CN104092027B - A kind of active integrated antenna based on vector modulator Up/Down Conversion module - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an active integrated antenna based on a vector modulator up-down conversion module, including a local oscillator module, a radio frequency transceiver module, an antenna unit, a power supply and a control module, and a vector modulator up-down conversion module is arranged in the radio frequency transceiver module; The local oscillator module is connected to the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator through the A power divider, and the RF transceiver module is connected through the power divider/combiner; the amplitude and phase modulation of the corresponding radio frequency channel is completed through the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator; the power supply and The control module supplies power and controls the entire active integrated antenna. Different from the active integrated antenna proposed in the past, the amplitude and phase modulation functions of the active integrated antenna in the present invention are completed by the up-down frequency conversion module of the vector modulator. The frequency range of the amplitude-phase modulation is effectively extended, and the implementation cost is low, and the radiation intensity and coverage can be adjusted.

Description

An active integrated antenna based on a vector modulator up-down conversion module

technical field

The invention relates to an active integrated antenna based on a vector modulator up-down conversion module, which belongs to the communication technology.

Background technique

With the rapid development of mobile communication technology, active integrated antennas emerged as one of the evolution directions of base stations. However, the concept of active integrated antennas is not achieved overnight. Its generation is related to phased array technology and microwave integrated circuit technology. And the development of wireless communication and signal processing technology is inseparable, and it is the product of the comprehensive development of these technologies. Base stations based on active integrated antennas have obvious advantages over traditional base stations. First of all, the active integrated antenna integrates RRH (RemoteRadioUnit) and RET (Remote Electrical Tilt), which significantly reduces the occupied antenna resources. With the broadbandization of antennas and radio frequency devices, active antennas that support multiple standards will be further developed. Save space resources. Secondly, the active integrated antenna reduces the power loss of the RF feeder cable due to the omission of the feeder connecting the RRH and RET to the antenna. At the same time, the direct integration of the RF part and the antenna enables heat to be distributed in the antenna structure with a large surface area. And natural heat dissipation can effectively realize the high efficiency and energy saving of the base station. Finally, the active integrated antenna generally adopts a distributed multi-channel design structure, which has a certain self-healing ability. When some elements of the system fail, the amplitude and phase of the remaining elements can be adjusted to compensate for the beam elevation angle error and gain. It is worth mentioning that the flexible electronic downtilt and beamforming technology of the active integrated antenna can realize vertical multi-sector, and the system capacity and coverage can be significantly improved through further network optimization and adjustment. Therefore, the active integrated antenna occupies an important position in the construction of a new generation of broadband mobile communication network.

As one of the key technologies of active integrated antennas, the architecture of beamforming will directly affect the overall complexity, flexibility and performance of active integrated antennas. Therefore, the architecture design has naturally become a key research object. According to the location where the beamforming function is implemented, the beamforming architecture can be divided into radio frequency beamforming, local oscillator beamforming, baseband beamforming, and digital domain beamforming. The local oscillator beamforming requires a huge local oscillator power distribution network, and its phase noise requirements on the local oscillator signal are often extremely high, because the phase noise performance of the local oscillator will be directly brought into the radio frequency signal. In the digital domain beamforming architecture, the I/Q imbalance has a great impact on its performance, and when the structure is applied in the high frequency band, the demand for low power consumption, high precision and high speed ADC becomes its bottleneck. The architecture of radio frequency beamforming has a good application prospect because of the advantages of using the least components, eliminating the need for a huge power division structure, simple and compact board layout, and easy to filter out spurious interference. However, the design of phase shifters is extremely challenging in an architecture where beamforming is implemented at radio frequencies. In a low frequency band such as 700MHz to 5GHz, a phase shifter with a real-time phase delay (Truetimedelay) often needs to occupy a large area due to its large electrical size, and its phase shifting accuracy is poor. The active phase shifter can have a smaller package and higher phase shifting accuracy, but its supported frequency range is very limited, such as the vector modulator chip AD8340 provided by the famous American Analog Devices (ADI) operating frequency The operating frequency of AD8341 is 1.5GHz to 2.4GHz; the operating frequency of HMC630 provided by Hittite is 700MHz to 1GHz, and the operating frequency of HMC500 is 1.8GHz to 2.2GHz

Contents of the invention

Purpose of the invention: In order to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention provides an active integrated antenna based on a vector modulator up-down conversion module, which is applicable to various operating frequency ranges, and has high efficiency and low cost.

