Determination of antenna noise temperature for handheld wireless devices

• US 8,116,689 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2011
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Qi, Yihong, Jarmuszewski, Perry
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan, Yuwen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hai
• Application Number:
  US12/987,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20110105047A1
• Time in Patent Office: 400 Days
• Field of Search: 455/63.1
• US Class Current: 455/63.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal

Abstract

Antenna noise temperature is determined for a handheld wireless communication device which typically includes a radio, e.g. having a wireless transceiver and associated circuitry connected thereto, and an antenna connected to the radio. The method includes measuring an antenna thermal noise component, measuring a radio noise component, measuring an environmental background noise component, and determining the antenna noise temperature based upon the measured antenna thermal noise, radio noise, and environmental background noise components. The method may include measuring antenna efficiency, and determining further includes weighting at least one of the measured antenna thermal noise, radio noise and environmental background noise components based upon the measured antenna efficiency.

Claims

1. A method of determining a receive sensitivity for a wireless communication device comprising radio circuitry on a circuit board and an antenna coupled to the radio circuitry, the method comprising:

determining an antenna noise temperature based upon an antenna thermal noise component, a radio noise component, and an environmental background noise component;

determining an antenna gain pattern for the antenna; and

determining the receive sensitivity for the wireless communication device based upon the antenna noise temperature and the antenna gain pattern.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein determining the antenna noise temperature is performed independently from determining the antenna gain pattern.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein determining the antenna noise temperature further comprises:

determining an antenna efficiency; and

weighting at least one of the antenna thermal noise component, the radio noise component, and the environmental background noise component based upon the antenna efficiency.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the antenna noise temperature T_t is defined as

T_t=η

T_A+(1−

2η

)T_P+η

T_R

where η

is an antenna efficiency, T_A is the environmental background noise component, T_P is the antenna thermal noise component, and T_R is the radio noise component.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the antenna thermal noise component is based upon a conductive sensitivity.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the antenna thermal noise component T_p is defined as

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the radio noise component is based upon a radiated sensitivity of the wireless communication device in an anechoic chamber at room temperature.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the radio noise component T_R is defined as

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the environmental background noise component is based upon a radiated sensitivity of the wireless communication device in an operating environment including a plurality of noise sources.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the environmental background noise component T_A is defined as

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the antenna noise temperature T_t is defined as

T=η

T_A+(1−

2η

)T_P+η

T_R

where η

is an antenna efficiency, T_A is an environmental background noise component, T_P is an antenna thermal noise component, and T_R is a radio noise component.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the antenna thermal noise component T_p is defined as

15. The method according to claim 13 wherein the radio noise component T_R is defined as

16. The method according to claim 13 wherein the environmental background noise component T_A is defined as

22. The method according to claim 1 wherein the antenna thermal noise component T_p is defined as

23. The method according to claim 1 wherein the radio noise component T_R is defined as

24. The method according to claim 1 wherein the environmental background noise component T_A is defined as

11. A method of determining a receive sensitivity for a wireless communication device comprising radio circuitry on a circuit board and an antenna coupled to the radio circuitry, the method comprising:

determining an antenna noise temperature and an antenna gain pattern independently from one another; and

determining the receive sensitivity for the wireless communication device based upon the antenna noise temperature and the antenna gain pattern.

12. The method according to claim 11 further comprising determining antenna efficiency;

and wherein determining the antenna noise temperature is based upon the antenna efficiency.

17. A method of determining a receive sensitivity for a wireless communication device comprising radio circuitry on a circuit board and an antenna coupled to the radio circuitry, the method comprising:

determining an antenna noise temperature based upon weighting at least one of an antenna thermal noise component, a radio noise component, and an environmental background noise component;

determining an antenna gain pattern independently of determining the antenna noise temperature; and

determining the receive sensitivity for the wireless communication device based upon the antenna noise temperature and the antenna gain pattern.

18. The method according to claim 17 wherein the antenna thermal noise component is based upon a conductive sensitivity.

19. The method according to claim 17 wherein the radio noise component is based upon a radiated sensitivity of the wireless communication device in an anechoic chamber at room temperature.

20. The method according to claim 17 wherein the environmental background noise component is based upon a radiated sensitivity of the wireless handheld communication device in an operating environment including a plurality of noise sources.

21. The method according to claim 17 wherein the antenna noise temperature T_t is defined as

T_t=η

T_A+(1−

2η

)T_P+η

T_R

where η

is an antenna efficiency, T_A is an environmental background noise component, T_P is an antenna thermal noise component, and T_R is a radio noise component.