CN209766628U

CN209766628U - Base station antenna

Info

Publication number: CN209766628U
Application number: CN201920952876.4U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴博; 张讯; 张建
Original assignee: Tyco Electronics Corp
Current assignee: TE Connectivity Corp
Priority date: 2019-06-24
Filing date: 2019-06-24
Publication date: 2019-12-10
Anticipated expiration: 2029-06-24

Abstract

The utility model relates to a base station antenna, include: a plurality of first radiating elements arranged in a vertically extending first array; a plurality of second radiating elements arranged in a second array extending vertically, wherein each second radiating element is vertically staggered with respect to each first radiating element; wherein a phase center of the first sub-array of radiating elements in the azimuth plane is substantially the same as a phase center of the corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements in the azimuth plane, and wherein the first sub-array of radiating elements each has a first number of first radiating elements and the second sub-array of radiating elements each has a second number of second radiating elements, the first number being different from the second number. This can effectively improve the pattern of the base station antenna.

Description

Base station antenna

Technical Field

the present invention relates to radio communications, and more particularly, to base station antennas for cellular communication systems.

Background

Base station antennas for wireless communication systems are used to transmit and receive radio frequency ("RF") signals to and from fixed and mobile users of cellular communication services. Base station antennas typically include a linear or two-dimensional array of radiating elements, such as cross dipole or patch radiating elements. To increase system capacity, beamforming base station antennas are currently being deployed that include a plurality of closely spaced linear arrays of radiating elements configured for beamforming. A typical object with such a beamforming antenna is to generate a narrow antenna beam in the azimuth plane. This increases the signal power transmitted in the desired user direction and reduces interference.

If the linear arrays of radiating elements in a beamforming antenna are closely spaced together, the antenna beam can be scanned to a very wide angle in the azimuth plane (e.g., an azimuth scan angle of 60 °) without producing significant side lobes. However, as the linear arrays are spaced closer together, mutual coupling between radiating elements in adjacent linear arrays increases, which degrades other performance parameters of the base station antenna, such as co-polarization performance. To maintain close spacing between adjacent linear arrays of a beamforming antenna while increasing the spacing between radiating elements in adjacent linear arrays, it may be necessary to stagger adjacent linear arrays in the vertical direction, which increases the physical spacing between "adjacent" radiating elements in "adjacent" linear arrays. This staggered configuration reduces mutual coupling between adjacent elements, thereby increasing end-to-end isolation.

However, due to the staggered arrangement of the linear arrays of radiating elements, the equivalent phase centers of the adjacent linear arrays of radiating elements are shifted, so that a spatial phase difference is generated between each pair of adjacent linear arrays of radiating elements, and thus the directional pattern (or antenna beam) of the base station antenna is distorted. Furthermore, it is also desirable to electrically tilt the elevation angle of the antenna beam produced by the beamforming antenna to adjust the coverage area of the antenna in the elevation plane. This can be done separately for each linear array using electromechanical phase shifters. Disadvantageously, however, as the applied electrical downtilt angle increases, the amount of distortion to the antenna beam caused by the offset of the equivalent phase centers of adjacent linear arrays may increase. To compensate for this distortion, different amplitude and/or phase weight values may be taken for different linear arrays of radiating elements. However, such compensation systems may increase the design difficulty and/or cost of the antenna system.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a base station antenna capable of overcoming at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base station antenna comprising a plurality of linear arrays of radiating elements and a plurality of phase shifters, each phase shifter configured to transmit a radio frequency signal to a corresponding one of the linear arrays. Each linear array of radiating elements includes one or more sub-arrays of first radiating elements of n adjacent radiating elements and one or more sub-arrays of second radiating elements of m adjacent radiating elements, where n is greater than m. Each first sub-array of radiating elements in each linear array of radiating elements is electrically connected to a respective one of a first subset of outputs of a respective phase shifter corresponding to the linear array of radiating elements, and each second sub-array of radiating elements is electrically connected to a respective one of a second subset of outputs of the respective phase shifter corresponding to the linear array of radiating elements. The plurality of linear arrays of radiating elements are respectively arranged spaced apart from each other in a first direction, and the radiating elements in each linear array of radiating elements are arranged in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, and two adjacent linear arrays of radiating elements are offset from each other in the second direction. The first and second radiating element sub-arrays of the first radiating element linear array among the radiating element linear arrays are arranged in a first arrangement order, the first and second radiating element sub-arrays of the second radiating element linear array adjacent to the first radiating element linear array are arranged in a second arrangement order different from the first arrangement order, and the first radiating element sub-array of the first radiating element linear array is located on a right left side or a right side of the second radiating element sub-array corresponding to the first radiating element sub-array among the second radiating element linear array in the first direction.

according to the utility model discloses an each embodiment, through the optimization arrangement to the radiating element array of base station antenna, both kept the advantage of the staggered arrangement of radiating element array, also can reduce simultaneously and eliminate staggering of phase place center as far as possible even, has improved the directional diagram of base station antenna to the radio frequency performance of base station antenna has been improved effectively.

In some embodiments, an extension of each of the second subarrays of radiating elements in the second direction is within an extension of the corresponding first subarray of radiating elements in the second direction.

In some embodiments, the n radiating elements in each first sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of the first subset of outputs of the respective phase shifter corresponding to the linear array of radiating elements via a respective power divider and/or signal transmission line, and the m radiating elements in each second sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of the second subset of outputs of the respective phase shifter corresponding to the linear array of radiating elements via a respective power divider and/or signal transmission line.

In some embodiments, radio frequency signals received by n radiating elements of a first radiating element sub-array of the first linear array of radiating elements from a first feed node of the base station antenna have the same first phase value, and radio frequency signals received by m radiating elements of a second radiating element sub-array of the first linear array of radiating elements from a second feed node of the base station antenna have the same second phase value, the second phase value being different from the first phase value.

in some embodiments, each of the linear arrays of radiating elements includes, at least in part, a first sub-array of radiating elements and a second sub-array of radiating elements alternately arranged.

in some embodiments, at least one of the first radiating element sub-arrays in the at least one radiating element array is absent a corresponding second radiating element sub-array in an adjacent radiating element array, and/or at least one of the second radiating element sub-arrays in the at least one radiating element array is absent a corresponding first radiating element sub-array in an adjacent radiating element array.

