CN111865447A

CN111865447A - Phased array antenna test system and test method

Info

Publication number: CN111865447A
Application number: CN201910354523.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 漆一宏; 于伟
Original assignee: GENERAL TEST SYSTEMS Inc
Current assignee: GENERAL TEST SYSTEMS Inc
Priority date: 2019-04-29
Filing date: 2019-04-29
Publication date: 2020-10-30

Abstract

The invention discloses a phased array antenna test system and a test method, wherein the test system comprises: the antenna array comprises at least two test antennas and an isolation material and is used for carrying out near field test within a preset distance on the phased array antenna to be tested; a microwave anechoic chamber, wherein the antenna array and the phased array antenna are both arranged in the microwave anechoic chamber; the instrument comprises a channel simulator and a multi-path signal transceiver, is connected with the antenna array and the phased array antenna and is used for being matched with the antenna array to test the phased array antenna. According to the test system provided by the embodiment of the invention, the wireless performance of the phased array antenna can be integrally evaluated, particularly the test of the overall performance of the phased array antenna in a dynamic beam forming working mode is carried out, the applicability and the practicability of the test are effectively improved, and the test requirement is effectively met.

Description

Phased array antenna test system and test method

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of wireless communication, in particular to a phased array antenna test system and a test method.

Background

The phased array antenna can change the pattern shape of the whole array antenna by controlling the feeding amplitude phase of the radiation elements in the array antenna, namely the so-called beam forming technology, so as to achieve the purpose of beam scanning. Phased array antenna systems often operate in a dynamic beamforming mode, such as a base station antenna that adapts to a multi-user mode (where the user is moving) for radar systems tracking moving targets. Therefore, the wireless performance evaluation of a phased array antenna system working in a dynamic beam forming mode is very necessary, and the index has guiding significance for base station layout and network distribution, radar tracking speed and accuracy improvement, beam forming algorithm detection and the like.

Phased array antennas consist of a multi-channel array antenna, with each element in the array antenna corresponding to a radio frequency path. A typical phased array antenna can be represented by fig. 1, and specifically includes an array antenna, T/r (transmitter and receiver) components, up-and-down-conversion components, and digital processing components. Wherein, the antenna elements of different phased array antennas are fed with signals with customized amplitude and phase through the T/R assembly, so that the radiation pattern of the phased array antenna can be changed, as shown in fig. 2.

With the advent of 5G, phased array antennas are being used in large numbers in base stations, radars. The implementation of beamforming techniques relies on phased array antennas. In order to ensure the 5G communication quality and control the electromagnetic pollution, the international standards organization 3GPP (3rd generation Partnership Project) sets out a series of white papers to specify the performance test of the phased array antenna on the base station, including testing the radiation pattern, the output power, the transmission signal quality, the in-band pollution, the transmitter intermodulation, the reference sensitivity level, the in-band blocking, the reception intermodulation, and the like of the phased array antenna in the OTA (over the air) state, and sets out the related index requirements in the standard 3GPP 38141.

However, the phased array antenna often operates in a dynamic beam forming mode, for example, when a radar tracks an airplane moving at a high speed, that is, the phased array antenna needs to be in communication link with a plurality of dynamic motion users, and a beam needs to be dynamically changed in real time for tracking. In practical operation, the phased array antenna will determine the beamforming strategy according to practical situations, i.e. change the directional diagram in real time to ensure stable and fast network connection and use. Therefore, the wireless performance evaluation of a phased array antenna working in a dynamic beam forming mode is very necessary, and the index has important guiding significance for base station layout and network deployment, radar tracking speed and accuracy improvement, beam forming algorithm detection and the like.

In the related art, the performance test of the phased array antenna of the base station by adopting the OTA test mode has the following defects:

the indexes of the test specified in the 3GPP standard are limited, and only include radiation pattern, output power, transmission signal quality, in-band pollution, transmitter intermodulation, reference sensitivity level, in-band blocking, receiving intermodulation and the like

2. The existing test indexes do not aim at performance test indexes of a base station phased array antenna under an actual working scene, particularly under a dynamic beam forming mode, namely under the condition that a base station is simultaneously in link communication with a plurality of dynamic motion users. The indexes belong to phased array antenna system level test indexes, and particularly comprise test indexes in a massive MIMO (multiple input multiple output) working mode and a beam forming working mode, such as strategies and algorithms for controlling parameters such as transmission power, user allocation, beam forming, digital transmission rate, switching standards, debugging modes, error coding schemes and the like in Radio Resource Management (RRM), transmission power allocation algorithms, beam forming strategies, dynamic beam forming algorithms, overall radiation performance evaluation and the like. The system level test index reflects the real wireless performance index of the base station phased array antenna in the actual working scene, and has vital significance in base station network layout, research and development and production.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to solving, at least to some extent, one of the technical problems in the related art.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a phased array antenna test system, which can effectively improve the applicability and practicability of the test and effectively meet the test requirements.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a phased array antenna test method.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a computer-readable storage medium.

In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of an aspect of the present invention provides a phased array antenna test system, including: the antenna array comprises at least two test antennas and an isolation material and is used for carrying out near field test within a preset distance on the phased array antenna to be tested; a microwave anechoic chamber, wherein the antenna array and the phased array antenna are both arranged in the microwave anechoic chamber; the instrument comprises a channel simulator and a multi-path signal transceiver, is connected with the antenna array and the phased array antenna and is used for being matched with the antenna array to test the phased array antenna.

According to the phased array antenna test system disclosed by the embodiment of the invention, the wireless performance of the phased array antenna can be integrally evaluated by adopting a radiation two-step method in an OTA test mode, so that not only can the test of the specified indexes in the 3GPP standard be carried out, but also the system level indexes of the phased array antenna in the actual working scene can be tested and evaluated, especially the test of the overall performance of the phased array antenna in a dynamic beam forming working mode of the phased array antenna reflects the truest working environment and the overall wireless performance of the phased array antenna, the applicability and the practicability of the test are effectively improved, and the test requirement is effectively met.

In addition, the phased array antenna test system according to the above embodiment of the present invention may further have the following additional technical features:

further, in an embodiment of the present invention, the antenna array is a dual-polarized antenna array, the dual-polarized antenna array includes at least two dual-polarized measurement antennas and an isolation material, each dual-polarized measurement antenna of the at least two dual-polarized measurement antennas has two antenna units arranged to intersect with each other, where the antenna units include: the first radiation piece is internally provided with a first accommodating cavity, and the cavity of the first accommodating cavity penetrates through the first end and the second end of the first radiation piece; a second radiating element, a first end of the second radiating element and a first end of the first radiating element being unconnected, a second end of the second radiating element and a second end of the first radiating element being electrically connected; a balance member, a first end of the balance member and a second end of the second radiating member being electrically connected; a feed, the feed deviate from antenna element center preset distance and with the balancing piece corresponds the setting, wherein, the feed includes: the cavity of the second accommodating cavity penetrates through the first end of the outer core and the second end of the outer core, and the first end of the outer core is electrically connected with the second end of the first radiation piece; the inner core penetrates through the cavities of the first accommodating cavity and the second accommodating cavity, and the first end of the inner core penetrates out of the first end of the first radiation piece and is coupled with the second radiation piece.

Further, in one embodiment of the present invention, the dual polarized test antenna is inserted into the top of the isolation material, or the dual polarized test antenna is inserted into the bottom of the accommodating cavity formed by the isolation material.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes: a tuner connecting the second end of the outer core and the second end of the inner core of the feed.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes: a mobile station, at least one of said dual-polarized antenna array and said phased array antenna being provided on said mobile station.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the preset distance may be less than or equal to 10cm or twice the wavelength.

