EP3067988A1 - Antenna and method for transmitting and receiving wireless signal - Google Patents
Antenna and method for transmitting and receiving wireless signal Download PDFInfo
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- EP3067988A1 EP3067988A1 EP14865653.1A EP14865653A EP3067988A1 EP 3067988 A1 EP3067988 A1 EP 3067988A1 EP 14865653 A EP14865653 A EP 14865653A EP 3067988 A1 EP3067988 A1 EP 3067988A1
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- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 34
- 230000010363 phase shift Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 78
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 26
- 239000011159 matrix material Substances 0.000 claims description 11
- 238000000926 separation method Methods 0.000 claims description 3
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 16
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 description 5
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 4
- 238000012360 testing method Methods 0.000 description 4
- 238000005498 polishing Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000003491 array Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 1
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q25/00—Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns
- H01Q25/001—Crossed polarisation dual antennas
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
- H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
- H01Q1/22—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles
- H01Q1/24—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles with receiving set
- H01Q1/241—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles with receiving set used in mobile communications, e.g. GSM
- H01Q1/246—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles with receiving set used in mobile communications, e.g. GSM specially adapted for base stations
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
- H01Q21/06—Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
- H01Q21/08—Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart the units being spaced along or adjacent to a rectilinear path
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
- H01Q21/24—Combinations of antenna units polarised in different directions for transmitting or receiving circularly and elliptically polarised waves or waves linearly polarised in any direction
- H01Q21/26—Turnstile or like antennas comprising arrangements of three or more elongated elements disposed radially and symmetrically in a horizontal plane about a common centre
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q3/00—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system
- H01Q3/26—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
- H01Q3/30—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array
Definitions
- the present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to an antenna and methods for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal.
- Horizontal split refers to increasing a quantity of beams on a horizontal plane, thereby doubling system capacity
- vertical split refers to increasing a quantity of beams on a vertical plane.
- a multi-column antenna is used as a horizontal split antenna, and therefore a width of the antenna is increased; and vertical split is implemented by using a circuit network, and therefore system complexity is increased.
- horizontal split and vertical split change sector coverage of an original antenna, a large amount of network planning and network optimization needs to be performed on the system again.
- the present application provides an antenna and methods for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal, to resolve problems in the prior art that an increase in system capacity leads to a large antenna volume and high device complexity.
- the present application provides an antenna, including: a first power splitter, a second power splitter, a first phase-shift network, a signal multiplexing network, a first antenna array, and a multiplexing antenna array, where the first power splitter receives a first beam signal, and splits the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals, and the second power splitter receives a second beam signal, and splits the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals; the first phase-shift network performs phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch phase-shifted signals that all have different phases; the signal multiplexing network includes L input ends, where L1 input ends receive the k1 first beam branch signals, and L2 input ends receive the k2 second beam branch signals, the signal multiplexing network performs signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals, to obtain K multiplexed signals that all have different phases, and each multiplexed
- the M first antenna elements and the K multiplexing antenna elements are located in a straight line.
- the second power splitter is configured to split the second beam signal into k2+n second beam branch signals; and the antenna further includes a second phase-shift network and a second antenna array, where the second phase-shift network separately performs phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch phase-shifted signals that all have different phases, where n is less than or equal to N, and N is less than M; and the second antenna array includes N second antenna elements, the K multiplexing antenna elements are arranged in a straight line, the N second antenna elements and the M first antenna elements are located at two ends of the K multiplexing antenna elements, the N second antenna elements are configured to transmit the N second beam branch signals, and a second beam is formed after the N second beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted.
- the N second antenna elements, the M first antenna elements, and the K multiplexing antenna elements are located in a straight line.
- the signal multiplexing network includes a Butler matrix consisting of multiple phase shifters and one 3DB bridge, where the Butler matrix is configured to perform signal multiplexing processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals, to obtain K multiplexed signals; and the multiple phase shifters are disposed at input ends and/or output ends of the Butler matrix, and configured to perform phase shifting on the first beam branch signals, the second beam branch signals, and/or the multiplexed signals.
- the first phase-shift network when m is equal to M, the first phase-shift network includes at least M-1 phase shifters; and when m is less than M, the first phase-shift network includes at least M-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter.
- the second phase-shift network when n is equal to N, the second phase-shift network includes at least N-1 phase shifters; and when n is less than N, the second phase-shift network includes at least N-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter.
- the present application further provides a method for transmitting an antenna signal, including: separately receiving a first beam signal and a second beam signal; splitting the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals; splitting the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals; performing phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch signals that all have different phases; performing signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals by using a signal multiplexing network that includes L input ends, to obtain K multiplexed signals that all have different phases; transmitting the M first beam branch signals by using a first antenna array that includes M first antenna elements; transmitting the K multiplexed signals by using a multiplexing antenna array that includes K multiplexing antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements in a straight line; and forming a first beam after the M first beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, and forming a second beam after the K multiplexed signals are transmitted
- the method further includes: splitting the second beam signal into n second beam branch signals; separately performing phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch signals that all have different phases; and transmitting the N second beam branch signals by using a second antenna array that includes N second antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements and the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line, and forming a second beam after the N second beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted.
- the present application further provides an antenna receiving method, including: receiving a target beam by using a multiplexing antenna array and a first antenna array, where the multiplexing antenna array includes K multiplexing antenna elements, and the first antenna array includes M first antenna elements that are distributed with the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line; performing phase shifting on a target beam received by the M first antenna elements, to obtain m third beam branch signals that all have different phases; performing signal separation and phase shifting on a target beam received by the K multiplexing antenna elements, to obtain k1 third beam branch signals and k2 fourth beam branch signals; and combining the m+k1 third beam branch signals to obtain a third beam signal, or combining the k2 fourth beam branch signals into a fourth beam signal.
- the method further includes: receiving a target beam by using a second antenna array, where the second antenna array includes N second antenna elements that are distributed with the K multiplexing antenna elements and the M first antenna elements in a straight line; performing phase shifting on the target beam received by the N second antenna elements, to obtain n fourth beam branch signals that all have different phases; and combining the n+k2 fourth beam branch signals into a fourth beam signal.
- the first beam is first split into k1+m first beam branch signals, and the second beam is split into k2 second beam branch signals; then phase shifting is performed on the k1 first beam branch signals by using a first phase-shift network, signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing are performed on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals by using a signal multiplexing network to obtain K multiplexed signals, M first beam branch phase-shifted signals are transmitted by using a first antenna array 50, and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted by using a multiplexing antenna array 40; after being transmitted, the K multiplexed signals form a second beam, and the K multiplexed signals and the M first beam branch phase-shifted signals jointly form a first beam.
