WO2024062646A1

WO2024062646A1 - System that performs communication and wireless power transmission, base station, wireless processing device, and antenna system

Info

Publication number: WO2024062646A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/005291
Authority: WO
Inventors: 直輝長谷川; 悠太中本; 昂平川; 裕貴 ▲高▼木
Original assignee: ソフトバンク株式会社
Priority date: 2022-09-22
Filing date: 2023-02-15
Publication date: 2024-03-28
Also published as: JP2024046006A; JP7281592B1

Abstract

Provided is a base station antenna system that can amplify downlink wireless power transmission dummy signals and communication signals, and uplink communication signals with individual amplifiers suitable for the respective signals. The antenna system comprises: an array antenna having a plurality of antenna elements; and a plurality of wireless signal processing units that are respectively connected to the plurality of antenna elements, amplify a plurality of high-frequency signals of downlink wireless power transmission dummy signals, downlink communication signals, and uplink communication signals by means of different amplifiers, and multiplex and transmit/receive the plurality of high-frequency signals via the antenna elements.

Description

Systems, base stations, wireless processing equipment, and antenna systems for communication and wireless power transmission

The present invention relates to a system, a base station, a wireless processing device, and an antenna system that can perform communication and wireless power transfer (WPT).

Conventionally, a communication system is known that performs communication between a base station and a terminal device using at least part of a plurality of radio resources set in a radio frame (for example, see Patent Document 1).

International Publication No. 2017/164220

In conventional communication systems, as a terminal device that connects to a base station and communicates, there is a portable terminal device that mainly uses power supplied from a built-in battery. This terminal device requires a complicated task of charging the built-in battery when its remaining capacity is low. Further, terminal devices that use power supplied from a wired power line instead of a built-in battery are limited to use in locations where such a power line can be used. In this way, power supply infrastructure that can supply power to various terminal devices that connect to base stations and communicate is not yet developed.

In the 5th generation and subsequent next generation mobile communication systems, it is expected that the number of terminal devices (e.g., user equipment, IoT devices, etc.) that connect to base stations and communicate will rapidly increase, and communication that will handle a huge amount of traffic will be necessary. Infrastructure development is progressing. However, the power supply infrastructure capable of supplying power to the huge number of terminal devices that perform the above communication remains underdeveloped.

A system that performs wireless power transmission (WPT) using a mobile communication base station is being considered as a power supply infrastructure that supplies power to the terminal device. One of the issues with such a system is that the downlink wireless power transmission dummy signal and communication signal to the terminal device and the uplink communication signal from the terminal device are amplified by individual amplifiers suitable for each signal. .

An antenna system according to one aspect of the present invention is an antenna system provided in a base station that can communicate by selectively using a plurality of radio resources. The antenna system includes an array antenna having a plurality of antenna elements, and a dummy signal for downlink wireless power transmission, a downlink communication signal, and an uplink communication signal connected to each of the plurality of antenna elements. A plurality of radio signal processing units that amplify a plurality of high frequency signals with different amplifiers and multiplex and transmit/receive the plurality of high frequency signals via the antenna element are provided.

In the antenna system, each of the plurality of wireless signal processing units includes a first phase shifter for controlling the phase of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission transmitted from the antenna element; a first amplifier that amplifies a dummy signal; a second phase shifter that controls the phase of the downlink communication signal transmitted from the antenna element; and a second amplifier that amplifies the downlink communication signal. , a third amplifier for amplifying the uplink communication signal received via the antenna element, and a third phase shifter for controlling the phase of the uplink communication signal.

In the antenna system, the first amplifier may be a bias adjustment type high efficiency amplifier or a waveform processing type high efficiency amplifier, and the second amplifier is an amplifier that improves efficiency in a linear region. Alternatively, the third amplifier may be a low noise amplifier.

In the antenna system, each of the plurality of radio signal processing units multiplexes the dummy signal for wireless power transmission, the downlink communication signal, and the uplink communication signal using a time division duplex (TDD) method. A multiplexing processing section may be included.

In the antenna system, a frame for wireless power transmission used for the dummy signal for wireless power transmission, a frame for downlink communication used for the downlink communication signal, and an uplink used for the uplink communication signal. A frame for communication is time-divided and allocated to a communication frame, and the multiplexing processing unit synchronizes with the frame for wireless power transmission, the frame for downlink communication, and the frame for uplink communication, Connections between signal processing paths of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission, the downlink communication signal, and the uplink communication signal and the antenna element may be switched.

In the antenna system, each of the plurality of wireless signal processing units multiplexes the dummy signal for wireless power transmission, the downlink communication signal, and the uplink communication signal using a frequency division duplexing (FDD) method. A multiplexing processing section may be included.

In the antenna system, the array antenna may include a wireless power transmission array antenna used to transmit the wireless power transmission dummy signal, and a communication array antenna used to transmit the downlink communication signal and receive the uplink communication signal, and the wireless signal processing units may include a plurality of wireless power transmission wireless signal processing units connected to each of the antenna elements of the wireless power transmission array antenna, amplifying the high-frequency signal of the wireless power transmission dummy signal with a wireless power transmission amplifier and transmitting it via the antenna element, and a plurality of communication wireless signal processing units connected to each of the antenna elements of the communication array antenna, amplifying the high-frequency signals of the downlink communication signal and the uplink communication signal with different amplifiers, and multiplexing and transmitting the high-frequency signals via the antenna elements.

