Distributed Phased Arrays Based MIMO (DPA-MIMO) for Next Generation Wireless User Equipment Hardware Design and Method

• US 20180219587A1
• Filed: 01/30/2018
• Published: 08/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wei Xu, Xiaodai Dong, Yiming Huo
• Original Assignee: Wei Xu, Xiaodai Dong, Yiming Huo
• Inventors: Huo, Yiming, Dong, Xiaodai, Xu, Wei
• Granted Patent: US 10,771,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2283 mounted in or on the surface of a semiconductor substrate as a chip-type antenna or integrated with other components into an IC package
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/065 Patch antenna array
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/30 Combinations of separate antenna units operating in different wavebands and connected to a common feeder system
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/25 Ultra-wideband [UWB] systems, e.g. multiple resonance systems; Pulse systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0071 using a common intermediate frequency for more than one band H04B1/0075 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/40 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/024 Co-operative use of antennas of several sites, e.g. in co-ordinated multipoint or co-operative multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/043 using best eigenmode, e.g. beam forming or beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0495 using overlapping sectors in the same base station to implement MIMO for antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0625 Transmitter arrangements

Abstract

Generally, this disclosure provides systems and methods for distributed phased array multiple input multiple output (DPA-MIMO) communications. A system may comprise

• • a baseband processing unit;
  • a plurality of beamforming (BF) modules each of which comprises at least a beamforming antenna and a transceiver circuit comprising at least a downconverter that downconverts a beamformed antenna radio frequency signal to an intermediate frequency signal, and an upconverter that upconverts an intermediate frequency signal to radio frequency and sends to said beamforming antenna for transmission;
  • a plurality of intermediate frequency (IF) radios, each of which comprises a receive chain circuit that includes at least a downconverter that downconverts an intermediate frequency signal sent from said BF module to a basedband signal conveyed to said baseband processing unit, and a transmit chain circuit that includes at least an upconverter that upconverts a baseband signal received from said baseband processing unit to an intermediate frequency signal which is conveyed to said beamforming module;
  • and
  • a plurality of cables or any type of physical signal transmission medium, each of which connects one of said beamforming modules with one of said intermediate frequency radios.

Claims

1. A system for distributed phased array multiple input multiple output (DPA-MIMO) communications, comprising:

a baseband processing unit;

a plurality of beamforming (BF) modules each of which comprises at least a beamforming antenna and a transceiver circuit comprising at least a downconverter that downconverts a beamformed antenna radio frequency signal to an intermediate frequency signal, and an upconverter that upconverts an intermediate frequency signal to radio frequency and sends to said beamforming antenna for transmission;

a plurality of intermediate frequency (IF) radios, each of which comprises a receive chain circuit that includes at least a downconverter that downconverts an intermediate frequency signal sent from said BF module to a basedband signal conveyed to said baseband processing unit, and a transmit chain circuit that includes at least an upconverter that upconverts a baseband signal received from said baseband processing unit to an intermediate frequency signal which is conveyed to said beamforming module;

and

a plurality of cables or any type of physical signal transmission medium, each of which connects one of said beamforming modules with one of said intermediate frequency radios.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said beamforming antenna including phased antenna array, steerable antenna and/or reconfigurable antenna, is configured to form beams pointing to designated directions with particular beamwidths and gains that are amenable to transmission or reception.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said phased antenna array comprises one or more antenna elements of homogeneous or heterogeneous type, shape, orientation, polarization and design, each of which is associated with two or more phase shifters that adjust the phases of antenna element signals separately.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said a plurality of beamforming modules comprising of homogeneous or heterogeneous types of beamforming antennas form wireless beams independently or jointly pointing to any directions with any beamwidths and gains that are amenable to single or multiple data streams transmission or reception.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said a plurality of beamforming modules are configured to operate in the same or different frequency bands, spanning a wide range of frequencies from GHz to millimeter wave (mmWave), Terahertz or even optical frequencies.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said a plurality of beamforming modules are placed in a distributed way with an edge-to-edge spacing that maximally reduces mutual coupling and propagation interference, and enhances signal diversity and signal quality among beamforming modules, taking into account available physical space, beamforming module dimension, total number of beamforming modules, heat dissipation, and/or target spatial multiplexing gain, and/or target diversity gain.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of intermediate frequency radios are configured to operate at the same or different frequency ranges, each of which contains a digital to analogy converter and an analog to digital converter for transmission and reception.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said baseband processing unit performs digital beamforming on the signals conveyed from all BF modules and IF radios, independently or jointly, which further reduces interferences and enhances signal to noise ratio of the processed signals.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each cable carries multiple signals at one or more frequencies including intermediate frequency signals that are exchanged between the intermediate frequency radios and beamforming modules, control signals, reference signals, direct current (DC) power and/or feedback signals.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein cables are selected from the group consisting of coaxial cables, fiber optic cables, IPEX/IPX cables, and ethernet cables.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said beamforming module is integrated on one or more substrate layers or printed circuit boards, and separated from intermediate frequency radios and baseband processing unit.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said beamforming modules support time division duplex communication or/and frequency division duplex communication.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more elements of said system may be combined into a single function group or separated into a plurality of functional groups.