- Sizes of branch signals that are obtained by means of splitting by using the first power splitter and the second power splitter and phase shifts of the branch signals and multiplexed signals on which the phase shifting is performed are controlled; in this way, the first beam and the second beam that are finally obtained may vary in gains, downtilt angles, and vertical-plane beam widths.
- the antenna provided in the embodiments of the present application can allow that some antenna elements are multiplexed for two different beams, and the formed two beams may vary in downtilt angles by adjusting sizes and phases of branch signals of the beam signals, so that the two beams have different directions, and consequently coverage areas are different and do not overlap. Therefore, the antenna can increase system capacity without increasing an antenna volume.
- FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present application.
- the antenna includes: a first power splitter 10, a second power splitter 20, a signal multiplexing network 30, a multiplexing antenna array 40, a first antenna array 50, and a first phase-shift network 60.
- the first power splitter 10 is configured to receive a first beam signal, and split the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals. According to requirements on a transmitted first beam, an equal power splitter or an unequal power splitter may be selected as the first power splitter 10, and sizes of first beam branch signals obtained by means of splitting by using the unequal power splitter vary with different requirements on the first beam.
- the second power splitter 20 is configured to receive a second beam signal, and split the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals. Similarly, according to requirements on a transmitted second beam, an equal power splitter or an unequal power splitter may be selected as the second power splitter 20.
- the first phase-shift network 60 performs phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch phase-shifted signals, where the M first beam phase-shifted signals all have different phases.
- phase shifters and the power splitter are cascaded on the first phase-shift network 60.
- 62 is a phase shifter
- 61 is a one-to-two power splitter.
- the first phase-shift network shown in FIG. 2 can also obtain M first beam branch phase-shifted signals.
- the signal multiplexing network 30 has L input ends, and the L input ends are divided into two parts, where in the first part, L1 input ends receive k1 first beam branch signals, and in the second part, L2 input ends receive k2 second beam branch signals.
- L is less than or equal to K
- L1+L2 is less than or equal to L.
- the signal multiplexing network 30 plays a role of performing signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals, to obtain K multiplexed signals, where each multiplexed signal includes a first beam branch signal and a second beam branch signal, and different multiplexed signals have different phases.
- a signal multiplexing network 30 includes a Butler matrix 32 consisting of multiple phase shifters 31 and one 3DB bridge, where at each input end of the Butler matrix 32, one phase shifter 31 may be disposed or no phase shifter is disposed as required, and at each output end of the Butler matrix 32, one phase shifter 31 is disposed or no phase shifter is disposed as required; in addition, no phase shifter may be disposed at at least one output end.
- the Butler matrix 32 may be a multi-input multi-output network.
- the multiplexing antenna array 40 includes K multiplexing antenna elements, where the K multiplexing antenna elements are arranged in a straight line, and each multiplexing antenna element is connected to one output end of the signal multiplexing network 40, to transmit a multiplexed signal that is output by the signal multiplexing network 40.
- the first antenna array 50 includes M first antenna elements, where the M first antenna elements are located with the K multiplexing antennas in a straight line, and the M first antenna elements are located at one end of the K multiplexing antenna elements.
- Each first antenna element is connected to one output end on the first phase-shift network 60, to transmit a first beam branch phase-shifted signal that is output by the first phase-shift network 60.
- the second beam branch signals of the K multiplexed signals transmitted by the multiplexing antenna array 40 form a second beam
- the first beam branch signals of the K multiplexed signals transmitted by the multiplexing antenna array 40 and the M first beam branch phase-shifted signals transmitted by the first antenna array 60 jointly form a first beam
- transmit directions of the first beam and the second beam formed by means of the transmitting are different.
- the antenna provided in this embodiment of the present application can also receive a beam.
- the K multiplexing antenna elements in the multiplexing antenna array 40 can also receive a target beam, and the signal multiplexing network 30 performs splitting and phase shifting on the received target beam to obtain k1 third beam branch signals and k2 fourth beam branch signals.
- the first antenna array 50 receives a target beam, and the M first antenna elements perform phase shifting on the received target beam to obtain m third beam branch signals.
- the first power splitter 10 combines the k1+m third beam branch signals together to form a third beam signal; and the second power splitter 20 combines the k2 fourth beam branch signals together to form a fourth beam signal.
- the first beam is first split into k1+m first beam branch signals, and the second beam is split into k2 second beam branch signals; then phase shifting is performed on the k1 first beam branch signals by using a first phase-shift network, signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing are performed on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals by using a signal multiplexing network, to obtain K multiplexed signals, M first beam branch phase-shifted signals are transmitted by using a first antenna array 50, and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted by using a multiplexing antenna array 40; after being transmitted, the K multiplexed signals form a second beam, and the K multiplexed signals and the M first beam branch phase-shifted signals jointly form a first beam.
- Sizes of branch signals that are obtained by means of splitting by using the first power splitter and the second power splitter and phase shifts of the branch signals and multiplexed signals on which the phase shifting is performed are controlled; in this way, the first beam and the second beam that are finally obtained may vary in gains, downtilt angles, and vertical-plane beam widths.
- the antenna provided in this embodiment of the present application can allow that some antenna elements are multiplexed for two different beams, and the formed two beams may vary in downtilt angles by adjusting sizes and phases of branch signals of the beam signals, so that the two beams have different directions, and consequently coverage areas are different and do not overlap. Therefore, the antenna can increase system capacity without increasing an antenna volume.
- FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another antenna according to an embodiment of the present application.
- the first antenna array and the multiplexing antenna array are viewed as a whole, merely some antenna elements of the antenna arrays are multiplexed, and all antenna elements that transmit the second beam and some antenna elements that transmit the first beam are multiplexed. In this embodiment of the present application, some antenna elements that transmit the second beam and some antenna elements that transmit the first beam may be also multiplexed, to form a new multiplexing solution. As shown in FIG. 4 , the antenna may further include: a second antenna array 90 and a second phase-shift network 100.
- the second power splitter 20 splits the second beam signal into k2+n second beam branch signals.
- sizes of the k2 second beam branch signals and sizes of the n second beam branch signals may be set according to requirements on a second beam.
- the second phase-shift network 100 performs phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch phase-shifted signals, where the N second beam phase-shifted signals all have different phases, n is less than or equal to N, and N is less than M. That is, on the whole, a quantity of antenna elements that generate the second beam is less than a quantity of antenna elements that form the first beam.
- the second phase-shift network when n is equal to N, may consist of at least N-1 phase shifters; and when n is less than N, the second phase-shift network may consist of at least N-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter that are cascaded.