In some embodiments, a phase center of a first sub-array of radiating elements in each array of radiating elements is offset from a phase center of a corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements in an adjacent array of radiating elements by an amount less than an amount of offset in the second direction for the two adjacent arrays of radiating elements.

In some embodiments, an upper limit value of a quotient of a shift amount of a phase center of a first radiating element sub-array in each radiating element array from a phase center of a corresponding second radiating element sub-array in an adjacent radiating element array divided by a shift amount of two adjacent radiating element arrays in the second direction is one of: 0.9, 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05.

In some embodiments, a phase center of a first sub-array of radiating elements in each array of radiating elements is substantially aligned with a phase center of a corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements in an adjacent array of radiating elements.

In some embodiments, n ═ m + 1.

in some embodiments, each radiating element array includes one or more first sub-arrays of 2 radiating elements and one or more second sub-arrays of 1 radiating element;

Each radiating element array comprises one or more first radiating element sub-arrays consisting of 3 radiating elements and one or more second radiating element sub-arrays consisting of 2 radiating elements;

Each radiating element array comprises one or more first radiating element sub-arrays consisting of 4 radiating elements and one or more second radiating element sub-arrays consisting of 3 radiating elements; or

Each radiating element array includes one or more first sub-arrays of radiating elements of 5 radiating elements and one or more second sub-arrays of radiating elements of 4 radiating elements.

In some embodiments, two adjacent arrays of radiating elements are staggered in the second direction such that the feed point of each radiating element in one array of radiating elements is within the spacing of the feed points of two adjacent radiating elements in the other array of radiating elements in the second direction.

In some embodiments, the two adjacent arrays of radiating elements are staggered in the second direction by an amount in the range of 0.2 to 0.4 wavelength, which is equal to a wavelength corresponding to a center frequency of an operating band of the radiating element.

in some embodiments, the spacing of two adjacent arrays of radiating elements along the first direction is in the range of 0.4 to 0.8 wavelengths equal to the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the operating band of the radiating element.

In some embodiments, the spacing of two adjacent radiating elements in each array of radiating elements along the second direction is in the range of 0.5 to 0.8 wavelengths equal to a wavelength corresponding to a center frequency of an operating band of the array of radiating elements.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base station antenna comprising a plurality of linear arrays of radiating elements and a phase shifter. Each array of radiating elements includes one or more sub-arrays of first radiating elements of n adjacent radiating elements and one or more sub-arrays of second radiating elements of m adjacent radiating elements, where n is greater than m. The n radiating elements in each first radiating element sub-array are electrically connected to the same output terminal of one phase shifter, and m radiating elements in each second radiating element sub-array are electrically connected to the same output terminal of one phase shifter, wherein the plurality of radiating element arrays are respectively arranged spaced apart from each other along a first direction, and the radiating elements in each radiating element array are arranged along a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, and two adjacent radiating element arrays are staggered from each other in the second direction, wherein the first and second sub-arrays of radiating elements in each array of radiating elements are arranged, the phase center of a first radiating element sub-array in each radiating element array is staggered from the phase center of a corresponding second radiating element sub-array in an adjacent radiating element array by less than 50% of the staggering of the two adjacent radiating element arrays in the second direction.

In some embodiments, an upper limit value of a quotient of a shift amount of a phase center of a first radiating element sub-array in each radiating element array from a phase center of a corresponding second radiating element sub-array in an adjacent radiating element array divided by a shift amount of two adjacent radiating element arrays in the second direction is one of: 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05.

in some embodiments, each radiating element array includes, at least in part, first and second sub-arrays of radiating elements arranged alternately.

In some embodiments, the n radiating elements in each first sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to the same output of one phase shifter via respective power dividers and/or signal transmission lines, and the m radiating elements in each second sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to the same output of one phase shifter via respective power dividers and/or signal transmission lines.

in some embodiments, electrical signals received by the n radiating elements of each first radiating element sub-array from the feed node of the base station antenna can be changed by the assigned phase shifter by the same phase, and electrical signals received by the m radiating elements of each second radiating element sub-array from the feed node of the base station antenna can be changed by the assigned phase shifter by the same phase.

In some embodiments, a first subarray of radiating elements in each array of radiating elements is located directly to the left or right of a second subarray of radiating elements corresponding to the first subarray of radiating elements in the first direction.

In some embodiments, at least one first sub-array of radiating elements in at least one array of radiating elements is absent a corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements in an adjacent array of radiating elements.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base station antenna comprising first and second horizontally adjacent columns of radiating elements and comprising a plurality of phase shifters, each column of radiating elements comprising a plurality of radiating elements oriented in a vertical direction, the first and second columns of radiating elements being staggered in the vertical direction, characterized in that each column of radiating elements comprises one or more first subsets of n adjacent radiating elements and one or more second subsets of m adjacent radiating elements, where n is greater than m. The first and second subsets of the first column of radiating elements are alternately arranged in a first pattern in a vertical direction, and the first and second subsets of the second column of radiating elements are alternately arranged in a second pattern in the vertical direction, wherein the first pattern is different from the second pattern such that, in the horizontal direction, each first subset of the first column of radiating elements is directly to the left or right of a second subset of the second column of radiating elements corresponding to the first subset. Each subset is electrically connected to the same output terminal of the same phase shifter.

In some embodiments, the extension in the vertical direction of the second subset corresponding to the first subset is within the extension in the vertical direction of the first subset.

According to the utility model discloses a third aspect provides a base station antenna, include: a plurality of first radiating elements arranged in a vertically extending first array; a plurality of second radiating elements arranged in a second array extending vertically, wherein each second radiating element is vertically staggered with respect to each first radiating element; wherein a phase center of the first sub-array of radiating elements in the azimuth plane is substantially the same as a phase center of the corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements in the azimuth plane, and wherein the first sub-array of radiating elements each has a first number of first radiating elements and the second sub-array of radiating elements each has a second number of second radiating elements, the first number being different from the second number.

