RADIO WITH ASYMMETRICAL DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA SUB-ARRAYS

• US 20160248467A1
• Filed: 04/29/2016
• Published: 08/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: COMS IP Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: CBF Networks, Inc. (COMSovereign Holding Corp.)
• Inventors: Lea, David Andrew G., Negus, Kevin J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,577,700 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/48 Earthing means; Earth screens; Counterpoises
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/50 Structural association of antennas with earthing switches, lead-in devices or lightning protectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/062 using dipole aerials; H01Q21/067, H01Q21/068 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/064 using horn or slot aerials slotted waveguides arrays H01Q21/005
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/065 Patch antenna array
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/24 Combinations of antenna units polarised in different directions for transmitting or receiving circularly and elliptically polarised waves or waves linearly polarised in any direction circularly polarised patch antennas H01Q9/0428; circularly polarised horns H01Q13/0241; cross-polarised horns H01Q13/0258; polarisation converters H01Q15/242; cross-polarised rear feeds H01Q19/136; crossed polarisation dual antenna H01Q25/001
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/29 Combinations of different interacting antenna units for giving a desired directional characteristic H01Q25/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/00 Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/001 Crossed polarisation dual antennas orthomode horns H01Q13/0258; cross-polarised rear feeds H01Q19/136; orthomode transducers H01P1/161
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/005 providing two patterns of opposite direction; back to back antennas H01Q25/004 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/401 for selecting or indicating operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/50 using different frequencies for the two directions of communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25 Arrangements specific to fibre transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/088 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/10 Polarisation diversity; Directional diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0001 Systems modifying transmission characteristics according to link quality, e.g. power backoff adaptive data allocation for multicarrier modulation H04L5/0044; controlling transmission power for radio systems H04W52/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/004 by using forward error control H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/18 : Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/03828 : Arrangements for spectral shaping; Arrangements for providing signals with specified spectral properties partial response systems H04L25/497
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/01 : Equalisers baseband equalizers at the transmitter end H04L25/03343; in analogue transmission systems H04B3/04, H04B7/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 : Multicarrier modulation systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2636 : with FFT or DFT modulators, e.g. standard single-carrier frequency-division multiple access [SC-FDMA] transmitter or DFT spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing [DFT-SOFDM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 : the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices

Abstract

An intelligent backhaul radio that has an advanced antenna system for use in PTP or PMP topologies. The antenna system provides a significant diversity benefit. Antenna configurations are disclosed that provide for increased transmitter to receiver isolation, adaptive polarization and MIMO transmission equalization. Adaptive optimization of transmission parameters based upon side information provided in the form of metric feedback from a far end receiver utilizing the antenna system is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A radio comprising:

one or more demodulator cores, wherein each demodulator core is configured to demodulate at least one receive symbol stream;

a plurality of receive radio frequency (RF) chains, wherein each receive RF chain is configured to convert from a receive RF signal within a receive frequency band to a receive chain output signal;

one or more modulator cores, wherein each modulator core is configured to produce at least one transmit symbol stream;

a plurality of transmit radio frequency (RF) chains, wherein each transmit RF chain is configured to convert from a transmit chain input signal to a transmit RF signal within a transmit frequency band; and

a plurality of directional antenna arrays, wherein each directional antenna array comprises a plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays, and wherein each directional antenna sub-array comprises a plurality of directional antenna elements;

wherein at least one of the plurality of directional antenna arrays comprises at least one first directional antenna sub-array, said first directional antenna sub-array comprising a first number of directional antenna elements, and at least one second directional antenna sub-array, said second directional antenna sub-array comprising a second number of directional antenna elements, and wherein the first number is different than the second number.

2. The radio of claim 1, wherein the first number is four and the second number is five.

3. The radio of claim 1, further comprising:

a frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer, interposed between the one or more demodulator cores and at least the plurality of receive RF chains, wherein the frequency selective receive path channel multiplexer is configured to generate a plurality of receive symbol streams from at least a plurality of receive chain output signals;

a transmit path channel multiplexer, interposed between the one or more modulator cores and at least the plurality of transmit RF chains, wherein the transmit path channel multiplexer is configured to generate a plurality of transmit chain input signals from at least a plurality of transmit symbol streams.