- the first phase-shift network 60 when n is equal to N, the second phase-shift network may consist of at least N-1 phase shifters; and when n is less than N, the second phase-shift network may consist of at least N-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter that are cascaded.
- the second antenna array 90 includes N second antenna elements, where the N second antenna elements are located with the first antenna elements and the multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line; in addition, the first antenna array 50 and the second antenna array 100 are located at two ends of the multiplexing antenna array 40.
- the second antenna array 90 is configured to transmit the N second beam branch phase-shifted signals obtained after the phase shifting.
- the antenna can increase system capacity without increasing an antenna volume.
- the solution only needs to set sizes of branch signals of the first power splitter and the second power splitter, and phase shifts of the branch signals on which the first phase-shift network, the second phase-shift network and the signal multiplexing network perform phase shifting, which is simple and convenient to implement, and has low system complexity.
- FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna in an application embodiment according to an embodiment of the present application.
- the antenna includes an antenna module 16, two signal multiplexing networks, four power splitters, two first phase-shift networks, two second power splitters, two second phase-shift networks, two first transmit receive units, and two second transmit receive units, where: the antenna module uses an antenna array that has dual-polarized elements evenly arranged in a single column, a spacing between the elements is 108 mm, the antenna array includes two multiplexing antenna elements, 10 first antenna elements, and two second antenna elements, the two signal multiplexing networks are a principally-polarized signal multiplexing network 1 and a cross-polarized signal multiplexing network 2, the two first phase-shift networks are a first principally-polarized phase-shift network 5 and a first cross-polarized phase-shift network 6, the two first power splitters are 3 and 4, the two second power splitters are 7 and 8, the two second phase-shift networks are a second principally-polarized phase-shift network 9 and
- the first power splitters 3 and 4 are one-to-seven unequal power splitters
- the second power splitters 7 and 8 are one-to-three unequal power splitters.
- the principally-polarized signal multiplexing network 1 and the cross-polarized signal multiplexing network 2 consists of one 3DB bridge and two phase shifters each.
- the first principally-polarized phase-shift network 5 and the first cross-polarized phase-shift network 6 have similar structures, and each is formed by two layers of 10 phase shifters and one layer of one-to-two equal power splitters that are cascaded, so that a first beam is characterized in that a downtilt angle is adjustable, ranging from 0 degrees to 12 degrees.
- a downtilt angle of the first beam is 9 degrees
- amplitude and phase features of antenna elements 1 to 12 are shown in Table 1.
- an element refers to an antenna element
- a first beam branch signal refers to a first beam branch signal transmitted by an antenna element.
- the second principally-polarized phase-shift network 9 and the second cross-polarized phase-shift network 11 have similar structures, and each consists of two phase shifters, so that a second beam is characterized in that a downtilt angle is 22 degrees.
- Amplitude and phase features of antenna elements 11 to 14 are shown in Table 2. In the table, an element refers to an antenna element, and a second beam branch signal refers to a second beam branch signal transmitted by an antenna element.
- the two first transmit receive units 12 and 13 have a transmit power of 45 dBm each, and the two second transmit receive units 14 and 15 have a transmit power of 39 dBm each.
- FIG. 6 is a diagram of a direction of a split beam corresponding to an existing AAS solution.
- FIG. 7 is a diagram of a coverage effect corresponding to the existing AAS solution.
- AAS Active Antenna System, active antenna system
- FIG. 8 is a diagram of beam comparison of an antenna test provided in FIG. 5 according to an embodiment of the present application.
- FIG. 9 is a diagram of a coverage effect of the antenna test provided in FIG. 5 according to an embodiment of the present application.
- Two curves shown in FIG. 7 represent strength of received signals that changes with distances. If the curves are closer, it indicates that interference between two beams is stronger, an SINR is lower, and therefore throughput is lower. It can be seen from FIG. 8 that compared with curves of distances and strength of received signals in the existing solution of FIG. 7 , according to the solution provided in this embodiment of the present application, in a near-end area 0 meters to 100 meters away from an antenna, a difference between a first beam and a second beam in signal strength is significantly greater than that in the existing solution, and therefore, an SINR of the area is increased, and system capacity is also improved accordingly.
- a difference between the first beam and the second beam in signal strength is also significantly greater than that in the existing solution, and therefore, an SINR of the area is increased, and the system capacity is also improved accordingly.
- the present application may be applicable to various general-purpose or special-purpose computing system environments or configurations.
- a personal computer a server computer, a handheld device or a portable device, a flat panel device, a multi-processor system, a microprocessor-based system, a set-top box, a programmable consumer digital device, a network PC, a minicomputer, a mainframe computer, and a distributed computing environment including any one of the foregoing systems or devices.
- the present application can be described in the general context of executable computer instructions executed by a computer, for example, a program module.
- the program module includes a routine, program, object, component, data structure, and the like for executing a particular task or implementing a particular abstract data type.
- the present application may be also practiced in distributed computing environments in which tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are connected by using a communications network.
- program modules may be located in local and remote computer storage media including storage devices.
- an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for transmitting an antenna signal. As shown in FIG. 10 , the method may include:
- the M first beam branch signals are transmitted by using a first antenna array that includes M first antenna elements
- the K multiplexed signals are transmitted by using a multiplexing antenna array that includes K multiplexing antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements in a straight line, where: k1, k2, M, and K are all positive integers, M is greater than or equal to 1, m is less than or equal to M, k1 is greater than or equal to 1, k2 is greater than or equal to 1, k1+k2 is less than or equal to L, and L is less than or equal to K.
- a first beam is formed after the M first beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, and a second beam is formed after the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, where transmit directions of the first beam and the second beam are different.
- a multiplexing antenna array may be shared for transmitting the first beam and the second beam; in addition, the first beam and the second beam that are finally obtained may vary in gains, downtilt angles, and vertical-plane beam widths. Therefore, the method for transmitting an antenna signal can increase system capacity without increasing an antenna volume. In addition, it only needs to control sizes of branch signals of the first beam and the second beam and phase shifts of the branch signals of the first beam and the second beam on which phase shifting is performed, which is simple and convenient to implement, and has low system complexity.
- the method further includes:
- the N second beam branch signals are transmitted by using a second antenna array that includes N second antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements and the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line, and the second beam is formed after the N second beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted.
- an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for receiving an antenna signal. As shown in FIG. 12 , the method may include:
- the method may further include:
- the present application may be implemented by software in addition to a necessary universal hardware platform or by hardware only. In most circumstances, the former is a preferred implementation manner. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the present application essentially, or the part contributing to the prior art may be implemented in a form of a software product.
- the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application.
- the foregoing storage medium includes: any medium that can store program code, such as a read-only memory (ROK), a random access memory (RAK), a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.