Technical scheme: in order to achieve the above object, the technical scheme adopted in the present invention is:

An active integrated antenna based on a vector modulator up and down frequency conversion module, including a local oscillator module, a radio frequency transceiver module, an antenna unit, a power supply and a control module, and a vector modulator up and down frequency conversion module is arranged in the radio frequency transceiver module; the local oscillator module passes through A power divider is connected to the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator, and the radio frequency transceiver module is connected through a power divider/combiner; each radio frequency transceiver module is equipped with an antenna unit, and all radio frequency transceiver modules and corresponding antenna units form an antenna array ; The amplitude and phase modulation of the corresponding radio frequency channel is completed through the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator; the power supply and control module supplies power to and controls the entire active integrated antenna.

Preferably, the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator includes an A mixer, an intermediate frequency filter, an intermediate frequency amplifier, a vector modulator, a B mixer, an A intermediate frequency amplifier, a B intermediate frequency amplifier, and a B power divider; The local oscillator signals generated by the A power divider are respectively connected to the B power divider of the up-down conversion module of each vector modulator, and then divided into two paths through the B power divider, and one path is connected to the A mixer through the A intermediate frequency amplifier The local oscillator port of the mixer, and the other channel is connected to the local oscillator port of the B mixer through the B IF amplifier. After the IF port of the A mixer passes through the IF filter, IF amplifier and vector The IF port is connected;

The radio frequency transceiver module includes a radio frequency switch A, a power amplifier, a radio frequency filter A, a radio frequency switch B, a radio frequency filter B, a radio frequency switch C, a vector modulator up-conversion module, a radio frequency switch D, a radio frequency filter C and a low noise amplifier ; The transmitting port of the A radio frequency switch is connected to the transmitting port of the B radio frequency switch through the power amplifier and the A radio frequency filter in turn; the receiving port of the B radio frequency switch is connected to the receiving port of the C radio frequency switch after passing through the B radio frequency filter; The transmitting port of the radio frequency switch is connected to the transmitting port of the radio frequency switch D; the receiving port of the radio frequency switch D is connected to the receiving port of the radio frequency switch A after passing through the radio frequency filter C and the low noise amplifier in turn;

The radio frequency port of the A mixer is connected to the common port of the D radio frequency switch, the radio frequency port of the B mixer is connected to the common port of the B radio frequency switch, the common port of the A radio frequency switch is connected to the antenna unit, and the common port of the C radio frequency switch The port is connected to the power splitter/combiner.

Beneficial effects: The active integrated antenna based on the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator provided by the present invention has the following advantages:

(1) The present invention has a wider frequency application range. Although the operating frequency range of a single vector modulator is very limited, the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator used in the present invention can first change the radio frequency frequency to be applied to the operating frequency of the vector modulator, that is, the intermediate frequency frequency, by means of up-down conversion. After the amplitude and phase modulation operations are completed on the intermediate frequency, it is changed back to the radio frequency. Therefore, the module can effectively expand the operating frequency range of the vector modulator. Therefore, the present invention is based on a vector modulator up and down conversion module. The source integrated antenna can have a wide range of frequency applications.

(2) The up-down conversion module of the vector modulator in the present invention effectively expands the operating frequency range of the vector modulator without affecting the phase noise performance of the radio frequency signal. The double frequency conversion technology adopted by the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator cancels the influence of the phase noise of the local oscillator signal on the phase noise of the radio frequency signal, so the phase noise performance of the radio frequency signal will not be affected.

