Smart antenna beamforming device in communication system and method thereof

• US 20070164902A1
• Filed: 12/01/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Hanaro Telecom., Inc., KT Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Hanaro Telecom., Inc., KT Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Yu, Chang-Wahn, Park, Youn-Ok, Bang, Young-Jo, Yun, Young-Ho, Park, Hyung
• Granted Patent: US 7,477,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/377
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/74 Multi-channel systems specially adapted for direction-finding, i.e. having a single antenna system capable of giving simultaneous indications of the directions of different signals systems in which the directions of different signals are determined sequentially and displayed simultaneously G01S3/04, G01S3/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/086 using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming

Abstract

A beamforming device includes a Direction Of Arrival (DOA) estimation unit for estimating DOAs of the received signals based on a data subcarrier matrix; a pre-spatial filtering unit for using the estimated DOA, performing a filtering operation for the data subcarrier matrix, and generating filtering matrixes; a signal identification unit for using a data sequence, identifying original and interference signals, and generating the DOAs of the original and interference signals; a spatial filtering unit for generating an interference-plus-noise covariance matrix by using the DOA of the interference signal, eliminating the interference signal by using the covariance matrix and the DOA of the original signal, and forming final beams for the original signal; and a channel estimating and signal combining unit for performing a maximal ratio combining operation so that the final beams are combined as one combined final beam.

Claims

1. A method for forming a beam based on a plurality of signals received through a plurality of antennas in a base station of a communication system, the method comprising:

processing the plurality of signals to obtain a data subcarrier matrix allocated to at least one desired signal requested by the base station;

estimating Direction-Of-Arrivals (DOAs) of the plurality of received signals based on the data subcarrier matrix;

identifying the at least one desired signal and at least one interference signal from the plurality of signals based on the estimated DOA;

generating an interference-plus-noise covariance matrix by using at least one DOA of the at least one interference signal among the DOAs;

generating a plurality of beamforming vectors based on the covariance matrix; and

using the plurality of beamforming vectors to form a plurality of final beams.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating a plurality of beamforming vectors step further comprises:

forming at least one main beam in a direction of the at least desired signal by using the covariance matrix; and

forming null in a direction of the interference signal by using the covariance matrix.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimating DOAs step further comprises:

estimating a sample covariance matrix based on the data subcarrier matrix; and

estimating the DOAs of the plurality of signals based on the estimated sample covariance matrix.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying step further comprises:

forming a steering matrix based on the DOAs;

performing a filtering operation for the data subcarrier matrix using the steering matrix to extract a filtering matrix;

forming a signal correlation matrix from the data subcarrier matrix based on the steering matrix;

generating a maximum DOA based on the signal correlation matrix;

comparing patterns of a preamble input to a controller for controlling the base station and a preamble of the filtering matrix to identify the at least one desired signal and the at least one interference signal; and

estimating at least one DOA of the at least one desired signal and the at least one DOA of the interference signal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the generating a maximum DOA step further comprises:

generating the covariance matrix based on the at least one DOA of the at least one interference signal;

forming a reverse link beamforming vector based on the covariance matrix and the at least one DOA of the at least one desired signal; and

generating a forward link beamforming vector based on the reverse link beamforming vector, the data subcarrier matrix, and the maximum DOA.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication system uses an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) method.

7. A device for forming a beam based on a plurality of signals received through a plurality of antennas in a base station of a communication system, the device comprising:

a Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA) estimation unit for estimating DOAs of the plurality of signals based on a data subcarrier matrix obtained from the plurality of signals;

a pre-spatial filtering unit for performing a filtering operation for the data subcarrier matrix to generate a filtering matrix by using the estimated DOAs;

a signal identification unit for identifying at least one desired signal and at least one interference signal from the plurality of received signals by using a data sequence generated by the filtering matrix, and generating the DOA of the at least one desired signal and the DOA of the at least one interference signal from the estimated DOAs;

a spatial filtering unit for generating an interference-plus-noise covariance matrix by using the at least one DOA of the at least one interference signal, eliminating the at least one interference signal by using the covariance matrix and the at least one DOA of at least one the desired signal, and forming a plurality of final beams for the at least one desired signal; and

a channel estimating and signal combining unit for performing a maximal ratio combining on outputs according to the plurality of final to generate a combined signal.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the DOA estimation unit comprises:

a sample covariance matrix estimation unit for estimating a sample covariance matrix from the data subcarrier matrix;

an Eigen decomposition unit for obtaining a combination including an eigenvalue and an eigenvector from the sample covariance matrix;

a received signal number estimation unit for receiving the eigenvalue to output the number of DOAs and noise power from the sample covariance matrix; and

a DOA estimating unit for estimating the DOAs of the plurality of signals based on the eigenvector and the number of DOAs.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the pre-spatial filtering unit comprises:

a steering matrix forming unit for forming a steering matrix from the data subcarrier matrix by using the DOAs;

a pre-spatial filtering operation unit for performing a pre-spatial filtering operation on the data subcarrier matrix by using the steering matrix to output the filtering matrix;

a signal correlation matrix forming unit for receiving the steering matrix to output a correlation matrix; and

a maximum energy signal detection unit for receiving the correlation matrix to output a maximum DOA.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein the signal identification unit comprises:

an initial channel estimation and demodulation unit for performing channel estimation and coherent demodulation for the filtering matrix;

a preamble pattern comparing unit for comparing patterns of the filtering matrix in which the channel estimation and the coherent demodulation have been performed, by using the data sequence and a preamble vector transmitted from a controller for controlling the base station; and

a signal identifying unit for identifying the at least one desired signal and the at least one interference signal from the plurality of received signals by using the data sequence.

11. The device of claim 7, wherein the spatial filtering unit comprises:

an interference and noise covariance matrix unit for generating the interference-plus-noise covariance matrix by using the at least one DOA of the at least one interference signal;

a beamforming vector forming unit for forming at least one main beam in a direction of the at least one desired signal and generating a reverse link beamforming vector, by using the at least one DOA of the at least one desired signal and the covariance matrix; and

a spatial filtering unit for forming a plurality of beams and outputting a forward link beamforming vector, by using the reverse link beamforming vector, the data subcarrier matrix, and a maximum DOA.

12. The device of claim 7, further comprising:

a signal demodulation unit for demodulating the combined signal;

a baseband data sample generator for down converting frequencies of the plurality of signals and converting the plurality of signals to digital signals to generate baseband data samples; and

a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) unit for discrete Fourier transforming the baseband data samples to obtain a plurality of subcarrier data corresponding to the subcarrier data matrix.

13. The device of claim 7, wherein the communication system uses an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) method.

14. A device for forming a beam based on a plurality of signals received through a plurality of antennas in a base station of a communication system, the device comprising:

means for estimating Direction-Of-Arrivals (DOAs) of the plurality of signals;

means for identifying at least one original signal and at least one interference signal among the plurality of signals;

means for identifying at least one first DOA of the at least one original signal and at least one second DOA of the at least one original signal among the DOAs; and

means for forming at least one main beam in a direction of the at least desired signal by using the at least one first DOA and the at least one second DOA.

15. The device of claim 14, further comprising means for forming null in a direction of the at least one interference signal by using the at least one first DOA and the at least one second DOA.

16. The device of claim 15, further comprising means for generating an interference-plus-noise covariance matrix by using the at least one second DOA,

wherein the at least one main beam and the null are formed by using the at least one first DOA and the covariance matrix.