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Abstract
Description
- The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No.
201310680446.9 - The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to an antenna and methods for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal.
- With the rapid development of wireless communications technologies, people constantly propose higher requirements on capacity and a transmission rate of a communications system, and a series of network capacity improvement technologies and architectures, such as horizontal split, vertical split, and other macro cell evolution technologies, are put forward. Horizontal split refers to increasing a quantity of beams on a horizontal plane, thereby doubling system capacity, and vertical split refers to increasing a quantity of beams on a vertical plane.
- However, from the viewpoint of implementation, a multi-column antenna is used as a horizontal split antenna, and therefore a width of the antenna is increased; and vertical split is implemented by using a circuit network, and therefore system complexity is increased. In addition, because horizontal split and vertical split change sector coverage of an original antenna, a large amount of network planning and network optimization needs to be performed on the system again.
- Therefore, problems of a large increase in an antenna volume and higher complexity of devices widely exist in macro cell-based evolution technologies.
- The present application provides an antenna and methods for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal, to resolve problems in the prior art that an increase in system capacity leads to a large antenna volume and high device complexity.
- To resolve the foregoing technical problems, embodiments of the present application disclose the following technical solutions:
- According to an aspect, the present application provides an antenna, including: a first power splitter, a second power splitter, a first phase-shift network, a signal multiplexing network, a first antenna array, and a multiplexing antenna array, where the first power splitter receives a first beam signal, and splits the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals, and the second power splitter receives a second beam signal, and splits the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals; the first phase-shift network performs phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch phase-shifted signals that all have different phases; the signal multiplexing network includes L input ends, where L1 input ends receive the k1 first beam branch signals, and L2 input ends receive the k2 second beam branch signals, the signal multiplexing network performs signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals, to obtain K multiplexed signals that all have different phases, and each multiplexed signal includes the first beam branch signal and the second beam branch signal; the first antenna array includes M first antenna elements, and the multiplexing antenna array includes K multiplexing antenna elements, where the M first antenna elements are configured to transmit the M first beam branch signals, the K multiplexing antenna elements are configured to transmit the K multiplexed signals, a first beam is formed after the M first beam branch phase-shifted signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, a second beam is formed after the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, and transmit directions of the first beam and the second beam are different, where k1, k2, M, and K are all positive integers, M is greater than or equal to 1, m is less than or equal to M, k1 is greater than or equal to 1, k2 is greater than or equal to 1, L1+L2 is less than or equal to L, and L is less than or equal to K.
- With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the M first antenna elements and the K multiplexing antenna elements are located in a straight line.
- With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second power splitter is configured to split the second beam signal into k2+n second beam branch signals; and the antenna further includes a second phase-shift network and a second antenna array, where the second phase-shift network separately performs phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch phase-shifted signals that all have different phases, where n is less than or equal to N, and N is less than M; and the second antenna array includes N second antenna elements, the K multiplexing antenna elements are arranged in a straight line, the N second antenna elements and the M first antenna elements are located at two ends of the K multiplexing antenna elements, the N second antenna elements are configured to transmit the N second beam branch signals, and a second beam is formed after the N second beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted.
- With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the N second antenna elements, the M first antenna elements, and the K multiplexing antenna elements are located in a straight line.
- With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the signal multiplexing network includes a Butler matrix consisting of multiple phase shifters and one 3DB bridge, where the Butler matrix is configured to perform signal multiplexing processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals, to obtain K multiplexed signals; and the multiple phase shifters are disposed at input ends and/or output ends of the Butler matrix, and configured to perform phase shifting on the first beam branch signals, the second beam branch signals, and/or the multiplexed signals.
- With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when m is equal to M, the first phase-shift network includes at least M-1 phase shifters; and when m is less than M, the first phase-shift network includes at least M-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter.
- With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when n is equal to N, the second phase-shift network includes at least N-1 phase shifters; and when n is less than N, the second phase-shift network includes at least N-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter.
- According to a second aspect, the present application further provides a method for transmitting an antenna signal, including: separately receiving a first beam signal and a second beam signal; splitting the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals; splitting the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals; performing phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch signals that all have different phases; performing signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals by using a signal multiplexing network that includes L input ends, to obtain K multiplexed signals that all have different phases; transmitting the M first beam branch signals by using a first antenna array that includes M first antenna elements; transmitting the K multiplexed signals by using a multiplexing antenna array that includes K multiplexing antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements in a straight line; and forming a first beam after the M first beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, and forming a second beam after the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, where transmit directions of the first beam and the second beam are different; and k1, k2, M, and K are all positive integers, M is greater than or equal to 1, m is less than or equal to M, k1 is greater than or equal to 1, k2 is greater than or equal to 1, k1+k2 is less than or equal to L, and L is less than or equal to K.
- With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: splitting the second beam signal into n second beam branch signals; separately performing phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch signals that all have different phases; and transmitting the N second beam branch signals by using a second antenna array that includes N second antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements and the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line, and forming a second beam after the N second beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted.
- According to a third aspect, the present application further provides an antenna receiving method, including: receiving a target beam by using a multiplexing antenna array and a first antenna array, where the multiplexing antenna array includes K multiplexing antenna elements, and the first antenna array includes M first antenna elements that are distributed with the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line; performing phase shifting on a target beam received by the M first antenna elements, to obtain m third beam branch signals that all have different phases; performing signal separation and phase shifting on a target beam received by the K multiplexing antenna elements, to obtain k1 third beam branch signals and k2 fourth beam branch signals; and combining the m+k1 third beam branch signals to obtain a third beam signal, or combining the k2 fourth beam branch signals into a fourth beam signal.
- With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes: receiving a target beam by using a second antenna array, where the second antenna array includes N second antenna elements that are distributed with the K multiplexing antenna elements and the M first antenna elements in a straight line; performing phase shifting on the target beam received by the N second antenna elements, to obtain n fourth beam branch signals that all have different phases; and combining the n+k2 fourth beam branch signals into a fourth beam signal.