A wireless processing device according to another aspect of the present invention includes any of the antenna systems described above and an input/output signal processing unit connected to the antenna system. The input/output signal processing unit converts a downlink intermediate frequency signal including the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and the downlink communication signal into an intermediate frequency signal of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and the downlink communication. a signal separation unit that separates the signal into an intermediate frequency signal; and a signal separation unit that mixes the intermediate frequency signal of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and a local oscillation signal of a predetermined frequency to generate a high frequency signal of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission. a first mixer that generates a high frequency signal of the downlink communication signal; a second mixer that mixes the intermediate frequency signal of the downlink communication signal and the local oscillation signal to generate a high frequency signal of the downlink communication signal; and a third mixer that mixes the high frequency signal of the communication signal and the local oscillation signal to generate the intermediate frequency signal of the uplink communication signal.

A base station according to still another aspect of the present invention is a base station of a mobile communication system. This base station generates a downlink intermediate frequency signal including the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and the downlink communication signal with the radio processing device, and generates an uplink intermediate frequency signal including the uplink communication signal. and a communication signal processing unit that processes.

In the base station, a remote wireless head device having the wireless processing device; and a communication signal located at a position remote from the remote wireless head device and connected to the remote wireless head device via a wired communication line. The baseband unit device may include a baseband unit device having a processing section.

A system according to yet another aspect of the present invention is a system that performs wireless power transmission from the base station to a terminal device. The terminal device includes a wireless processing unit that receives a transmission signal including the dummy signal for wireless power transmission transmitted from the base station, and a reception signal that receives the transmission signal including the dummy signal for wireless power transmission. It has a power output unit that outputs power as received power.

According to the present invention, it is possible to amplify downlink wireless power transmission dummy signals and communication signals and uplink communication signals with individual amplifiers suitable for each signal.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a base station and a terminal device that constitute the system according to the embodiment. FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of arrangement of symbol points in QAM primary modulation of a communication signal transmitted from a base station according to the embodiment. FIG. 3B is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an arrangement of symbol points in the modulation of a WPT dummy signal transmitted from the base station. 5 is a graph showing an example of input/output power characteristics and efficiency characteristics of an amplifier of a base station according to the present embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an antenna system applicable to a base station according to an embodiment. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a radio signal processing unit that constitutes the antenna system of FIG. 5 . 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a frame structure of a signal transmitted and received by the antenna system of FIG. 5. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration of an antenna system applicable to the base station according to the embodiment. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a radio signal processing unit that constitutes the antenna system of FIG. 8. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an antenna system with a separate antenna configuration applicable to a base station according to an embodiment. FIG. FIG. 11A is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a wireless signal processing unit for wireless power transmission (WPT) and a wireless signal processing unit for communication that configure the antenna system of FIG. 10. FIG. 11B is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a wireless signal processing unit for wireless power transmission (WPT) and a wireless signal processing unit for communication that configure the antenna system of FIG. 10. 11 is a block diagram illustrating another example of the configuration of a wireless signal processing unit for communication that constitutes the antenna system of FIG. 10. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an input/output signal processing unit of a wireless processing device in a base station according to an embodiment. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of power supply to each of a plurality of terminal devices by beamforming from a base station according to an embodiment; FIG.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The system according to the embodiment described in this specification is a system capable of wireless power transmission (WPT) from a mobile communication base station to a terminal device (e.g., a mobile communication UE (mobile station) or an IoT device) to be powered. The system according to the embodiment is a system that effectively utilizes unused wireless resources (resource blocks) that are not used for communication among a plurality of wireless resources (resource blocks) set in a downlink wireless frame to a terminal device such as a UE, for wireless power transmission (WPT) to the terminal device. The system according to the embodiment may be a wireless communication system between a base station and a terminal device having a wireless power transmission (WPT) function from the base station to the terminal device. The system according to the embodiment may also be a wireless power transmission (WPT) system from a base station to a terminal device having a wireless communication function between the base station and the terminal device.

In particular, in the system of this embodiment, the downlink wireless power transmission dummy signal and communication signal transmitted from the base station and the uplink communication signal received at the base station are each transmitted through individual amplifiers suitable for each signal. can be amplified.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a system according to the present embodiment. The system of the present embodiment includes a cellular base station 10 that forms a communication area (cell) 10A, and is capable of wirelessly communicating with the base station 10 by connecting to the base station 10 when located in the communication area 10A. It has a terminal device (hereinafter also referred to as "UE" (user equipment)) 20 to which power is supplied.

The UE 20 may be a mobile station of a mobile communication system, or may be a combination of a communication device (for example, a mobile communication module) and various devices. The UE 20 includes, for example, an array antenna having a plurality of antenna elements. The UE 20 may be an IoT device (also referred to as "IoT equipment").

In FIG. 1, a base station 10 is equipped with a plurality of array antennas 110 having a large number of antenna elements, and can perform communication using a massive MIMO (hereinafter also referred to as "mMIMO") transmission method with a plurality of UEs 20. . mMIMO is a wireless transmission technology that achieves high-capacity, high-speed communication by transmitting and receiving data using the array antenna 110. Furthermore, communication can be performed using an MU (Multi User)-MIMO transmission method that performs beamforming to form beams 10B in time division or simultaneously for each of the plurality of UEs 20. By performing MU-MIMO transmission using a multi-element array antenna, it is possible to direct and communicate an appropriate beam to each UE 20 according to the communication environment of each UE 20, thereby improving the communication quality of the entire cell. Moreover, since communication with a plurality of UEs 20 can be performed using the same radio resource (time/frequency resource), system capacity can be expanded.

Further, in FIG. 1, a part of the communication area 10A is a wireless power transmission area (hereinafter referred to as "WPT area") 10A' where wireless power transmission is performed from the base station 10 to the terminal device 20. The WPT area 10A' may be a smaller area than the communication area 10A as shown in the figure, or may be an area having the same or approximately the same size and position as the communication area 10A.

