Antenna test methods and apparatuses for mobile terminals

• US 10,277,337 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2015
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huizhou TCL Mobile Communication Company Limited (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Huizhou TCL Mobile Communication Company Limited (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Bai, Jian
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US15/119,851
• Publication Number:
  US 20180183530A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: 455 6712, 4552261
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 29/105 using anechoic chambers; Chambers or open field sites used therefor test sites used for measuring on other objects than aerials G01R29/0828; wave absorbing devices H01Q17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/12 of transmit antennas, e.g. of the amplitude or phase
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters

Abstract

An antenna test method and apparatus are disclosed. The antenna test method includes: A, placing a mobile terminal on a turntable in an anechoic chamber, and connecting the mobile terminal to a base station emulator via an anechoic chamber communication antenna; B, moving by the turntable sequentially to multiple theta and phi angles, transmitting by the base station emulator signals to the mobile terminal via an anechoic chamber measurement antenna, and receiving and decoding by the mobile terminal the signals and transmitting them back to the base station emulator, to obtain the horizontal and vertical polarization data of the anechoic chamber measurement antenna at steps of a first angle; C, performing interpolations to calculate the corresponding data at steps of a second angle as the step converts from the first angle to the second angle, and using the derived data to calculate the Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS).

Claims

1. An antenna test method for mobile terminals, comprising:

placing a mobile terminal under test on a turntable in an anechoic chamber, and connecting the mobile terminal to a base station emulator via an anechoic chamber communication antenna;

moving, by the turntable, sequentially to a plurality of theta and phi angles;

sending, by the base station emulator, signals to the mobile terminal via an anechoic chamber measurement antenna;

receiving and decoding, by the mobile terminal, the signals and sending the signals back to the base station emulator to obtain horizontal and vertical polarization data of the anechoic chamber measurement antenna at steps of a first angle;

using a two-dimensional interpolation algorithm to calculate the horizontal and vertical polarization data at steps of a second angle as the step converts from the first angle to the second angle, wherein the second angle is smaller than the first angle; and

comparing, by the base station emulator, bits in transmitted and received data packets to calculate a bit error rate (BER);

when the BER exceeds a standard threshold, a current radiated power of the base station emulator is an Effective Isotropic Sensitivity (EIS) of a current test position, and a Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS) is obtained through integration;

wherein the first angle is 45 degrees and the second angle is 30 degrees, and the method further comprises;

converting the data of each column at steps of 45 degrees to 30 degrees;

2. The antenna test method according to claim 1, further comprising converting the data of each row at steps of 45 degrees to 30 degrees:

3. The antenna test method according to claim 2, wherein the test at the theta of 0 degrees is dropped.

4. The antenna test method according to claim 1, further comprising:

after having obtained the EIS of each test position, compensating path loss in the anechoic chamber to the EIS, and deriving the TIS through the integration.

5. The antenna test method according to claim 1, further comprising:

reducing gradually at each test position the radiated power of the base station emulator and sending data packets of a fixed length and of random contents, and receiving by the mobile terminal the data packets and sending them back to the base station emulator through a transmission path.

6. The antenna test method according to claim 1, wherein the tests at the phi of 30 and 150 degrees are dropped.

7. An antenna test method for mobile terminals, comprising:

placing a mobile terminal under test on a turntable in an anechoic chamber, and connecting the mobile terminal to a base station emulator via an anechoic chamber communication antenna;

moving, by the turntable, sequentially to a plurality of theta and phi angles;

sending, by the base station emulator, signals to the mobile terminal via an anechoic chamber measurement antenna;

receiving and decoding, by the mobile terminal, the signals and sending them back to the base station emulator to obtain horizontal and vertical polarization data of the anechoic chamber measurement antenna at steps of a first angle;

performing interpolations to calculate corresponding data at steps of a second angle as the step converts from the step of the first angle to the step of the second angle, wherein the second angle is smaller than the first angle, and performing integration with the data to obtain a Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS);

wherein the first angle is 45 degrees and the second angle is 30 degrees, and the method further comprises;

converting the data of each column at steps of 45 degrees to 30 degrees;

8. The antenna test method according to claim 7, wherein the interpolations are implemented as a two-dimensional interpolation algorithm.

9. The antenna test method according to claim 8, further comprising converting the data of each row at steps of 45 degrees to 30 degrees:

10. The antenna test method according to claim 9, wherein the test at the theta of 0 degrees is dropped.

11. The antenna test method according to claim 7, further comprising:

comparing, by the base station emulator, bits in transmitted and received data packets and so calculating a bit error rate (BER);

when the BER exceeds a standard threshold, a current radiated power of the base station emulator is an Effective Isotropic Sensitivity (EIS) of a current test position.

12. The antenna test method according to claim 11, further comprising:

after having obtained the EIS of each test position, compensating path loss of the anechoic chamber to the EIS, and deriving the Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS) through integration.

13. The antenna test method according to claim 7, further comprising:

reducing gradually at each test position radiated power of the base station emulator and sending data packets having a fixed length and random contents, and receiving by the mobile terminal the data packets and sending them back to the base station emulator through a transmission path.

14. The antenna test method according to claim 7, wherein the tests at the phi of 30 and 150 degrees are dropped.

15. An antenna test apparatus for mobile terminals, comprising:

a turntable located in an anechoic chamber and configured to place a mobile terminal under test, the turntable moving sequentially to a plurality of theta and phi angles;

a base station emulator connected to the mobile terminal via an anechoic chamber communication antenna, the base station emulator transmitting signals to the mobile terminal through an anechoic chamber measurement antenna, and the mobile terminal receives and decodes the signals and transmits them back to the base station emulator, to obtain horizontal and vertical polarization data of the anechoic chamber measurement antenna at steps of a first angle; and

a data computation module configured to perform interpolations to calculate corresponding data at steps of a second angle as the step converts from the first angle to the second angle, wherein the second angle is smaller than the first angle, and perform integration with the data to obtain a Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS);

wherein the data computation module comprises;

a data column conversion unit configured to convert the data of each column from at steps of 45 degrees to 30 degrees;

16. The antenna test apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the data computation module further comprises:

a data row conversion unit configured to convert the data of each row at steps of 45 degrees to 30 degrees;