In some embodiments, a phase center of the first sub-array of radiating elements in the azimuth plane is substantially the same as a phase center of the corresponding fourth sub-array of radiating elements in the azimuth plane.

in some embodiments, each first sub-array of radiating elements has a respective extent in the vertical direction, and each second sub-array of radiating elements is located within the respective extent of the first sub-array of radiating elements in the vertical direction.

In some embodiments, the base station antenna further comprises: a first phase shifter coupled to the vertically extending first array; and a second phase shifter coupled to the vertically extending second array, wherein the radiating elements in each respective first radiating element first sub-array are electrically connected to a respective one of the first subset of output terminals of the respective first phase shifter, and the radiating elements in each respective second radiating element third sub-array are electrically connected to a respective one of the second subset of output terminals of the respective second phase shifter.

In some embodiments, the radiating elements in each respective second sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of the second subset of output terminals of the respective first phase shifter, and the radiating elements in each respective fourth sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of the first subset of output terminals of the respective second phase shifter.

In some embodiments, the radio frequency signals received by the radiating elements in each respective first radiating element first sub-array from the first feed node of the base station antenna have the same phase, and the radio frequency signals received by the radiating elements in each respective second radiating element third sub-array from the second feed node of the base station antenna have the same phase.

In some embodiments, the first vertically extending array includes, at least in part, a first subarray of alternating first radiating elements and a second subarray of first radiating elements, and the second vertically extending array includes, at least in part, a third subarray of alternating second radiating elements and a fourth subarray of second radiating elements.

In some embodiments, at least one radiating element of the first subarray of first radiating elements in the vertically extending first array is free of a corresponding third subarray of second radiating elements in the vertically extending second array.

In some embodiments, the phase center of the first subarray of first radiating elements is offset from the phase center of the corresponding third subarray of second radiating elements by an amount less than the offset in the vertical direction of the vertically extending first and second arrays.

In some embodiments, the first number is equal to the second number plus one.

In some embodiments, the vertically extending first and second arrays include one or more sub-arrays of first radiating elements and one or more sub-arrays of second radiating elements, respectively, each sub-array of first radiating elements having exactly two radiating elements and each sub-array of second radiating elements having exactly one radiating element.

In some embodiments, the vertically extending first and second arrays include one or more sub-arrays of first radiating elements and one or more sub-arrays of second radiating elements, respectively, each sub-array of first radiating elements having exactly three radiating elements and each sub-array of second radiating elements having exactly two radiating elements.

In some embodiments, the vertically extending first and second arrays include one or more sub-arrays of first radiating elements and one or more sub-arrays of second radiating elements, respectively, each sub-array of first radiating elements having exactly four radiating elements and each sub-array of second radiating elements having exactly three radiating elements.

In some embodiments, the vertically extending first and second arrays include one or more sub-arrays of first radiating elements and one or more sub-arrays of second radiating elements, respectively, each sub-array of first radiating elements having exactly five radiating elements and each sub-array of second radiating elements having exactly four radiating elements.

in some embodiments, the vertically extending first and second arrays are vertically staggered by an amount in a range of 0.2 to 0.4 times a wavelength corresponding to a center frequency of the operating band of the vertically extending first and second arrays.

In some embodiments, the spacing in the horizontal direction between the vertically extending first and second arrays is in the range of 0.4 to 0.8 times the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the operating band of the vertically extending first and second arrays.

Drawings

In the figure:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic front view of a base station antenna with a plurality of staggered high band radiating element arrays and a plurality of non-staggered low band radiating element arrays when the radome is removed;

Fig. 2-4 show schematic front views of base station antennas according to various embodiments of the present invention, showing only a plurality of staggered high-band radiating element arrays.

Detailed Description

Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several embodiments of the invention. It should be understood, however, that the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, the embodiments described below are intended to provide a more complete disclosure of the present invention and to fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. It is also to be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in various ways to provide further additional embodiments.

It is to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in the specification have the meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art unless otherwise defined. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

As used in this specification, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. The terms "comprising," "including," and "containing" when used in this specification specify the presence of stated features, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features. The term "and/or" as used in this specification includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

in the specification, spatial relations such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear", "high", "low", and the like may explain the relation of one feature to another feature in the drawings. It will be understood that the spatial relationship terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, features originally described as "below" other features may be described as "above" other features when the device in the figures is inverted. The device may also be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 or at other orientations) and the relative spatial relationships are explained accordingly.

It should be understood that throughout the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like elements. In the drawings, the size of some of the features may be varied for clarity.

According to the utility model discloses a beam forming base station antenna of each embodiment can be applicable to polytype wireless communication network. Beamforming base station antennas typically have a plurality of arrays of radiating elements. These arrays of radiating elements may be, for example, linear arrays of radiating elements or two-dimensional arrays of radiating elements. These arrays of radiating elements may be mounted in rows and columns on the reflector of the antenna to provide a base station antenna according to embodiments of the invention.

As described above, the spacing between the radiating elements is reduced due to the closer spacing together of the multiple arrays of radiating elements 2 (e.g., one or more high band radiating element arrays 21 and/or one or more low band radiating element arrays 22) on the area-limited reflector 3 to improve the electronic scanning capability of the antenna in the azimuth plane. The reduced pitch results in reduced isolation (also referred to as in-plane polarization isolation) between the radiating elements in adjacent arrays, particularly radiators of the radiating elements having dipoles of the same polarization. For this reason, it is necessary to increase the isolation between the radiating elements in adjacent arrays in order to improve the beamforming performance of the base station antenna. For this purpose, two adjacent radiating element arrays may be arranged offset from one another, i.e. the feed points of the radiating elements in the two adjacent radiating element arrays are offset in the vertical direction, i.e. are no longer horizontally aligned. Thereby, the spatial distance between radiators of the same polarization of adjacent radiating elements is increased to improve the isolation.