In order to achieve the above object, another embodiment of the present invention provides a phased array antenna system level testing method, which adopts the above system, wherein the method includes the following steps: selecting an equal number of antennas under test of the test antenna and the phased array antenna; acquiring real-time antenna directional pattern information of the selected tested antenna of the phased array antenna; controlling the port of the channel simulator and the port of the tested antenna of the selected phased array antenna to form one-to-one signal transmission according to the real-time antenna directional diagram information; and controlling the channel simulator to form a test signal through operation, and feeding the test signal into a corresponding receiving end to perform corresponding test.

According to the phased array antenna test method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the wireless performance of the phased array antenna can be integrally evaluated by adopting a radiation two-step method in an OTA test mode, so that not only can the test of the specified indexes in the 3GPP standard be carried out, but also the system level indexes of the phased array antenna in the actual working scene can be tested and evaluated, especially the test of the overall performance of the phased array antenna in a dynamic beam forming working mode of the phased array antenna reflects the truest working environment and the overall wireless performance of the phased array antenna, the applicability and the practicability of the test are effectively improved, and the test requirement is effectively met.

In addition, the phased array antenna testing method according to the above embodiment of the present invention may further have the following additional technical features:

further, in an embodiment of the present invention, the real-time antenna pattern information of the measured antenna of the phased array antenna is the real-time antenna pattern information of the measured antenna of the phased array antenna obtained in the dynamic beamforming operation mode.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, the acquiring real-time antenna pattern information of the selected measured antenna of the phased array antenna further includes: acquiring current port excitation of an antenna unit of a tested antenna of each phased array antenna in real time; and obtaining real-time antenna directional pattern information of the selected tested antenna of the phased array antenna according to the in-array directional pattern information of the antenna unit of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna and the excitation of the current port.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the invention, the current port excitation is obtained by real-time acquisition from inside the phased array antenna in operation.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after acquiring the real-time antenna pattern information, the method further includes: and loading the port signal of the test antenna or the test signal to a radio frequency matrix module for processing so as to form one-to-one signal transmission.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after acquiring the real-time antenna pattern information, the method further includes: adjusting a physical distance between the selected test antenna and a measured antenna of the phased array antenna to form a one-to-one signal transmission.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after acquiring the real-time antenna pattern information, the method further includes: and adjusting the physical distance between the selected test antenna and the tested antenna of the phased array antenna, and loading the port signal of the test antenna or the test signal to a radio frequency matrix module for processing so as to form one-to-one signal transmission.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the one-to-one signal transmission is formed, the method further includes: and controlling a port of the channel simulator to receive the signal processed by the loaded radio frequency matrix module so as to carry out corresponding test.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the one-to-one signal transmission is formed, the method further includes: and controlling the port of the channel simulator to receive the test antenna port signal so as to carry out corresponding test.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the receiving end is a multi-channel transceiver, and the test is a downlink test.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the one-to-one signal transmission is formed, the method further includes: and controlling the port of the channel simulator to receive the port signal of the multi-channel signal transceiver so as to carry out corresponding test.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after generating the test signal, the method further includes: and loading the test signal to a radio frequency matrix module for processing so as to carry out corresponding test.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the receiving end is the test antenna, and the test is an uplink test.

In addition, in an embodiment of the present invention, when performing the corresponding test, the method further includes: and independently performing the uplink test or the downlink test of the test, or simultaneously performing the uplink test and the downlink test of the test.

To achieve the above object, a further embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which when executed by a processor implements the phased array antenna testing method according to the above embodiment.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a related art phased array antenna;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of related art phased array antenna beamforming;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a phased array antenna test system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a phased array dynamic beamforming operation mode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a dual polarized test antenna and antenna element configuration according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an isolation material and a dual polarized test antenna in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a phased array antenna test system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a phased array antenna test system according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a method of testing a phased array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a method of testing a phased array antenna in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a method of testing a phased array antenna in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a signal propagation matrix according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a signal propagation matrix according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of a dummy conductive line according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of a method of testing a phased array antenna in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of corresponding channel isolation according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of a method of testing a phased array antenna in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of in-system-level-test testing according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of a phased array antenna testing method according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram of a method of testing a phased array antenna in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a flow diagram of a phased array antenna testing method according to one embodiment of the invention;

fig. 22 is a flow diagram of a method of testing a phased array antenna in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are illustrative and intended to be illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.

Hereinafter, a test system and a test method for a phased array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and first, a test system for a phased array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a phased array antenna test system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 3, the phased array antenna test system includes: antenna array 100, microwave anechoic chamber 200 and meter 300.

The antenna array 100 includes at least two test antennas (as shown by the test antenna 101) and an isolation material 102, where the at least two test antennas are disposed opposite to the tested antenna 11 of the phased array antenna 10 to be tested, so as to form one-to-one transmission and direct air interface connection, which is different from the prior art that a tested piece is directly placed on a coupling board to perform near field test on the phased array antenna 10 to be tested within a preset distance. The antenna array 100 and the phased array antenna 10 are arranged in a microwave anechoic chamber 200. The meter 300 comprises a channel simulator and a multipath signal transceiver, and the meter 300 is connected with the antenna array 100 and the phased array antenna 10 and is used for testing the phased array antenna 10 by matching with the antenna array 100. The test system of the embodiment of the invention can test the phased array antenna, effectively improve the applicability and the practicability of the test and effectively meet the test requirement.

It should be noted that, the above-mentioned at least two measuring antennas are arranged opposite to the measured antenna of the phased array antenna 10 to be calibrated, which may be understood as one-to-one correspondence in position or one-to-one correspondence in polarization, and the physical distance between the measured antenna and the measuring antenna is small (as will be described in detail below), so that the measured antenna and the measuring antenna do not have a correspondence relationship of directivity, which is different from the correspondence relationship of directivity in the prior art. That is, the embodiment of the present invention controls the port of the channel simulator to form one-to-one signal transmission with the port of the selected antenna under test of the phased array antenna by a physical isolation method (for example, the positions and the polarizations correspond one to one, the physical distance between the measurement antenna and the antenna under test is small, and an isolation material is added), and an opening method of the measurement antenna (all the ports are simultaneously opened, or the ports are sequentially opened, or each time a part of the ports is selected to be opened, or all the ports or a certain polarization is simultaneously opened, or each time a part of the ports is selected to be polarized.

In addition, the isolation material may be a wave-absorbing material, a dielectric material, or other materials with isolation properties, such as a wave-absorbing material for an OTA darkroom (e.g., a sponge wave-absorbing material, an EPP carbon powder wave-absorbing material, a ceramic thin material, or the like), or a ferrite material, which is not particularly limited herein, and the isolation material may be disposed in a one-to-one relative relationship with the measurement antenna and the measured antenna, so as to save energy and reduce cost while ensuring measurement accuracy.

Wherein, in one embodiment of the present invention, the preset distance may be less than or equal to 10cm or twice the wavelength. In particular, the distance between the measuring antenna and the measured antenna in the prior art is large, and the distance is substantially larger than 1 meter, so that only far-field measurement is limited, but the embodiment of the invention can realize near-field calibration measurement, not limited to far-field measurement, and for example, relatively accurate test can be carried out on near-field measurement such as 2-3 cm near-field measurement.