(3) The present invention has compact layout and low cost. The present invention adopts radio frequency to realize the phase-shifting structure, requires the least components and power dividing network, and the vector modulator can simultaneously complete amplitude modulation and phase modulation, and is more compact than the traditional attenuator + phase shifter structure. The up-down conversion module of the vector modulator in the present invention can offset the influence of the phase noise of the local oscillator on the system performance, so a local oscillator solution with low cost and poor performance can be adopted.

(4) The present invention has the advantages of the active integrated antenna. The active integrated antenna has an antenna feed efficiency of up to 80%-90%, which can effectively realize beam pointing configuration and ±40° range scanning, and can adjust the radiation intensity and coverage, and also has a certain self-healing ability. The present invention also has the above advantages.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the overall structure schematic diagram of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator;

Fig. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of a radio frequency transceiver module;

Fig. 4 is the phase noise of local oscillator signal in the implementation example;

Fig. 5 is the phase noise of receiving link input radio frequency signal in the implementation example;

Fig. 6 is the phase noise of the output radio frequency signal of the receiving link in the implementation example;

Fig. 7 is the beam scanning test result in the vertical plane of the implementation example.

detailed description

The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Figure 1, it is an active integrated antenna based on a vector modulator up-down conversion module, including a local oscillator module 4, a radio frequency transceiver module 1, an antenna unit 2 and a power supply and a control module 3, and the radio frequency transceiver module 1 is provided with Vector modulator up-down conversion module 17; local oscillator module 4 is connected with vector modulator up-down conversion module 17 through A power divider 6, and radio frequency transceiver module 1 is connected through power divider/combiner 5; each radio frequency transceiver module 1 An antenna unit 2 is provided, and all radio frequency transceiver modules 1 and corresponding antenna units 2 form an antenna array; the amplitude and phase modulation of the corresponding radio frequency channel is completed through the vector modulator up-down conversion module 17; the power supply and control module 3 is the whole active The integrated antenna is powered and controlled.

As shown in Figure 2, the vector modulator up-down conversion module 17 includes an A mixer 171, an intermediate frequency filter 172, an intermediate frequency amplifier 173, a vector modulator 174, a B mixer 175, an A intermediate frequency amplifier 177, and a B intermediate frequency amplifier 178 and B power divider 179; each local oscillator signal 176 produced by the local oscillator module 4 through the A power divider 6 is respectively connected to the B power divider 179 of each vector modulator up-down conversion module 17, and then through the B power divider Divider 179 is divided into two paths, one path is connected to the local oscillator port of A mixer 171 through A intermediate frequency amplifier 177, and the other path is connected to the local oscillator port of B mixer 175 through B intermediate frequency amplifier 178, and A mixer 171 The intermediate frequency port of B is connected to the intermediate frequency port of the B mixer 175 after passing through the intermediate frequency filter 172, the intermediate frequency amplifier 173 and the vector modulator 174 in sequence.

As shown in Figure 3, the radio frequency transceiver module 1 includes an A radio frequency switch 11, a power amplifier 12, an A radio frequency filter 13, a B radio frequency switch 14, a B radio frequency filter 15, a C radio frequency switch 16, and a vector modulator up-down conversion module 17, D radio frequency switch 18, C radio frequency filter 19 and low noise amplifier 110; After the transmitting port of A radio frequency switch 11 passes through power amplifier 12 and A radio frequency filter 13 successively, be connected with the transmitting port of B radio frequency switch 14; B radio frequency The receiving port of switch 14 is connected with the receiving port of C radio frequency switch 16 after passing through B radio frequency filter 15; The transmitting port of C radio frequency switch 16 is connected with the transmitting port of D radio frequency switch 18; After the radio frequency filter 19 and the low noise amplifier 110, it is connected with the receiving port of the radio frequency switch 11 of A.

As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, the radio frequency port of the A mixer 171 is connected with the common port of the D radio frequency switch 18, the radio frequency port of the B mixer 175 is connected with the common port of the B radio frequency switch 14, and the A radio frequency switch The common port of 11 is connected to the antenna unit 2, and the common port of C radio frequency switch 16 is connected to the power divider/combiner 5.