In the WPT area 10A', unused radio resources (resource blocks) that are not used for communication among resource blocks that are a plurality of radio resources (time/frequency resources) constituting a downlink radio frame from the base station 10 are ) is used as a wireless power transmission block. In the downlink radio frame to the UE 20, the base station 10 transmits a dummy signal for wireless power transmission (hereinafter also referred to as "WPT dummy signal") to a wireless power transmission block (WPT block), which is a wireless resource that is not used for communication. A transmission signal is generated and transmitted to the UE 20.

In particular, in 5th generation or later generation mobile communication systems, a technology called lean carrier has been proposed in which the minimum necessary reference signals (RS) and control signals are placed only on some subcarriers of a radio frame. Therefore, it is expected that wireless power transmission to the UE 20 will be performed by effectively utilizing the unused radio resources in the radio frame.

The radio waves of communication signals transmitted and received between the base station 10 and the UE 20 and the radio waves of the transmission signal to which the WPT dummy signal is assigned are transmitted from the base station 10 to the UE 20, for example, are millimeter waves or microwaves.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the main configurations of the base station 10 and the terminal equipment (UE) 20 that constitute the system according to the embodiment. The base station 10 includes an antenna 110, a communication signal processing unit 120, and a wireless processing device (wireless processing unit) 130.

Note that the base station 10 in FIG. 2 may include a remote radio head device (RRH) having a radio processing device 130 and a baseband unit (BBU) device having a communication signal processing section 120. The baseband unit (BBU) device is located at a remote location from the remote radio head device (RRH) and is connected to the remote radio head device via a wired communication line (for example, an optical line made of optical fiber).

The antenna 110 is, for example, an array antenna having a large number of antenna elements as shown in FIG. The antenna 110 may be singular or plural. For example, a plurality of antennas 110 may be arranged corresponding to a plurality of sector cells.

The communication signal processing unit 120 processes signals such as various user data and control information transmitted and received with the UE 20.

During downlink communication to the UE 20, the communication signal processing unit 120 generates a downlink transmission signal including a WPT dummy signal using an unused radio resource that is not used for communication among a plurality of radio resources. do. For example, the WPT dummy signal can be generated by modulating with a modulation method that has a smaller PAPR (peak power to average power ratio) (also referred to as "wave height ratio") than the communication signal. For example, the WPT dummy signal may be a modulated signal that is modulated using a Zadoff-Chu sequence code and has a constant amplitude and a phase that changes over time. The signal may be a signal modulated at a plurality of symbol points having the maximum amplitude or near the maximum amplitude. For example, the generation of the transmission signal includes primary modulation such as QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) for communication signals and modulation with small PAPR for WPT dummy signals, and secondary modulation such as OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) modulation. But that's fine.

The radio processing device 130 transmits the transmission signal generated by the communication signal processing unit 120 from the antenna 110 to the UE 20, and outputs the reception signal received from the UE 20 via the antenna 110 to the communication signal processing unit 120.

The process of including a WPT dummy signal using unused wireless resources in the downlink communication transmission signal to the UE 20, and the generation of control signals (trigger signals) used for signal separation and signal synthesis, etc. described later, are performed by mobile communication. This may be done based on subframes that constitute the radio frame.

Furthermore, the process of including a WPT dummy signal using unused radio resources in a transmission signal for downlink communication to UE 20 may be performed autonomously by base station 10, or may be performed based on a request or instruction from UE 20 or a request or instruction from an external platform (e.g., a server, a cloud system).

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the wireless processing device 130 controls one or more beams formed by the array antenna 110 based on the BF control signal. Furthermore, the radio processing device 130 transmits a downlink transmission signal including the WPT dummy signal generated by the communication signal processing unit 120 to the UE 20 via the antenna 110.

During downlink communication to the UE 20, the base station 10 performs beamforming (BF) control to form individual beams 10B for each UE 20 or for each UE group in the target area to which a plurality of UEs 20 belong. Wireless power transfer may be performed separately or for each UE group. BF control for each UE 20 or for each UE group may be performed by digital BF control in the frequency domain in the communication signal processing unit 120, or by analog BF control in the radio processing device 130.

In FIG. 2, the radio processing device 130 includes an input/output signal processing section 131, a radio signal processing section (hereinafter also referred to as "RF signal processing section") 132, and an antenna system 133 having an antenna 110.

In FIG. 2, the UE 20 includes an antenna 210, a wireless processing section 220, a communication signal processing section 230, a power output section 240, and a battery 250. Antenna 210 is, for example, a small array antenna having a plurality of antenna elements. The wireless processing unit 220 transmits transmission signals such as feedback information and user data generated by the communication signal processing unit 230 from the antenna 210 to the base station 10, and transmits received signals received from the base station 10 via the antenna 210 to communication. It is also output to the signal processing section 230.

In this embodiment, the wireless processing unit 220 receives a transmission signal including a WPT dummy signal transmitted from the base station 10. Further, the power output unit 240 includes, for example, a rectifier, and outputs the power of the received signal that has received the transmission signal including the WPT dummy signal from the base station 10 as the received power for battery charging. The battery 250 can be charged by the received power output from the power output unit 240.

FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the arrangement of symbol points 41 in QAM primary modulation of a communication signal transmitted from the base station 10 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3A is a diagram of a constellation showing the arrangement of a plurality of symbol points (64-value symbol points) in the case of the 64QAM method. Further, FIG. 3B is an explanatory diagram showing an example of arrangement of symbol points in modulation of the WPT dummy signal transmitted from the base station 10 according to the present embodiment. In FIGS. 3A and 3B, the horizontal axis shows in-phase channel components, and the vertical axis shows orthogonal channel components.

