The present invention relates to a system and method for full duplex communication, and, in particular embodiments, to a system and method for leak suppression in full duplex communication.
In a full duplex system, data is transmitted and received over the same frequency or channel at the same time. A big challenge in full duplex transmission is to suppress the transmitter leak into the receiver that is co-located and at the same frequency.
An embodiment system for wireless transmission and reception includes a circulator having a common port, an input port and an output port; a conjugate matching tuner coupled to the common port; and an antenna coupled to the conjugate matching tuner, an impedance of the antenna being conjugate matched to an impedance of the common port of the circulator by the conjugate matching tuner.
An embodiment network component includes a circulator comprising an input port, a output port, and a common port; a transmitter connected to the input port of the circulator; a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) tuner comprising a first port and a second port, the first port connected to the common port of the circulator; a receiver connected to the output port of the circulator; and an antenna connected to the second port of the VSWR tuner, wherein the VSWR tuner substantially minimizes a leak of a transmission signal into the receiver.
An embodiment method for manufacturing a full duplex system includes connecting a first port of a conjugate matching tuner to a common port of a circulator; and connecting a second port of the conjugate matching tuner to an antenna, an impedance of the antenna being conjugate matched to an impedance of the common port of the circulator by the conjugate matching tuner. In an embodiment, the method also includes connecting a transmitter to an input port of the circulator.
An embodiment method for transmitting and receiving a signal in a full duplex wireless device includes transmitting a transmitted signal to an input port of a circulator having a common port, the input port and an output port; and conjugately matching an impedance of the common port of the circulator with an impedance of an antenna thereby reducing reflection of the transmitted signal appearing at the output port of the circulator.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:
The structure, manufacture and use of the presently preferred embodiments are discussed in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention, and do not limit the scope of the invention.
Disclosed herein are systems and methods that employ devices such as stub tuners and other conjugate matching devices to improve the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of an antenna in order to achieve maximum power transfer. An embodiment uses a conjugate match tuner to maximize leak suppression in a band of interest by tuning, not for best VSWR, but for minimum leak as it would exist in a full duplex (FD) system. An embodiment improves reflection by conjugate matching the two components that are responsible for the major reflections in the system, thereby limiting transmitter leakage into the receiver.
An embodiment method provides for manufacturing a full duplex system including a circulator having a common port, an input port and an output port; a conjugate matching tuner coupled to the common port; and an antenna coupled to the conjugate matching tuner. The method includes connecting an output of a vector network analyzer (VNA) to the input port, connecting an input of the VNA to the output port, sweeping the input port with the VNA, and adjusting the tuner for minimum transmission at the output port during the sweeping, thereby conjugate matching the antenna and the common port of the circulator.
An embodiment full duplex system includes a circulator having a common port, an input port and an output port. The system further includes a transmitter coupled to the input port, a receiver coupled to the output port, a stub tuner coupled to the common port, and an antenna coupled to the stub tuner, wherein the antenna is conjugate matched to the common port of the circulator by the stub tuner.
The two major sources of leak in within the transceiver of a FD system consist of leak through the circulator due to finite isolation and reflected power from the antenna due to finite return loss. Typical values of circulator isolation are 18 to 22 dB for commonly available circulators. More isolation can be had but at considerably more expense. Antenna return losses range hugely but a good minimum value to use, especially in a broadband antenna is 15-18 dB. Therefore the combined leak due to these two paths can be quite high, as high as −12 to −15 dB.
It has been found that by conjugately matching the common port (antenna port) of a three port circulator, it is possible to greatly increase the isolation between the remaining two (transmit & receive) ports [1].
A VSWR tuner (e.g., a sliding stub, a double stub, a triple stub, etc.) may then be inserted between the common port of the circulator and the antenna which can be used to conjugately match the impedance of the circulator to the antenna impedance.
One problem in adjusting the VSWR tuner 208 is that the return loss of the assembly (circulator+tuner+antenna) is not directly available to measure and use as an error signal because of the circulator properties. In an embodiment, the internal impedances of the VSWR tuner 208 are adjusted either by varying the values of lumped element components or by the adjustment of distributed element components such as transmission lines.
