WO2012103821A2

WO2012103821A2 - Antenna system, base station and communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2012103821A2
Application number: PCT/CN2012/072114
Authority: WO
Inventors: 蒲涛; 何平华; 孙德文; 孙伟华
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2012-03-09
Filing date: 2012-03-09
Publication date: 2012-08-09
Also published as: CN102714345A; CN102714345B; WO2012103821A3

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide an antenna system, base station and communication system. The antenna system comprises a fixing unit which comprises an antenna radome and a common reflection board having an opening thereon. At least two movable units are detachably installed in the fixing unit through the opening; and each movable unit comprises a radiator reflection board, an antenna radiator placed on the first surface of the radiator reflection board and a combiner and phase shifter placed on the second surface of the radiator reflection board. The antenna system of embodiments of the present invention comprises a relatively fixed fixing unit and detachable movable units, can conveniently and flexibly assemble or replace the movable units, and improves the efficiency of antenna configuration and installation.

Description

Antenna system, base station and communication system

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of communications technologies and, more particularly, to antenna systems, base stations, and communication systems. Background technique

The early product architecture of the wireless distributed base station system was generally "RRU (Radio Remote Unit) + Antenna (Passive)". This method generally has three implementation forms. They are: (l) RRU is at the bottom of the tower, the antenna is on the tower, and the two are connected by cables; (2) RRU is on the tower, close to the antenna, installed at the bottom or behind the antenna, between the two Cable connection; (3) Semi-integrated mode, the RRU is directly on the antenna, and is blindly inserted or cabled with the antenna. For the semi-integrated mode of the RRU and the antenna, the RRU is usually directly behind the antenna. One antenna can carry one RRU module or multiple RRU modules. The RRU is connected to the antenna through a cable, or through a blind plug connection. Both of these connections require a waterproof design. When using a cable connection, multiple RRU modules can be mounted on one antenna.

At present, the evolution direction of the product is the integrated integration of the RF unit and the antenna, and the RF unit and the antenna are integrated as a whole, and the whole installation and maintenance. However, the overall installation and maintenance is difficult. Subsequent products The further evolutionary direction is modular to support multi-band, multi-system sharing and on-site maintenance of products.

AAS (Active Antenna System) refers to a system that integrates a base station antenna and an active unit into one module. Only one antenna can be installed during installation. In the existing integrated AAS architecture, it is common to assemble all antenna elements from the front to a single reflector.

In a modular or integrated AAS architecture, the vibrators are assembled onto a single reflector, and the isolation and decoupling between the columns of antennas is primarily regulated by reflectors. Nowadays, the installation resources of the antenna feeder system are scarce, and the demand for the common site and the common antenna feeder system is strong. When single-frequency, dual-frequency, multi-frequency sky-surface combination applications (such as typical high and low frequency), the structure of the reflector is various. In the scenario where the application scenario changes, the reflector and all the vibrators and feed components in all frequency bands need to be removed and replaced. The operation is complicated and wasteful. Summary of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide an antenna system, a base station, and a communication system, which can improve antenna configuration. And the efficiency of the installation.

In one aspect, an antenna system is provided, comprising: a fixed unit including a radome and a common reflector, the common reflector being provided with an opening. At least two movable units are detachably mounted in the fixing unit through the opening, each movable unit including a vibrator reflecting plate, an antenna element disposed on the first surface of the vibrator reflecting plate, and a second surface disposed on the vibrator reflecting plate Combiner and phase shifter on.

In another aspect, a base station is provided, including the antenna system described above.

In another aspect, a communication system is provided, including the base station described above.

The antenna system of the embodiment of the present invention includes a relatively fixed fixed unit and a detachable movable unit, which can assemble and replace the active unit conveniently and flexibly, improve the efficiency of antenna configuration and installation, and also enable the network planning change to evolve. The antenna system achieves compatibility and smooth evolution. DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings to be used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only the present invention. For some embodiments, other drawings may be obtained from those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an antenna system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an antenna system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an antenna system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an antenna system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a schematic illustration of an example of installing an antenna system. detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is obvious that the described embodiments are a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without making creative labor are within the scope of the present invention.