In this embodiment, an OFDM modulated signal with a lower PAPR (peak-to-average power ratio) than the communication signal is used as the WPT dummy signal. For example, in FIG. 3A, a WPT dummy signal may be used that is an OFDM modulated signal modulated only by the outermost or surrounding symbol points 41S with the largest amplitude among the multiple symbol points 41 of the QAM method for the communication signal.

Furthermore, as shown in the constellation diagram of FIG. 3B, a WPT dummy signal may be used that is composed of an OFDM modulated signal modulated at symbol points 42 whose phase changes with the amplitude constant over time. The OFDM modulated signal at symbol point 42 in FIG. 3B can be generated using, for example, a Zadoff-Chu sequence code.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing an example of the characteristics of the output power Pout [dBm] and the amplifier efficiency PAE [%] with respect to the input power Pin [dBm] of the amplifier of the base station 10 according to the present embodiment. Curve A in the figure is a simulation calculation result of input/output characteristics indicating AC output power Pout [dBm] with respect to AC input power Pin [dBm] of the amplifier. In addition, the broken line curves B, C, and D in the figure are indicators of efficiency with respect to the input power Pin [dBm] of the amplifier suitable for uplink (UL) communication signals, downlink (DL) communication signals, and WPT dummy signals, respectively. This is a simulation calculation result of PAE (power added efficiency) [%], which is one of the values. Here, the PAE [%] of the amplifier is defined as (Pout-Pin)/Pdc. Pdc is DC power input (applied) to the amplifier.

In the input/output characteristic A of FIG. 4, a region where the relationship between input power Pin and output power Pout is linear or nearly linear is suitable for low-noise amplification of UL communication signals and power amplification of DL communication signals. In particular, characteristics of an amplifier suitable for amplifying UL communication signals include, for example, high PAPR (peak power to average power ratio), high linearity, wide dynamic range, and low noise. Furthermore, characteristics of a power amplifier suitable for amplifying DL communication signals include, for example, high PAPR, high linearity, and wide dynamic range. Examples of this power amplifier include amplifiers that improve efficiency in a linear region, such as a Doherty amplifier, an envelope tracking amplifier, and an outphasing amplifier.
It is.

Further, the saturation region of the input/output characteristic A in FIG. 4 is a region where the output power Pout is saturated or almost saturated with respect to an increase in the input power Pin. The peak of the efficiency PAE of the power amplifier is located in a region near the boundary between the linear region and the saturation region, and this region is suitable for high output and high efficiency power amplification of the WPT dummy signal. The characteristics of a power amplifier suitable for amplifying a WPT dummy signal include, for example, high efficiency, low PAPR, and large output power. Examples of this power amplifier include bias-adjustable high-efficiency amplifiers such as class A amplifiers, class B amplifiers, class C amplifiers, and class AB amplifiers, or waveform processing amplifiers such as class E amplifiers, class F amplifiers, and class J amplifiers. Examples include high-efficiency amplifiers of the type. As the WPT dummy signal, an OFDM modulated signal whose PAPR (peak power to average power ratio) is lower than that of the communication signal may be used.

In the base station 10 having the above configuration, there is a problem in that it is desired to amplify each of the WPT dummy signal, DL communication signal, and UL communication signal with an amplifier suitable for each signal.

Therefore, in the antenna system 133 of the base station 10 of this embodiment, a plurality of signal processing paths corresponding to the WPT dummy signal, DL communication signal, and UL communication signal are configured, and each signal is A suitable separate amplifier is provided.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the antenna system 133 applicable to the base station 10 according to the embodiment. In FIG. 5, the antenna system 133 includes an array antenna 110 consisting of a plurality (N) of antenna elements 1101(1) to 1101(N), and a TDD (time division duplex) type RF connected to the array antenna 110. A signal processing section 132 is provided.

The RF signal processing unit 132 includes a plurality of (N) radio signal processing units (hereinafter referred to as “RF signal 1320(1) to 1320(N). Each of the plurality of RF signal processing units 1320(1) to 1320(N) is connected to a corresponding antenna element 1101(1) to 1101(N), and processes downlink WPT dummy signals and DL communication signals as well as uplink UL. A WPT dummy RF signal, a DL communication RF signal, and a UL communication RF signal, which are high-frequency transmission signals of communication signals, are amplified by a plurality of different amplifiers and multiplexed using a TDD (time division duplex) method. In addition, the RF signal processing units 1320(1) to 1320(N) each control the phase of the WPT dummy RF signal, the DL communication RF signal, and the UL communication RF signal to a predetermined phase, thereby controlling the antenna element 1101(1). -1101(N) to transmit and receive each signal by performing beamforming control.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an RF signal processing unit 1320 constituting the antenna system 133 of FIG. 5. Note that since the multiple RF signal processing units 1320(1) to 1320(N) have similar configurations, FIG. 6 describes one RF signal processing unit 1320 with the identification number in parentheses omitted.

In FIG. 6, the RF signal processing unit 1320 includes a first phase shifter 1321W for controlling the phase of the WPT dummy RF signal transmitted from the antenna element 1101, and a first amplifier (power amplifier) for amplifying the WPT dummy RF signal. ) 1322W. Furthermore, the RF signal processing unit 1320 includes a second phase shifter 1321D for controlling the phase of the DL communication RF signal transmitted from the antenna element 1101, and a second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D for amplifying the DL communication RF signal. , a third amplifier (low noise amplifier) 1322U that amplifies the UL communication RF signal received via the antenna element 1101, and a third phase shifter 1321U that controls the phase of the UL communication RF signal.

