Antenna signal transmission apparatus and antenna signal transmission method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9871574-B2
Application number	US-201615090919-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2016
Priority date	Apr 5, 2016
Publication date	Jan 16, 2018
Grant date	Jan 16, 2018

Abstract

An antenna is provided and characterized by searching a look-up table for emission angle information according to an incident angle of a radio frequency input signal and driving an antenna array to emit a radio frequency output signal in a direction corresponding to an incident direction of the radio frequency input signal according to the emission angle information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An antenna signal transmission apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of antennas forming an antenna array for receiving a radio frequency input signal; and
a signal transmission control module comprising a plurality of phase adjustment units comprising a look-up table unit and searches the look-up table units according to an incident angle of the radio frequency input signal for an emission angle information of the antennas corresponding to the incident angle;
wherein the phase adjustment units send a feed signal according to the emission angle information to trigger the antennas to generate radiating beams, thereby causing the antenna array to emit the radio frequency output signal;
wherein the emission angle information comprises information about a phase difference between the radiating beams generated from the antennas, wherein the phase difference information depends on a phase difference between the radio frequency input signals received by the antennas.

2. The antenna signal transmission apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the phase adjustment units each further comprise a feed signal generating unit coupled to a corresponding one of the look-up table units and adapted to convert a power-source signal into a feed signal attributed to the antennas and corresponding to the power-source signal according to the emission angle information provided by the look-up table unit.

3. The antenna signal transmission apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the feed signal generating unit comprises:
a 90 degree rat-race coupler for generating a first real-part signal and a first imaginary-part signal according to a power-source signal;
a first variable gain amplifier coupled to the 90 degree rat-race coupler and the look-up table units and adapted to perform gain amplification on the first real-part signal when controlled by the look-up table units, so as to generate a real-part amplification signal;
a second variable gain amplifier coupled to the 90 degree rat-race coupler and the look-up table units and adapted to perform gain amplification on the first imaginary-part signal when controlled by the look-up table units, so as to generate an imaginary-part amplification signal;
a first 180 degree rat-race coupler coupled to the first variable gain amplifier and adapted to generate a second real-part signal and a third real-part signal according to the real-part amplification signal, wherein the second real-part signal and the third real-part signal are out of phase by 180 degrees;
a second 180 degree rat-race coupler coupled to the second variable gain amplifier and adapted to generate a second imaginary-part signal and a third imaginary-part signal according to the imaginary-part amplification signal, wherein the second imaginary-part signal and the third imaginary-part signal are out of phase by 180 degrees;
a first switching unit coupled to the first 180 degree rat-race coupler and the look-up table units and adapted to switch and send one of the second real-part signal and the third real-part signal when controlled by the look-up table units;
a second switching unit coupled to the second 180 degree rat-race coupler and the look-up table units and adapted to switch and send one of the second imaginary-part signal and the third imaginary-part signal when controlled by the look-up table units;
a synthesis unit coupled to the first switching unit and the second switching unit and adapted to synthesize output signals of the first switching unit and the second switching unit, so as to generate a synthesis signal; and
a third variable gain amplifier coupled to the synthesis unit and the look-up table unit and adapted to amplify the synthesis signal when controlled by the look-up table unit, so as to generate a feed signal for triggering the antennas to generate the radiating beams.

4. The antenna signal transmission apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal transmission control module further comprises:
a plurality of switching units coupled to the antennas corresponding thereto and the phase adjustment units corresponding thereto, respectively;
a plurality of phase detection units coupled to two switching units corresponding thereto and two antennas corresponding thereto, respectively, wherein the phase detection units control switching states of the switching units according to signal sending and receiving states of the antennas and according to the radio frequency input signals received by the antennas, so as to generate a plurality of phase data; and
an addition unit coupled to the phase detection units and the look-up table units and adapted to perform an addition computation on the phase data and thereby generate and send an incident angle information to the look-up table units such that the look-up table units provide the emission angle information according to the incident angle information.

5. The antenna signal transmission apparatus of claim 4 , wherein, after sending the phase data, the phase detection units switch states of the switching units corresponding thereto such that the antennas get connected to the phase adjustment units, respectively, wherein, after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from a point in time when the phase detection units switch states of the switching units, the states of the switching units are switched again such that the antennas get connected to the phase detection units, respectively.

6. An antenna signal transmission method, comprising the steps of:
receiving a radio frequency input signal through an antenna array formed by a plurality of antennas;
searching a look-up table corresponding to one of the antennas according to an incident angle of the radio frequency input signal for an emission angle information of each said antenna corresponding to the incident angle; and
driving the antenna array to emit a radio frequency output signal in a direction corresponding to an incident direction of the radio frequency input signal according to the emission angle information;
wherein the emission angle information comprises information about a phase difference between radiating beams generated from the antennas, wherein the phase difference information depends on a phase difference between the radio frequency input signals received by the antennas.

7. The antenna signal transmission method of claim 6 , wherein the step of driving the antenna array to emit a radio frequency output signal in a direction corresponding to an incident direction of the radio frequency input signal according to the emission angle information comprises the sub-steps of:
converting a power-source signal into a feed signal corresponding to each said antenna according to the emission angle information; and
sending the feed signals to the antennas, respectively, to trigger the antennas to generate radiating beams, thereby causing the antenna array to emit the radio frequency output signal.

Assignees

• Getac Technology Corp

Inventors

• Chen Hung-Tu

Classifications

• H04B7/0617 Primary

  for beam forming · CPC title

• H04B7/086

  using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming · CPC title

• H04B7/084

  Equal gain combining, only phase adjustments (antenna beam scanning or forming by phase or amplitude control H01Q3/26, e.g. phased arrays) · CPC title

• H04B7/0682 Primary

  using phase diversity (e.g. phase sweeping) · CPC title