It should be noted that the measuring antenna may use a dual polarization measuring antenna, a single polarization measuring antenna, a circular polarization measuring antenna, or the like, or may be an autonomously developed antenna, and each measuring antenna may be turned on with the same or different polarization (if different polarizations are used) during operation. Although the following embodiments exemplify dual polarized measurement antennas, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that any measurement antenna may be configured in a similar manner as follows.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5, the antenna array 100 is a dual-polarized antenna array 100, the dual-polarized antenna array 100 includes at least two dual-polarized measurement antennas (shown as dual-polarized measurement antenna 101 and dual-polarized measurement antenna 102 in the figure) and an isolation material 103, each dual-polarized measurement antenna of the at least two dual-polarized measurement antennas has two antenna elements arranged to cross each other, where the antenna elements include: a first radiating element 400, a second radiating element 500, a balance element 600, and a feeding element 700. Also, the power feeding member 700 includes: an outer core 701 and an inner core 702.

Specifically, the first radiation member 400 forms a first receiving cavity a therein, and a cavity of the first receiving cavity a penetrates through the first end 401 and the second end 402 of the first radiation member 400. The first end 501 of the second radiating element 500 is not connected to the first end 401 of the first radiating element 400 and the second end 502 of the second radiating element 500 is electrically connected to the second end 402 of the first radiating element 400. The first end 601 of the balance member 600 is electrically connected to the second end 502 of the second radiation member 500. The feeding member 700 deviates from the center of the antenna unit by a preset distance and is arranged corresponding to the balance member 600, wherein a second accommodating cavity B is formed inside the outer core 701, a cavity of the second accommodating cavity B penetrates through a first end of the outer core 701 and a second end of the outer core, a first end 7011 of the outer core 701 is electrically connected with a second end 402 of the first radiating member 400, the inner core 702 penetrates through the cavities of the first accommodating cavity a and the second accommodating cavity B, and a first end 7021 of the inner core 702 penetrates through a first end 401 of the first radiating member 400 and is coupled with the second radiating member 500. The antenna unit provided by the embodiment of the invention can effectively meet the requirement of miniaturization of a combined antenna, and is beneficial to the design of a dual-polarized antenna.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the phased array antenna operates in a complex electromagnetic environment of multiple users, multipath, doppler, dynamics, and the like. In general, a phased array antenna serves a plurality of dynamically moving wireless terminals, signals are transmitted between the phased array antenna and the plurality of dynamically moving wireless terminals, and in order to test and evaluate the system-level wireless performance of the phased array antenna in the real working environment, especially the test of the overall performance of the phased array antenna in a dynamic beam forming working mode, the test system provided by the invention is provided with a meter 300, and the meter 300 comprises a channel simulator and a multipath signal transceiver. The multipath signal transceiver can be used for simulating and constructing a plurality of wireless terminals under the real working environment of the phased array antenna 10, simulating the condition that the plurality of wireless terminals are simultaneously linked and communicated with the phased array antenna 10, and testing the overall performance under the dynamic beam forming working mode of the phased array antenna by matching with a channel simulator (used for simulating the real use scene of the phased array antenna), the dual-polarization antenna array 100 and other testing system components. The test system of the embodiment of the invention includes, but is not limited to, uplink radio frequency performance (such as throughput rate) and communication protocol performance (such as beamforming algorithm and internal resource management algorithm) tests, and downlink radio frequency performance (such as throughput rate) and communication protocol performance (such as beamforming algorithm and internal resource management algorithm) tests.

The antenna unit according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 5.

(1) In the related art, the antenna feeding mode usually adopts electrical connection, the length of the antenna is about one half wavelength of the central working frequency, the size is large, and the antenna miniaturization requirement is difficult to meet.

The inner core 702 of the antenna unit feed element 700 and the second radiation element 500 in the embodiment of the present invention are coupled to feed, so that the size of the antenna in the embodiment of the present invention can be reduced to one tenth of a wavelength, the impedance matching performance of the antenna is good, and the RCS (Radar-Cross Section) of the antenna is further reduced, thereby improving the calibration measurement accuracy.

(2) In the related art, in order to suppress the common mode current by using the voltage balun, the coaxial lines of the feeding portions of the two antennas are required to be arranged in the middle of the antennas, and in this case, when the two antennas are arranged in a crossed manner to form the dual-polarized antenna, the coaxial lines of the two feeding portions are overlapped in the center, and the two overlapped coaxial lines of the feeding portions cannot be arranged at the same position in the structure. However, if the feeding part coaxial line is shifted to the side from the middle, the imbalance of the feeding is aggravated, and common mode current is generated. Therefore, the existing antenna is difficult to design a dual polarized antenna.

However, the feed element 700 of the antenna unit according to the embodiment of the present invention is designed in an offset manner, that is, the feed element 700 is designed beside the center of the antenna, and this design can make the two feed elements staggered when the two antenna units are arranged in a crossed manner, which is beneficial to the design of dual-polarized antenna. Meanwhile, it can be known through analysis of the reason for generating the common mode current that the imbalance of the structure of the feeding element is the root cause for generating the common mode current, in the related art, although the common mode current can be reduced by designing the feeding element at the center of the antenna to form the voltage balun, because the external core and the internal core of the feeding element are difficult to realize complete structural symmetry, the feeding element still generates the common mode current in work. The antenna unit of the embodiment of the invention firstly proposes that the aim of basically eliminating the generation of the common mode current is achieved by improving the structural symmetry of the feed element, namely, the balance element 600 is arranged to be matched with the feed element 700, so that a balun is formed, meanwhile, the symmetry and the balance of the feed element are improved, so that the feed element generates extremely small common mode current in the working process, the aim of basically eliminating the common mode current is achieved (the common mode current is very small and can be ignored from the engineering practice point of view), the radiation performance of the dual-polarization measurement antenna is improved, and the calibration measurement precision is improved.

Further, in one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 6, a dual polarized measuring antenna is inserted into the top of the isolation material 103, or a dual polarized measuring antenna is inserted into the bottom of the housing cavity formed by the isolation material 103.

It will be appreciated that the dual polarized measurement antenna of the present invention may be designed jointly with the isolation material 103, as shown in figure 6. Among them, by adding the isolation material 103, the following advantages can be achieved:

1) the isolation material 103 may further counteract common mode currents that may be generated by the dual polarized measurement antenna;

2) the isolation material 103 can further reduce the reflection between the dual-polarization measuring antenna and the measured antenna, and improve the measuring accuracy;

3) the isolation material 103 can make the radar scattering cross section (RCS) of the dual-polarization measuring antenna small, improve the isolation between the antennas, improve the isolation between the dual-polarization measuring antenna and the non-opposite measured antenna, reduce the measuring distance between the dual-polarization measuring antenna and the measured antenna, and effectively improve the measuring accuracy.

Specifically, when dual polarization measuring antenna inserts isolation material 103 top, can reduce the space scattering of antenna electromagnetic wave, and when the chamber bottom that holds that dual polarization measuring antenna inserts isolation material 103 formation, not only can adjust the height of antenna, the measurement demand of adaptation different requirements can also improve the isolation between the antenna simultaneously, reduces the test distance between antenna and the dual polarization measuring antenna of being surveyed, improves measurement accuracy.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 7, the dual polarized test antenna further includes: a tuner 800. Wherein tuner 800 connects the second end of outer core 701 and the second end of inner core 702 of feed 700.

It is appreciated that a dual polarized test antenna of an embodiment of the present invention may be augmented with tuner 800. Each antenna unit of the dual-polarization test antenna is connected with a tuner respectively. Because the dual-polarization test antenna has a small size and resonates only at a single frequency point, standing waves in a broadband are poor, and the performance of the dual-polarization test antenna is affected, if the dual-polarization test antenna is applied to the broadband, the tuner 800 is required to be added to adjust the standing waves of the dual-polarization test antenna in the use frequency.

