CN210430093U

CN210430093U - Antenna assembly for beamforming antenna and base station antenna

Info

Publication number: CN210430093U
Application number: CN201921904226.9U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张讯
Original assignee: Commscope Technologies LLC
Current assignee: Commscope Technologies LLC
Priority date: 2019-11-06
Filing date: 2019-11-06
Publication date: 2020-04-28
Anticipated expiration: 2029-11-06

Abstract

The utility model relates to an antenna assembly for beam forming antenna, including reflector and antenna array, the antenna array includes a plurality of vertical extension arrays, a plurality of vertical extension arrays include: a plurality of first radiating elements arranged as a first array of vertically extending arrays; a plurality of second radiating elements arranged as a second array of vertically extending arrays; two adjacent first radiating elements are spaced apart from each other by a first spacing and one first radiating element is spaced apart from one adjacent second radiating element by a second spacing, the first spacing being substantially equal to the second spacing, the antenna assembly further comprising a plurality of parasitic elements, one parasitic element extending forward from the reflector farther than another parasitic element, the one parasitic element being closer to a middle of the antenna array than the other parasitic element. Furthermore, the utility model discloses still relate to a base station antenna. Thereby enabling an improvement in the radiation pattern of the antenna.

Description

Antenna assembly for beamforming antenna and base station antenna

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to radio communications, and more particularly to an antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna and a base station antenna for a cellular communication system.

Background

Cellular communication systems are well known in the art. In a cellular communication system, a geographical area is divided into a series of areas, which are referred to as "cells" served by respective base stations. The base station may include one or more base station antennas configured to provide two-way radio frequency ("RF") communication with mobile subscribers within a cell served by the base station.

In many cases, each base station is divided into "sectors. "in the most common configuration, the hexagonal cell is divided into three 120 ° sectors, each served by one or more base station antennas, with an azimuthal half-power beam width (HPBW) of approximately 65 °. Typically, the base station antennas are mounted on a tower structure, with the radiation pattern (also referred to herein as an "antenna beam") produced by the base station antennas being directed outwardly. The base station antenna is typically implemented as a linear or planar phased array of radiating elements.

Base station antennas typically include a linear or two-dimensional array of radiating elements, such as cross dipole or patch radiating elements. To increase system capacity, beamforming base station antennas are currently being deployed that include a plurality of closely spaced linear arrays of radiating elements configured for beamforming. A typical object of such a beamforming antenna is to generate an antenna beam having a narrow beamwidth in the azimuth plane. This increases the signal power transmitted in the desired user direction and reduces interference.

If the linear arrays of radiating elements in a beamforming antenna are closely spaced together, the antenna beam can be scanned to a very wide angle in the azimuth plane (e.g., an azimuth scan angle of 60 °) without producing significant side lobes. However, as the linear arrays are spaced closer together, mutual coupling between radiating elements in adjacent linear arrays increases, which degrades other performance parameters of the base station antenna, such as co-polarization performance. The radiation pattern of the antenna may be distorted and the beam forming performance may be deteriorated. This is undesirable.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna and an associated base station antenna that overcome at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna, comprising a reflector body and an antenna array. The antenna array comprises a plurality of vertically extending arrays, wherein the plurality of vertically extending arrays comprises: a plurality of first radiating elements arranged in a first array of vertically extending arrays, the first radiating elements extending forwardly from the reflector. A plurality of second radiating elements arranged as a second array of vertically extending arrays, the second radiating elements extending forwardly from the reflector. The first and second arrays of vertically extending arrays are adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction. Two adjacent first radiating elements are spaced apart from each other by a first spacing, and one first radiating element is spaced apart from one adjacent second radiating element by a second spacing. The first pitch is substantially equal to the second pitch. The antenna assembly also includes a plurality of parasitic elements for the antenna array. The parasitic elements are arranged along the sides of the first and second arrays of vertically extending arrays. The parasitic element is disposed between adjacent first radiating elements. The parasitic element is disposed between adjacent second radiating elements. One of the parasitic elements extends further forward from the reflector than the other one of the parasitic elements. The one parasitic element is closer to the middle of the antenna array than the other parasitic element.

According to the utility model discloses antenna module of each embodiment can improve radiation pattern shape and/or improve the cross polarization discrimination performance of antenna.

In some embodiments, the parasitic elements are mounted three or more different distances up the front of the reflector, wherein at least some of the parasitic elements between the first and second arrays of vertically extending arrays are mounted farther from the reflector than at least some of the parasitic elements not between the first and second arrays of vertically extending arrays.

In some embodiments, the parasitic element descends multiple times in the horizontal and/or vertical direction from the antenna array middle region toward the outer region.

In some embodiments, each second radiating element is vertically offset relative to each first radiating element.

In some embodiments, a parasitic element is disposed around each of the first radiating elements and each of the second radiating elements.

In some embodiments, the parasitic element further includes a plurality of vertically extending first parasitic elements, each of which is disposed on both sides of the first radiating element in the horizontal direction and on both sides of the second radiating element in the horizontal direction.

In some embodiments, the distance of the first parasitic element in the forward direction of the reflector is set according to the coupling interference strength in the position where the first parasitic element is located.

In some embodiments, the distance of the first parasitic element in the forward direction of the reflector decreases one or more times from the antenna array middle region towards the outer side region.