In the present invention, the term "fixed" means that it is relatively unlikely to be replaced after the initial installation, and does not mean that it cannot be replaced at all. By "active" is meant that it can be disassembled or replaced separately after initial installation without the need to disassemble other "fixed" parts or "active" parts. "Installation" in the present invention may include any existing installation method. For example, one component can be fixed to another component by means of a connector (such as a bolt, rivet, or blind plug connector, etc.), a connection structure (such as snapping, plugging, or snapping, etc.) and/or an adhesive. Above, below or in the middle. These understandings are all within the scope of embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an antenna system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The antenna system 10 of Figure 1 includes a stationary unit 11 and at least two active units 12a, 12b. It should be noted that the shapes of the various components in FIG. 1 are merely schematic and are not drawn to scale, and the scope of the embodiments of the present invention is not limited.

For the sake of cleaning, only two moving units 12a and 12b are shown in Fig. 1, but the number of moving units of the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be more than two. Hereinafter, if it is not necessary to distinguish the active units 12a and 12b, the active units 12a and 12b are collectively referred to as the active unit 12.

As shown in Fig. 1, the fixing unit 11 includes a radome 111 and an optional common reflecting plate 112. The common reflecting plate 112 is provided with openings 113a and 113b. For the sake of cleaning, only two openings 113a and 113b are shown in Fig. 1, but the number of movable units of the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be more than two. Hereinafter, if it is not necessary to distinguish the openings 113a and 113b, the openings 113a and 113b are collectively referred to as an opening 113.

At least two movable units 12 are detachably mounted in the fixed unit 11. In the case where the common reflecting plate 112 is used, at least two movable units 12 are detachably mounted in the fixing unit 11 through the opening 113. For example, as shown in Fig. 1, the movable unit 12a is installed through the opening 113a, and the movable unit 12b is installed through the opening 113b. However, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific number and corresponding manner shown in FIG. For example, the number of openings 113 is likely to be more than the number of active units 12.

Each of the movable units I2a, 12b includes a vibrator reflection plate 121, an antenna element 122 disposed on the first surface si of the vibrator reflection plate 121, and a feed network 123 disposed on the second surface s2 of the vibrator reflection plate 121, respectively. As shown in Fig. 1, the first surface si and the second surface s2 are two surfaces opposite to the vibrator reflection plate 121.

The antenna system of the embodiment of the invention comprises a relatively fixed fixed unit and a detachable movable unit, which can assemble or replace the movable unit conveniently and flexibly, thereby improving the efficiency of antenna configuration and installation.

In addition, different antenna combinations may be required for different application scenarios, such as single-frequency, dual-frequency, multi-frequency sky-surface combination applications. In the initial installation, you can select the corresponding combination of active units to meet the needs of different application scenarios. In the event of a failure of an active unit, it is only necessary to replace the active unit without disassembling the fixed unit and other active units. If the application scenario changes after the initial installation, for example, network planning change evolution is required, only the corresponding active unit needs to be replaced to adapt to the changed application scenario without disassembling the entire antenna system, and only need to replace the scene change. The active unit, which also enables the antenna system to achieve compatibility and smooth evolution when network planning changes evolve.

The embodiment of the present invention does not limit the connection manner of the radome 111 and the common reflector 112. For example, the radome 111 and the common reflector 112 may be combined or detachably mounted together.

Alternatively, as an embodiment, the vibrator reflector 121 may be used alone or in conjunction with the common reflector 112 to form a convergent beam. For example, the vibrator reflection plate 121 may be a printed circuit board (PCB). The first surface si of the vibrator reflection plate 121 is provided with a conductive material such as copper. The vibrator reflection plate 121 is coupled with the common reflection plate 112, for example, to form a capacitor. Coupling or tightly conductive coupling.

In the case where capacitive coupling is formed, an insulating film may be disposed on the first surface si. For example, the insulating film 14 may be green oil covering the first surface sla. The thickness of the insulating film 14 can be adjusted according to actual needs, for example, greater than 0 and less than or equal to 2 mm, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the numerical examples given herein. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the insulating film may be replaced by air, that is, the vibrator reflection plate 121 and the common reflection plate 112 are separated by a gap, and may also be between the vibrator reflection plate 121 and the common reflection plate 112. A capacitive coupling is formed. The width of the gap can be set according to actual needs (for example, considering assembly tolerances, electrical specifications, etc.).