Specifically, the tuner 800 according to the embodiment of the present invention may adopt an electronic tuning manner, in which two impedance matching networks with variable capacitors are added at the interface of the dual-polarized test antenna, and the two matching modules are connected to the dual-polarized test antenna and other circuits in a switch switching manner. When the frequency of the transmitting and receiving signals changes, the detection module detects the impedance, standing wave and other information of the dual-polarization test antenna, and the control module changes the value of the variable capacitor to realize automatic tuning, so that the impedance of the antenna is maintained near 50 ohms, and the energy loss is reduced. The tuner 800 can be placed behind an isolating material and therefore does not affect the radiation performance of the dual polarized test antenna.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 8, the test system of the embodiment of the present invention further includes: the mobile station 900. At least one of the dual-polarized antenna array 100 and the phased array antenna 10 is provided on a mobile station.

As shown in fig. 8, the phased array antenna system level test system of the embodiment of the present invention further includes a mobile station 900. The dual-polarized antenna array 100 can be arranged on the inner wall of the microwave anechoic chamber 200, on the mobile station 900 or on a fixed loading mechanism (immovable); the phased array antenna 10 may be located on the mobile station 900 or on a stationary mounting mechanism. Wherein the high precision moving turntable can move along any coordinate position, including but not limited to X, Y, Z along three major coordinate axes.

It should be noted that the mobile station 900 is configured to adjust a physical distance between the dual-polarized antenna array 100 and the phased array antenna 10 during a system level test, so as to implement physical isolation, improve a corresponding channel isolation between the dual-polarized test antenna and a measured antenna of the phased array antenna 10, and enable a channel simulator port and a selected measured antenna port of the phased array antenna 10 to form one-to-one signal transmission.

According to the phased array antenna test system provided by the embodiment of the invention, the wireless performance of the phased array antenna can be integrally evaluated by adopting a radiation two-step method in an OTA test mode, so that not only can the test of the specified indexes in the 3GPP standard be carried out, but also the system level indexes of the phased array antenna under the actual working scene can be tested and evaluated, especially the test of the overall performance of the phased array antenna under the dynamic beam forming working mode of the phased array antenna reflects the truest working environment and the overall wireless performance of the phased array antenna, the applicability and the practicability of the test are effectively improved, and the test requirement is effectively met.

Next, a phased array antenna system level test method proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 9 is a flow chart of a phased array antenna system level test method of an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 9, the phased array antenna measurement method using the above system includes the following steps:

in step S1, an equal number of test antennas and tested antennas of the phased array antenna are selected.

In step S2, real-time antenna pattern information of the measured antenna of the selected phased array antenna is acquired.

In step S3, the port of the channel simulator and the port of the antenna under test of the selected phased array antenna are controlled to form one-to-one signal transmission according to the real-time antenna pattern information.

In step S4, the control channel simulator forms a test signal through operation, and feeds the test signal to the corresponding receiving end for performing a corresponding test.

It should be noted that the tests include, but are not limited to, uplink radio frequency performance (e.g., throughput) and communication protocol performance (e.g., beamforming algorithm and internal resource management algorithm) tests, and downlink radio frequency performance (e.g., throughput) and communication protocol performance (e.g., beamforming algorithm and internal resource management algorithm) tests.

It can be understood that, in order to perform a phased array antenna test, the actual working state of the phased array antenna is reflected more truly, and particularly, the working state of the phased array antenna working in the dynamic beam forming mode needs to acquire real-time antenna pattern information of the phased array antenna in the dynamic beam forming working mode, and the real-time antenna pattern information is introduced into the channel simulator for operation.

In particular, the phased array antenna often operates in a dynamic beam forming mode, such as when a radar tracks an airplane moving at a high speed, that is, the phased array antenna needs to be in communication link with a plurality of dynamic motion users, and a beam needs to be dynamically changed in real time for tracking. In practical operation, the phased array antenna will determine the beamforming strategy according to practical situations, i.e. change the directional diagram in real time to ensure stable and fast network connection and use. The real-time antenna directional pattern information of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna is calculated and obtained under a dynamic beam forming working mode. The acquisition of the real-time antenna directional pattern information is very necessary for evaluating the wireless performance of the phased array antenna working in a dynamic beam forming mode, and the index has important guiding significance for base station layout and network deployment, radar tracking speed and accuracy improvement, beam forming algorithm inspection and the like.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 10, acquiring real-time antenna pattern information of the measured antenna of the selected phased array antenna, further includes: acquiring the current port excitation of the antenna unit of the antenna to be tested of each phased array antenna in real time; and obtaining real-time antenna directional pattern information of the selected tested antenna of the phased array antenna according to the directional pattern information in the array of the antenna unit of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna and the excitation of the current port.

It will be appreciated that the real-time antenna pattern information for the selected measured antenna of the phased array antenna is obtained from the in-array pattern information and port excitation of the antenna elements of the measured antenna of the phased array antenna. As long as the phased array antenna can normally work, the real-time antenna directional pattern information of the selected tested antenna of the phased array antenna can be obtained according to the test method of fig. 10.

Specifically, the real-time acquisition of the excitation of the antenna element port of the antenna under test of each phased array antenna is defined as follows:

wherein I represents port excitation of an antenna element of a measured antenna of the phased array antenna;

representing port excitations of antenna elements of the antenna under test feeding the nth phased array antenna; i is _nRepresenting the magnitude of port excitations of antenna elements of the antenna under test feeding the nth phased array antenna; j represents an imaginary unit;

λ represents the wavelength of the operating frequency of the phased array antenna;

representing the phase of port excitations of antenna elements of the antenna under test feeding the nth phased array antenna; n is 1,2, …, N; n represents the number of antenna elements of the antenna under test in the phased array antenna.

And defining a real-time antenna directional pattern of a tested antenna of the phased array antenna, which is obtained from any angle of a coordinate system established by taking the phased array antenna as a sphere center, as a target position.

Further defining the amplitude-phase transformation matrix of the antenna unit of the tested antenna of each phased array antenna as:

is the amplitude-phase conversion factor of the antenna unit of the tested antenna of the nth phased array antenna at the target position, wherein (theta)_n,φ_n) The target position is relative to the measured antenna of the nth phased array antennaAngle at which the position of the center of the direction of the array of antenna elements of the line lies, f_n(θ_n,φ_n) The antenna unit of the measured antenna of the nth phased array antenna is in (theta)_n,φ_n) The directional pattern information in the array of angles, including amplitude and phase information,

the phase correction is carried out on the direction diagram of the antenna unit array of the tested antenna of the nth phased array antenna at the target position,

The mode length of a vector of the position of the center of a direction diagram in an array of an antenna unit of a tested antenna with a target position pointing to the nth phased array antenna is shown, and k is an electromagnetic wave propagation constant; the directional diagram in the antenna unit array of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna refers to a directional diagram of the antenna unit of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna in the phased array antenna array, and factors such as interference and coupling of the antenna units of the tested antennas of other surrounding phased array antennas are considered.

According to the formula (1) (2), the target position electric field of the antenna unit of the antenna under test of each phased array antenna, i.e. the real-time antenna pattern information of the antenna under test of each phased array antenna at each target position, is:

wherein ()^TRepresenting a transpose; thereby obtaining real-time antenna pattern information for a measured antenna of the phased array antenna at an arbitrary target location.

According to the formula (3), the real-time antenna directional pattern information of the selected tested antenna of the phased array antenna can be further obtained.