The circuit function of this case can be described by two working states of transmitting and receiving, which will be described in detail below.

When the active integrated antenna works in the receiving state, A radio frequency switch 11, B radio frequency switch 14, C radio frequency switch 16 and D radio frequency switch 18 are switched to the receiving port, and the antenna unit 2 converts the received electromagnetic wave signal into a radio frequency signal After the radio frequency signal is amplified by the A radio frequency switch 11 in the radio frequency transceiver module 1 to the low noise amplifier 110 and the C radio frequency filter 19 filters out the out-of-band interference, it enters the vector modulator up-down conversion module 17; at this time, the radio frequency signal first The frequency is down-mixed by the A mixer 171 to the working frequency range of the vector modulator 174, the out-of-band interference is filtered out by the intermediate frequency filter 172 and amplified by the intermediate frequency amplifier 173, and amplitude and phase modulation are performed by the vector modulator 174, and then The B mixer 175 up-mixes to the original radio frequency, and the B radio frequency filter 15 filters out the out-of-band interference, and finally the received signals of each channel are combined in the power divider/combiner 5 .

When the active integrated antenna works in the transmitting state, the A radio frequency switch 11, the B radio frequency switch 14, the C radio frequency switch 16 and the D radio frequency switch 18 are switched to the transmitting port, and the radio frequency signal is successfully completed in the power divider/combiner 5 After splitting, it enters the vector modulator up-down conversion module 17 through the C radio frequency switch 16 and the D radio frequency switch 18 in the radio frequency transceiver module 1; at this time, the radio frequency signal is first mixed down by the A mixer 171 to the vector modulator Within the working frequency range of 174, the out-of-band interference is filtered out by the intermediate frequency filter 172 and amplified by the intermediate frequency amplifier 173, the amplitude and phase modulation are performed by the vector modulator 174, and then the B mixer 175 is up-mixed to the original radio frequency frequency , and pass through the A radio frequency filter 13 to filter out the out-of-band interference, and finally the radio frequency signal is amplified by the power amplifier 12 and converted to an electromagnetic wave signal by the A radio frequency switch 11 to the antenna unit 2 for radiation.

It can be seen that in this case, the transmit and receive links share a vector modulator up-down conversion module 17 to complete the amplitude and phase modulation of the radio frequency signal. In addition, the switching of the transceiver mode and the amplitude and phase modulation of the radio frequency signal in each transceiver module can be controlled by the power supply and control module 3 . This case can effectively realize the configuration and scanning of beam pointing, and can adjust the radiation intensity and coverage.

Below in conjunction with an embodiment this case is further described.

The antenna in this embodiment is an active integrated antenna array that can be remotely controlled. Its radio frequency operating frequency range is 2.5GHz to 2.7GHz. The system works in TDD mode, and the transceiver is switched by a switch. It is a one-dimensional array with 8 units equally spaced in the vertical direction. The maximum transmission power of each radio frequency unit is 30dBm, the gain of the antenna unit is 6dBi, and the maximum EIRP (Effective Isotropic Radiated Power) of the entire antenna array is about 53dBm; the radiation beam of the antenna array is in the vertical plane The 3dB beamwidth in the horizontal plane is 12°, the 3dB beamwidth in the horizontal plane is 85°, and the beam in the vertical plane can point to any angle within the range of ±40°.

Figure 4 shows the phase noise of the local oscillator signal in the implementation example, and Figure 5 and Figure 6 show the phase noise of the input RF signal and output RF signal of the receiving link in the example respectively, as can be seen, although the phase noise of the local oscillator The output phase noise of the receiving link is basically the same as the input phase noise, which fully shows that the phase noise of the local oscillator in the up-down conversion module of the vector modulator used in this case does not affect the performance of the RF signal in the transmitting and receiving link.

