Beam forming device and method for forming beam using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9525205-B2
Application number	US-201314085208-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2013
Priority date	Apr 2, 2013
Publication date	Dec 20, 2016
Grant date	Dec 20, 2016

Abstract

Provided is a beam forming device. The beam forming device of the present invention may feedback power-amplified signals to perform digital pre-distortion for improving the non-linearity of an analog element in a digital signal process terminal and control a phase for forming a beam. Therefore, the beam forming device that can form an accurate beam may be realized.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A beam forming device comprising:
an array antenna forming a beam to transmit a signal;
a digital control unit processing a digital signal to generate transmission signals to be provided into each of a plurality of antenna elements constituting the array antenna;
a transceiver unit converting the transmission signals into analog signals;
a power amplification unit amplifying the converted analog signals to output the amplified signals to the array antenna; and
a signal detection unit detecting signals of each of the antenna elements and converting the signals of each of the antenna elements into feedback digital signals,
wherein the digital control unit generates the transmission signals that are phase-shifted and digital pre-distorted on the basis of the feedback digital signals,
wherein the digital control unit independently controls each of the phases of the transmission signal.

2. The beam forming device of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver unit comprises a plurality of transceivers converting signals that are output to each of the antenna elements into analog signals.

3. The beam forming device of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of transceivers comprises:
a plurality of digital to analog converters (DAC) converting the transmission signals into the analog signals; and
a plurality of mixers up-converting each of the analog signals.

4. The beam forming device of claim 1 , wherein the power amplification unit comprises a plurality of power amplifiers power-amplifying the signals that are output to the antenna elements.

5. The beam forming device of claim 1 , wherein the signal detection unit comprises:
a switch connected to each of the antenna elements, the switch switching the signals that are transmitted to the antenna elements according to the control of the digital control unit;
a mixer down-converting each of the switched signals; and
an analog to digital converter (ADC) converting the down-converted signals into the feedback digital signals to output the converted signals to the digital control unit.

6. A beam forming device, comprising:
an array antenna forming a beam to transmit a signal;
a digital control unit processing a digital signal to generate transmission signals to be provided into each of a plurality of antenna elements constituting the array antenna;
a transceiver unit converting the transmission signals into analog signals;
a power amplification unit amplifying the converted analog signals to output the amplified signals to the array antenna; and
a signal detection unit detecting signals of each of the antenna elements,
wherein the digital control unit generates the transmission signals that are phase-shifted and digital pre-distorted on the basis of the detected signals,
wherein the digital control unit comprises:
a distributor distributing the transmission data into each of the antenna elements;
digital pre-distorters performing digital pre-distortion on each of the signals that are distributed through the distributor;
phase-shifters phase-shifting each of the digital pre-distorted signals; and
a control circuit controlling the digital pre-distorters and the phase-shifters on the basis of the digital feedback signals.

7. The beam forming device of claim 6 , wherein the control circuit comprises:
a digital pre-distortion (DPD) controller calculating a digital pre-distortion coefficient for the digital pre-distortion based on the detected signal to provide the calculated coefficient into the digital pre-distorters; and
an antenna phase controller calculating a phase coefficient for the phase-shifting based on the detected signal to provide the calculated phase coefficient into the phase-shifters.

8. The beam forming device of claim 7 , wherein the antenna phase controller provides the phase coefficient into the phase shifters after the digital pre-distortion is completed in the DPD controllers.

9. The beam forming device of claim 1 , wherein the digital control unit is realized as one of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

10. A method for forming a beam of a beam forming device, the method comprising:
generating transmission signals to distribute transmission data into digital signals corresponding to each of a plurality of antennas,
converting the transmission signals into analog signals;
power-amplifying the analog-converted signals to transmit the amplified signals into each of the antenna elements; and
switching each of the signals that are transmitted into the antenna elements to convert the switched signals into feedback digital signals;
wherein the generating of the transmission signals comprises:
performing digital pre-distortion on the digital signals on the basis of the feedback digital signals; and
after the digital pre-distortion of the transmission data is completely performed, shifting independently the phases of the digital signals on the basis of the feedback digital signals.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the converting of the transmission signals into the analog signals comprises up-converting the analog converted signals.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the converting of the switched signals into the feedback digital signals comprises;
switching the signals that are transmitted into the antenna elements;
frequency down-converting each of the switched signals; and
converting the frequency down-converted signals into the digital signals to generate the feedback digital signals.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the performing of the digital pre-distortion comprises:
calculating digital pre-distortion coefficients for improving non-linearity of the analog elements on the basis of the feedback digital signals; and
applying the digital pre-distortion coefficients to the digital signals.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the shifting of each of the phases comprises:
calculating phase coefficients for forming a beam on the basis of the feedback digital signals; and
applying the phase coefficients to the digital signals.

Assignees

• Electronics & Telecommunications Res Inst

Inventors

• Oh Jung Hoon
• Lee Kwangchun
• Park Nam Hoon

Classifications

• H01Q3/38 Primary

  the phase-shifters being digital · CPC title

• H01Q3/34 Primary

  by electrical means (active lenses or reflecting arrays H01Q3/46) · CPC title

• H04B7/0686

  Hybrid systems, i.e. switching and simultaneous transmission · CPC title

• H04B7/0617 Primary

  for beam forming · CPC title