- In the antenna provided in the embodiments of the present application, according to requirements on a first beam and a second beam that are transmitted, the first beam is first split into k1+m first beam branch signals, and the second beam is split into k2 second beam branch signals; then phase shifting is performed on the k1 first beam branch signals by using a first phase-shift network, signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing are performed on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals by using a signal multiplexing network to obtain K multiplexed signals, M first beam branch phase-shifted signals are transmitted by using a
first antenna array 50, and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted by using amultiplexing antenna array 40; after being transmitted, the K multiplexed signals form a second beam, and the K multiplexed signals and the M first beam branch phase-shifted signals jointly form a first beam. Sizes of branch signals that are obtained by means of splitting by using the first power splitter and the second power splitter and phase shifts of the branch signals and multiplexed signals on which the phase shifting is performed are controlled; in this way, the first beam and the second beam that are finally obtained may vary in gains, downtilt angles, and vertical-plane beam widths. - Therefore, it can be seen that the antenna provided in the embodiments of the present application can allow that some antenna elements are multiplexed for two different beams, and the formed two beams may vary in downtilt angles by adjusting sizes and phases of branch signals of the beam signals, so that the two beams have different directions, and consequently coverage areas are different and do not overlap. Therefore, the antenna can increase system capacity without increasing an antenna volume.
- In addition, in the solution, it only needs to set sizes of branch signals of the first power splitter and those of the second power splitter, and control phase shifts of the branch signals on which the first phase-shift network and the signal multiplexing network perform phase shifting, which is simple and convenient to implement, and has low system complexity.
- To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description show merely some embodiments of the present invention, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from these accompanying drawings without creative efforts.
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FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a signal multiplexing network according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 3 is another schematic structural diagram of a signal multiplexing network according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another antenna according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna in an application embodiment according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 6 is a diagram of a direction of a split beam corresponding to an existing AAS solution; -
FIG. 7 is a diagram of a coverage effect corresponding to the existing AAS solution; -
FIG. 8 is a diagram of beam comparison of an antenna test provided inFIG. 5 according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 9 is a diagram of a coverage effect of the antenna test provided inFIG. 5 according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 10 is a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting an antenna signal according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of another method for transmitting an antenna signal according to an embodiment of the present application; -
FIG. 12 is a schematic flowchart of a method for receiving an antenna signal according to an embodiment of the present application; and -
FIG. 13 is a schematic flowchart of another method for receiving an antenna signal according to an embodiment of the present application. - To make a person skilled in the art understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application better, and make the objectives, features, and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the following further describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present application. - As shown in
FIG. 1 , the antenna includes: afirst power splitter 10, asecond power splitter 20, asignal multiplexing network 30, amultiplexing antenna array 40, afirst antenna array 50, and a first phase-shift network 60. - The
first power splitter 10 is configured to receive a first beam signal, and split the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals. According to requirements on a transmitted first beam, an equal power splitter or an unequal power splitter may be selected as thefirst power splitter 10, and sizes of first beam branch signals obtained by means of splitting by using the unequal power splitter vary with different requirements on the first beam. - The
second power splitter 20 is configured to receive a second beam signal, and split the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals. Similarly, according to requirements on a transmitted second beam, an equal power splitter or an unequal power splitter may be selected as thesecond power splitter 20. - The first phase-
shift network 60 performs phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch phase-shifted signals, where the M first beam phase-shifted signals all have different phases. The first phase-shift network 60 includes at least M-1phase shifters 62, or consists of M-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter, where when m = M, the first phase-shift network 60 may consist of M phase-shift branches, and at least M-1 phase-shift branches are provided with a phase shifter each, so that after phase shifting is performed on the m first beam branch signals, it can be ensured that the obtained M first beam branch phase-shifted signals all have different phases. In addition, when m < M, as shown inFIG. 2 , m = 3, and M = 5. In this case, the phase shifters and the power splitter are cascaded on the first phase-shift network 60. In the figure, 62 is a phase shifter, and 61 is a one-to-two power splitter. Similarly, the first phase-shift network shown inFIG. 2 can also obtain M first beam branch phase-shifted signals. - The
signal multiplexing network 30 has L input ends, and the L input ends are divided into two parts, where in the first part, L1 input ends receive k1 first beam branch signals, and in the second part, L2 input ends receive k2 second beam branch signals. In this embodiment of the present application, L is less than or equal to K, and L1+L2 is less than or equal to L. The foregoing design can ensure that at least k1 first beam signals and k2 second beams are input to the signal multiplexing network, and a quantity of input ends occupied by the first beam branch signals and the second beam branch signals is less than a total quantity of the input ends of the signal multiplexing network. - The
signal multiplexing network 30 plays a role of performing signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals, to obtain K multiplexed signals, where each multiplexed signal includes a first beam branch signal and a second beam branch signal, and different multiplexed signals have different phases. - In an embodiment of the present application, as shown in
FIG. 3 , asignal multiplexing network 30 includes aButler matrix 32 consisting ofmultiple phase shifters 31 and one 3DB bridge, where at each input end of the Butlermatrix 32, onephase shifter 31 may be disposed or no phase shifter is disposed as required, and at each output end of the Butlermatrix 32, onephase shifter 31 is disposed or no phase shifter is disposed as required; in addition, no phase shifter may be disposed at at least one output end. As shown inFIG. 3 , the Butlermatrix 32 is a two-input four-output network, that is, k1 = k2 = L1 = L2 = 1, and K = 4. In another embodiment of the present application, the Butlermatrix 32 may be a multi-input multi-output network. - As shown in
FIG. 1 , the multiplexingantenna array 40 includes K multiplexing antenna elements, where the K multiplexing antenna elements are arranged in a straight line, and each multiplexing antenna element is connected to one output end of thesignal multiplexing network 40, to transmit a multiplexed signal that is output by thesignal multiplexing network 40. - The
first antenna array 50 includes M first antenna elements, where the M first antenna elements are located with the K multiplexing antennas in a straight line, and the M first antenna elements are located at one end of the K multiplexing antenna elements. Each first antenna element is connected to one output end on the first phase-shift network 60, to transmit a first beam branch phase-shifted signal that is output by the first phase-shift network 60. - The second beam branch signals of the K multiplexed signals transmitted by the multiplexing
antenna array 40 form a second beam, the first beam branch signals of the K multiplexed signals transmitted by the multiplexingantenna array 40 and the M first beam branch phase-shifted signals transmitted by thefirst antenna array 60 jointly form a first beam, and transmit directions of the first beam and the second beam formed by means of the transmitting are different. - In addition, according to mutual differences of antennas, the antenna provided in this embodiment of the present application can also receive a beam. When a target beam is received, the K multiplexing antenna elements in the
multiplexing antenna array 40 can also receive a target beam, and thesignal multiplexing network 30 performs splitting and phase shifting on the received target beam to obtain k1 third beam branch signals and k2 fourth beam branch signals. Thefirst antenna array 50 receives a target beam, and the M first antenna elements perform phase shifting on the received target beam to obtain m third beam branch signals. Thefirst power splitter 10 combines the k1+m third beam branch signals together to form a third beam signal; and thesecond power splitter 20 combines the k2 fourth beam branch signals together to form a fourth beam signal. - In the antenna provided in this embodiment of the present application, according to requirements on a first beam and a second beam that are transmitted, the first beam is first split into k1+m first beam branch signals, and the second beam is split into k2 second beam branch signals; then phase shifting is performed on the k1 first beam branch signals by using a first phase-shift network, signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing are performed on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals by using a signal multiplexing network, to obtain K multiplexed signals, M first beam branch phase-shifted signals are transmitted by using a
first antenna array 50, and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted by using amultiplexing antenna array 40; after being transmitted, the K multiplexed signals form a second beam, and the K multiplexed signals and the M first beam branch phase-shifted signals jointly form a first beam. Sizes of branch signals that are obtained by means of splitting by using the first power splitter and the second power splitter and phase shifts of the branch signals and multiplexed signals on which the phase shifting is performed are controlled; in this way, the first beam and the second beam that are finally obtained may vary in gains, downtilt angles, and vertical-plane beam widths. - Therefore, it can be seen that the antenna provided in this embodiment of the present application can allow that some antenna elements are multiplexed for two different beams, and the formed two beams may vary in downtilt angles by adjusting sizes and phases of branch signals of the beam signals, so that the two beams have different directions, and consequently coverage areas are different and do not overlap. Therefore, the antenna can increase system capacity without increasing an antenna volume.