However, if a vector network analyzer (VNA) used to sweep port 1 (TX) of the circulator and adjust the tuner for minimum transmission at port 3 (RX), while port 2 (ANT) is connected to the antenna via the tuner as shown in
As can be seen in
In this manner once can simultaneously achieve a minimum S21 of
As a cross check, cancelling a carrier signal using a continuously variable attenuator and phase shifter was also tried.
It was found that this method of cancellation seems to be providing narrow band results compared to the disclosed VSWR tuner method described above.
Next, an LTE-like broadband signal (16 QAM OFDM, PAPR of 10.5 dB, 18 MHz 99% bandwidth occupancy) was generated and applied that to the circulator/tuner/antenna combination that was tuned for minimum S21 shown in
As expected, the shape of the signal spectrum tracks the shape of the VNA S21 response shown in the VNA section described above (V notch). Overall, in an embodiment, a leak suppression of about 36 dB was achieved.
If desired, it is possible to adjust the VSWR tuner 1608 for a flatter response with slightly less isolation (32 versus 36 dB) across the band, as shown in
To determine the true insertion loss of the tuner in this assembly, the antenna was installed in a mini anechoic chamber with a matching antenna at the other end of the chamber. This allows one to measure both transmission loss and receive loss while removing the radiation efficiency of the antenna from the measurement.
Firstly, the antennas 2006, 2008, chamber and associated cables, are characterized using the setup shown in
Next, choosing the antenna vertical polarization connections, the VSWR tuner was added to the assembly of
Next the VNA connections were moved as shown in
Finally, the VNA connections were moved in order to measure S12 using the assembly shown in
The normalized (setup insertion loss minus the tuner is zeroed out) measured S21 & S12 of the tuner is shown in the
With respect to design simulations, to explore further whether or not more tuning elements could help to increase bandwidth, a Genesys model was built using the PE64908 digitally tunable capacitor (DTC). Although this device does not have adequate linearity to provide IMD3 low enough to not desensitize the UE receive signal, it does serve to illustrate the concept.
Table 2 below shows various complex impedances used to test the matching capabilities of a 4 stub tuner.
The results of optimizing for return loss (S11) are shown in
Finally a circuit was built using measured S parameters of the three port circulator and the “flowerpot” antenna and the circuit optimized for minimum S21. Unfortunately the measured S parameters of the circulator extend only across the operational band, but one can see it is possible to match to −30 dB return loss across a bandwidth of 60 or more MHz with 4 stubs. It may be possible to match to 100 MHz to 200 MHz or more with a better topology
In summary, tuning for minimum leak at port 3 (RX port) results in a reduction in leak from port 1 (TX port) to Port 3 (RX port) and provides for excellent match at both the port 2 (ANT port) of the circulator as well as an excellent match into the antenna itself. Because of this, the added through path insertion loss in both the transmit and receive directions is very low as verified in the mini anechoic chamber.
In addition, it is shown that the shape of the transmission response is superimposed on a broadband modulated signal but suppressed by more than 35 dB. It is also possible to tune the VSWR to achieve a somewhat flatter suppression response if required.
A simple design using 4 stubs indicates that it is possible to achieve wider 30 dB return loss matching bandwidths.
In some embodiments, the processing system 3300 is included in a network device that is accessing, or part otherwise of, a telecommunications network. In one example, the processing system 3300 is in a network-side device in a wireless or wireline telecommunications network, such as a base station, a relay station, a scheduler, a controller, a gateway, a router, an applications server, or any other device in the telecommunications network. In other embodiments, the processing system 3300 is in a user-side device accessing a wireless or wireline telecommunications network, such as a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a personal computer (PC), a tablet, a wearable communications device (e.g., a smartwatch, etc.), or any other device adapted to access a telecommunications network.
In some embodiments, one or more of the interfaces 3310, 3312, 3314 connects the processing system 3300 to a transceiver adapted to transmit and receive signaling over the telecommunications network.
