Cellular communication systems having antenna arrays therein with enhanced half power beam width (HPBW) control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10840607-B2
Application number	US-201816013262-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2018
Priority date	Jun 22, 2017
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

Antenna arrays include first and second radiating elements, which are responsive to respective first and second hybrid radio frequency (RF) signals, and a power divider circuit. The power divider circuit is configured to generate the first and second hybrid RF signals as power-reduced combinations of first and second RF input signals received at input terminals thereof. For example, the first hybrid RF signal may be generated as a combination of a 70-90 percent energy contribution of the first RF input signal with a 0.26-2.7 percent energy contribution of the second RF input signal. Similarly, the second hybrid RF signal may be generated as a 70-90 percent energy contribution of the second RF input signal with a 0.26-2.7 percent energy contribution of the first RF input signal.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. An antenna array, comprising:
first and second radiating elements responsive to first and second hybrid radio frequency (RF) signals, respectively; and
a power divider circuit comprising a first cascaded pair of power dividers cross-coupled with a second cascaded pair of power dividers, said power divider circuit configured to generate the first and second hybrid RF signals as power-reduced combinations of first and second RF input signals received at input terminals thereof.

2. The antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the first cascaded pair of power dividers is responsive to the first RF input signal and a power-reduced version of the second RF input signal; and wherein the second cascaded pair of power dividers is responsive to the second RF input signal and a power-reduced version of the first RF input signal.

3. The antenna array of claim 2 , wherein the first cascaded pair of power dividers is configured to generate the first hybrid RF signal as a combination of a 70-90 percent energy contribution of the first RF input signal with a 0.26-2.7 percent energy contribution of the second RF input signal; and wherein the second cascaded pair of power dividers is configured to generate the second hybrid RF signal as a 70-90 percent energy contribution of the second RF input signal with a 0.26-2.7 percent energy contribution of the first RF input signal.

4. The antenna array of claim 2 , wherein the first cascaded pair of power dividers is configured to pass a portion of the second RF input signal through a first resistor to ground; and wherein the second cascaded pair of power dividers is configured to pass a portion of the first RF input signal through a second resistor to ground.

5. The antenna array of claim 2 , wherein the first cascaded pair of power dividers is configured as a net lossy circuit with respect to any portion of the second RF input signal that is coupled thereto; and wherein the second cascaded pair of power dividers is configured as a net lossy circuit with respect to any portion of the first RF input signal that is coupled thereto.

6. The antenna array of claim 2 , wherein each of the first cascaded pair of power dividers is selected from a group consisting of directional couplers and Wilkinson power dividers.

7. The antenna array of claim 2 , wherein each of the first cascaded pair of power dividers and second cascaded pair of power dividers is selected from a group consisting of directional couplers, branch line couplers, Wilkinson power dividers and reactive T-splitters, and combinations thereof.

8. An antenna array, comprising:
first and second arrays of radiating elements;
a first phase shifter configured to generate a first plurality of RF feed signals that are phase-shifted relative to each other, in response to a first RF input feed signal;
a second phase shifter configured to generate a second plurality of RF feed signals that are phase-shifted relative to each other, in response to a second RF input feed signal; and
a power divider circuit configured to drive a first one of said first array of radiating elements with a first power-reduced combination of a first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals and a first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals.

9. The antenna array of claim 8 , wherein said power divider circuit is further configured to drive a first one of said second array of radiating elements with a second power-reduced combination of the first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals and the first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals.

10. The antenna array of claim 9 , wherein the first power-reduced combination of the first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals and the first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals is defined as PSF 1 n *, where:
PSF1 n *=( k 1 )PSF1 n +( k 2 )PSF2 n,
PSF 1 n denotes the first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals, PSF 2 n denotes the first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals, k 1 is a first power conversion coefficient and k 2 is a second power conversion coefficient, and where: 0.7≤k 1 ≤0.90 and 0.0026≤k 2 ≤0.027.

11. The antenna array of claim 10 , wherein the second power-reduced combination of the first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals and the first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals is defined as PSF 2 n *, where PSF 2 n *=(k 1 *)PSF 2 n +(k 2 *)PSF 1 n , k 1 * is a third power conversion coefficient and k 2 * is a fourth power conversion coefficient, and where: 0.7≤k 1 *≤0.90 and 0.0026≤k 2 *≤0.027.

12. The antenna array of claim 8 , wherein the first power-reduced combination of the first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals and the first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals is defined as PSF 1 n *, where:
PSF1 n *=( k 1 )PSF1 n +( k 2 )PSF2 n,
PSF 1 n denotes the first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals, PSF 2 n denotes the first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals, k 1 is a first power conversion coefficient and k 2 is a second power conversion coefficient, and where: 0.7≤k 1 ≤0.90 and 0.0026≤k 2 ≤0.027.

13. The antenna array of claim 8 , wherein said power divider circuit comprises a first cascaded pair of power dividers cross-coupled with a second cascaded pair of power dividers.

14. The antenna array of claim 13 , wherein the first cascaded pair of power dividers is responsive to the first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals and a power-reduced version of the first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals; and wherein the second cascaded pair of power dividers is responsive to the first one of the second plurality of RF feed signals and a power-reduced version of the first one of the first plurality of RF feed signals.

15. The antenna array of claim 8 , wherein a second one of said first array of radiating elements is directly responsive to a second one of the first plurality of RF feed signals; and wherein a second one of said second array of radiating elements is directly responsive to a second one of the second plurality of RF feed signals.

16. A base station antenna, comprising:
first and second arrays of low-band radiating elements extending adjacent first and second arrays of high-band radiating elements; and
a power divider circuit responsive to a first feed signal having a first frequency associated with said first array of low-band radiating elements and a second feed signal having a second frequency associated with said second array of low-band radiating elements, said power divider circuit configured to drive a first low-band radiating element in said first array of low-band radiating elements with a first hybrid feed signal comprising a power-reduced version of the first feed signal and a power-reduced version of the second feed signal.

17. The base station antenna of claim 16 , wherein the first hybrid feed signal is a 10%-30% power-reduced version of the first feed signal and a 97.3%-99.74% power-reduced version of the second feed signal.

18. The base station antenna of claim 16 , wherein said power divider circuit is further configured to drive a first low-band radiating element in said second array of low-band radiating elements with a second hybrid feed signal comprising a power-reduced version of the second feed signal and a power-reduced version of the first feed signal.

19. The base station antenna of claim 18 , wherein the first hybrid feed signal is a 10%-30% power-reduced version of the first feed signal and a 97.

Assignees

• Commscope Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Mei Xia
• Li Yuemin
• Zimmerman Martin L
• Li Haifeng
• Shan Long

Classifications

• H01P5/16 Primary

  Conjugate devices, i.e. devices having at least one port decoupled from one other port · CPC title

• H03H7/48

  Networks for connecting several sources or loads, working on the same frequency or frequency band, to a common load or source (phase shifters providing two or more output signals H03H7/21) · CPC title

• H01Q1/521

  reducing the coupling between adjacent antennas · CPC title

• H01P5/18

  consisting of two coupled guides, e.g. directional couplers · CPC title

• H01Q21/08

  the units being spaced along or adjacent to a rectilinear path {(waveguide fed H01Q21/0037)} · CPC title