Calibration apparatus for smart antenna and method thereof
First Claim
1. A calibration apparatus of an adaptive array antenna system, the calibration apparatus comprising:
- calibrator means that generates the “
Rx calibration signal” and
performs the calibration procedure based on the “
Rx calibration signal”
received at each of receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means;
additional antenna means that transmits the “
Rx calibration signal”
to the receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing in a freuqency band of receiving RF (radio frequency); and
array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing of antenna elements that transfers the “
Rx calibration signal”
, which have been received from the additional antenna means, to the calibrator means, wherein the calibration procedure is performed by a step of compensating the differences or irregularities in phase characteristics at each of signal paths associated with each of the receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means utilizing φ
RX, n (phase delay between each of receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means and each corresponding port of the calibrator means) that is related with the two sets of phase delay values φ
″
RX, n (phase delay between the additional antenna means and the calibrator means) and φ
′
RX, n (phase delay between the additional antenna means and each of the receiving antenna elements of the antenna array means) by a mathematical equation
φ
RX, n=φ
″
RX, n−
φ
′
RX, n where φ
′
RX, n is obtained in advance of the calibration procedure.
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Abstract
This invention is related to the calibration apparatus and method for compensating the phase characteristics in the receiving and transmitting signal paths of array antenna system, especially adaptive array antenna system operating as the base station system. The objective of this invention is to provide the calibration apparatus and method for the array antenna system to be able to compensate its phase differences or irregularities without any restrictions on the array structure or position of additional antenna or antenna toplogies while the array antenna system is in its operational mode such that the signals used by the subscribers are received or transmitted together with the signals used for the calibration. In this invention the phase delay between the additional antenna element and each of the antenna elements of the array antenna system is measured in advance of the calibration procedure to be used when the phase differences or irregularities are measured during the calibration procedure. The test signals used for the calibration is distinguishable from the signals used by the subscribers. Furthermore, each of the transmitting calibration signals itself is distinguishable from one another when the plural transmitting signal paths are to be calibrated simultaneously.
278 Citations
49 Claims
-
1. A calibration apparatus of an adaptive array antenna system, the calibration apparatus comprising:
-
calibrator means that generates the “
Rx calibration signal” and
performs the calibration procedure based on the “
Rx calibration signal”
received at each of receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means;
additional antenna means that transmits the “
Rx calibration signal”
to the receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing in a freuqency band of receiving RF (radio frequency); and
array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing of antenna elements that transfers the “
Rx calibration signal”
, which have been received from the additional antenna means, to the calibrator means,wherein the calibration procedure is performed by a step of compensating the differences or irregularities in phase characteristics at each of signal paths associated with each of the receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means utilizing φ
RX, n (phase delay between each of receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means and each corresponding port of the calibrator means) that is related with the two sets of phase delay values φ
″
RX, n (phase delay between the additional antenna means and the calibrator means) and φ
′
RX, n (phase delay between the additional antenna means and each of the receiving antenna elements of the antenna array means) by a mathematical equation
φ
RX, n=φ
″
RX, n−
φ
′
RX, nwhere φ
′
RX, n is obtained in advance of the calibration procedure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A calibration method of an adaptive array antenna system including calibrator means, additional antenna means, and array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing—
- the calibrator means generates the “
Rx calibration signal” and
performs the calibration procedure based on the “
Rx calibration signal”
received at each of receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means, the additional antenna means transmits the “
Rx calibration signal”
to the receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing in a freuqency band of receiving RF (radio frequency), and the array antenna means transfers the “
Rx calibration signal”
which have been received from the additional antenna means, to the calibrator means—
the calibration procedure comprises a step of compensating the differences or irregularities in phase characteristics at each of signal paths associated with each of the receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means utilizing φ
RX, n (phase delay between each of receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means and each corresponding port of the calibrator means) that is related with the two sets of phase delay values φ
″
RX, n (phase delay between the additional antenna means and the calibrator means) and φ
′
RX, n (phase delay between the additional antenna means and each of the receiving antenna elements of the antenna array means) by a mathematical equation
φ
RX, n=φ
″
RX, n−
φ
′
RX, nwhere φ
′
RX, n is obtained in advance of the calibration procedure.- View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
- the calibrator means generates the “
-
25. A calibration apparatus of an adaptive array antenna system, the calibration apparatus comprising:
-
calibrator means that generates the “
Tx calibration signal” and
performs the calibration procedure based on the “
Tx calibration signal”
received at additional antenna means;
array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing of antenna elements that transmits the “
Tx calibration signal”
, which has been generated at the calibrator means, to the additional antenna means; and
additional antenna means that receives the “
Tx calibration signal”
from the transmitting antenna elements of the array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing in a freuqency band of transmitting RF (radio frequency),wherein the calibration procedure is performed by a step of compensating the differences or irregularities in phase characteristics at each of signal paths associated with each of the transmitting antenna elements of the array antenna means utilizing φ
TX, n (phase delay between calibrator means and each of transmitting antenna elements of the array antenna means and) that is related with the two sets of phase delay values φ
″
TX, n (phase delay between the calibrator means and the additional antenna means) and φ
′
TX, n (phase delay between each of the transmitting antenna elements of the antenna array means and the additional antenna means) by a mathematical equation
φ
TX, n=φ
″
TX, n−
φ
′
TX, nwhere φ
′
TX, n is obtained in advance of the calibration procedure. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A calibration method of an adaptive array antenna system including calibrator means, additional antenna means, and array antenna means with an arbitrary arrangement and spacing—
- the calibrator means generates the “
Tx calibration signal” and
performs the calibration procedure based on the “
Tx calibration signal”
received at the additional antenna means, each of the transmitting antenna elements of the array antenna means transmits the “
Tx calibration signal”
to the additional antenna means in a freuqency band of transmitting RF (radio frequency) of the array antenna system, and the “
Tx calibration signal”
received at the additional antenna means is transferred to the calibrator means after the frequency band is converted from the transmitting RF to the base band—
the calibration procedure comprises a step of compensating the differences or irregularities in phase characteristics at each of signal paths associated with each of the receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means utilizing φ
TX, n (phase delay between each of receiving antenna elements of the array antenna means and each corresponding port of the calibrator means) that is related with the two sets of phase delay values φ
″
TX, n (phase delay between the additional antenna means and the calibrator means) and φ
′
TX, n (phase delay between the additional antenna means and each of the receiving antenna elements of the antenna array means) by a mathematical equation
φ
TX, n=φ
″
TX, n−
φ
′
TX, nwhere φ
′
TX, n is obtained in advance of the calibration procedure.- View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
- the calibrator means generates the “
Specification