In Figure 4, the signal power is -11dBm, and the signal frequency is 4.2GHz. The table data extracted from the attached figure are as follows:

Table 1 Phase noise of local oscillator signal

In Figure 5, the signal power is -23dBm, and the signal frequency is 2.6GHz. The table data extracted from the attached figure are as follows:

Table 2 Receive link input RF signal phase noise

In Figure 6, the signal power is -23dBm, and the signal frequency is 2.6GHz. The table data extracted from the attached figure are as follows:

Table 3 Phase noise of the output RF signal of the receiving link

Fig. 7 shows the beam scanning test results of the antenna of the present invention in the vertical plane, although the results are at intervals of 10°, in fact the scanning beam can be precisely pointed to the specified position within the range of ±40°.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it should be pointed out that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principle of the present invention, some improvements and modifications can also be made, and these improvements and modifications are also possible. It should be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (1)

1. the active integrated antenna based on vector modulator Up/Down Conversion module, it is characterized in that: include local oscillator module (4), radio-frequency (RF) receiving and transmission module (1), antenna element (2) and power supply and control module (3), in radio-frequency (RF) receiving and transmission module (1), being provided with vector modulator Up/Down Conversion module (17)；Local oscillator module (4) is connected with vector modulator Up/Down Conversion module (17) by A power splitter (6), and radio-frequency (RF) receiving and transmission module (1) is connected by power splitter/combiner (5)；Being provided with antenna element (2) in each radio-frequency (RF) receiving and transmission module (1), the antenna element (2) of all radio-frequency (RF) receiving and transmission module (1) and correspondence constitutes aerial array；The amplitude to corresponding radio-frequency channel and phase-modulation is completed by vector modulator Up/Down Conversion module (17)；Power supply and control module (3) are powered for whole active integrated antenna and are controlled；

Described vector modulator Up/Down Conversion module (17) includes A frequency mixer (171), intermediate-frequency filter (172), intermediate frequency amplifier (173), vector modulator (174), B frequency mixer (175), A intermediate frequency amplifier (177), B intermediate frequency amplifier (178) and B power splitter (179)；Local oscillator module (4) is through each road local oscillation signal (176) that A power splitter (6) produces, it is respectively connected in the B power splitter (179) of each vector modulator Up/Down Conversion module (17), it is divided into two-way then through B power splitter (179), the local oscillator port of A frequency mixer (171) is accessed through A intermediate frequency amplifier (177) in one tunnel, the local oscillator port of B frequency mixer (175) is accessed through B intermediate frequency amplifier (178) in another road, the intermediate frequency port of A frequency mixer (171) sequentially passes through intermediate-frequency filter (172), after intermediate frequency amplifier (173) and vector modulator (174), it is connected with the intermediate frequency port of B frequency mixer (175)；

Described radio-frequency (RF) receiving and transmission module (1) includes A radio-frequency (RF) switch (11), power amplifier (12), A radio-frequency filter (13), B radio-frequency (RF) switch (14), B radio-frequency filter (15), C radio-frequency (RF) switch (16), vector modulator Up/Down Conversion module (17), D radio-frequency (RF) switch (18), C radio-frequency filter (19) and low-noise amplifier (110)；The emission port of A radio-frequency (RF) switch (11) is connected with the emission port of B radio-frequency (RF) switch (14) after sequentially passing through power amplifier (12) and A radio-frequency filter (13)；The receiving port of B radio-frequency (RF) switch (14), after B radio-frequency filter (15), is connected with the receiving port of C radio-frequency (RF) switch (16)；The emission port of C radio-frequency (RF) switch (16) is connected with the emission port of D radio-frequency (RF) switch (18)；The receiving port of D radio-frequency (RF) switch (18) is connected with the receiving port of A radio-frequency (RF) switch (11) after sequentially passing through C radio-frequency filter (19) and low-noise amplifier (110)；

The prevention at radio-frequency port of described A frequency mixer (171) is connected with the public port of D radio-frequency (RF) switch (18), the prevention at radio-frequency port of B frequency mixer (175) is connected with the public port of B radio-frequency (RF) switch (14), the public port of A radio-frequency (RF) switch (11) is connected with antenna element (2), and the public port of C radio-frequency (RF) switch (16) accesses power splitter/combiner (5).