However, due to the staggered arrangement of the radiating element arrays, the equivalent phase centers of two adjacent radiating element arrays are also staggered, so that a spatial phase difference is generated between the adjacent radiating element arrays, which may distort the shape of the directional pattern (also referred to as "antenna beam") of the base station antenna, thereby affecting the radio frequency performance of the base station antenna. The phase center of the radiating element should be understood as a theoretical point, that is, the signal radiated by the radiating element is theoretically considered to radiate outward around the theoretical point. The distortion of the pattern due to the staggered arrangement of the array of radiating elements is more severe when the electrical downtilt of the base station antenna is larger. To this end, it is necessary to compensate for the spatial phase difference by taking different amplitude and/or phase weight values for different arrays of radiating elements. However, such compensation measures may increase the design difficulty and/or cost of the antenna system.

Embodiments of the present invention will next be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments are depicted.

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a conventional base station antenna 1 when a radome is removed. The base station antenna 1 has a reflector 3. A plurality of arrays 2 of radiating elements are mounted on a reflector 3. These arrays of radiating elements are configured as linear arrays of radiating elements. The base station antenna 1 may have 8 high-band radiating element arrays 21 and 2 low-band radiating element arrays 22, in other words, 8 columns of high-band radiating elements 21 and 2 columns of low-band radiating elements 22 mounted on the reflector 3.

Each high-band radiating element array 21 may have 16 high-band radiating elements, respectively, arranged at a distance from each other in the vertical direction V (extending from the top end 4 to the bottom end 5 of the antenna). Likewise, each low-band radiating element array 22 may have 6 low-band radiating elements, respectively, arranged at a distance from each other in the vertical direction V. Furthermore, the respective high-band radiating element arrays 21 are arranged at a distance from each other in the horizontal direction H (extending from one side wall 6 to the opposite side wall 7 of the antenna), and two adjacent high-band radiating element arrays 21 are offset from each other in the vertical direction V, that is, the feeding points of the high-band radiating elements in the two adjacent high-band radiating element arrays 21 are no longer aligned in the vertical direction V. As can be seen from fig. 1, the feed points of the high-band radiating elements in each two adjacent high-band radiating element arrays 21 (which are assumed to be located at the center of the radiating element for convenience of description, at the intersection of two dipole radiators when viewed from the front) are offset from each other by a distance D1 in the vertical direction V. The staggering distance D1 in the vertical direction V between two adjacent radiating element arrays may be in the range of 0.2 to 0.4 wavelength, which is equal to the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the operating band of the radiating element array. Therefore, the space distance between the same polarized dipole of any two adjacent radiation elements of different arrays is increased, so that the isolation between the adjacent arrays is improved.

As shown in fig. 1, the low-band radiating element arrays 22 are arranged at a distance from each other in the horizontal direction H, and the low-band radiating element arrays 22 are aligned with each other in the vertical direction V, that is, feeding points of the low-band radiating elements in two adjacent low-band radiating element arrays 22 are aligned with each other in the vertical direction V.

As described above, although the spatially offset arrangement between two adjacent radiation element arrays 2 is advantageous for the improvement of the isolation, it causes the equivalent phase centers of two adjacent radiation element arrays 2 to be spatially offset, thereby distorting the pattern of the base station antenna 1. How to not only maintain the advantages of the staggered arrangement of the radiating element arrays 2, but also reduce or eliminate the disadvantages thereof is a technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.

A schematic front view of a base station antenna according to a first embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference to fig. 2. In the embodiment of fig. 2, 4 linear arrays of high-band radiating elements 21 are shown, but it will be appreciated that in other embodiments, more or fewer linear arrays of high-band radiating elements 21 may be included in the base station antenna. Each of the high-band radiating element arrays 21 may have a plurality of high-band radiating elements arranged at a distance from each other in a vertical direction V extending from a top end to a bottom end of the antenna, respectively. Further, the respective high-band radiating element arrays 21 are arranged at a distance from each other in the horizontal direction H, and the adjacent high-band radiating element arrays 21 are offset from each other in the vertical direction V, that is, the feeding points of the high-band radiating elements in each pair of two adjacent high-band radiating element arrays 21 are offset from each other in the vertical direction V, that is, are not aligned any more. As can be seen from fig. 2, the feeding points (here, dipole centers) of the high-band radiating elements in the adjacent high-band radiating element arrays 21 are shifted from each other by a distance D1 in the vertical direction V.

The base station antenna of fig. 2 further comprises phase shifters 8, wherein two phase shifters 8 are provided for each radiating element array 21 (i.e. one phase shifter is provided for each polarized radiator). Only two of the eight phase shifters 8 are shown in fig. 2 in order to simplify the view.

Referring to fig. 2, each of the radiating element arrays 21 includes a plurality of first radiating element sub-arrays 201 made up of 2 adjacent radiating elements and a plurality of second radiating element sub-arrays 202 made up of 1 radiating element. The first polarized radiators of the radiating elements in each first radiating element sub-array 201 are co-fed via one phase shifter 8, and the first polarized radiators of the radiating elements in each second radiating element sub-array 202 are co-fed via one phase shifter 8.

In this context the radiating elements of the sub-arrays are "co-fed" meaning that if all radiating elements in a sub-array are electrically connected to the same output of one phase shifter 8 via the power divider 9 and/or the signal transmission line 10, that is, the radio frequency signals received by the radiating elements in the co-fed radiating element sub-arrays 201, 202 from the feeding node 11 of the base station antenna can be subjected to the same phase change by the associated phase shifter 8. As a result, the radiation signals emitted from the two radiation elements in each radiation element sub-array 201 have the same phase. If the amplitudes of the radio frequency signals transmitted by the two radiating elements are also the same, the equivalent phase center of the radiating elements in the radiating element sub-array 201 may be centered between the two radiating elements along a vertical axis extending through the two radiating elements. Thus, the equivalent phase center a1 of each first radiating element sub-array 201 may be centered between two radiating elements of the array, while the phase center a2 of the second radiating element sub-array 202 may be centered between the individual radiating elements forming each second sub-array, i.e., the feed points of the radiating elements.