- In addition, in the solution, it only needs to set sizes of branch signals of the first power splitter and those of the second power splitter, and control phase shifts of the branch signals on which the first phase-shift network and the signal multiplexing network perform phase shifting, which is simple and convenient to implement, and has low system complexity.
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FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another antenna according to an embodiment of the present application. - In the previous embodiment, the first antenna array and the multiplexing antenna array are viewed as a whole, merely some antenna elements of the antenna arrays are multiplexed, and all antenna elements that transmit the second beam and some antenna elements that transmit the first beam are multiplexed. In this embodiment of the present application, some antenna elements that transmit the second beam and some antenna elements that transmit the first beam may be also multiplexed, to form a new multiplexing solution. As shown in
FIG. 4 , the antenna may further include: asecond antenna array 90 and a second phase-shift network 100. - In this embodiment of the present application, the
second power splitter 20 splits the second beam signal into k2+n second beam branch signals. In addition, sizes of the k2 second beam branch signals and sizes of the n second beam branch signals may be set according to requirements on a second beam. - The second phase-
shift network 100 performs phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch phase-shifted signals, where the N second beam phase-shifted signals all have different phases, n is less than or equal to N, and N is less than M. That is, on the whole, a quantity of antenna elements that generate the second beam is less than a quantity of antenna elements that form the first beam. - In this embodiment of the present application, when n is equal to N, the second phase-shift network may consist of at least N-1 phase shifters; and when n is less than N, the second phase-shift network may consist of at least N-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter that are cascaded. For detailed description, refer to the foregoing description about the first phase-
shift network 60, and details are not described herein again. - The
second antenna array 90 includes N second antenna elements, where the N second antenna elements are located with the first antenna elements and the multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line; in addition, thefirst antenna array 50 and thesecond antenna array 100 are located at two ends of the multiplexingantenna array 40. Thesecond antenna array 90 is configured to transmit the N second beam branch phase-shifted signals obtained after the phase shifting. - In this embodiment of the present application, sizes of branch signals that are obtained by means of splitting by using the first power splitter and the second power splitter and phase shifts of the branch signals and multiplexed signals on which the phase shifting is performed are controlled; in this way, the first beam and the second beam that are finally obtained may vary in gains, downtilt angles, and vertical-plane beam widths, and consequently coverage areas are different and do not overlap. Therefore, the antenna can increase system capacity without increasing an antenna volume.
- In addition, the solution only needs to set sizes of branch signals of the first power splitter and the second power splitter, and phase shifts of the branch signals on which the first phase-shift network, the second phase-shift network and the signal multiplexing network perform phase shifting, which is simple and convenient to implement, and has low system complexity.
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FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna in an application embodiment according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown inFIG. 5 , the antenna includes anantenna module 16, two signal multiplexing networks, four power splitters, two first phase-shift networks, two second power splitters, two second phase-shift networks, two first transmit receive units, and two second transmit receive units, where: the antenna module uses an antenna array that has dual-polarized elements evenly arranged in a single column, a spacing between the elements is 108 mm, the antenna array includes two multiplexing antenna elements, 10 first antenna elements, and two second antenna elements, the two signal multiplexing networks are a principally-polarizedsignal multiplexing network 1 and a cross-polarizedsignal multiplexing network 2, the two first phase-shift networks are a first principally-polarized phase-shift network 5 and a first cross-polarized phase-shift network 6, the two first power splitters are 3 and 4, the two second power splitters are 7 and 8, the two second phase-shift networks are a second principally-polarized phase-shift network 9 and a second cross-polarized phase-shift network 11, the two first transmit receive units are 12 and 13, and the two second transmit receive units are 14 and 15. - In this embodiment of the present application, the
first power splitters second power splitters - The principally-polarized
signal multiplexing network 1 and the cross-polarizedsignal multiplexing network 2 consists of one 3DB bridge and two phase shifters each. - The first principally-polarized phase-
shift network 5 and the first cross-polarized phase-shift network 6 have similar structures, and each is formed by two layers of 10 phase shifters and one layer of one-to-two equal power splitters that are cascaded, so that a first beam is characterized in that a downtilt angle is adjustable, ranging from 0 degrees to 12 degrees. When the downtilt angle of the first beam is 9 degrees, amplitude and phase features ofantenna elements 1 to 12 are shown in Table 1. In the table, an element refers to an antenna element, and a first beam branch signal refers to a first beam branch signal transmitted by an antenna element.Table 1 First beam branch signal Element 1 Element 2Element 3Element 4Element 5Element 6Element 7Element 8Element 9 Element 10Element 11Element 12Amplitude 0.55 0.55 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.55 0.55 Phase 30 -25 -52 -106 -143 -204 229 -266 -327 -352 -409 -358.9 - The second principally-polarized phase-shift network 9 and the second cross-polarized phase-
shift network 11 have similar structures, and each consists of two phase shifters, so that a second beam is characterized in that a downtilt angle is 22 degrees. Amplitude and phase features ofantenna elements 11 to 14 are shown in Table 2. In the table, an element refers to an antenna element, and a second beam branch signal refers to a second beam branch signal transmitted by an antenna element.Table 2 Second beam branch signal Element 11 Element 12Element 13Element 14Amplitude 0.7 0.7 1 0.6 Phase -90 140 50 -40 - The two first transmit receive
units units -
FIG. 6 is a diagram of a direction of a split beam corresponding to an existing AAS solution.FIG. 7 is a diagram of a coverage effect corresponding to the existing AAS solution. - According to the AAS (Active Antenna System, active antenna system) solution, more ports are reserved in a vertical dimension of an antenna, to improve a processing capability in the vertical dimension.