Optionally, in one embodiment of the invention, the current port excitation is acquired in real time from within the operating phased array antenna.

It can be understood that, according to the formula (1), the antenna element port excitation of the antenna to be tested of each phased array antenna is preset excitation of the phased array antenna loaded on the antenna element port in real time, so as to implement real-time dynamic beam switching, and the port excitation can be directly obtained from the inside of the phased array antenna in operation in real time.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 11, after acquiring the real-time antenna pattern information, the method further includes: and loading the port signal or the test signal of the test antenna to a radio frequency matrix module for processing so as to form one-to-one signal transmission.

In particular, the phased array antenna and the antenna array generate a signal propagation matrix in the actual signal transmission, which is unavoidable. The signal propagation matrix is shown in fig. 12. The antenna to be measured of each phased array antenna is provided with two antenna units which respectively correspond to two polarizations; each test antenna has two antenna elements, corresponding to two polarizations.

When the antenna element of any test antenna is radiating, the antenna elements of the antenna under test of all the phased array antennas can receive the energy radiated from the antenna element of the test antenna. As shown in fig. 12, assuming that there are antenna elements of K test antennas and antenna elements of the measured antennas of K phased array antennas, a K × K signal propagation matrix P is formed from the antenna element ports of the K test antennas to the antenna element ports of the measured antennas of the K phased array antennas. The electromagnetic wave propagation matrix P recording K × K is:

Wherein, P_xyRepresenting the amplitude variation of the signals transmitted from the antenna element of the y-th test antenna to the antenna element of the tested antenna of the x phased array antennas,

indicating the phase change of the signal received from the antenna element of the y-th test antenna to the antenna element of the tested antenna of the x phased array antennas, so to speak

Is the parameter sent by the antenna unit of the y-th test antenna to the antenna unit of the tested antenna of the x phased array antennas for receiving. It should be noted that, according to the reciprocity theorem of transceiving, when the antenna unit of the antenna under test of the phased array antenna transmits and the antenna unit of the test antenna is in a receiving state, the signal propagation matrix still satisfies the above formula description.

As shown in fig. 13, in order to reduce cross coupling between the test antenna and the measured antenna of the phased array antenna, so that the channel simulator port and the selected measured antenna port of the phased array antenna form one-to-one signal transmission, the test method according to the embodiment of the present invention provides "algorithm isolation", that is, loading the test antenna port signal or the test signal to the radio frequency matrix module for processing. The radio frequency matrix carrying module can be arranged independently or integrated in the instrument. The radio frequency matrix module is an inverse matrix of the signal propagation matrix P, and by loading the matrix, cross coupling of non-corresponding channels between the test antenna and a tested antenna of the phased array antenna can be reduced, the isolation between the test antennas is improved, one-to-one signal transmission between a test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is realized, specifically, one-to-one signal transmission means that one-to-one signal transmission is formed between each unit (each polarization) port of the test antenna and each unit (each polarization) port of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna, and thus one-to-one signal transmission from a channel simulator port to the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is further realized.

Specifically, the channel simulator port signal (Sx) in fig. 13 is exemplified by the next test (see equations (25) to (29) for the next test), and₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K) Test antenna port (Bx)₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K) Measured antenna port signal (x) with phased array antenna₁,x₂,…,x_K) The relationship between is

(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T＝P*(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(4)

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝M*(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T(5)

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝M*P*(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(6)

Where M is a loaded RF matrix module, for testing antenna ports (Bx)₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K) Loading radio frequency matrix module for processing, wherein P is signal propagation matrix and the two are inverse matrix to each other, then

P＝M^-1(7)

Combining (4) to (7) gives:

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(8)

according to the formula (8), one-to-one signal transmission between the port of the channel simulator and the port of the tested antenna of the selected phased array antenna is realized.

This one-to-one signal transmission is similar to the connection between the channel simulator port and the measured antenna port of a phased array antenna using wires, and therefore this method is also referred to as the "virtual wire" method. As shown in fig. 14.

Benefits of virtual wires over real wire connections: the real wire is connected to the port of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna, so that the performance of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna can be changed, for example, the unit antenna is matched, and the test effect is influenced. In addition, the connection of the real wire to the port of the antenna to be tested of the phased array antenna causes the wire itself to also become a radiator, thereby further affecting the radiation pattern of the antenna to be tested of the phased array antenna. The use of the virtual wire does not influence the self performance of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna, so that the test result can reflect the wireless performance of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna more truly.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 15, after acquiring the real-time antenna pattern information, the method further includes: the physical distance between the selected test antenna and the antenna under test of the phased array antenna is adjusted to form a one-to-one signal transmission.

It is inevitable that the phased array antenna and the antenna array generate a signal propagation matrix in the actual signal transmission. In order to reduce cross coupling of non-corresponding channels between the test antenna and the measured antenna of the phased array antenna and enable the channel simulator port and the selected measured antenna port of the phased array antenna to form one-to-one signal transmission, the test method provided by the embodiment of the invention performs physical isolation, namely, adjusts the physical distance between the selected test antenna and the measured antenna of the phased array antenna. When the physical distance between the test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna can ensure that the gain of the corresponding channel between the test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is as large as possible and the gain of the non-corresponding channel between the test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is as small as possible, the isolation degree of the corresponding channel between the test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is as large as possible, thereby reducing cross coupling of non-corresponding channels between the test antenna and the antenna under test of the phased array antenna, and realizing one-to-one signal transmission between the test antenna port and the antenna under test port of the phased array antenna, specifically, one-to-one signal transmission means that one-to-one signal transmission is formed between each unit (each polarization) port of the test antenna and each unit (each polarization) port of the antenna under test of the phased array antenna, thereby further realizing one-to-one signal transmission between the port of the channel simulator and the port of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna.

The following describes the implementation of "physical isolation" and the definition of isolation of corresponding channels, non-corresponding channels, and corresponding channels according to the embodiments of the present invention.

1. Corresponding channel and non-corresponding channel

As shown in fig. 12, in the actual test, the signal transmission channel from the antenna element port of the kth (K ═ 1,2, …, K) test antenna to the antenna element port of the tested antenna of the kth (K ═ 1,2, …, K) phased array antenna is defined as a corresponding channel in the present invention, and there is a corresponding channel gain in the corresponding channel, which is required for the test of the present invention and is used for transmitting signals; the signal transmission channel from the antenna element port of the kth test antenna to the antenna element port of the mth (m is 1,2, …, K, and m is not equal to K) phased-array antenna under test antenna is defined as a non-corresponding channel in the present invention, and the non-corresponding channel has a non-corresponding channel gain, which is not needed by the test of the present invention and will cause interference to the test, and the non-corresponding channel gain needs to be reduced as much as possible to reduce the interference of the non-corresponding channel to the test.

In an ideal situation, when the gain of the non-corresponding channel is infinitely small, the signal propagation matrix P can be written as the following identity matrix:

When the signal propagation matrix is an identity matrix, the cross coupling of non-corresponding channels between the test antenna and the tested antenna of the phased array antenna can be reduced, one-to-one signal transmission between the test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is realized, and one-to-one signal transmission from the channel simulator port to the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is further realized. However, the signal propagation matrix cannot be an identity matrix, and only the gain of the non-corresponding channel can be reduced as much as possible and the gain of the corresponding channel can be increased by technical means, so that the signal transmission between the test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is performed as one-to-one as much as possible.

In order to achieve the above object, the embodiment of the present invention defines the corresponding channel isolation, and when the corresponding channel isolation is as large as possible, the gain of the corresponding channel between the test antenna port and the measured antenna port of the phased array antenna is as large as possible, and meanwhile, the gain of the non-corresponding channel between the test antenna port and the measured antenna port of the phased array antenna is as small as possible.