In the case where the vibrator reflection plate 121 separately forms a convergent beam, the movable unit 12 can be mounted by supporting the skeleton, and it is not necessary to share the reflection plate 112 at this time. Alternatively, the radome 111 can be mounted on the support frame to form the antenna system 10. For example, the support frame can be a square frame on which the movable unit 12 and/or the radome 111 are mounted.

In the case where the vibrator reflection plate 121 and the common reflection plate 112 together form a convergent beam, the common reflection plate 112 can function as a support skeleton alone. Alternatively, the common reflector 112 can be mounted to a separate support frame and the movable unit 12 and/or radome 111 can be mounted to the common reflector 112 or support frame.

Alternatively, as another embodiment, the activity unit 12 may form at least one column, such as one column, two columns, three columns, or more columns. In the case of a multi-column antenna combination application, a means for adjusting the coupling or isolation between the arrays and/or the antenna elements may be provided on the common reflector 112.

2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an antenna system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The antenna system 20 of FIG. 2 is a specific example of the antenna system 10 of FIG. 1, including all components of the antenna system 10, and thus Duplicate descriptions are omitted as appropriate. Another difference between Fig. 2 and Fig. 1 is that Fig. 1 depicts the case where the movable unit is mounted in the fixed unit, and Fig. 2 depicts the situation before the movable unit is mounted to the fixed unit.

The upward arrow in Fig. 2 indicates the direction in which the movable unit is mounted, but the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the direction in which the movable unit is mounted. For example, if the radome 111 and the common reflector 112 are detachable, it is also possible to mount the movable unit in the downward direction in Fig. 2.

Antenna system 20 also includes an optional fixed vibrator 21. The fixed vibrator 21 does not require field replacement. Alternatively, the common reflecting plate 112 includes a reflecting plate 114 for fixing the vibrator 21. This can adapt to scenes where some antenna elements do not need to be replaced. For example, in some low frequency scenes, the corresponding antenna vibrator is large in size and is not suitable for field replacement. Such an antenna element can be made as a fixed vibrator 21.

The active unit 22a of the antenna system 20 is an example of the active unit 12 of FIG. The active unit 22a is a passive unit including a vibrator reflection plate 121, an antenna element 122, and a feed network 123a. The feed network 123a may include at least one of a phase shifter, a shunt network, and a combiner. These devices can be integrated to reduce cable routing and reduce insertion loss. Alternatively, a combiner or the like can support an antenna technique such as a resonator or a coaxial.

The active unit 22b of the antenna system 20 is another example of the active unit 12 of FIG. The active unit 22b is an active unit including a vibrator reflector 121, an antenna element 122, a feed network 123b, and a radio frequency module 125. The feed network 123b may include at least one of a phase shifter, a shunt network, and a combiner. The radio frequency module 125 is disposed on the second surface s2 of the vibrator reflection plate 121 for effecting conversion between the radio frequency signal and the digital baseband signal.

As shown in Fig. 2, as an active unit, the movable unit 22b may further include a duplexer 124 disposed on the second surface s2 of the vibrator reflection plate 121. Although not depicted in Fig. 2, the passive movable unit 22a may also include a duplexer disposed on the second surface of the vibrator reflector.

The movable unit 22a and the movable unit 22b can be detached, replaced or interchanged without disassembling other components (e.g., the fixed unit 11). Moreover, the installation and replacement of the mobile unit does not require blind insertion operation, which reduces the difficulty of on-site operation and makes the maintenance of the antenna system more flexible and convenient.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the active unit can simultaneously support the frequency band in which the active antenna operates (the active band in the present application) and the frequency band in which the passive antenna operates (the passive band in the present application). The active frequency band and the passive frequency band are mutually different frequency bands, that is, there is no frequency overlap between the active frequency band and the passive frequency band. At this time, the active unit can implement the active frequency band and the passive frequency band resonator and realize the switching between the active frequency band and the passive frequency band by means of the combiner on the feed network. In addition, different antenna combinations may be required for different application scenarios, such as single-frequency, dual-frequency, multi-frequency sky-surface combination applications. In the initial installation, you can select the corresponding combination of active units to meet the needs of different application scenarios. In the event of a failure of an active unit, it is only necessary to replace the active unit without disassembling the fixed unit 11 and other active units.

In addition, if the application scene changes after the initial installation, it is only necessary to replace the corresponding active unit to adapt to the changed application scenario without disassembling the entire antenna system (for example, without disassembling the fixed unit 11 or other active units).

