coupled to its first vertical leg;
a conductive connection between another end of each respective feed conductor and the horizontal radiating conductor of the one of the printed circuit boards immediately adjacent thereto.
In some specific embodiments the printed circuit boards are joined so that at least a portion of each printed circuit board protrudes through at least one of its adjacent printed circuit boards.
In some specific embodiments each respective conductive connection is located above each respective second leg.
In some specific embodiments at least one fifth generation (5G) antenna is located within the area defined by the hollow rectangular box and at least one 5G antenna is exterior to the area defined by the hollow rectangular box.
In some specific embodiments the 5G antennas are part of massive multiple input multiple output (m MIMO) active antenna array.
In some specific embodiments the spacing between the 5G antennas are substantially adjacent and are spaced apart by a distance substantially in conformity with a thickness of the printed circuit boards so as to allow the multiband antenna structures to fit within said space.
In the drawing:
The following merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples and conditional language recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and to conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the disclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry or components embodying the principles of the disclosure.
Unless otherwise explicitly specified herein, the drawings are not drawn to scale. In the description, identically numbered components within different ones of the FIGs. refer to the same components.
The issues of installing new antennas for use on crowded sites, where the new antennas are needed to support a new, such as a next generation, wireless service, e.g., 5G, can be avoided, in accordance with the principles of the disclosure, by the use of an arrangement which interleaves an array of 5G antennas amongst multiband antenna structures. In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, the multiband antenna structures may be passive antennas. In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, the multiband antenna structures may be low band (LB) antennas. In embodiments of the disclosure, several of the multiband antenna structures may be arranged to perform within at least one of several bands, e.g., from about 700 MHz to about 960 MHz, from about 1710 MHz to about 2690 MHz and from about 1400 MHz to about 2400 MHz. In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, the 5G antennas may be arranged as a massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) array. The mMIMO array may be an active array. In such a case, where the 5G antenna array is an active array and the LB antenna array is a passive array, the section of the overall antenna frame having a configuration with the 5G antenna array within the LB antenna array may be referred to as an active passive antenna (APA) arrangement.
Herein, the term 5G is meant to refer to the next generation of mobile networks as specified by the International Telecommunications Union-Radio communications sector (ITU-R), referred to as 4G standards which is well known to those of ordinary skill in the related art.
In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, such an interleaved arrangement of antennas may employ low band (LB) antennas that are formed using conductive elements, including, for example, feeders and radiators, on thin supporting sheets. The supporting sheets are oriented so that at least one of their dimensions, e.g., their thinnest dimension, fits within the limited physical space between the 5G antennas. In accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure, one or more of the supporting sheets, which act as a substrate to which the conductive elements are affixed, may be, for example, a printed circuit board. The substrates may be arranged so as to generally is appear to form four sides of a hollow rectangular parallelepiped, e.g., four sides of a hollow cuboid, which may have various protrusions and cutouts, where the missing two sides, which are open, may be considered to be the top and bottom sides of the cuboid, where the bottom side is closest to the plane from which the signals are supplied to the antennas. In other words, the substrates for the radiating elements of the LB antennas may be shaped to appear like an empty rectangular box with the top and bottom surfaces removed. The missing bottom surface is in the area from which the 5G antennas receive their signal to transmit, e.g., near the chassis level, and the lack of the opposing top surface allows signals from the 5G antennas to radiate outward. The low band (LB) radiating elements thus fit within the narrow interstices between radiating elements of a two-dimensional 5G antenna array.
Designs comprising a similar sized chassis and configured similarly except for the space occupied by interleaved LB+5G radiating antenna structure 103 being occupied only by a 2×2 LB antenna arrays, would leave no space on the frame for additional 5G antennas. As such, there is no space, for example, for an additional 8×8×2 3.5 GHz active antenna array, where the “2” indicates that the antennas of the 5G antenna array provide for dual polarization.