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FIG. 8 is a diagram of beam comparison of an antenna test provided inFIG. 5 according to an embodiment of the present application.FIG. 9 is a diagram of a coverage effect of the antenna test provided inFIG. 5 according to an embodiment of the present application. - Two curves shown in
FIG. 7 represent strength of received signals that changes with distances. If the curves are closer, it indicates that interference between two beams is stronger, an SINR is lower, and therefore throughput is lower. It can be seen fromFIG. 8 that compared with curves of distances and strength of received signals in the existing solution ofFIG. 7 , according to the solution provided in this embodiment of the present application, in a near-end area 0 meters to 100 meters away from an antenna, a difference between a first beam and a second beam in signal strength is significantly greater than that in the existing solution, and therefore, an SINR of the area is increased, and system capacity is also improved accordingly. In addition, in a far-end area 150 meters to 500 meters away from the antenna, a difference between the first beam and the second beam in signal strength is also significantly greater than that in the existing solution, and therefore, an SINR of the area is increased, and the system capacity is also improved accordingly. - It is understandable that the present application may be applicable to various general-purpose or special-purpose computing system environments or configurations. For example, a personal computer, a server computer, a handheld device or a portable device, a flat panel device, a multi-processor system, a microprocessor-based system, a set-top box, a programmable consumer digital device, a network PC, a minicomputer, a mainframe computer, and a distributed computing environment including any one of the foregoing systems or devices.
- The present application can be described in the general context of executable computer instructions executed by a computer, for example, a program module. Generally, the program module includes a routine, program, object, component, data structure, and the like for executing a particular task or implementing a particular abstract data type. The present application may be also practiced in distributed computing environments in which tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are connected by using a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in local and remote computer storage media including storage devices.
- It should be noted that in this specification, relational terms such as first and second are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply that any actual relationship or sequence exists between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "include", or any other variant is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, a method, an article, or a device that includes a list of elements not only includes those elements but also includes other elements that are not expressly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or device. An element preceded by "includes a ..." does not, without more constraints, preclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or device that includes the element.
- Based on the foregoing antenna provided in
FIG. 1 , an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for transmitting an antenna signal. As shown inFIG. 10 , the method may include: - S101: Receive a first beam signal.
- S102: Split the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals.
- S103: Perform phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch signals that all have different phases.
- S104: Receive a second beam signal.
- S105: Split the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals.
- S106: Perform signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals by using a signal multiplexing network that includes L input ends, to obtain K multiplexed signals that all have different phases.
- S107: Transmit the M first beam branch signals, and transmit the K multiplexed signals.
- The M first beam branch signals are transmitted by using a first antenna array that includes M first antenna elements, and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted by using a multiplexing antenna array that includes K multiplexing antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements in a straight line, where: k1, k2, M, and K are all positive integers, M is greater than or equal to 1, m is less than or equal to M, k1 is greater than or equal to 1, k2 is greater than or equal to 1, k1+k2 is less than or equal to L, and L is less than or equal to K.
- A first beam is formed after the M first beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, and a second beam is formed after the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, where transmit directions of the first beam and the second beam are different.
- Therefore, it can be seen that in the method for transmitting an antenna signal provided in this embodiment of the present application, according to requirements on a first beam and a second beam that are transmitted, a multiplexing antenna array may be shared for transmitting the first beam and the second beam; in addition, the first beam and the second beam that are finally obtained may vary in gains, downtilt angles, and vertical-plane beam widths. Therefore, the method for transmitting an antenna signal can increase system capacity without increasing an antenna volume. In addition, it only needs to control sizes of branch signals of the first beam and the second beam and phase shifts of the branch signals of the first beam and the second beam on which phase shifting is performed, which is simple and convenient to implement, and has low system complexity.
- In addition, in another embodiment of the present application, based on the foregoing antenna provided in
FIG. 2 , as shown inFIG. 11 , the method further includes: - S201: Split the second beam signal into n second beam branch signals.
- S202: Separately perform phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch signals that all have different phases.
- S203: Transmit the N second beam branch signals.
- The N second beam branch signals are transmitted by using a second antenna array that includes N second antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements and the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line, and the second beam is formed after the N second beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted.
- Based on the foregoing antenna provided in
FIG. 1 , an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for receiving an antenna signal. As shown inFIG. 12 , the method may include: - S301: Receive a target beam by using a multiplexing antenna array and a first antenna array, where the multiplexing antenna array includes K multiplexing antenna elements, and the first antenna array includes M first antenna elements that are distributed with the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line.
- S302: Perform phase shifting on a target beam received by the M first antenna elements, to obtain m third beam branch signals that all have different phases.
- S303: Perform signal separation and phase shifting on a target beam received by the K multiplexing antenna elements, to obtain k1 third beam branch signals and k2 fourth beam branch signals.
- S304: Combine the m+k1 third beam branch signals to obtain a third beam signal, or combine the k2 fourth beam branch signals into a fourth beam signal.
- In addition, in another embodiment of the present application, based on the antenna provided in
FIG. 2 , as shown inFIG. 13 , the method may further include: - S401: Receive a target beam by using a second antenna array, where the second antenna array includes N second antenna elements that are distributed with the K multiplexing antenna elements and the M first antenna elements in a straight line.
- S402: Perform phase shifting on the target beam received by the N second antenna elements, to obtain n fourth beam branch signals that all have different phases.
- S403: Combine the n+k2 fourth beam branch signals into a fourth beam signal.
- Based on the foregoing descriptions of the embodiments, a person skilled in the art may clearly understand that the present application may be implemented by software in addition to a necessary universal hardware platform or by hardware only. In most circumstances, the former is a preferred implementation manner. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the present application essentially, or the part contributing to the prior art may be implemented in a form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: any medium that can store program code, such as a read-only memory (ROK), a random access memory (RAK), a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.
- The foregoing descriptions are merely specific implementation manners of the present application. It should be noted that a person of ordinary skill in the art may make several improvements or polishing without departing from the principle of the present application and the improvements or polishing shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.