Further, the RF signal processing unit 1320 includes a signal changeover switch 1323 as a multiplexing processing section that multiplexes the WPT dummy RF signal, the DL communication RF signal, and the UL communication RF signal using a time division duplex (TDD) method. The signal changeover switch 1323 switches the connections between the signal processing paths of the WPT dummy RF signal, the DL communication RF signal, and the UL communication RF signal and the antenna element 1101 based on a predetermined control signal. The control signal may be generated, for example, in the communication signal processing unit 120 based on predetermined baseband scheduling information.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the frame structure of the WPT dummy signal, DL communication signal, and UL communication signal transmitted and received by the antenna system 133 of FIG. 5. The periods marked “WPT”, “DL”, and “UL” in FIG. 7 are the periods during which a WPT dummy signal is transmitted, which is assigned to the frame 30 of wireless communication between the base station 10 and the terminal device 20. 32, a DL communication frame 31D for transmitting a DL communication signal, and a UL communication frame 31U for receiving a UL communication signal. Furthermore, the hatched period in FIG. 7 is a guard period in which no signal is transmitted or received.

As shown in FIG. 7, the signal changeover switch 1323 switches each of the WPT dummy RF signal, DL communication RF signal, and UL communication RF signal in synchronization with the WPT frame 32, DL communication frame 31D, and UL communication frame 31U. The connection between the antenna element 1101 and three signal processing paths via the

amplifiers

1322W, 1322D, and 1322U may be switched. For example, by switching the signal processing path of the signal changeover switch 1323, the WPT dummy RF signal output from the first amplifier (power amplifier) 1322W during the WPT frame 32 is supplied to the antenna element 1101. Further, the DL communication RF signal output from the second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D during the period of the DL communication frame 31D is supplied to the antenna element 1101, and the UL communication RF signal output from the antenna element 1101 during the period of the UL communication frame 31U. The communication RF signal is provided to a third amplifier (low noise amplifier) 1322U.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration of the antenna system 133 applicable to the base station 10 according to the embodiment. In FIG. 8, the antenna system 133 includes an array antenna 110 consisting of a plurality (N) of antenna elements 1101(1) to 1101(N), and an FDD (frequency division duplex) type RF connected to the array antenna 110. A signal processing section 132 is provided.

The RF signal processing unit 132 includes a plurality of (N) radio signal processing units (RF signal processing units) corresponding one-to-one to the plurality (N) of antenna elements 1101(1) to 1101(N) of the array antenna 110. ) 1325(1) to 1325(N). Each of the plurality of RF signal processing units 1325(1) to 1325(N) is connected to a corresponding antenna element 1101(1) to 1101(N), and receives a WPT dummy RF signal, a DL communication RF signal, and a UL communication RF signal. It is amplified by a plurality of different amplifiers and multiplexed using FDD (frequency division duplexing). Furthermore, the RF signal processing units 1325(1) to 1325(N) each control the phase of the WPT dummy RF signal, the DL communication RF signal, and the UL communication RF signal to a predetermined phase, thereby controlling the antenna element 1101(1). -1101(N) to transmit and receive each signal by performing beamforming control.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the RF signal processing unit 1325 that constitutes the antenna system 133 in FIG. 8. Note that since the plurality of RF signal processing units 1325(1) to 1325(N) have similar configurations, one RF signal processing unit 1325 will be described in FIG. 9, with the identification number in parentheses omitted.

In FIG. 9, the RF signal processing unit 1325 includes a first phase shifter 1321W for controlling the phase of the WPT dummy RF signal transmitted from the antenna element 1101, and a first amplifier (power amplifier) for amplifying the WPT dummy RF signal. ) 1322W. Furthermore, the RF signal processing unit 1325 includes a second phase shifter 1321D for controlling the phase of the DL communication RF signal transmitted from the antenna element 1101, and a second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D for amplifying the DL communication RF signal. , a third amplifier (low noise amplifier) 1322U that amplifies the UL communication RF signal received via the antenna element 1101, and a third phase shifter 1321U that controls the phase of the UL communication RF signal.

The RF signal processing unit 1325 also uses an antenna duplexer (DUP) as a multiplexing processing unit that multiplexes WPT dummy RF signals, DL communication RF signals, and UL communication RF signals using a frequency division duplexing (FDD) method. 1326.

The antenna duplexer 1326 includes, for example, a transmission filter 1327W connected to the output terminal of the first amplifier (power amplifier) 1322W, a transmission filter 1327D connected to the output terminal of the second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D, and a third transmission filter 1327W connected to the output terminal of the second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D. It has a receiving filter 1327U connected to the input end of an amplifier (low noise amplifier) 1322U. The transmission filter 1327W is a bandpass filter (BPF) whose passband is the frequency Fw of the WPT dummy RF signal and whose stopband is the frequency Fu of the UL communication RF signal. The transmission filter 1327D is a bandpass filter (BPF) whose passband is the frequency Fd of the DL communication RF signal and whose stopband is the frequency Fu of the UL communication RF signal. The reception filter 1327U is a bandpass filter (BPF) whose passband is the frequency Fu of the UL communication RF signal and whose stopband is the frequencies Fw and Fd of the WPT dummy RF signal and the DL communication RF signal. Output ends of

transmission filters

1327W, 1327D and input end of reception filter 1327U of antenna duplexer 1326 are connected to antenna element 1101 via a phase shifter.