Although an example of a passive active unit 22a and an active active unit 22b is depicted in Figure 2, the number of active units 22a and active units 22b does not limit the scope of embodiments of the present invention. For example, antenna system 20 can have more active units 22a or more active units 22b. Optionally, in the case that more active units 22b (active units) are included, the radio modules of the active units 22b can support the same or different frequency bands or formats to meet different application scenarios and/or different frequency bands. The need for a combination.

Furthermore, the active units of the antenna system can be passive active units or active active units. 3 and 4 are schematic cross-sectional views of an antenna system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. In the antenna system 30 of Fig. 3, all of the active units 22a are passive units. In the antenna system 40 of Fig. 4, all of the active units 22b are active units. The other components of Figs. 3 and 4 are the same as those of the embodiment of Fig. 2, and therefore the description will not be repeated.

Figure 5 is a schematic illustration of an example of installing an antenna system. In the embodiment of Fig. 5, the movable unit is mounted from the rear of the fixed unit (as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5).

As shown in Fig. 5, the activity unit 51 may include one or more of the activity units 12a and 12b shown in Fig. 1 and the activity units 22a and 22b shown in Figs.

Only the back side of the common reflecting plate 52 of the fixed unit (the side facing away from the radome) is shown in FIG. The common reflecting plate 52 may be the common reflecting plate 112 shown in Figs. Since the movable unit 51 is attached from the rear surface of the common reflecting plate 52, the radome can be integrated with the common reflecting plate 52, or can be detachably mounted together.

The common reflecting plate 52 has at least one opening 53 therein. At the time of installation, the respective movable units 51 are respectively installed through the openings 53. The number of openings 53 and the number of movable units 51 may be the same or different, for example, the number of openings 53 may be greater than or equal to the number of movable units 51.

The antenna system may include other mounting components to secure the antenna unit 51 and the common reflector 52. The antenna system of the embodiment of the invention comprises a relatively fixed fixing unit and a detachable activity list Yuan, can easily and flexibly assemble or replace the active unit, improving the efficiency of antenna configuration and installation. The embodiment of the invention further provides a base station, including any one of the antenna systems 10-40 described above. The embodiment of the invention further provides a communication system, which comprises the above base station.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps of the various examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in a combination of electronic hardware or computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the solution. A person skilled in the art can use different methods for implementing the described functions for each particular application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, for the convenience of the description and the cleaning process, the specific operation of the system, the device and the unit described above may be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided herein, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the unit is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be another division manner, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, device or unit, and may be electrical, mechanical or otherwise.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

The functions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a standalone product. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, which is essential to the prior art or part of the technical solution, may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including The instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention. And before The storage medium includes: a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and the like, which can store program codes.

The above is only the specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention. It should be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

Rights request

An antenna system, comprising:

Fixed unit, including a radome;

At least two movable units are detachably mounted in the fixed unit, each of the movable units including a vibrator reflecting plate, an antenna element disposed on the first surface of the vibrator reflecting plate, and a reflector disposed at the vibrator A feed network on the second surface of the board.

2. The antenna system according to claim 1, wherein the fixing unit further comprises a common reflecting plate, and the common reflecting plate is provided with an opening.

The at least two movable units are detachably mounted in the fixing unit through the opening.

3. The antenna system according to claim 2, wherein the vibrator reflector is used alone or in combination with a common reflector to form a convergent beam.

The antenna system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the feed network comprises at least one of a phase shifter, a shunt network, and a combiner.

The antenna system according to claim 4, wherein the at least one of the at least two active units further comprises an RF module disposed on the second surface of the vibrator reflector.

The antenna system according to claim 4 or 5, wherein, in the case that the feed network includes a combiner, the active unit supports an active frequency band and a passive frequency band, and the active frequency band And the passive frequency bands are different frequency bands from each other.

The antenna system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein at least one of the at least two active units further comprises a double disposed on a second surface of the vibrator reflector Work tool.

The antenna system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the fixing unit further comprises a fixed vibrator, and the fixed vibrator does not need to be replaced in the field.

The antenna system according to claim 8, wherein the common reflection plate includes a reflection plate for the fixed vibrator.

A base station, comprising the antenna system according to any one of claims 1-9.

A communication system, comprising the base station according to claim 10.