In the present embodiment, the 4 high-band radiating element arrays 21 are respectively referred to as: a first high-band radiating element array 211, a second high-band radiating element array 212, a third high-band radiating element array 213, and a fourth high-band radiating element array 214. The first high-band radiating element array 211 and the third high-band radiating element array 213 are identically configured, while the second high-band radiating element array 212 and the fourth high-band radiating element array 214 are identically configured. In this context, "the same configuration" means that the number of radiating elements in the array and the arrangement order of the sub-arrays are the same, that is, the arrangement order of the sub-arrays in the vertical direction is the same in the corresponding radiating element array.

As shown in fig. 2, the number of radiating elements in two adjacent arrays of radiating elements is different. The first and third high-band radiating element arrays 211, 213 in fig. 2 have 7 radiating element sub-arrays 201, 202, respectively: 4 first radiating element sub-arrays 201 and 3 second radiating element sub-arrays 202 (total of 4 × 2+3 × 1 ═ 11 radiating elements). The second and fourth high-band radiating element arrays 212, 214 adjacent thereto have 7 radiating element sub-arrays 201, 202, respectively: 3 first radiating element sub-arrays 201 and 4 second radiating element sub-arrays 202 (total 3 × 2+4 × 1 ═ 10 radiating elements). Each sub-array 201, 202 is electrically connected to one output of one phase shifter 8 via a respective power divider 9 and/or signal transmission line 10. The first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the first high-band radiating element array 211 are mounted horizontally adjacent to the second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the second high-band radiating element array 212, respectively, and the second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the first high-band radiating element array 211 are mounted horizontally adjacent to the first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the second high-band radiating element array 212, respectively. In other words, the first radiating element sub-array 201 of the first high-band radiating element array 211 is mounted on the right left side of the corresponding second radiating element sub-array 202 of the second high-band radiating element array 212 in the horizontal direction; the second radiating element sub-array 202 of the first high-band radiating element array 211 is mounted on the right left side of the corresponding first radiating element sub-array 201 of the second high-band radiating element array 212 in the horizontal direction. Thus, the phase centers of the first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the first high-band radiating element array 211 are respectively substantially aligned with the phase centers of the corresponding second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the second high-band radiating element array 212 in the horizontal direction (i.e., in the azimuth plane). The phase centers of the second sub-arrays 202 of radiating elements of the first high-band radiating element array 211 are respectively substantially aligned with the phase centers of the corresponding first sub-arrays 201 of radiating elements of the second high-band radiating element array 212 in the horizontal direction.

Likewise, the phase centers of the first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the third high-band radiating element array 213 are substantially aligned with the phase centers of the corresponding second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the second high-band radiating element array 212, respectively, in the horizontal direction. The phase centers of the second sub-arrays 202 of radiating elements of the third high-band radiating element array 213 are respectively substantially aligned with the phase centers of the corresponding first sub-arrays 201 of radiating elements of the second high-band radiating element array 212 in the horizontal direction.

Likewise, the phase centers of the first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the third high-band radiating element array 213 are respectively substantially aligned with the phase centers of the corresponding second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the fourth high-band radiating element array 214 in the horizontal direction. The phase centers of the second sub-arrays 202 of radiating elements of the third high-band radiating element array 213 are respectively substantially aligned with the phase centers of the corresponding first sub-arrays 201 of radiating elements of the fourth high-band radiating element array 214 in the horizontal direction.

It should be understood that the phase center is a theoretical point of the ideal case of an antenna, and in an actual antenna, the phase center may be a region rather than a point. Thus, according to various embodiments of the present invention: the first and second radiation element sub-arrays 201 and 202 in each radiation element array 21 are arranged such that the phase center of the first radiation element sub-array 201 in each radiation element array 21 is shifted from the phase center of the corresponding second radiation element sub-array 202 in the adjacent radiation element array 21 by less than 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, or 0.05 of the shift in the vertical direction V of the two adjacent radiation element arrays. In some embodiments, the phase center of the first sub-array of radiating elements 201 in each array of radiating elements 21 may be substantially aligned with the phase center of the corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements 202 in the adjacent array of radiating elements. The smaller the amount of phase center misalignment, the smaller the pattern distortion, and the better the radio frequency performance of the base station antenna 1.

According to the base station antenna of the first embodiment illustrated in fig. 2 of the present invention, through the optimized arrangement of the radiating element array 21 of the base station antenna 1, the advantage of the staggered arrangement of the radiating element array 21 is maintained, and simultaneously, the phase center stagger can be reduced or even eliminated as much as possible, so as to better improve the radio frequency performance of the base station antenna.

Unlike the conventional base station antenna 1, the base station antenna 1 of fig. 2 also has a difference in the layout of the radiating element sub-arrays 201, 202. As shown in fig. 2, the extension of the first radiation element sub-array 201 in the vertical direction V is denoted by W1, and the extension of the second radiation element sub-array 202 corresponding to the first radiation element sub-array 201 in the vertical direction V is denoted by W2. It can be seen that W2 is inside W1 in the vertical direction V, and preferably W2 is in the central region of W1 in the vertical direction V.

Thereby, the first and second radiating element sub-arrays 201 and 202 in the first radiating element array 21 are arranged in a first array order in the vertical direction V, and the first and second radiating element sub-arrays 201 and 202 in the second radiating element array adjacent to the first radiating element array 21 are arranged in a second array order different from the first array order in the vertical direction V. Thus, the first radiating element sub-array 201 in each radiating element array 21 is next to the second radiating element sub-array 202 of the adjacent array in the horizontal direction H. Thus, as shown in fig. 2, each first radiating element sub-array 201 may have a corresponding second radiating element sub-array 202 on its right left side, right side, or right and left sides in the horizontal direction. "right left side" and "right side" mean: the extension of the second radiating element sub-array 202 in the vertical direction V is within the extension of the corresponding first radiating element sub-array 201 in the vertical direction V, preferably in the central region.

Fig. 3 illustrates a schematic front view of a base station antenna according to a second embodiment of the present invention. For the sake of brevity, only the differences between the base station antenna of fig. 2 and the base station antenna of fig. 3 are described herein.

