Antenna device for a radio base station in a cellular telephony system

• US 9,147,943 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Petersson, Sven, Johansson, Martin, Engstrm, Ulrika
• Primary Examiner(s): Bilodeau, David
• Application Number:
  US11/722,993
• Publication Number:
  US 20070268193A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,925 Days
• Field of Search: 455/562.1, 455/101, 343/756
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/245 provided with means for varying the polarisation polarising devices H01Q15/24; tracking by comparing linear polarisation compounds G01S3/146; reducing depolarisation effects H04B7/00; polarisation diversity H04B7/10
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 23/00 Antennas with active circuits or circuit elements integrated within them or attached to them
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/24 of transmitter output stages
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/0408 with power amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/10 Polarisation diversity; Directional diversity

Abstract

The invention discloses an antenna device (500, 600, 700) for a radio base station in a cellular telephony system, which comprises a first and a second input connection for a first (D1) and a second (D2) data stream, and a first (510, 610, 710) and a second (511, 611, 711) polarization former, one for each of said data streams. The device also comprises a first (530, 630, 730) and a second (532, 632, 732) antenna of respective first and second polarizations, and one amplifier each. The device also comprises a first (515, 615, 715) and a second (516, 616, 716) combiner, so that the outputs from the polarization formers may be combined as input to each of the first and second antennas.

Claims

1. A method performed in an antenna device for generating one or more signals having desired polarizations, comprising:

receiving at least one data stream;

inputting each data stream into a respective polarization former;

splitting, by each polarization former, the corresponding data stream into one first separate stream and one second separate stream;

introducing, by the at least one polarization former, a phase shift between the at least one first separate stream and the at least one second separate stream.

transmitting the at least one first separate stream from a first antenna having a first polarization and the at least one second separate stream from a second antenna having a second polarization different from the first polarization, wherein the one first separate stream and the one second separate stream are combined in air resulting in a signal having a formed polarization as a function of the phase shift,

wherein each polarization former outputs the one first separate stream via a first output port connected to one or more antennas only of the first polarization, and outputs the one second separate stream via a second output port connected to one or more antennas only of the second polarization.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the phase shift is introduced by introducing a delay into at least one of the one first separate stream and the one second separate stream.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein there is a desired phase relation between the one first separate stream at the first antenna and the one second separate stream at the second antenna.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the desired phase relation is that the first antenna and the second antenna have a same phase center.

5. An antenna device configured to generate one or more signals having formed polarizations, the antenna device comprising:

at least one polarization former each configured to

split one received data stream into one first separate stream and one second separate stream, and

introduce a phase shift between the one first separate stream and the one second separate stream;

a first antenna, having a first polarization, configured to transmit the at least one first separate stream; and

a second antenna, having a second polarization different from the first polarization, configured to transmit the one second separate stream, wherein the one first separate stream and the one second separate stream are combined in air resulting in a signal having a formed polarization as a function of the phase shift,

wherein the at least one polarization former outputs the one first separate stream via a first output port connected to one or more antennas only of the first polarization, and outputs the one second separate stream via a second output port connected to one or more antennas only of the second polarization.

6. The antenna device according to claim 5, wherein the at least one polarization former is further configured to introduce the phase shift by introducing a delay into at least one of the one first separate stream and the one second separate stream.

7. The antenna device according to claim 5, wherein there is a desired phase relation between the one first separate stream at the first antenna and the one second separate stream at the second antenna.

8. The antenna device according to claim 7, wherein the desired phase relation is that the first antenna and the second antenna have a same phase center.

9. An antenna device for a radio base station in a cellular telephony system, comprising:

first and second input connections for first and second data streams, respectively;

first and second polarization formers for the first and second data streams, respectively, the first and second polarization formers each having first and second output ports;

first and second antennas of first and second polarizations, respectively, wherein the first polarization is different from the second polarization;

a first combiner configured to combine an output of the first output port of the first polarization former with an output of the first output port of the second polarization former to produce an input for the first antenna; and

a second combiner configured to combine an output of the second output port of the first polarization former with an output of the second output port of the second polarization former to produce an input for the second antenna;

wherein the first output ports of the first and second polarization formers are connected to one or more antennas only of the first polarization, and the second output ports of the first and second polarization formers are connected to one or more antennas only of the second polarization.

10. The antenna device according to claim 9, wherein the first and second polarization formers are configured to introduce a phase shift between the first and second data streams by introducing a delay into at least one of the first and second data streams.

11. The antenna device according to claim 9, wherein there is a desired phase relation between the first data stream at the first antenna and the second data stream at the second antenna.

12. The antenna device according to claim 11, wherein the desired phase relation is that the first antenna and the second antenna have a same phase center.