In the antenna duplexer 1326, the WPT dummy RF signal of frequency Fw output from the first amplifier (power amplifier) 1322W and the DL communication RF signal of frequency Fd output from the second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D are combined and sent to the antenna. The signal is supplied to element 1101. Further, the UL communication RF signal of frequency Fu output from antenna element 1101 is supplied to third amplifier (low noise amplifier) 1322U.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an antenna system 133 with a separate antenna configuration applicable to the base station 10 according to the embodiment. In the configuration example of FIG. 10, the array antenna 110 described above includes an array antenna for wireless power transmission (WPT) (hereinafter also referred to as "WPT array antenna") 110W and an array antenna for communication (hereinafter also referred to as "communication array antenna"). ) 110C is separately provided. The antenna system 133 includes a WPT array antenna 110W including a plurality of (Nw) antenna elements 1101W(1) to 1101W(Nw), and an RF signal processing unit for wireless power transmission (WPT) connected to the WPT array antenna 110W. 132W, a communication array antenna 110C including a plurality of (Nc) antenna elements 1101C(1) to 1101C(Nc), and a communication RF signal processing unit 132C connected to the communication array antenna 110C.

The RF signal processing unit 132W for wireless power transmission (WPT) has a plurality of (Nw) radio signals corresponding one-to-one to the plurality (Nw) of antenna elements 1101W(1) to 1101W(Nw) of the array antenna 110. It has a signal processing unit (hereinafter also referred to as "WPT dummy RF signal processing unit") 1320W (1) to 1320W (Nw). A plurality of WPT dummy RF signal processing units 1320W(1) to 1320(Nw) are connected to corresponding antenna elements 1101W(1) to 1101W(Nw), respectively. In addition, the WPT dummy RF signal processing units 1320W(1) to 1320W(Nw) each control the phase of the WPT dummy RF signal to a predetermined phase, thereby transmitting the signal via the antenna elements 1101W(1) to 1101W(Nw). A WPT dummy RF signal is transmitted by performing beamforming control.

The communication RF signal processing unit 132C includes a plurality of (Nc) radio signal processing units (Nc) corresponding one-to-one to the plurality (Nc) of antenna elements 1101C(1) to 1101C(Nc) of the communication array antenna 110C. (hereinafter also referred to as "communication RF signal processing unit") 1320C(1) to 1320C(Nc). The plurality of communication RF signal processing units 1320C(1) to 1320C(Nc) are respectively connected to the corresponding antenna elements 1101C(1) to 1101C(Nc), and transmit downlink DL communication RF signals and UL communication RF signals to each other. The signal is amplified by a plurality of different amplifiers and multiplexed using a TDD (time division duplex) method or an FDD (frequency division duplex) method. Furthermore, the communication RF signal processing units 1320C(1) to 1320C(Nc) control the phases of the DL communication RF signal and the UL communication RF signal to predetermined phases, thereby controlling the antenna elements 1101C(1) to 1101C(Nc), respectively. ) to perform beamforming control to transmit and receive each signal.

11A and 11B are block diagrams showing an example of the configuration of an RF signal processing unit 1320W for wireless power transmission (WPT) and an RF signal processing unit 1320C for communication, respectively, which constitute the antenna system 133 of FIG. 10. Note that the plurality of WPT dummy RF signal processing units 1320W and communication RF signal processing units 1320C each have the same configuration, so in FIGS. I will explain about it.

In FIG. 11A, the WPT dummy RF signal processing unit 1320W includes a first phase shifter 1321W for controlling the phase of the WPT dummy RF signal transmitted from the antenna element 1101W of the WPT array antenna 110W, and a first phase shifter 1321W for amplifying the WPT dummy RF signal. A first amplifier (power amplifier) 1322W is provided.

In FIG. 11B, the communication RF signal processing unit 1320C includes a second phase shifter 1321D for controlling the phase of the DL communication RF signal transmitted from the antenna element 1101C, and a second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D, a third amplifier (low noise amplifier) 1322U for amplifying the UL communication RF signal received via the antenna element 1101C, and a third phase shifter 1321U for controlling the phase of the UL communication RF signal. Equipped with.

Furthermore, the communication RF signal processing unit 1320C includes a signal changeover switch 1328 as a multiplexing processing unit that multiplexes the DL communication RF signal and the UL communication RF signal using a time division duplex (TDD) method. The signal changeover switch 1328 switches the connection between the signal processing paths of the DL communication RF signal and the UL communication RF signal and the antenna element 1101C based on a predetermined control signal. The control signal may be generated, for example, in the communication signal processing unit 120 based on predetermined baseband scheduling information.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration of the communication RF signal processing unit 1320C that constitutes the antenna system 133 in FIG. 10. In addition, in FIG. 12, the communication RF signal processing unit 1320C will be described with the identification numbers in parentheses omitted. Further, in FIG. 12, description of parts similar to the configuration of FIG. 9 described above will be omitted.

In FIG. 12, the communication RF signal processing unit 1320C includes a second phase shifter 1321D for controlling the phase of the DL communication RF signal transmitted from the antenna element 1101C, and a second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D, a third amplifier (low noise amplifier) 1322U for amplifying the UL communication RF signal received via the antenna element 1101C, and a third phase shifter 1321U for controlling the phase of the UL communication RF signal. Equipped with

Furthermore, the communication RF signal processing unit 1320C includes an antenna duplexer (DUP) 1329 as a multiplexing processing unit that multiplexes the DL communication RF signal and the UL communication RF signal using a frequency division duplexing (FDD) method. In the antenna duplexer 1329, the DL communication RF signal of frequency Fd output from the second amplifier (power amplifier) 1322D is supplied to the antenna element 1101C, and the UL communication RF signal of frequency Fu output from the antenna element 1101C is supplied to the antenna element 1101C. 3 amplifier (low noise amplifier) 1322U.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the input/output signal processing unit 131 of the wireless processing device (wireless processing unit) 130 in the base station 10 according to the embodiment. In FIG. 13, the input/output signal processing section 131 includes a signal separation section 1311, a first mixer 1312, a second mixer 1313, a third mixer 1314, and a local oscillator 1315.