As shown in fig. 3, in the embodiment of fig. 3, the number of radiating elements in each array of radiating elements is the same. The first and third high-band radiating element arrays 211, 213 in fig. 3 have 7 radiating element sub-arrays 201, 202, respectively, from top to bottom: 3 first radiating element sub-arrays 201 composed of 2 adjacent radiating elements and 4 second radiating element sub-arrays 202 composed of 1 radiating element. Each array 211, 213 comprises a total of 3 x 2+4 x 1-10 radiating elements. The second and fourth high-band radiating element arrays 212, 214 have 7 radiating element sub-arrays 201, 202, respectively, from top to bottom: 3 first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of 2 adjacent radiating elements and 4 second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of 1 radiating element, so the arrays 212, 214 include a total of 3 x 2+4 x 1 to 10 radiating elements.

unlike the first embodiment according to the present invention, the sub-array of radiating elements shown with a dashed box in fig. 3 does not have a corresponding sub-array of radiating elements in the adjacent array of radiating elements. In the present embodiment, the first radiating element sub-array 201 at the tip of the antenna in the radiating element array 21 does not have the corresponding second radiating element sub-array 202 in the adjacent radiating element array.

In other embodiments, the radiating element sub-array 201 at the bottom end of the antenna in the radiating element array 21 may additionally or alternatively be absent of a corresponding radiating element sub-array 202 in an adjacent radiating element array. Experiments show that: the absence of a corresponding sub-array of radiating elements for a few sub-arrays of radiating elements does not significantly adversely affect the radio frequency performance of the base station antenna 1. However, the base station antenna of fig. 3 can advantageously be reduced in size, wind load, and/or manufacturing cost.

Fig. 4 illustrates a schematic front view of a base station antenna 1 according to a third embodiment of the present invention. For the sake of brevity, only the differences between the embodiment of fig. 4 and the above-described embodiments of fu 2 and 3 are set forth herein.

As shown in fig. 4, the number of radiating elements in each radiating element array 211, 212, 213, 214 is the same, i.e. as in the case of the base station antenna in fig. 3. The first and third high-band radiating element arrays 211, 213 in fig. 4 have 4 radiating element sub-arrays 201, 202, respectively, from top to bottom: 2 first radiation element sub-arrays 201 composed of 3 adjacent radiation elements and 2 second radiation element sub-arrays 202 composed of 2 adjacent radiation elements (total of 2 × 3+2 × 2 — 10 radiation elements). The second and fourth high-band radiating element arrays 212, 214 have 4 radiating element sub-arrays 201, 202, respectively, from top to bottom: 2 second radiation element sub-arrays 202 each composed of 2 radiation elements and 2 first radiation element sub-arrays 201 each composed of 3 radiation elements (total of 2 × 2+2 × 3 — 10 radiation elements).

In the present embodiment, each of the first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the first high-band radiating element array 211 corresponds to (i.e., is adjacent to in the horizontal direction) one of the second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the second high-band radiating element array 212, and the second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the first high-band radiating element array 211 correspond to the first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the second high-band radiating element array 212, respectively. Thus, the phase centers of the first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the first high-band radiating element array 211 are substantially aligned with the phase centers of the second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the second high-band radiating element array 212, respectively, in the horizontal direction. The phase centers of the second sub-arrays 202 of radiating elements of the first high-band radiating element array 211 are substantially aligned with the phase centers of the first sub-arrays 201 of radiating elements of the second high-band radiating element array 212, respectively, in the horizontal direction.

Likewise, the phase centers of the first radiating element sub-arrays 201 of the third high-band radiating element array 213 are substantially aligned with the phase centers of the second radiating element sub-arrays 202 of the second high-band radiating element array 212, respectively, in the horizontal direction H. The phase centers of the second sub-arrays 202 of radiating elements of the third high-band radiating element array 213 are substantially aligned with the phase centers of the first sub-arrays 201 of radiating elements of the second high-band radiating element array 212, respectively, in the horizontal direction H.

Likewise, the phase center of the first radiating element sub-array 201 of the third high-band radiating element array 213 is substantially aligned with the phase center of the second radiating element sub-array 202 of the fourth high-band radiating element array 214 in the horizontal direction H. The phase center of the second radiating element sub-array 202 of the third high-band radiating element array 213 is substantially aligned with the phase center of the first radiating element sub-array 201 of the fourth high-band radiating element array 214 in the horizontal direction H.

as shown in fig. 4, the equivalent phase center A3 of the first radiating element sub-array 201 may be at the feed point of the middle radiating element of the array, while the phase center a4 of the second radiating element sub-array 202 may be at the center of the two radiating elements of the array.

It can be further seen that the extension of the first radiation element sub-array 201 in the vertical direction V is denoted by W3, and the extension of the second radiation element sub-array 202 corresponding to the first radiation element sub-array 201 in the vertical direction V is denoted by W4. It can be seen that W4 is inside W3, preferably W4 is in the central region of W3.

It should be understood that the number of radiating element arrays and the number and arrangement of radiating element sub-arrays in each radiating element array of the base station antenna according to various embodiments of the present invention may be different from the above-described exemplary embodiments. For example, in other embodiments, there may be more than four arrays of radiating elements. It should also be understood that additional arrays of radiating elements may also be included in the base station antenna described above, for example, one or more arrays of low band radiating elements as discussed above with reference to fig. 1. It should also be understood that the techniques disclosed herein may be used with radiating elements operating in any frequency band.

As an additional example, a base station antenna according to a further embodiment of the present invention includes a radiating element array having 4 radiating element sub-arrays, respectively: 2 first sub-arrays of radiating elements consisting of 4 adjacent radiating elements and 2 second sub-arrays of radiating elements consisting of 3 adjacent radiating elements (total of 2 × 4+2 × 3 ═ 14 radiating elements). The radiation element arrays adjacent thereto have 4 sub-arrays of radiation elements, respectively: 2 second sub-arrays of radiating elements, each of which is composed of 3 adjacent radiating elements, and 2 first sub-arrays of radiating elements, each of which is composed of 4 adjacent radiating elements (total of 2 × 3+2 × 4 ═ 14 radiating elements).

Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail by way of example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing examples are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. The various embodiments disclosed herein may be combined in any combination without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A base station antenna comprising a plurality of linear arrays of radiating elements and a plurality of phase shifters, each phase shifter configured to transmit a radio frequency signal to a respective one of the linear arrays,

Each linear array of radiating elements includes one or more first sub-arrays of radiating elements of n adjacent radiating elements and one or more second sub-arrays of radiating elements of m adjacent radiating elements, where n is greater than m,

Wherein each first sub-array of radiating elements of each linear array of radiating elements is electrically connected to a respective one of a first subset of outputs of a respective phase shifter corresponding to the linear array of radiating elements, and each second sub-array of radiating elements is electrically connected to a respective one of a second subset of outputs of a respective phase shifter corresponding to the linear array of radiating elements,

Wherein the plurality of linear arrays of radiating elements are respectively arranged spaced apart from each other along a first direction, and the radiating elements in each linear array of radiating elements are arranged along a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, and two adjacent linear arrays of radiating elements are staggered from each other in the second direction,

wherein the first and second radiating element sub-arrays of the first radiating element linear array among the radiating element linear arrays are arranged in a first arrangement order, the first and second radiating element sub-arrays of the second radiating element linear array adjacent to the first radiating element linear array are arranged in a second arrangement order different from the first arrangement order, and the first radiating element sub-array of the first radiating element linear array is located on a right left side or a right side of the second radiating element sub-array corresponding to the first radiating element sub-array among the second radiating element linear array in the first direction.

2. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein the extension of each second sub-array of radiating elements in the second direction is within the extension of the corresponding first sub-array of radiating elements in the second direction.

3. The base station antenna according to claim 1, wherein the n radiating elements of each first sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of the first subset of outputs of the respective phase shifter corresponding to the linear array of radiating elements via a respective power divider and/or signal transmission line, and the m radiating elements of each second sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of the second subset of outputs of the respective phase shifter corresponding to the linear array of radiating elements via a respective power divider and/or signal transmission line.

4. The base station antenna according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the radio frequency signals received by the n radiating elements of the first radiating element sub-array of the first linear array of radiating elements from the first feeding node of the base station antenna have the same first phase value, and the radio frequency signals received by the m radiating elements of the second radiating element sub-array of the first linear array of radiating elements from the second feeding node of the base station antenna have the same second phase value, the second phase value being different from the first phase value.

5. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein each linear array of radiating elements comprises, at least in part, a first and second subarray of radiating elements arranged alternately.

6. The base station antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one first sub-array of radiating elements of at least one array of radiating elements is absent a corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements in an adjacent array of radiating elements and/or at least one second sub-array of radiating elements of at least one array of radiating elements is absent a corresponding first sub-array of radiating elements in an adjacent array of radiating elements.

7. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein a phase center of a first one of the arrays of radiating elements is offset from a phase center of a corresponding second one of the arrays of adjacent radiating elements by an amount less than an amount of offset in the second direction for the two arrays of adjacent radiating elements.

8. the base station antenna according to claim 1, wherein an upper limit value of a quotient of a shift amount of a phase center of a first radiating element sub-array in each radiating element array from a phase center of a corresponding second radiating element sub-array in an adjacent radiating element array divided by a shift amount of the two adjacent radiating element arrays in the second direction is one of: 0.9, 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05.

9. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein a phase center of a first one of the arrays of radiating elements is substantially aligned with a phase center of a corresponding second one of the arrays of radiating elements.

10. the base station antenna of claim 1, wherein n is m + 1.

11. The base station antenna of claim 1,

Each radiating element array comprises one or more first radiating element sub-arrays consisting of 2 radiating elements and one or more second radiating element sub-arrays consisting of 1 radiating element;

12. A base station antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that two adjacent arrays of radiating elements are so staggered in the second direction that the feed point of each radiating element in one array of radiating elements is within the interval of the feed points of two adjacent radiating elements in the other array of radiating elements in the second direction.

13. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein the two adjacent arrays of radiating elements are staggered in the second direction by an amount in the range of 0.2 to 0.4 wavelength, the wavelength being equal to a wavelength corresponding to a center frequency of an operating band of the radiating element.

14. The base station antenna according to claim 1, wherein the two adjacent arrays of radiating elements are spaced apart in the first direction by a distance in the range of 0.4 to 0.8 wavelength equal to the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the operating band of the radiating element.

15. The base station antenna according to claim 1, wherein the spacing of two adjacent radiating elements in each array of radiating elements in the second direction is in the range of 0.5 to 0.8 wavelength, which is equal to the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the operating band of the array of radiating elements.

16. a base station antenna comprising a plurality of linear arrays of radiating elements and phase shifters,

Each array of radiating elements includes one or more first sub-arrays of radiating elements of n adjacent radiating elements and one or more second sub-arrays of radiating elements of m adjacent radiating elements, where n is greater than m,

Wherein n radiating elements in each first radiating element sub-array are electrically connected to a same output terminal of one phase shifter, and m radiating elements in each second radiating element sub-array are electrically connected to a same output terminal of one phase shifter,

Wherein the plurality of radiating element arrays are respectively arranged spaced apart from each other along a first direction, and the radiating elements in each radiating element array are arranged along a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, and two adjacent radiating element arrays are staggered from each other in the second direction,

Wherein the first and second sub-arrays of radiating elements in each array of radiating elements are arranged such that a phase center of the first sub-array of radiating elements in each array of radiating elements is offset from a phase center of the corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements in an adjacent array of radiating elements by less than 50% of an offset of the two adjacent arrays of radiating elements in the second direction.

17. The base station antenna according to claim 16, wherein an upper limit value of a quotient of a shift amount of a phase center of a first radiating element sub-array in each radiating element array from a phase center of a corresponding second radiating element sub-array in an adjacent radiating element array divided by a shift amount of the two adjacent radiating element arrays in the second direction is one of: 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05.

18. The base station antenna of claim 16, wherein a phase center of a first one of the arrays of radiating elements is substantially aligned with a phase center of a corresponding second one of the arrays of radiating elements.

19. The base station antenna of claim 16, wherein each radiating element array comprises, at least in part, a first and second subarray of radiating elements arranged alternately.