2. Degree of isolation of corresponding channel

The calculation formula of the corresponding channel isolation defined by the embodiment of the invention is as follows:

Iso_{x_y|m_n}＝G_{x_y}-G_{x_y|m_n}(9)

where m-x and n-y cannot be simultaneously true.

Take the tested antenna of 3 test antennas and 3 phased array antennas as an example, as shown in fig. 16.

T in FIG. 16_{x_y}The y-th antenna element (polarization) representing the x-th test antenna in the antenna array; r_{x_y}The y-th antenna element (polarization) of the antenna under test representing the x-th phased array antenna in the phased array antenna. Arbitrary T_{x_y}And R_{x_y}The signal transmission channel of (2) being a corresponding channel, e.g. T_{1_1}And R_{1_1}Is a corresponding channel; arbitrary T_{x_y}And R_{m_n}(where m and n cannot be true at the same time) are non-corresponding channels, e.g., T_{1_1}And R_{1_2}、T_{1_1}And R_{2_1}、T_{1_1}And R_{2_2}、T_{1_1}And R_{3_1}、T_{1_1}And R_{3_2}Are all non-corresponding channels. T is_{x_y}And R_{x_y}The corresponding channel gain formed in between is recorded as G_{x_y}(dB representation); t is_{x_y}And R_{m_n}(where m and n cannot be simultaneously applied) a gain of G_{x_y|m_n}(in dB). Iso_{x_y|m_n}Defined in the present invention as the corresponding channel isolation.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 16, when x is 1 and y is 1, the corresponding channel T corresponds to_{1_1}And R_{1_1}The gain of the corresponding channel is formed to be G_{1_1}；T_{1_1}And R_{1_2}、T_{1_1}And R_{2_1}、T_{1_1}And R_{2_2}、T_{1_1}And R_{3_1}、T_{1_1}And R_{3_2}All are non-corresponding channels, and the gain of the formed non-corresponding channels is G_{1_1|1_2}、G_{1_1|2_1}、G_{1_1|2_2}、G_{1_1|3_1}、G_{1_1|3_2}. According to the given corresponding channel isolation formula, the corresponding channel T can be obtained_{1_1}And R_{1_1}The following 5 isolation degrees are provided:

Iso_{1_1|1_2}＝G_{1_1}-G_{1_1|1_2}；

Iso_{1_1|2_1}＝G_{1_1}-G_{1_1|2_1}；

Iso_{1_1|2_2}＝G_{1_1}-G_{1_1|2_2}；

Iso_{1_1|3_1}＝G_{1_1}-G_{1_1|3_1}；

Iso_{1_1|3_2}＝G_{1_1}-G_{1_1|3_2}；

when the antenna elements of the test antenna total K, then for the kth corresponding channel, it has K-1 corresponding channel isolation. Fig. 16 shows a total of 6 corresponding channels, and a total of 30 corresponding channel separations.

As can be seen from the above description, in order to reduce the cross coupling of the non-corresponding channels between the test antenna and the measured antenna of the phased array antenna, it is necessary to maximize the corresponding channel isolation between the test antenna port and the measured antenna port of the phased array antenna, that is, to maximize the corresponding channel gain between the test antenna port and the measured antenna port of the phased array antenna, and to minimize the non-corresponding channel gain between the test antenna port and the measured antenna port of the phased array antenna.

To achieve this, embodiments of the present invention propose "physical isolation", i.e. adjusting the physical distance between the selected test antenna and the antenna under test of the phased array antenna. Generally, when the physical distance between the test antenna and the antenna under test of the phased array antenna is decreased, the corresponding channel isolation shows an increasing trend, whereas when the physical distance between the test antenna and the antenna under test of the phased array antenna is increased, the corresponding channel isolation shows a decreasing trend. The higher the isolation of the corresponding channel is, the weaker the energy transmitted by the non-corresponding channel is and the stronger the dominant energy transmitted by the corresponding channel is, the better the effect of reducing the cross coupling of the non-corresponding channel between the test antenna and the tested antenna of the phased array antenna is, and the one-to-one signal transmission between the test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna can be better realized.

Implementation of "physical isolation

The embodiment of the invention provides 'physical isolation', namely, the physical distance between the selected test antenna and the tested antenna of the phased array antenna is adjusted. The specific implementation mode is as follows:

A. and moving the mobile station to enable each test antenna to be in one-to-one correspondence with the tested antenna of each phased array antenna in position. Specifically, the mirror image of the arrangement mode of each test antenna and the arrangement mode of the antennas to be tested of each phased array antenna includes: each test antenna is spaced in a direction consistent with the direction of the antenna under test of each phased array antenna, and each antenna element (each polarization) of each test antenna is aligned with each antenna element (each polarization) direction of the antenna under test of each phased array antenna.

B. By moving the mobile station, the distance between each test antenna and the tested antenna of each phased array antenna is reduced, the corresponding channel isolation is improved, the cross coupling of non-corresponding channels between the test antenna and the tested antenna of the phased array antenna is reduced, one-to-one signal transmission between the test antenna port and the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is realized, and thus one-to-one signal transmission from the channel simulator port to the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna is further realized.

C. The physical isolation can be achieved by randomly enabling the isolation degree of all corresponding channels to meet the physical distance required by the phased array antenna system level test. At present, in the practical test, the embodiment of the present invention can make the isolation of all corresponding channels reach 2dB or more, but the index value should not be the limitation of the technical method of the present invention.

By performing physical isolation, one-to-one signal transmission from the channel simulator port to the tested antenna port of the phased array antenna can be realized. This one-to-one signal transmission, like the "algorithmic isolation", is similar to the connection between the channel simulator port and the measured antenna port of a phased array antenna using wires, and therefore this method is also referred to as the "virtual wire" method. As shown in fig. 13 and 14.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 17, after acquiring the real-time antenna pattern information, the method further includes: and adjusting the physical distance between the selected test antenna and the tested antenna of the phased array antenna, and loading the port signal or the test signal of the test antenna to the radio frequency matrix module for processing so as to form one-to-one signal transmission.

Specifically, "physical isolation" and "algorithmic isolation" are means for improving isolation, reducing cross-coupling of non-corresponding channels between the test antenna and the antenna under test of the phased array antenna, and realizing one-to-one signal transmission, and according to actual test requirements, the two methods can be used alone, and when a single method cannot meet the test requirements, the two methods can be implemented simultaneously.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the one-to-one signal transmission is formed, the method further includes: and a port of the control channel simulator receives the signal processed by the loaded radio frequency matrix module so as to carry out corresponding test.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the one-to-one signal transmission is formed, the method further includes: and the port of the control channel simulator receives the signal of the port of the test antenna so as to carry out corresponding test.

It is understood that tests include, but are not limited to, downstream tests and upstream tests. The uplink test and the downlink test include, but are not limited to, an uplink radio frequency performance (e.g., throughput) and a communication protocol performance (e.g., beamforming algorithm and internal resource management algorithm) test, and a downlink radio frequency performance (e.g., throughput) and a communication protocol performance (e.g., beamforming algorithm and internal resource management algorithm) test.

The following describes the downlink test in the system level test in detail.

As shown in fig. 18, 19, and 20, when a downlink test is performed, the antenna port under test of the phased array antenna transmits a signal to the test antenna port, and when only physical isolation is performed, the channel simulator port receives the test antenna port signal, forms a test signal by calculation, and feeds the test signal to the multi-channel signal transceiver to perform the downlink test.