The signal separation unit 1311 converts the downlink intermediate frequency signal (baseband signal) output from the communication signal processing unit 120 into an intermediate frequency signal of the WPT dummy signal (WPT-IT) and an intermediate frequency signal of the DL communication signal (DL -IF). The first mixer 1312 mixes the intermediate frequency signal (WPT-IT) of the WPT dummy signal and the local oscillation signal (LO) of a predetermined frequency output from the local oscillator 1315 to generate a WPT dummy RF signal, and RF The signal is output to the signal processing section 132. The second mixer 1313 mixes the intermediate frequency signal (DL-IF) of the DL communication signal and the local oscillation signal (LO) of a predetermined frequency output from the local oscillator 1315 to generate a DL communication RF signal, and RF The signal is output to the signal processing section 132. The third mixer 1314 mixes the UL communication RF signal input from the RF signal processing unit 132 and the local oscillation signal (LO) of a predetermined frequency output from the local oscillator 1315 to generate an intermediate frequency signal (LO) of the UL communication signal. UL-IF) and outputs it to the communication signal processing section 120.

According to the system shown in FIGS. 1 to 13 having the above configuration, in downlink communication from the base station 10 to the UE 20, unused radio resources are effectively used as wireless power transfer blocks (WPT blocks), and from the base station 10 to the UE 20. Wireless power transfer (WPT) to the UE 20 can be performed. Further, the downlink WPT dummy signal and DL communication signal transmitted from the base station 10 and the uplink UL communication signal received at the base station 10 can be amplified by individual amplifiers suitable for each signal. .

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of power supply to each UE by beamforming from a base station 10 to multiple UEs 20 according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, multiple UEs 20(1) to 20(3) are present in a WPT area 10A' (see FIG. 1 above) within a communication area 10A, and power may be supplied to each UE 20(1) to 20(3) via beams 10B(1) to 10B(3) formed for each UE. Beams 10B(1) to 10B(3) may be formed by switching in a time division manner, for example.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the downlink WPT dummy signal and DL communication signal transmitted from the base station 10 and the uplink UL communication signal received at the base station 10 are individually It can be amplified with an amplifier.

Further, according to the present embodiment, by using a WPT dummy signal having a PAPR lower than that of the communication signal, the base station 10 uses a low output power with a high margin to prevent the generation of spurious signals for the communication signal. In addition to being able to amplify the WPT dummy signal within a certain range, it is also possible to increase the output and efficiency of the power amplifier when amplifying the WPT dummy signal.

Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, power can be supplied to the terminal device 20 by using wireless resources that are not used for communication between the base station 10 and the terminal device 20.

Furthermore, the present invention can provide a power supply infrastructure capable of supplying power to a large number of terminal devices 20 that can receive radio waves transmitted from the base station 10, so that Goal 9 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) We can contribute to the achievement of "Let's create a foundation for industry and technological innovation."

Note that the processing steps and components of the system, wireless processing device, terminal device (UE, IoT device), base station, mobile station, relay device, and control device described in this specification can be implemented by various means. Can be done. For example, these steps and components may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof.

Regarding hardware implementation, in order to realize the above steps and components in entities (e.g., various wireless communication devices, base station devices (Node B, Node G), terminal devices, hard disk drive devices, or optical disk drive devices) The processing unit or other means used may be one or more of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a digital signal processor (DSPD), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field programmable a gate array (FPGA), processor, controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, electronic device, other electronic unit, computer, or combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein; It may be implemented inside.

Additionally, for firmware and/or software implementations, the means used to implement the components described above, such as processing units, may include programs (e.g., procedures, functions, modules, instructions) that perform the functions described herein. , etc.). In general, any computer/processor readable medium tangibly embodying firmware and/or software code, such as a processing unit, may be used to implement the above steps and components described herein. It may be used for implementation. For example, the firmware and/or software code may be stored in memory and executed by a computer or processor, eg, in a controller. The memory may be implemented within the computer or processor, or external to the processor. The firmware and/or software code may also be stored in, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), etc. ), flash memory, floppy disks, compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs), magnetic or optical data storage devices, etc. good. The code may be executed by one or more computers or processors and may cause the computers or processors to perform certain aspects of the functionality described herein.

Additionally, the medium may be a non-temporary recording medium. Further, the code of the program may be read and executed by a computer, processor, or other device or apparatus, and its format is not limited to a specific format. For example, the code of the program may be a source code, an object code, or a binary code, or may be a mixture of two or more of these codes.

