Base station antenna arrangement
First Claim
1. An azimuthal beamforming antenna arrangement for a cellular radio base station for receiving uplink signals from and transmitting downlink signals to outstations within an area of coverage of the base station, comprising at least one antenna including several vertically oriented sub-array antennas, the vertically oriented sub-array antennas including means for forming separate substantially coincident beams in azimuth;
- switching means operable to select any one or more of the vertically oriented sub-array antennas;
wherein several vertically oriented sub-array antennas are selectively switchable so that the uplink signals are received by at least two vertically oriented sub-array antennas coupled through cables by respective elevation beamformers to a base station controller.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An antenna arrangement (10) for a cellular radio base station is provided with a plurality of r.f. transceivers, including one or more antenna arrays (12) each comprising a plurality of sub-arrays (20) each selectively operpable to form a beam in azimuth. Each sub-army is provided with elevation beamforming means (24) and individual transmit and receive amplifiers (30,32). Each sub-array beamformer is coupled to at least one r.f. transmitter feed (26)nd each r.f. receiver feed is coupled to at least two sub-array beamformers, the sub-arrays of each antenna array together forming a multiplicity of separate substantially coincident beams in azimuth. A method of operation is also disclosed.
-
Citations
10 Claims
-
1. An azimuthal beamforming antenna arrangement for a cellular radio base station for receiving uplink signals from and transmitting downlink signals to outstations within an area of coverage of the base station, comprising at least one antenna including several vertically oriented sub-array antennas, the vertically oriented sub-array antennas including means for forming separate substantially coincident beams in azimuth;
- switching means operable to select any one or more of the vertically oriented sub-array antennas;
wherein several vertically oriented sub-array antennas are selectively switchable so that the uplink signals are received by at least two vertically oriented sub-array antennas coupled through cables by respective elevation beamformers to a base station controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
- switching means operable to select any one or more of the vertically oriented sub-array antennas;
-
5. An azimuthal beamforming antenna arrangement for a cellular radio base station comprising a plurality of r.f transceivers each for transmitting and receiving r.f signals to and from the antenna via respective transmit and receive feed means for one or more calls, the arrangement including one or more antenna arrays wherein each array comprises a plurality of vertically oriented sub-array antennas, each including means for forming a beam in azimuth;
- switching means operable to select any one or more of the vertically oriented sub-array antennas;
wherein several vertically oriented sub-array antennas are selectively switchable;
elevation beamforming means for each vertically oriented sub-array antenna and individual transmit and receive amplifying means for each vertically oriented sub-array antenna, wherein each vertically oriented sub-array antenna beamforming means is selectively coupled to at least one r.f transmitter feed means and each r.f receiver feed means is selectively coupled to at least two vertically oriented sub-array antenna beamforming means, the vertically oriented sub-array antennas of each antenna array together forming a multiplicity of separate substantially coincident beams in azimuth. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
- switching means operable to select any one or more of the vertically oriented sub-array antennas;
-
9. A method of operating an azimuthal beamforming antenna arrangement for a cellular radio base station in a receive mode, wherein the base station comprises at least one antenna array including several vertically oriented sub-array antennas each for selectively forming a beam in azimuth, the vertically oriented sub-array antennas capable of forming separate substantially coincident beams in azimuth, wherein the method comprises the step of receiving radio signals from mobile transmitters using at least two vertically oriented sub-array antennas coupled to the base station controller, feeding the signals to single carrier amplifiers whereby a plurality of diverse receive paths can be obtained directly from the antenna array.
-
10. A method of operating an azimuthal beamforming antenna arrangement for a cellular radio base station in a transmit mode, wherein the base station comprises at least one antenna array including several vertically oriented sub-array antennas, each including means for forming a beam in azimuth;
- switching means operable to select any one or more of the antenna sub-arrays;
wherein several vertically oriented sub-array antennas are selectively switchable;
wherein the downlink signals are transmitted by at least one sub-array coupled to a base station controller by respective elevation beamformers, the method comprising the steps of i) providing a signal to be transmitted by a base station control means to an r.f. generator to produce an r.f. signal;
ii) transmitting said r.f. signal via a feed to a selected transmit amplifier;
iii) transmitting said r.f. signal via a feed to a beamforming means; and
iv) feeding radiating elements of at least one vertically oriented sub-array antenna.
- switching means operable to select any one or more of the antenna sub-arrays;
Specification