4. The radio of claim 1, wherein the backhaul radio is configured to transmit and receive coincident in time for at least a period of time

5. The radio of claim 1, wherein at least one directional antenna sub-array is spatially offset relative to at least one other directional antenna sub-array

6. The radio of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of duplexer filters, wherein each duplexer filter comprises at least a receive band-select filter configured to selectively pass RF signals within the receive frequency band and a transmit band-select filter configured to selectively pass RF signals within the transmit frequency band, wherein each duplexer filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays, wherein the receive band-select filter of each duplexer filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of receive RF chains, and wherein the transmit band-select filter of each duplexer filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of transmit RF chains;

wherein each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays is configured to operate over at least both of the transmit frequency band and the receive frequency band.

7. The radio of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of receive band-select filters, wherein each receive band-select filter is configured to selectively pass RF signals within the receive frequency band, wherein each receive band-select filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays, and wherein each receive band-select filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of receive RF chains; and

a plurality of transmit band-select filters, wherein each transmit band-select filter is configured to selectively pass RF signals within the transmit frequency band, wherein each transmit band-select filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays, and wherein each transmit band-select filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of transmit RF chains;

wherein each of the plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays is configured to operate over at least one of the transmit frequency band or the receive frequency band.

8. The radio of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of band-select filters, wherein each band-select filter is configured to selectively pass RF signals within both of the receive frequency band and the transmit frequency band, wherein each band-select filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays, and wherein each band-select filter is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of receive RF chains or one of the plurality of transmit RF chains;

wherein each of the plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays is configured to operate over at least both of the transmit frequency band and the receive frequency band.

9. The radio of claim 1, wherein each one of the one or more demodulator cores comprises at least a decoder and a soft decision symbol demapper;

and wherein each one of the plurality of receive RF chains comprises at least a vector demodulator and two analog to digital converters that are configured to produce the receive chain output signal as comprised of digital baseband quadrature signals.

10. The radio of claim 9, wherein each one of the one or more modulator cores comprises at least an encoder and a symbol mapper;

and wherein each one of the plurality of transmit RF chains comprises at least a vector modulator and two digital to analog converters that are configured to produce the transmit RF signal from the transmit chain input signals as comprised of digital baseband quadrature signals.

11. The radio of claim 10, wherein each one of the one or more demodulator cores comprises at least one of a descrambler or a deinterleaver;

and wherein each one of the one or more modulator cores comprises at least one of a scrambler or an interleaver.

12. The radio of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more selectable RF connections that are configured to selectively couple certain of the plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays to either or both of certain of the plurality of receive RF chains or certain of the plurality of transmit RF chains;

wherein the number of directional antenna sub-arrays that are configured to be selectively coupled to receive RF chains exceeds the number of receive RF chains that are configured to accept receive RF signals from the one or more selectable RF connections;

or

wherein the number of directional antenna sub-arrays that are configured to be selectively coupled to transmit RF chains exceeds the number of transmit RF chains that are configured to provide transmit RF signals to the one or more selectable RF connections.

13. The radio of claim 12, wherein at least one of the one or more selectable RF connections comprises at least one RF switch.

14. The radio of claim 12, wherein the set of receive RF chains that is configured to accept receive RF signals from the one or more selectable RF connections is divided between a first subset that is configured to accept receive RF signals from directional antenna sub-arrays with a first polarization and a second subset that is configured to accept receive RF signals from directional antenna sub-arrays with a second polarization;

or wherein the set of transmit RF chains that is configured to provide transmit RF signals to the one or more selectable RF connections is divided between a third subset that is configured to provide transmit RF signals to directional antenna sub-arrays with a first polarization and a fourth subset that is configured to provide transmit RF signals to directional antenna sub-arrays with a second polarization.

15. The radio of claim 1, wherein the plurality of directional antenna arrays are arranged on a plurality of facets with one or more directional antenna arrays per facet, and wherein each facet is oriented at a different azimuth angle relative to at least one other facet.

16. The radio of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of power amplifiers, wherein each power amplifier is configured to amplify at least one transmit RF signal, and wherein each power amplifier is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of transmit RF chains and to at least one directional antenna sub-array; and

a plurality of low noise amplifiers, wherein each low noise amplifier is configured to amplify at least one receive RF signal, and wherein each low noise amplifier is couplable or coupled to at least one of the plurality of receive RF chains and to at least one directional antenna sub-array.

17. The radio of claim 1, wherein both of the transmit frequency band and the receive frequency band are within a frequency range of between 2 GHz and 6 GHz.