The description of the embodiments disclosed herein is also provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Therefore, this disclosure is not to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

10: Base station 10A: Communication area 10A': WPT area 10B: Beam 20: Terminal device 30: Frame 31D: DL communication frame 31U: UL communication frame 32: WPT frame 110: Antenna 110: Array antenna 110C: Communication array antenna 110W: WPT array antenna 120: Communication signal processing unit 130: Radio processing device (radio processing unit)
131: Input/Output signal processing unit 132: RF signal processing unit 132C: RF signal processing unit for communication 132W: RF signal processing unit for wireless power transmission (WPT) 133: Antenna system 1101: Antenna element 1311: Signal separation unit 1312: First mixer 1313: Second mixer 1314: Third mixer 1315: Local oscillator 1320: RF signal processing unit 1320C: Communication RF signal processing unit 1320W: WPT dummy RF signal processing unit 1321D: Second phase shifter 1321U: Third phase shifter 1321W: First phase shifter 1322D: Second amplifier (power amplifier)
1322U: Third amplifier (low noise amplifier)
1322W: First amplifier (power amplifier)
1323: signal changeover switch 1325: RF signal processing unit 1326: antenna duplexer 1327D: transmission filter 1327U: reception filter 1327W: transmission filter 1328: signal changeover switch 1329: antenna duplexer

Claims

An antenna system provided in a base station capable of communicating by selectively using a plurality of radio resources, the antenna system comprising:
an array antenna having a plurality of antenna elements;
A plurality of high frequency signals connected to each of the plurality of antenna elements, a dummy signal for downlink wireless power transmission, a downlink communication signal, and an uplink communication signal are amplified by different amplifiers, and the antenna element is a plurality of wireless signal processing units that multiplex and transmit/receive the plurality of high frequency signals via the plurality of radio frequency signals;
An antenna system comprising:
The antenna system of claim 1,
Each of the plurality of wireless signal processing units includes:
a first phase shifter for controlling the phase of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission transmitted from the antenna element;
a first amplifier that amplifies the dummy signal for wireless power transmission;
a second phase shifter for controlling the phase of the downlink communication signal transmitted from the antenna element;
a second amplifier that amplifies the downlink communication signal;
a third amplifier that amplifies the uplink communication signal received via the antenna element;
a third phase shifter for controlling the phase of the uplink communication signal;
An antenna system comprising:
The antenna system of claim 2,
The first amplifier is a bias adjustment type high efficiency amplifier or a waveform processing type high efficiency amplifier,
The second amplifier is an amplifier that improves efficiency in a linear region,
the third amplifier is a low noise amplifier;
An antenna system characterized by:
The antenna system of claim 1,
Each of the plurality of wireless signal processing units includes a multiplexing processing section that multiplexes the dummy signal for wireless power transmission, the downlink communication signal, and the uplink communication signal using a time division duplex (TDD) method. An antenna system comprising:
The antenna system of claim 4,
A wireless power transmission frame used for the dummy signal for wireless power transmission, a downlink communication frame used for the downlink communication signal, and an uplink communication frame used for the uplink communication signal. time-divided and allocated to communication frames,
The multiplexing processing unit generates the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and the downlink communication signal in synchronization with the frame for wireless power transmission, the frame for downlink communication, and the frame for uplink communication. and switching the connection between the signal processing path of each of the uplink communication signals and the antenna element,
An antenna system characterized by:
The antenna system of claim 1,
Each of the plurality of wireless signal processing units includes a multiplexing processing section that multiplexes the dummy signal for wireless power transmission, the downlink communication signal, and the uplink communication signal using a frequency division duplexing (FDD) method. An antenna system comprising:
The antenna system of claim 1,
The array antenna is
an array antenna for wireless power transmission used for transmitting the dummy signal for wireless power transmission;
a communication array antenna used for transmitting the downlink communication signal and receiving the uplink communication signal,
The plurality of wireless signal processing units are
A plurality of antenna elements connected to each of the plurality of antenna elements of the array antenna for wireless power transmission, amplifying a high frequency signal of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission with an amplifier for wireless power transmission, and transmitting the amplified signal through the antenna element. a wireless signal processing unit for wireless power transmission;
connected to each of a plurality of antenna elements of the communication array antenna, a plurality of high frequency signals of the downlink communication signal and the uplink communication signal are amplified by mutually different amplifiers, and the high frequency signals of the downlink communication signal and the uplink communication signal are amplified by different amplifiers, a plurality of wireless signal processing units for communication that multiplex and transmit/receive a plurality of high frequency signals;
An antenna system characterized by:
A wireless processing device comprising the antenna system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 and an input/output signal processing unit connected to the antenna system,
The input/output signal processing section is
Separating the downlink intermediate frequency signal including the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and the downlink communication signal into an intermediate frequency signal of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and an intermediate frequency signal of the downlink communication signal. a signal separation unit that
a first mixer that mixes an intermediate frequency signal of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and a local oscillation signal of a predetermined frequency to generate a high frequency signal of the dummy signal for wireless power transmission;
a second mixer that mixes the intermediate frequency signal of the downlink communication signal and the local oscillation signal to generate a high frequency signal of the downlink communication signal;
a third mixer that mixes the high frequency signal of the uplink communication signal and the local oscillation signal to generate an intermediate frequency signal of the uplink communication signal;
A wireless processing device comprising:
A base station for a mobile communication system,
The wireless processing device according to claim 6, generating a downlink intermediate frequency signal including the dummy signal for wireless power transmission and the downlink communication signal, and processing the uplink intermediate frequency signal including the uplink communication signal. A base station comprising: a communication signal processing unit that performs a communication signal processing unit.
The base station according to claim 9,
a remote wireless head device having the wireless processing device;
a baseband unit device having the communication signal processing section, the baseband unit device being disposed at a position remote from the remote wireless head device and connected to the remote wireless head device via a wired communication line;
Equipped with
A base station characterized by:
A system for wireless power transmission from a base station to a terminal device according to claim 9,
The terminal device includes a wireless processing unit that receives a transmission signal including the dummy signal for wireless power transmission transmitted from the base station, and a reception signal that receives the transmission signal including the dummy signal for wireless power transmission. a power output unit that outputs power as received power;
A system characterized by: