PHASED ARRAY, A COHERENT SOURCE ARRAY, AN ANTENNA ARRAY AND A SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THEREOF

• US 20140097986A1
• Filed: 08/22/2013
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: City University of Hong Kong
• Original Assignee: City University of Hong Kong
• Inventors: Xue, Quan, Tang, Chengcheng
• Granted Patent: US 9,966,661 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/372
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/34 by electrical means active lenses or reflecting arrays H01Q3/46
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/23 with pulse counters or frequency dividers

Abstract

A system for controlling a multi-element antenna array comprising a plurality of elements each arranged to receive a signal from a signal source, wherein each of the plurality of elements includes a frequency locking module arranged to lock the frequency of the signal received by each of the elements, and, a phase control module being in communication with each of the frequency locking modules to control the phase of the signal received by each of the elements.

Claims

1. A system for controlling a multi-element antenna array comprising:

a plurality of elements each arranged to receive a signal from a signal source, wherein each of the plurality of elements includes a frequency locking module arranged to lock the frequency of the signal received by each of the elements; and

,

a phase control module being in communication with each of the frequency locking modules to control the phase of the signal received by each of the elements.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the phase control module is arranged to control the phase of the signal received by each of the elements by:

determining a phase adjustment value for each of the signals received by each of the elements; and

,

applying the low cost phase adjustment value to shift the phase of the signal.

3. A system in accordance with claim 2, wherein the phase control module uses a phase shifting circuit to shift the phase of the signal to generate a phase shifted signal.

4. A system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the phase adjustment value is determined by using a phase difference determined by comparing the phase of the signals of two or more elements of the multi-element antenna array.

5. A system in accordance with claim 4, wherein the two or more elements are adjacent to each other in the multi-element antenna array.

6. A system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the phase shifting circuit feeds the phase shifted signal back into the frequency locking module.

7. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein a signal divider circuit is disposed between the frequency locking module of each of the plurality of elements and the phase control module to direct the signal of each of the plurality of elements to the phase control module.

8. A system in accordance with claim 7, wherein the signal divider circuit is further arranged to direct the signal to a radiating member.

9. A system in accordance with claim 8, wherein an amplifying circuit is disposed between the signal divider and the radiating member to amplify the signal for radiation by the radiating member.

10. A system in accordance with claim 7, wherein a modulator is disposed between the signal divider circuit and the radiating member to modulate the signal with data information.

11. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the frequency locking module includes a phase locked loop synthesizer.

12. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the phase control module includes a phase shifter circuit, a phase detector array and a processor.

13. A system in accordance with claim 12, wherein the phase detector array is arranged to detect a phase difference between two or more signals by comparing the phase of the two or more signals.

14. A system in accordance with claim 13, wherein the processor is arranged to determine the phase adjustment value by using the phase difference between two or more signals.

15. A system in accordance with claim 14, wherein the processor is arranged to determine the phase adjustment value by determining a phase shift to be applied to the signal so as to minimize the phase difference between two or more signals.

16. A system in accordance with claim 14, wherein the processor determines the phase adjustment value by calculating a phase shift to be applied to the signal so as to shift the phase of the signal to reach an optimized phase.

17. A system in accordance with claim 16, wherein the optimized phase is a phase in which the signal radiated by a radiating element is steered into a desired direction

18. A system in accordance with claim 13, wherein the two or more signals are the signals of two or more adjacent elements.

19. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the signal source is a common reference signal source.

20. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the frequency lock module operates in a loop.

21. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the phase control module operates in a loop.

22. A phase antenna array comprising:

a frequency lock loop arranged to lock the frequency of a signal being transmitted by the antenna array; and

a phase control loop arranged to shift the phase of the signal.

23. A phase antenna array in accordance with claim 22;

wherein the frequency lock loop is arranged to operate for each of a plurality of channels of the phase antenna array.

24. A phase antenna array in accordance with claim 23, wherein the phase control loop is arranged to shift the phase of the signal of each of the plurality of channels by comparing the phase of the signal with the phase of a signal of an adjacent channel.

25. A phase antenna array in accordance with claim 22, wherein the phase control loop is arranged to shift the phase of the signal to control the phase difference between any two or more adjacent channels.

26. A phase antenna array in accordance with claim 24, wherein the signal is arranged to be steered in a desired direction when transmitted by the antenna array.

27. A phase antenna array in accordance with claim 26, wherein the phase control loop includes a processor arranged to control a phase shifting circuit to shift the phase of the signal.