In
Also shown in
Advantageously, in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, LB antennas 203 are designed so that they can fit within the spacing between 5G antennas 201. In the example of the disclosure shown in
LB antennas 203 are arranged in a 2×2 array in the embodiment of the disclosure shown in
In an embodiment of the disclosure to be discussed in conjunction with
One type of antenna radiating element that is generally suitable to be used as 5G antennas is generally described in United States Patent Publication 2012/0146872 of Chainon et al. which was published on Jun. 14, 2012 and is incorporated herein by reference. As will be readily understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, other types of antennas, including patch, other configurations of dipoles, or any other high band antenna and even combinations thereof, may be employed as the 5G antennas.
In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, 5G antennas 201 may be located atop pillars, e.g., pillars 207 so that they are offset from chassis 205 so as to bring them to an appropriate height, e.g., with respect to the “tops” of LB antennas 203, which are the portions thereof distal from chassis 205. Thus, the 5G antennas may have their “tops” below, at the same level as, or above the plane of the missing top surface of LB antennas 203. Each of pillars 207 couples signals between 5G antennas 201 and radio circuitry (not shown) that may be located below chassis 205. Advantageously, the array of 5G antennas 201 may be placed to best effect, e.g., to minimize potential radio frequency (RF) interactions between the 5G antennas 201 and any other antenna arrays existing within the same overall antenna envelope at the site. Although often convenient or advantageous to be so arranged, not all of 5G antennas 201 need be at the same height.
In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, filter elements may be added to each of the antennas, or subgroups of antennas, in order to prevent potential damaging interactions from any existing radio networks with 5G antennas 201, as well as, or in the alternative, to protect any existing radio networks from potential spurious energy that might be emitted or received by 5G antennas 201. In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, such filter elements may be incorporated into pillars 207.
Each of antennas 201 in the embodiment of
Face 219 of each of circuit boards 209 that is shown in
Both of conductors 217 are electrically coupled to ground. The ground is fed via a pillar 207 from a ground plane on chassis 205. Such a ground plane is seen in
On the face of a circuit board 209 opposite to face 219, which is shown in
Thus, together, 5G radiating elements 215 make up a half-wave dipole made up of two half-dipoles separated by a gap which may be at least partially a slot. The dipole may be a stripline dipole.
Optional conductors 211 may be formed above 5G radiating elements 215 on each of circuit boards 209. Each of conductors 211 is not electrically connected to the dipole formed by the pair of radiating elements 215 on the same one of circuit boards 209 on which they are formed. Conductors 211 form another radiating line that is used to increase the gain and bandwidth of the dipole that is formed on the same one of circuit boards 209 with them. Conductors 211 may thus make up an optional so-called to “director” or parasitic part that can be used for pattern shaping and for radiating element impedance matching. It is easier to see conductors 211 in
Holes 213 may be used to visibly distinguish between the two conductors.
Each of circuit boards 209 that are only seen in
In one embodiment of the disclosure, the height of circuit boards 209 may be approximately 42 mm while their width is about 48 mm.
Below antenna 201 is reflector 303. In the illustrative embodiment shown in
One or more of pillars 207 may be used to provide a signal to be transmitted by 5G antenna 201 from the level of chassis 205 (
The external facing side of printed circuit boards 313 may be coated in a conductor, e.g., copper, to provide an electromagnetic shield. Similarly, the external facing side of printed circuit boards 315 may be coated in a conductor, e.g., copper, to provide an electromagnetic shield. This is also shown in the embodiments shown in
In an embodiment of the disclosure, e.g., as shown in
In the embodiment shown, the filter is a 3 pole band pass stripline filter. The overall dimensions of the BP filter are about 60 mm×24 mm and based on the use of a sandwich of two Taconic TLX PCBs making up half stands 307 and 309 used as part of stand 207 where each PCB has a 0.762 mm thickness. A signal to be transmitted by an antenna 201 may be fed thereto, e.g., by stripline 645, that runs from the bottom of printed circuit boards 315 and is electrically coupled to a signal source which may be located below a ground plane that is on chassis 205. Again, such a ground plane is seen in
In an alternative embodiment, a printed circuit board that has internal conductive planes available to it may be used in lieu of two separate printed circuit boards. For example, the outer two conductive planes may be used as ground planes while an internal conductive plane can be used for the feed line and filters.
Other types of filtering elements such as are known to those in the art may be employed on, within, or mounted to the pillars. For example, air cavity filters or ceramic filters may be employed. However, such filters typically add additional cost. to The design of such filtering elements must take into consideration several challenges including: 1) the fact that the number of radiating elements required may be very large; 2) the mechanical dimension of each filter element should be minimized while providing good RF performance; and 3) each filter needs to be connected directly to its respective radiating element port. Note that, for example, an 8×8 antenna array in is which each radiating element is operating in dual polarization mode potentially leads to the use of, for example, 8×8×2=128 filters. Those of ordinary skill in the art will be able to select or design appropriate filters for their particular application.
Other types of antennas, stands, filters, and reflectors may be employed, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.
LB antenna 203 as shown in
Although PCBs have been described hereinabove as the substrate, note that in other embodiments of the disclosure, any dielectric material, e.g., ceramic, glass, plastic, and so forth, that could be properly shaped and support properly shaped conductors may be employed as the substrate.
Portions of ones of external surfaces 407-1 through 407-4, i.e., external to the box, of respective ones of PCBs 401 are coated in a conductive material, e.g., copper. Thus, in the embodiment shown in
Portions 411 of each of PCBs 401 that are not coated in conductive material are not necessary and may be eliminated, e.g., to reduce weight. Again, note that due to the orientation of LB antenna 203 removal of such unused portions of PCBs 401-3 and 401-4 could not be seen in
Each of leg portions 413 of conductors 409 proximal to ground plane 417 is connected to ground plane 417.
On the rear face of PCBs 401 from leg portions 403, i.e., on the face opposite to conductors 409 which is interior to the box, is located one of conductive lines 419 that is used to feed signals to be radiated by LB antenna 203. Conductive lines 419 are shown dashed to indicate that they are on the rear, internal face and cannot be seen in the view of
Near the top of the one of PCBs 401, each of conductive lines 419 bends, e.g., at substantially 90 degrees, and extends to form arm portion 421 that extends toward the edge of the one of PCBs 401 on which it is formed. As such, arm portion 421 may extend through the interlocking adjacent one of PCBs 401. Arm portion 421 is then electrically coupled to conductor 409 of the adjacent, interlocked PCB 401 typically in the upper corner, e.g., at electrical coupling point 423. The electrical coupling may be by way of solder joint, via, conductive glue, or any similar or well known technique. Note that conductors 409 of adjacent PCBs 401 are not electrically connected in that there is no conductor between them. As an example, note that conductive line 419-2 is located behind leg 413-2-1. At the top of PCB 401-2 it bends towards PCB 401-1 through which it extends and is coupled to conductor 409-1 at electrical coupling point 423-3.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, each of conductive lines 419-1 and 419-3 may be coupled to the same signal source which may be located below the surface of chassis 205. Similarly, each of conductive lines 419-2 and 419-4 may be coupled to the same signal source which is different from the signal source coupled to conductive lines 419-1 and 419-3 but which may also be located below the surface of chassis 205. Thus, a dual polarized dipole is formed. Each of the individual dipoles so formed have a plus or minus 45 degree polarization.
Advantageously, due to the thinness of the walls, e.g., PCBs 401, upon which the conductive and radiating elements of LB antenna 203 are supported, the walls, and hence the conductive and radiating elements, can be fit in the interstitial spacing between adjacent ones of 5G antennas 201. This enables an efficient use of space, as a two-dimensional array of 5G antennas 201 can be interleaved among a two-dimensional array of LB antennas 203, e.g., as shown in
Herein, the term two-dimensional with regard to an array of antennas is to be understood to refer to the dimensions that form the array, for example in columns and rows, even though the elements forming such arrays, e.g. individual antenna structures present in the rows and columns, have three dimensions.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US18/40486 | 6/29/2018 | WO | 00 |