20. the base station antenna according to claim 17, wherein n radiating elements in each first sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a same output of one phase shifter via a respective power divider and/or signal transmission line, and m radiating elements in each second sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a same output of one phase shifter via a respective power divider and/or signal transmission line.

21. The base station antenna according to claim 17 or 20, characterized in that the electrical signals received by the n radiating elements of each first radiating element sub-array from the feeding node of the base station antenna can be changed by the assigned phase shifter by the same phase, and the electrical signals received by the m radiating elements of each second radiating element sub-array from the feeding node of the base station antenna can be changed by the assigned phase shifter by the same phase.

22. The base station antenna of claim 17, wherein a first subarray of radiating elements in each array of radiating elements is located directly to the left or right of a second subarray of radiating elements corresponding to the first subarray of radiating elements in the first direction.

23. The base station antenna of claim 17, wherein at least one first sub-array of radiating elements in at least one array of radiating elements is absent from a corresponding second sub-array of radiating elements in an adjacent array of radiating elements.

24. The base station antenna of claim 17, wherein two adjacent arrays of radiating elements are staggered in the second direction such that the feed point of each radiating element in one array of radiating elements is within the spacing of the feed points of two adjacent radiating elements in the other array of radiating elements in the second direction.

25. A base station antenna comprising a first and a second column of radiating elements adjacent in a horizontal direction and comprising a plurality of phase shifters, each column of radiating elements comprising a plurality of radiating elements oriented in a vertical direction, said first and second columns of radiating elements being staggered in the vertical direction, characterized in that each column of radiating elements comprises one or more first subsets of n adjacent radiating elements and one or more second subsets of m adjacent radiating elements, where n is larger than m,

the first and second subsets of the first column of radiating elements are alternately arranged in a first pattern along a vertical direction, the first and second subsets of the second column of radiating elements are alternately arranged in a second pattern along the vertical direction, wherein the first pattern is different from the second pattern such that, in a horizontal direction, each first subset of the first column of radiating elements is directly to the left or right of a second subset of the second column of radiating elements corresponding to the first subset,

Wherein each subset is electrically connected to the same output terminal of the same phase shifter.

26. The base station antenna according to claim 25, wherein the extension of the second subset corresponding to the first subset in the vertical direction is within the extension of the first subset in the vertical direction.

27. a base station antenna, comprising:

A plurality of first radiating elements arranged in a vertically extending first array;

A plurality of second radiating elements arranged in a second array extending vertically, wherein each second radiating element is vertically staggered with respect to each first radiating element;

Wherein a phase center of the first sub-array of first radiating elements in the azimuth plane is substantially the same as a phase center of the corresponding third sub-array of second radiating elements in the azimuth plane, and

Wherein the first sub-array of radiating elements has a first number of first radiating elements, respectively, and the second third sub-array of radiating elements has a second number of second radiating elements, respectively, the first number being different from the second number.

28. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the phase center in the azimuth plane of the first sub-array of radiating elements is substantially the same as the phase center in the azimuth plane of the corresponding fourth sub-array of second radiating elements.

29. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein each first sub-array of radiating elements has a respective extent in the vertical direction, and wherein each second sub-array of radiating elements is located within the extent of the respective first sub-array of radiating elements in the vertical direction.

30. The base station antenna of claim 28, further comprising:

A first phase shifter coupled to the vertically extending first array; and

a second phase shifter coupled to the vertically extending second array,

Characterised in that the radiating elements in each respective first sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of a first subset of the output terminals of a respective first phase shifter, and the radiating elements in each respective second sub-array of radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of a second subset of the output terminals of a respective second phase shifter.

31. The base station antenna of claim 30, wherein the radiating elements in each respective second sub-array of first radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of the second subset of outputs of the respective first phase shifter, and wherein the radiating elements in each respective fourth sub-array of second radiating elements are electrically connected to a respective one of the first subset of outputs of the respective second phase shifter.

32. The base station antenna according to one of claims 27 to 31, characterized in that the radio frequency signals received by the radiating elements in each respective first radiating element first sub-array from the first feeding node of the base station antenna have the same phase, and the radio frequency signals received by the radiating elements in each respective second radiating element third sub-array from the second feeding node of the base station antenna have the same phase.

33. The base station antenna of claim 28, wherein the vertically extending first array at least partially comprises an alternating arrangement of first and second subarrays of first radiating elements, and wherein the vertically extending second array at least partially comprises an alternating arrangement of third and fourth subarrays of second radiating elements.

34. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein at least one radiating element of the first subarray of first radiating elements in the vertically extending first array does not have a corresponding second subarray of second radiating elements in the vertically extending second array.

35. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the phase center of the first subarray of first radiating elements is offset from the phase center of the corresponding third subarray of second radiating elements by an amount less than the amount of vertical offset of the vertically extending first and second arrays.

36. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the first number is equal to the second number plus one.

37. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the vertically extending first and second arrays comprise one or more first subarrays of radiating elements and one or more second subarrays of radiating elements, respectively, each first subarray of radiating elements having exactly two radiating elements and each second subarray of radiating elements having exactly one radiating element.

38. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the vertically extending first and second arrays comprise one or more first subarrays of radiating elements and one or more second subarrays of radiating elements, respectively, each first subarray of radiating elements having exactly three radiating elements and each second subarray of radiating elements having exactly two radiating elements.

39. the base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the vertically extending first and second arrays comprise one or more first subarrays of radiating elements and one or more second subarrays of radiating elements, respectively, each first subarray of radiating elements having exactly four radiating elements and each second subarray of radiating elements having exactly three radiating elements.

40. the base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the vertically extending first and second arrays comprise one or more first subarrays of radiating elements and one or more second subarrays of radiating elements, respectively, each first subarray of radiating elements having exactly five radiating elements and each second subarray of radiating elements having exactly four radiating elements.

41. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the vertically extending first and second arrays are vertically staggered by an amount in a range of 0.2 to 0.4 times a wavelength corresponding to a center frequency of an operating band of the vertically extending first and second arrays.

42. The base station antenna of claim 27, wherein the spacing in the horizontal direction between the vertically extending first and second arrays is in the range of 0.4 to 0.8 times the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the operating band of the vertically extending first and second arrays.