ANTENNA WITH ADJUSTABLE BEAM CHARACTERISTICS

• US 20120319900A1
• Filed: 02/08/2010
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Johansson, Stefan, Johansson, Martin, Petersson, Sven Oscar
• Granted Patent: US 9,768,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/368
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/26 Turnstile or like antennas comprising arrangements of three or more elongated elements disposed radially and symmetrically in a horizontal plane about a common centre
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/29 Combinations of different interacting antenna units for giving a desired directional characteristic H01Q25/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/001 Crossed polarisation dual antennas orthomode horns H01Q13/0258; cross-polarised rear feeds H01Q19/136; orthomode transducers H01P1/161
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/26 varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture H01Q3/12, H01Q3/22, H01Q3/24 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/267 Phased-array testing or checking devices

Abstract

The present invention relates to an antenna comprising multiple array elements with a first and second feeding point, each associated with orthogonal polarizations, each array element has a first and second phase centre each associated with the orthogonal polarizations, the first and second phase centres of said array elements are arranged in at least two columns, and one antenna port connected to the first and second feeding points of at least two array elements with first phase centre and second phase centre arranged in the at least two columns via a respective feeding network. The feeding network comprises a beam forming network having a primary connection, connected to the antenna port, and at least four secondary connections. The beam forming network divides power between the first feeding point and the second feeding point and controls phase shift differences between the respective feeding points with phase centre arranged in different columns.

Claims

1. An antenna with adjustable beam characteristics comprising:

an antenna configuration comprising multiple array elements, each array element comprises a first feeding point associated with a first polarization and a second feeding point associated with a second polarization, orthogonal to said first polarization, each array element having a first phase centre associated with the first polarization and a second phase centre associated with the second polarization, the first and second phase centres of said array elements are arranged in at least two columns, and said multiple array elements are arranged in at least one column of at least two groups of array elements, each said group comprising at least two array elements; and

one or more antenna ports, each antenna port is connected to the first and second feeding points of at least two array elements with first phase centre and second phase centre arranged in said at least two columns via a respective feeding network, wherein

the respective feeding network comprises;

a beam forming network having a primary connection, connected to a respective antenna port, and at least four secondary connections, said beam forming network is configured to divide power between the first feeding point and the second feeding point of said connected array elements, and to control phase shift differences between the first feeding points of connected array elements with the phase centre arranged in different columns and between the second feeding points of connected array elements with the second phase centre arranged in different columns, and

for each at least one column of array elements, said respective feeding network further comprises a plurality of distribution networks, each said distribution network is arranged to connect a respective secondary connection of said beam forming network to the first feeding points of at least one respective array element of at least two groups, or to connect a respective secondary connection of said beam forming network to the second feeding points of said at least one respective array element of said at least two groups.

2. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein the first phase centre and the second phase centre of at least one array element are arranged in two columns.

3. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein the first phase centre and the second phase centre of at least one array element are arranged in the same column.

4. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein a first distance between the first phase centers arranged in different columns is greater than 0.3 wavelengths;

and second distance between the second phase centers arranged in different columns is greater than 0.3 wavelengths.

5. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein said multiple array elements comprises at least a first set and a second set, each set comprising multiple array elements, the first phase centre and the second phase centre of array elements of the first set and the first phase centre and the second phase centre of array elements of the second set are arranged in each of said at least two columns, respectively;

said antenna further comprises at least two antenna ports, each being connected to array elements in the first set and second set, respectively, via feeding networks.

6. The antenna according to claim 5, wherein the array elements are arranged in columns and each column comprises array elements of said first set interleaved with array elements of said second set.

7. The antenna according to claim 5, wherein said array elements are arranged in multiple rows, each row comprises array elements of said first set interleaved with array elements of said second set.

8. The antenna according to claim 5, wherein said array elements are arranged in multiple rows, each row comprises array elements of said first set superimposed with array elements of said second set.

9. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein said array elements are arranged in at least three columns, each beam forming network further comprising at least six secondary connections.

10. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said beam forming networks further comprises a primary power combiner/splitter connected to the respective antenna port and configured to divide the power between the first feeding point and the second feeding point of connected array elements.

11. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said beam forming networks further comprises two phase shifting networks, a first phase shifting network configured to control the phase shift difference and further split power between the first feeding point of connected array elements with the first phase centre arranged in different columns and a second phase shifting network configured to control phase shift difference and further split power between the second feeding point of connected array elements with the second phase centre arranged in different columns.

12. The antenna according to claim 11, wherein each phase shifting network comprises an integrated phase shifting and power splitting device.

13. The antenna according to claim 11, wherein each phase shifting network comprises a secondary power combiner/splitter configured to feed the first feeding point or the second feeding point of connected array elements having a first phase centre or a second phase centre, respectively, arranged in the same column via a phase shifter.

14. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein the respective feeding network further comprises multiple distribution networks, each distribution network configured to exclusively connect a respective secondary connection of the beam forming network to the first feeding points of the connected array elements with the first phase centre arranged in a respective column, or to exclusively connect a respective secondary connection of the beam forming network to the second feeding points of the connected array elements with the second phase centre arranged in a respective column.

15. The antenna according to claim 14, wherein the beam forming network further is configured to perform azimuth beam forming and each distribution network further is configured to perform elevation beam forming.