Frequency-independent receiver and beamforming technique

• US 10,439,851 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2017
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ohio State Innovation Foundation (Ohio State University)
• Original Assignee: Ohio State Innovation Foundation (Ohio State University)
• Inventors: Novak, Markus H., Venkatakrishnan, Satheesh Bojja, Volakis, John L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perez, James M
• Application Number:
  US15/708,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20180083813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 749 Days
• Field of Search: 375259-352
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/42 using frequency-mixing H01Q3/2676 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/38 Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0837 using pre-detection combining H04B7/0868 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/084 Equal gain combining, only phase adjustments antenna beam scanning or forming by phase or amplitude control H01Q3/26, e.g. phased arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/14 Demodulator circuits; Receiver circuits

Abstract

Example systems and methods described herein relate to radio communication architectures and techniques for beamforming and down-conversion without a priori knowledge of the source location or frequency. An example radio receiver includes a plurality of antenna elements that include a first element, a second element, and a third element. The radio receiver also includes a plurality of mixers coupled to the plurality of antenna elements and a combiner coupled to the plurality of antenna elements. A signal incident on the first element is mixed with itself via a first mixer of the plurality of mixers. An output of the first mixer is mixed with a signal incident on the second element via a second mixer of the plurality of mixers, and an output of the second mixer is combined via the combiner with a signal incident on the third element.

Claims

1. An antenna array comprising:

a plurality of antenna elements arranged in a matrix, the matrix having a number of columns and a number of rows, wherein each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements exists at a position within the matrix at an intersection of a column and a row and wherein each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements comprises a mixer configured to produce a phased superposition mix of a first signal and a second signal, wherein each antenna element comprises;

a respective antenna;

an output mixer coupled to the respective antenna and configured to produce a mix between a signal incident at the respective antenna and the phased superposition mix of the first signal and the second signal; and

an input mixer coupled to the respective antenna and configured to produce a mix between a third signal and the phased superposition mix of the first signal and the second signal;

a first set of phase shifters, each phase shifter of the first set of phase shifters being configured to apply a respective phase shift to an input signal; and

a second set of phase shifters, each phase shifter of the second set of phase shifters being configured to apply a respective phase shift to an input signal,

wherein the first set of phase shifters are arranged such that the first signal is applied with a same phase shift to each mixer of each antenna element in a respective column of the matrix, and

wherein the second set of phase shifters are arranged such that the second signal is applied with a same phase shift to each mixer of each antenna element in a respective row of the matrix.

2. The antenna array of claim 1,

wherein the first set of phase shifters comprises a number of phase shifters equal to the number of columns in the matrix, and

wherein the second set of phase shifters comprises a number of phase shifters equal to the number of rows in the matrix.

3. The antenna array of claim 1, wherein the third signal is a baseband input signal.

4. A method comprising:

applying a first signal to each antenna element of a plurality of antenna elements, the plurality of antenna elements being arranged in a matrix, the matrix having a number of columns and a number of rows, wherein each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements exists at a position within the matrix at an intersection of a column and a row, wherein each antenna element comprises;

a respective antenna;

an output mixer coupled to the respective antenna and configured to produce a mix between a signal incident at the respective antenna and a phased superposition mix of the first signal and the second signal; and

an input mixer coupled to the given antenna and configured to produce a mix between a third signal and the phased superposition mix of the first signal and the second signal; and

applying a second signal to each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements;

shifting a phase of the first signal such that for each application of the first signal to mixers positioned in a given column of the matrix, the first signal is applied with a same phase shift;

shifting a phase of the second signal such that for each application of the second signal to mixers positioned in a respective row of the matrix, the second signal is applied with a same phase shift; and

at each respective antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements, mixing the phase-shifted first signal applied to the respective antenna element with the phase-shifted second signal applied to the respective antenna element.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of shifting the phase of the first signal such that for each application of the first signal to mixers positioned in a respective column of the matrix, the first signal is applied with the same phase shift comprises:

shifting the phase of the first signal using a number of phase shifters equal to the number of columns in the matrix.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of shifting the phase of the second signal such that for each application of the second signal to mixers positioned in a respective row of the matrix, the second signal is applied with the same phase shift comprises:

shifting the phase of the second signal using a number of phase shifters equal to the number of rows in the matrix.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the third signal is a baseband input signal.