Claims (11)
- An antenna, comprising a first power splitter, a second power splitter, a first phase-shift network, a signal multiplexing network, a first antenna array, and a multiplexing antenna array, wherein
the first power splitter receives a first beam signal, and splits the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals, and the second power splitter receives a second beam signal, and splits the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals;
the first phase-shift network performs phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch phase-shifted signals that all have different phases;
the signal multiplexing network comprises L input ends, wherein L1 input ends receive the k1 first beam branch signals, L2 input ends receive the k2 second beam branch signals, the signal multiplexing network performs signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals, to obtain K multiplexed signals that all have different phases, and each multiplexed signal comprises the first beam branch signal and the second beam branch signal; and
the first antenna array comprises M first antenna elements, and the multiplexing antenna array comprises K multiplexing antenna elements; the M first antenna elements are configured to transmit the M first beam branch signals, the K multiplexing antenna elements are configured to transmit the K multiplexed signals, a first beam is formed after the M first beam branch phase-shifted signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, a second beam is formed after the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, and transmit directions of the first beam and the second beam are different, wherein
k1, k2, M, and K are all positive integers, M is greater than or equal to 1, m is less than or equal to M, k1 is greater than or equal to 1, k2 is greater than or equal to 1, L1+L2 is less than or equal to L, and L is less than or equal to K. - The antenna according to claim 1, wherein the M first antenna elements and the K multiplexing antenna elements are located in a straight line.
- The antenna according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second power splitter is configured to split the second beam signal into k2+n second beam branch signals; and
the antenna further comprises a second phase-shift network and a second antenna array, wherein
the second phase-shift network separately performs phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch phase-shifted signals that all have different phases, wherein n is less than or equal to N, and N is less than M; and
the second antenna array comprises N second antenna elements, the K multiplexing antenna elements are arranged in a straight line, the N second antenna elements and the M first antenna elements are located at two ends of the K multiplexing antenna elements, the N second antenna elements are configured to transmit the N second beam branch signals, and a second beam is formed after the N second beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted. - The antenna according to claim 3, wherein the N second antenna elements, the M first antenna elements, and the K multiplexing antenna elements are located in a straight line.
- The antenna according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the signal multiplexing network comprises a Butler matrix consisting of multiple phase shifters and one 3DB bridge, wherein
the Butler matrix is configured to perform signal multiplexing processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals, to obtain K multiplexed signals; and
the multiple phase shifters are disposed at an input end and/or an output end of the Butler matrix, and configured to perform phase shifting on the first beam branch signals, the second beam branch signals, and/or the multiplexed signals. - The antenna according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when m is equal to M, the first phase-shift network comprises at least M-1 phase shifters; and
when m is less than M, the first phase-shift network comprises at least M-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter. - The antenna according to claim 3, wherein when n is equal to N, the second phase-shift network comprises at least N-1 phase shifters; and
when n is less than N, the second phase-shift network comprises at least N-1 phase shifters and at least one power splitter. - A method for transmitting an antenna signal, comprising:separately receiving a first beam signal and a second beam signal;splitting the first beam signal into k1+m first beam branch signals;splitting the second beam signal into k2 second beam branch signals;performing phase-shift processing on the m first beam branch signals, to obtain M first beam branch signals that all have different phases;performing signal multiplexing and phase-shift processing on the k1 first beam branch signals and the k2 second beam branch signals by using a signal multiplexing network that comprises L input ends, to obtain K multiplexed signals that all have different phases;transmitting the M first beam branch signals by using a first antenna array that comprises M first antenna elements;transmitting the K multiplexed signals by using a multiplexing antenna array that comprises K multiplexing antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements in a straight line; andforming a first beam after the M first beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, and forming a second beam after the K multiplexed signals are transmitted, wherein transmit directions of the first beam and the second beam are different; and k1, k2, M, and K are all positive integers, M is greater than or equal to 1, m is less than or equal to M, k1 is greater than or equal to 1, k2 is greater than or equal to 1, k1+k2 is less than or equal to L, and L is less than or equal to K.
- The method according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:splitting the second beam signal into n second beam branch signals;separately performing phase-shift processing on the n second beam branch signals, to obtain N second beam branch signals that all have different phases; andtransmitting the N second beam branch signals by using a second antenna array that comprises N second antenna elements distributed with the M first antenna elements and the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line, and forming a second beam after the N second beam branch signals and the K multiplexed signals are transmitted.
- An antenna receiving method, comprising:receiving a target beam by using a multiplexing antenna array and a first antenna array, wherein the multiplexing antenna array comprises K multiplexing antenna elements, and the first antenna array comprises M first antenna elements that are distributed with the K multiplexing antenna elements in a straight line;performing phase shifting on a target beam received by the M first antenna elements, to obtain m third beam branch signals that all have different phases;performing signal separation and phase shifting on a target beam received by the K multiplexing antenna elements, to obtain k1 third beam branch signals and k2 fourth beam branch signals; andcombining the m+k1 third beam branch signals to obtain a third beam signal, or combining the k2 fourth beam branch signals into a fourth beam signal.
- The method according to claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:receiving a target beam by using a second antenna array, wherein the second antenna array comprises N second antenna elements that are distributed with the K multiplexing antenna elements and the M first antenna elements in a straight line;performing phase shifting on the target beam received by the N second antenna elements, to obtain n fourth beam branch signals that all have different phases; andcombining the n+k2 fourth beam branch signals into a fourth beam signal.
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CN201310680446.9A CN103633452B (en) | 2013-11-28 | 2013-11-28 | A kind of antenna and wireless signal sending, receiving method |
PCT/CN2014/092449 WO2015078404A1 (en) | 2013-11-28 | 2014-11-28 | Antenna and method for transmitting and receiving wireless signal |
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US9998188B2 (en) | 2014-04-22 | 2018-06-12 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd | Signal transmission apparatus and downlink signal transmission method |
US10069215B2 (en) | 2014-05-14 | 2018-09-04 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | Multi-beam antenna system and phase adjustment method for multi-beam antenna system, and dual-polarized antenna system |
EP2975688B1 (en) * | 2014-07-15 | 2019-10-09 | Alcatel Lucent | Antenna feed and method of configuring an antenna feed |
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CN103633452B (en) * | 2013-11-28 | 2016-09-28 | 华为技术有限公司 | A kind of antenna and wireless signal sending, receiving method |
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2014
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US10069215B2 (en) | 2014-05-14 | 2018-09-04 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | Multi-beam antenna system and phase adjustment method for multi-beam antenna system, and dual-polarized antenna system |
EP2975688B1 (en) * | 2014-07-15 | 2019-10-09 | Alcatel Lucent | Antenna feed and method of configuring an antenna feed |
Also Published As
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EP3067988B1 (en) | 2018-04-11 |
CN103633452B (en) | 2016-09-28 |
WO2015078404A1 (en) | 2015-06-04 |
CN103633452A (en) | 2014-03-12 |
EP3067988A4 (en) | 2016-11-30 |
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