The transceiver 3400 may transmit and receive signaling over any type of communications medium. In some embodiments, the transceiver 3400 transmits and receives signaling over a wireless medium. For example, the transceiver 3400 may be a wireless transceiver adapted to communicate in accordance with a wireless telecommunications protocol, such as a cellular protocol (e.g., long-term evolution (LTE), etc.), a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol (e.g., Wi-Fi, etc.), or any other type of wireless protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), etc.). In such embodiments, the network-side interface 3402 comprises one or more antenna/radiating elements. For example, the network-side interface 3402 may include a single antenna, multiple separate antennas, or a multi-antenna array configured for multi-layer communication, e.g., single input multiple output (SIMO), multiple input single output (MISO), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), etc. In other embodiments, the transceiver 3400 transmits and receives signaling over a wireline medium, e.g., twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable, optical fiber, etc. Specific processing systems and/or transceivers may utilize all of the components shown, or only a subset of the components, and levels of integration may vary from device to device.
Acronyms used herein include those shown below in Table 3.
The following references are related to subject matter of the present application. Each of these references is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety:
[1] Philips Semiconductors Application Note AN98035; Circulators and Isolators, Unique Passive Devices, pp 19-21.
[2] Peregrine PE64908 digitally tunable capacitor (DTC) data sheet.
In an embodiment, a system for wireless transmission and reception includes a circulator having a common port, an input port and an output port; a conjugate matching tuner coupled to the common port; and an antenna coupled to the conjugate matching tuner, an impedance of the antenna being conjugate matched to an impedance of the common port of the circulator by the conjugate matching tuner. In an embodiment, the system also includes a transmitter coupled to the input port of the circulator. In an embodiment, the system also includes a receiver coupled to the output port of the circulator. In an embodiment, the transmitter and the receiver are configured for full duplex transmission and reception. In an embodiment, the conjugate matching tuner comprises a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) tuner. In an embodiment, the conjugate matching tuner comprises a stub tuner. In an embodiment, the stub tuner comprises one of a sliding stub tuner, a double stub tuner, and a triple stub tuner.
An embodiment network component includes a circulator comprising an input port, a output port, and a common port; a transmitter connected to the input port of the circulator; a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) tuner comprising a first port and a second port, the first port connected to the common port of the circulator; a receiver connected to the output port of the circulator; and an antenna connected to the second port of the VSWR tuner, wherein the VSWR tuner substantially minimizes a leak of a transmission signal into the receiver. In an embodiment, the VSWR substantially conjugately matches an impedance of the circulator with an impedance of the antenna. In an embodiment, the VSWR is dynamically adjustable. In an embodiment, the VSWR comprises a stub tuner. In an embodiment, the stub tuner comprises one of a sliding stub tuner, a double stub tuner, and a triple stub tuner. In an embodiment, the transmitter and the receiver are configured for full duplex transmission and reception.
An embodiment method for manufacturing a full duplex system includes connecting a first port of a conjugate matching tuner to a common port of a circulator; and connecting a second port of the conjugate matching tuner to an antenna, an impedance of the antenna being conjugate matched to an impedance of the common port of the circulator by the conjugate matching tuner. In an embodiment, the method also includes connecting a transmitter to an input port of the circulator. In an embodiment, the method also includes connecting a receiver to an output port of the circulator. In an embodiment, the method also includes connecting an output of a vector network analyzer (VNA) to an input port of the circulator; connecting an input of the VNA to an output port of the circulator; sweeping the input port of the circulator with the VNA; and adjusting the conjugate matching tuner for minimum transmission at the output port during the sweeping, thereby conjugate matching the antenna and the common port of the circulator. In an embodiment, the conjugate matching tuner comprises a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) tuner. In an embodiment, the conjugate matching tuner comprises a stub tuner. In an embodiment, the stub tuner comprises one of a sliding stub tuner, a double stub tuner, and a triple stub tuner.
An embodiment method for transmitting and receiving a signal in a full duplex wireless device includes transmitting a transmitted signal to an input port of a circulator having a common port, the input port and an output port; and conjugately matching an impedance of the common port of the circulator with an impedance of an antenna thereby reducing reflection of the transmitted signal appearing at the output port of the circulator. In an embodiment, conjuagely matching the impedance of the common port of the circulator with the antenna is accomplished using a conjugate matching tuner placed between the common port of the circulator and the antenna. In an embodiment, the conjugate matching tuner comprises a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) tuner. In an embodiment, the conjugate matching tuner comprises one of a stub tuner, a sliding stub tuner, a double stub tuner, and a triple stub tuner.
While this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/063,860, filed on Oct. 14, 2014 which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62063860 | Oct 2014 | US |