Under the condition of only carrying out algorithm isolation or simultaneously carrying out physical isolation and algorithm isolation, a tested antenna port signal of the phased array antenna received by a test antenna port is firstly processed by a loading radio frequency matrix module and then sent to a channel simulator port, the channel simulator port receives the signal and forms a test signal through operation, and the test signal is fed into a multi-channel signal transceiver to carry out downlink test.

Measured antenna port signal X ═ X (X) of phased array antenna₁,x₂,…,x_K) And (Y) the multi-channel signal transceiver port signal Y₁,y₂,…,y_P) Can be expressed as

Y＝G_US*G(t)*G_BS*X (10)

Wherein, G (t) is a channel model, which can be a preset value, and includes electromagnetic propagation environment between the phased array antenna and a plurality of wireless terminals, such as reflection, diffraction, doppler, a plurality of arrival angles, and G_USIs a multi-terminal antenna pattern, which can be a preset value, G_BSThe real-time antenna pattern information of the antenna to be tested of the phased array antenna is real-time pattern information (obtained by the first step of the test method of the invention) under the dynamic beam forming working mode of the phased array antenna. The channel simulator simulates and constructs a signal propagation formula of the phased array antenna under the real working environment.

It should be noted that, in the test process, the channel simulator needs to simulate the real-time beamforming state of the phased array antenna, and change the directional diagram information of the phased array antenna computed in the channel simulator according to the real-time situation, so as to perform the test of the phased array antenna in the dynamic beamforming working mode.

Specifically, for a signal flowing from a tested antenna port of a phased array antenna to a multipath signal transceiver port, in the case of performing only algorithm isolation, or performing both physical isolation and algorithm isolation, the signal flow may be represented by the following formula:

channel simulator port signal (Sx)₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K) Testing the antenna port signal (Bx)₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K) Measured antenna port signal (x) with phased array antenna₁,x₂,…,x_K) The relationship between is

(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T＝P*(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(11)

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝M*(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T(12)

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝M*P*(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(13)

Where M is the loaded RF matrix module, P is the signal propagation matrix, and the two are inverse matrices to each other, then

P＝M^-1(14)

Combining (11) to (14) to obtain

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(15)

For a signal flowing from a measured antenna port of a phased array antenna to a multipath signal transceiver port, in the case of physical isolation only, the signal flow can be expressed by the following formula:

(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T＝(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(16)

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T(17)

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(18)

after at least one of the above two methods is adopted, the test signal generated by the operation of the channel simulator port signal is fed into the multi-channel signal transceiver port, so that the multi-channel signal transceiver port signal (test signal) (y)₁,y₂,…,y_P) Can be expressed as:

(y₁,y₂,…,y_P)^T＝G_US*G(t)*G_BS*(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T

＝G_US*G(t)*G_BS*(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(19)

further, let

H(t)＝G_US*G(t)*G_BS(20)

H (t) is a channel correlation matrix, calculated and generated in the channel simulator. Transmission of a multi-way signal transceiver port signal stream from a tested antenna element port of a phased array antenna to communicate therewith in a real use scenario is simulated. For a multipath environment, assuming N sub-paths exist, H (t) the p row and k column elements h _p,k(t) can be represented as

h_n,p,k(t) is h_p,kThe nth element in (t) represents a propagation path of the channel model.

And

is the real-time antenna pattern gain information of the antenna element of the kth antenna under test of the phased array antenna,

is the complex gain of the channel model,

and

is the p-th of a plurality of wireless terminalsThe gain of the antenna pattern is increased by the gain of the antenna pattern,

and

is the departure angle and arrival angle information of the channel model,

representing the delay and doppler in the channel model.

Then the measured antenna port (x) of the phased array antenna₁,x₂,…,x_K) To multiple signal transceiver ports (y)₁,y₂,…,y_P) Has a signal transfer relationship of

(y₁,y₂,…,y_P)^T＝H(t)*(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T(21)

The above formula shows that the test system and test method of the invention completely realize the real working mode of the phased array antenna, namely, the simulation of communication link with a plurality of wireless terminals at the same time, including the simulation of information of a plurality of terminals, the simulation of multipath use environment, the simulation of antenna information per se and the like, and the information flow is in (x)₁,x₂,…,x_K) And (y)₁,y₂,…,y_P) The transmission process is completely consistent with the actual working condition of the phased array antenna, so that the system level index test of the phased array antenna can be carried out, such as the downlink MIMO radio frequency performance and the communication protocol performance of the phased array antenna under multiple users.

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, after the one-to-one signal transmission is formed, the method further includes: and the port of the control channel simulator receives the port signals of the multi-channel signal transceiver so as to carry out corresponding tests.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present invention, the receiving end is a test antenna, and the test is an uplink test.

The following describes the uplink test in the system level test in detail.

As shown in fig. 18, 21 and 22, when performing the uplink test, the channel simulator receives the signal from the multiple signal transceiver ports. Under the condition of only physical isolation, the channel simulator forms a test signal through operation, the test signal is fed into the test antenna, and the test antenna sends a signal to the phased array antenna to perform uplink test.

Under the condition of only carrying out algorithm isolation or simultaneously carrying out physical isolation and algorithm isolation, the channel simulator forms a test signal through operation, the test signal is firstly processed by a loading radio frequency matrix module and then fed into a test antenna, and the test antenna sends a signal to the phased array antenna after receiving the signal to carry out uplink test.

For multiple signal transceiver ports (y)₁,y₂,…,y_P) Measured antenna port (x) to phased array antenna₁,x₂,…,x_K) Signal flow, the relationship between the two is:

X＝G_BS*G(t)*G_US*Y (22)

wherein, it is made

H′(t)＝G_BS*G(t)*G_US(23)

G (t) is a channel model, which may be a predetermined value, and includes electromagnetic propagation environments between the phased array antenna and a plurality of wireless terminals, such as reflection, diffraction, Doppler, multiple angles of arrival, and the like, G_USIs a multi-terminal antenna pattern, which can be a preset value, G_BSReal-time antenna pattern information, phase, of a measured antenna of a phased array antennaReal-time directional diagram information (obtained by the first step of the test method of the invention) under the dynamic beam forming working mode of the array antenna. The channel simulator simulates and constructs a signal propagation formula of the phased array antenna under the real working environment.

H' (t) is a channel correlation matrix that simulates the transmission of signal streams from the tested antenna element ports of a phased array antenna to the multiple signal transceiver ports in communication therewith in a real use scenario, unlike the H (t) matrix, which may not be identical in terms of the channel model through which it passes for different signal stream directions.

Specifically, a channel simulator port signal (test signal) (Sx)₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K) And multiple signal transceiver port signal (y)₁,y₂,…,y_P) The relationship between is:

(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T＝H′(t)*(y₁,y₂,…,y_P)^T(24)

for a signal flowing from a multipath signal transceiver port to a measured antenna port of a phased array antenna, under the condition of only performing algorithm isolation or simultaneously performing physical isolation and algorithm isolation, the signal flow can be expressed by the following formula:

(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T＝M*(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T(25)

(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T＝P*(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T(26)

(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T＝M**(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T(27)

P＝M^-1(28)

Combining (25) to (28) to obtain

(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T＝(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T(29)

For a signal flowing from a multipath signal transceiver port to a measured antenna port of a phased array antenna, the signal flow can be expressed by the following formula under the condition of only physical isolation:

(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T＝(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T(30)

(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T＝(Bx₁,Bx₂,…,Bx_K)^T(31)

(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T＝(Sx₁,Sx₂,…,Sx_K)^T(32)

after at least one of the above two methods is adopted, the multi-signal transceiver port (y) is adopted₁,y₂,…,y_P) Measured antenna port (x) to phased array antenna₁,x₂,…,x_K) Has a signal transfer relationship of

(x₁,x₂,…,x_K)^T＝H′(t)*(y₁,y₂,…,y_P)^T(33)

The above formula shows that the test system and the test method of the invention completely realize the real working mode of the phased array antenna, namely, the simulation of communication link with a plurality of wireless terminals at the same time, including the simulation of information of a plurality of terminals Simulation of multipath use environment, simulation of antenna information itself, etc., the information flow is in (x)₁,x₂,…,x_K) And (y)₁,y₂,…,y_P) The transmission process is completely consistent with the actual working condition of the phased array antenna, so that the system level index test of the phased array antenna can be carried out, such as the uplink MIMO radio frequency performance and the communication protocol performance of the phased array antenna under multiple users.