14. The system of claim 1, communicating with a base station comprising of one or more base station units, wherein one or more BF modules form one or more beams aligned with one or more beams generated by base station/base station units, and the high performance links established between one or more BF module beams and one or more base station beams represent one or more carrier frequencies and/or one or more data streams.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a housing, wherein the placement and number of any elements are determined by design metrics and/or purposes including heat dissipation, power usage, signal quality, and/or device aesthetic.

16. The system of claim 1, is implemented in an apparatus selected from the group consisting of cellular phones, tablets, computers, mobile computing devices, virtual reality systems, wearable devices, smart televisions, vehicles, and/or unmanned aerial vehicles.

17. The system of claim 1, by default used by wireless protocol A and said baseband processing unit also shared with a wireless protocol set C, further comprising

a plurality of switches B inserted between one or more cables and one or more IF radios;

a plurality of IF radios from a wireless protocol set B;

a wireless protocol set B baseband processing unit;

and/or

a plurality of front ends from wireless protocol set C; and

a plurality of switches C inserted between one or more IF radios and one or more wireless protocol set C front ends;

enables multiplexing reuse of wireless protocol ABF modules and/or IF radios by wireless protocol set B and/or wireless protocol set C.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein a switch B controlled by a control signal enables/disables a signal path between a BF module and a wireless protocol A IF radio or between a BF module and one of said wireless protocol set B IF radios, and wherein a switch C controlled by a control signal enables/disables a signal path between an IF radio and a wireless protocol A BF module or between an IF radio and one of wireless protocol set C front ends.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein said wireless protocol A/C baseband processing unit and wireless protocol set B baseband processing unit communicate their data for joint processing by higher layer protocols, supporting simultaneous wireless protocol A/C and wireless protocol set B communications, and/or carrier aggregation of license and unlicensed frequency bands.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising a housing, wherein the placement and number of any elements are determined by any metrics and/or purposes including heat dissipation, power usage, signal quality, and/or device aesthetic.

21. The system of claim 17, is implemented in any apparatus including cellular phones, tablets, computers, mobile computing devices, virtual reality headsets, wearable devices, smart televisions and/or vehicles.

22. A communication method using the distributed phased array multiple input multiple output (DPA-MIMO) system defined in claim 1, the method comprising:

receiving one or more reference signals on a plurality of distributed beamforming (BF) modules from a communicating station outside DPA-MIMO wireless communication system;

performing beam sweeping and channel estimation by said distributed BF modules, intermediate frequency (IF) radios and baseband processing unit;

determining whether a BF module is blocked or not based on the results of the said beam sweeping and channel estimation step and performing blockage detection for every BF module by baseband processing unit;

for one or more BF modules detected as blocked, said blocked BF modules being powered down and/or entering a stand by state until a time interval having passed and said blocked BF modules re-entering said receiving reference signals step; and

for one or more BF modules detected as unblocked, baseband processing unit through IF radios and unblocked BF modules feeding back system and channel information including operation mode and channel condition of every BF module, temperature, and/or bandwidth usage to said communicating station;

unblocked BF modules performing beam steering and beam alignment with the beams from the communicating station to optimize communication link performance including signal strength, power usage, and/or transmission data rate;

performing baseband digital beamforming by said baseband processing unit to further optimize communication link performance; and

transmitting and receiving wireless data signals on the configured beams from unblocked BF modules, IF radios and baseband processing unit.

23. A method of claim 22, wherein one or more BF modules may form independently or jointly one or more beams pointing to any directions with any beamwidths and gains to align with the beams from one or more base stations or one or more base station units, and said one or more beams represent one or more carrier frequencies and/or one or more data streams.

24. A communication method using the multiplexed distributed phased array multiple input multiple output (DPA-MIMO) system defined in claim 17, the method comprising:

performing spectrum sensing on every beamforming (BF) module to determine available frequencies and/or traffic, controlled by baseband processing unit through signaling path enabled by intermediate frequency (IF) radios;

determining network/protocol availability on every BF module;

examining application requirement to determine needed resources;

selecting one or more networks/protocols that collectively fulfill application requirements including quality of service for communication;

configuring and initializing different BF module and IF radio combinations for a choice of one or more wireless networks/protocols; and

transmitting and receiving wireless data on the configured system.

25. An antenna beamforming module that form steerable beam patterns for communications, comprising:

at least one dielectric layer;

phased antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements on one dielectric layer;

front-end circuitry including at least phase shifters and transceiver circuits associated with phased antenna array, on one dielectric layer;

antenna feed lines routed between antenna elements and front-end circuitry; and

cable couplers on one dielectric layer.