18. The radio of claim 1, wherein both of the transmit frequency band and the receive frequency band are within a frequency range of above 10 GHz.

19. The radio of claim 1, wherein the transmit frequency band and the receive frequency band do not overlap in the frequency domain.

20. The radio of claim 3, wherein the radio is configured to use at least a Single-Carrier Frequency Domain Equalization (SC-FDE) modulation format.

21. The radio of claim 3, wherein the radio is configured to use at least an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation format.

22. The radio of claim 1, wherein a total number of directional antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional antenna arrays exceeds either or both of a number of receive symbol streams or a number of transmit symbol streams.

23. The radio of claim 1, wherein a total number of directional antenna sub-arrays comprised within the plurality of directional antenna arrays exceeds either or both of a number of receive chain output signals or a number of transmit chain input signals.

24. The radio of claim 1, wherein the plurality of directional antenna arrays are arranged on a plurality of facets with one or more directional antenna arrays per facet, and wherein each facet is horizontally offset relative to at least one other facet.

25. The radio of claim 1, wherein the plurality of directional antenna arrays are arranged on a plurality of facets with one or more directional antenna arrays per facet, and wherein each facet is vertically offset relative to at least one other facet.

26. The radio of claim 1, wherein an antenna pattern beamwidth of at least one of the directional antenna sub-arrays is narrower in elevation than in azimuth.

27. The radio of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays comprises two directional antenna sub-arrays.

28. The radio of claim 27, wherein a first one of the two directional antenna sub-arrays in each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays has a first polarization, and wherein a second one of the two directional antenna sub-arrays in each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays has a second polarization that is substantially orthogonal to the first polarization.

29. The radio of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of directional antenna elements comprises one of a patch antenna element, a slot antenna element, or a printed dipole antenna element.

30. The radio of claim 27, wherein said first one of the two directional antenna sub-arrays in each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays comprises a plurality of patch antenna elements with each said patch antenna element excited in the first polarization, and wherein said second one of the two directional antenna sub-arrays in each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays comprises the same said plurality of patch antenna elements with each said patch antenna element excited in the second polarization.

31. The radio of claim 30, wherein each of said plurality of patch antenna elements further comprises a first orthogonal probe feed for excitation in the first polarization for said first one of the two directional antenna sub-arrays in each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays, a second orthogonal probe feed for excitation in the second polarization for said second one of the two directional antenna sub-arrays in each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays, and a shorting pin at the center of each said patch antenna element.

32. The radio of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of directional antenna sub-arrays is comprised of one or more columns of a plurality of patch, slot or dipole directional antenna elements.

33. The radio of claim 32, wherein a number of columns for the one or more columns is less than a number of directional antenna elements within each of the one or more columns.

34. The radio of claim 1, wherein each of the directional antenna sub-arrays comprised within each of the plurality of directional antenna arrays is oriented with respect to an azimuthal antenna pattern at a same azimuthal direction relative to at least one other of the directional antenna sub-arrays within its respective one of the plurality of directional antenna arrays and is oriented with respect to an azimuthal antenna pattern at a different azimuthal direction relative to at least one directional antenna sub-array within at least one other of the plurality of directional antenna arrays.

35. The radio of claim 1, wherein the plurality of directional antenna arrays are arranged as a first subset of one or more directional antenna arrays that are coupled to or couplable to at least one of the plurality of transmit RF chains but not to any of the plurality of receive RF chains and a second subset of one or more directional antenna arrays that are coupled to or couplable to at least one of the plurality of receive RF chains but not to any of the plurality of transmit RF chains.

36. The radio of claim 35, wherein a number of directional antenna arrays within either of the first subset or the second subset is one.

37. The radio of claim 36, wherein a number of directional antenna sub-arrays comprised within at least one directional antenna array within either of the first subset or the second subset is two.

38. The radio of claim 35, wherein at least one transmit antenna pattern corresponding to selected ones of directional antenna sub-arrays within the first subset is set independently of at least one receive antenna pattern corresponding to selected ones of directional antenna sub-arrays within the second subset.

39. The radio of claim 1, wherein at least two transmit RF chains have respective transmit chain input signals derived from a single transmit symbol stream.

40. The radio of claim 1, wherein at least two receive RF chains have respective receive chain output signals used to derive a single receive symbol stream.