In addition, in an embodiment of the present invention, when performing the corresponding test, the method further includes: and carrying out the uplink test or the downlink test of the test independently, or carrying out the uplink test and the downlink test of the test simultaneously.

It is understood that the upstream test or the downstream test may be performed separately, or both.

It should be noted that, in the phased array antenna testing method according to the embodiment of the present invention, real-time antenna pattern information of a selected measured antenna of the phased array antenna is obtained and is led into the channel simulator in advance, so that when the channel simulator is formally performed to form a test signal through operation, and the test signal is fed to a corresponding receiving end to perform a corresponding test, a real-time beamforming state of the phased array antenna can be simulated inside the channel simulator, and the phased array antenna pattern information operated in the channel simulator can be changed according to a real-time situation, so as to perform a downlink test and/or an uplink test of the phased array antenna in a dynamic beamforming working mode. That is, in the formal test process, the channel simulator can independently complete the simulation and calculation of the whole dynamic real-time beamforming adjustment process.

Therefore, in the formal test process, the phased array antenna can complete the whole wireless performance evaluation and test of the phased array antenna in the real-time beamforming state without being in the dynamic real-time beamforming state.

It should be noted that the foregoing explanation of the embodiment of the phased array antenna testing system is also applicable to the phased array antenna testing method of the embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

In order to implement the above embodiments, the present invention also proposes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the phased array antenna testing method as the above embodiments.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and that variations, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to the above embodiments by those of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A phased array antenna test system, comprising:

the antenna array comprises at least two test antennas and an isolation material and is used for carrying out near field test within a preset distance on the phased array antenna to be tested;

a microwave anechoic chamber, wherein the antenna array and the phased array antenna are both arranged in the microwave anechoic chamber; and

the instrument comprises a channel simulator and a multi-path signal transceiver, is connected with the antenna array and the phased array antenna and is used for being matched with the antenna array to test the phased array antenna.

2. A phased array antenna test system according to claim 1, characterised in that the antenna array is a dual polarized antenna array comprising at least two dual polarized measurement antennas and isolation material, each dual polarized measurement antenna of the at least two dual polarized measurement antennas having two antenna elements arranged crosswise to each other, wherein the antenna elements comprise:

The first radiation piece is internally provided with a first accommodating cavity, and the cavity of the first accommodating cavity penetrates through the first end and the second end of the first radiation piece;

a second radiating element, a first end of the second radiating element and a first end of the first radiating element being unconnected, a second end of the second radiating element and a second end of the first radiating element being electrically connected;

a balance member, a first end of the balance member and a second end of the second radiating member being electrically connected; and

a feed, the feed deviate from antenna element center preset distance and with the balancing piece corresponds the setting, wherein, the feed includes:

the cavity of the second accommodating cavity penetrates through the first end of the outer core and the second end of the outer core, and the first end of the outer core is electrically connected with the second end of the first radiation piece;

the inner core penetrates through the cavities of the first accommodating cavity and the second accommodating cavity, and the first end of the inner core penetrates out of the first end of the first radiation piece and is coupled with the second radiation piece.

3. The phased array antenna system level test system according to claim 2, wherein the dual polarized test antennas are inserted into a top of the isolation material or the dual polarized test antennas are inserted into a bottom of a receiving cavity formed by the isolation material.

4. The phased array antenna system level test system of claim 3, further comprising:

a tuner connecting the second end of the outer core and the second end of the inner core of the feed.

5. The phased array antenna system level test system of claim 1, further comprising:

a mobile station, at least one of said dual-polarized antenna array and said phased array antenna being provided on said mobile station.

6. The phased array antenna calibration system as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the predetermined distance is less than or equal to 10cm or twice the wavelength.

7. A phased array antenna system level test method, using a system according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

selecting an equal number of antennas under test of the test antenna and the phased array antenna;

acquiring real-time antenna directional pattern information of the selected tested antenna of the phased array antenna;

controlling the port of the channel simulator and the port of the tested antenna of the selected phased array antenna to form one-to-one signal transmission according to the real-time antenna directional diagram information; and

And controlling the channel simulator to form a test signal through operation, and feeding the test signal into a corresponding receiving end to perform corresponding test.

8. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 7, wherein the real-time antenna pattern information of the measured antenna of the phased array antenna is obtained in a dynamic beamforming mode of operation.

9. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 7, wherein the obtaining real-time antenna pattern information for the selected measured antenna of the phased array antenna further comprises:

acquiring current port excitation of an antenna unit of a tested antenna of each phased array antenna in real time;

and obtaining real-time antenna directional pattern information of the selected tested antenna of the phased array antenna according to the in-array directional pattern information of the antenna unit of the tested antenna of the phased array antenna and the excitation of the current port.

10. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 9, wherein the current port excitation is acquired in real time from within the phased array antenna in operation.

11. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 10, after obtaining the real-time antenna pattern information, further comprising:

and loading the port signal of the test antenna or the test signal to a radio frequency matrix module for processing so as to form one-to-one signal transmission.

12. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 10, after obtaining the real-time antenna pattern information, further comprising:

adjusting a physical distance between the selected test antenna and a measured antenna of the phased array antenna to form a one-to-one signal transmission.

13. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 10, after obtaining the real-time antenna pattern information, further comprising:

and adjusting the physical distance between the selected test antenna and the tested antenna of the phased array antenna, and loading the port signal of the test antenna or the test signal to a radio frequency matrix module for processing so as to form one-to-one signal transmission.

14. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 13, further comprising, after forming the one-to-one signal transmission:

And controlling a port of the channel simulator to receive the signal processed by the loaded radio frequency matrix module so as to carry out corresponding test.

15. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 13, further comprising, after forming the one-to-one signal transmission:

and controlling the port of the channel simulator to receive the test antenna port signal so as to carry out corresponding test.

16. The phased array antenna system level test method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the receiving end is a multi-path signal transceiver and the test is a downlink test.

17. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 16, further comprising, after forming the one-to-one signal transmission:

and controlling the port of the channel simulator to receive the port signal of the multi-channel signal transceiver so as to carry out corresponding test.

18. The phased array antenna system level testing method of claim 17, further comprising, after generating the test signal:

and loading the test signal to a radio frequency matrix module for processing so as to carry out corresponding test.

19. The phased array antenna test method as claimed in claim 17 or 18, wherein said receiving end is said test antenna and said test is an uplink test.

20. The phased array antenna testing method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 16, further comprising, in performing the correspondence test:

and independently performing the uplink test or the downlink test of the test, or simultaneously performing the uplink test and the downlink test of the test.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, carries out a method for testing a phased array antenna according to any one of claims 7-20.