In some embodiments, the parasitic element further includes a plurality of horizontally extending second parasitic elements, each of which is disposed on both sides of the first radiating element in the vertical direction and on both sides of the second radiating element in the vertical direction.

In some embodiments, the distance of the second parasitic element in the forward direction of the reflector is set according to the coupling interference strength in the position where the second parasitic element is located.

In some embodiments, the distance of the second parasitic element in the forward direction of the reflector decreases one or more times from the antenna array middle region toward the outer side region.

In some embodiments, the plurality of vertically extending arrays further comprises: a plurality of third radiating elements arranged as a third array of vertically extending arrays; wherein the first array of vertically extending arrays, the second array of vertically extending arrays and the third array of vertically extending arrays are arranged in order in a horizontal direction, wherein a substantially regular hexagonal shape is enclosed together with one second radiating element as a center between two first radiating elements adjacent to the center, two second radiating elements adjacent to the center and two third radiating elements adjacent to the center.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna, comprising a reflector body and an antenna array, said antenna array comprising a plurality of vertically extending arrays, characterized in that said plurality of vertically extending arrays comprises. A plurality of first radiating elements arranged in a first array of vertically extending arrays, the first radiating elements extending forwardly from the reflector. A plurality of second radiating elements arranged as a second array of vertically extending arrays, the second radiating elements extending forwardly from the reflector. The first array of vertically extending arrays and the second array of vertically extending arrays are adjacent to each other in a horizontal direction. The average of the pitches between the adjacent first radiation elements is the first average pitch. The average of the spacing between one first radiating element and one adjacent second radiating element is the second average spacing. The absolute value of the first average spacing minus the second average spacing is less than 10% of the first or second average spacing. The antenna assembly also includes a plurality of parasitic elements for the antenna array. The parasitic elements are disposed along sides of the first and second arrays of the vertically extending array, between adjacent first radiating elements, and between adjacent second radiating elements. The distance that the parasitic element extends forward from the reflector decreases one or more times in the horizontal and/or vertical direction from the middle area of the antenna array towards the outer area.

In some embodiments, the absolute value of the first average separation minus the second average separation is less than 5% of the first or second average separation.

In some embodiments, the first average pitch is substantially equal to the second average pitch.

In some embodiments, the parasitic element further comprises a plurality of vertically extending first parasitic elements, each first parasitic element being arranged on both sides of the first radiating element and the second radiating element of the antenna array in the horizontal direction.

In some embodiments, the parasitic element further comprises a plurality of horizontally extending second parasitic elements, each second parasitic element being arranged on both sides of the first radiating element and the second radiating element of the antenna array in the vertical direction.

According to the utility model discloses a third aspect provides a base station antenna, base station antenna includes according to the utility model discloses a antenna module for beam forming antenna.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base station antenna having a beamforming array, the base station antenna comprising a reflector, an antenna array comprising a plurality of columns of radiating elements extending forwardly from the reflector, a plurality of first parasitic elements and a plurality of second parasitic elements, characterized in that the first parasitic elements are arranged as a plurality of columns of first parasitic elements arranged between respective pairs of adjacent columns of radiating elements and arranged outside a last column of said columns of radiating elements, wherein at least some of the first parasitic elements arranged between a first pair of adjacent columns of radiating elements are arranged further away from the reflector than the first parasitic elements outside the last column of columns of radiating elements.

In some embodiments, the first parasitic element that extends furthest forward from the reflector is in the middle of the plurality of first parasitic element columns.

In some embodiments, the second parasitic elements are arranged as a plurality of second parasitic element rows, wherein at least some of the second parasitic elements arranged in the middle region of the antenna array are arranged further away from the reflector than other second parasitic elements at the periphery of the columns of antenna elements.

Drawings

In the figure:

fig. 1 illustrates a schematic perspective view of a base station antenna according to some embodiments of the present invention;

figure 2 shows a schematic front view of an antenna assembly in the base station antenna of figure 1;

fig. 3 illustrates a partial schematic view of an antenna array of an antenna assembly in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an array of parasitic elements of an antenna assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 5 shows a simplified schematic diagram of an array of parasitic elements according to the antenna component in fig. 4.

Detailed Description

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

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

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

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

In the description, when an element is referred to as being "on," "attached" to, "connected" to, "coupled" to, or "contacting" another element, etc., another element may be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled to, or contacting the other element, or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on," "directly attached to," directly connected to, "directly coupled to," or "directly contacting" another element, there are no intervening elements present. In the description, one feature is disposed "adjacent" another feature, and may mean that one feature has a portion overlapping with or above or below an adjacent feature.

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

According to the utility model discloses antenna module of each embodiment can be applicable to polytype base station antenna, especially can be applicable to beam forming antenna. As the number of arrays of radiating elements mounted on the reflector of a base station antenna increases, the spacing between the radiating elements of different arrays decreases significantly, which results in stronger coupling interference between the arrays. Therefore, the radiation pattern of the antenna may be distorted, and the beam forming performance may be deteriorated.

Coupling interference between the arrays may affect the radiation pattern in the azimuth and elevation planes. Too strong coupling not only affects the gain (due to coupling losses) but also distorts the shape of the radiation pattern and/or degrades the cross-polarization discrimination (CPR) performance of the antenna.

According to various embodiments of the present invention, techniques are provided for creating a symmetric, balanced electromagnetic environment around a linear array of base station antennas with low coupling between closely spaced radiating elements. Such a symmetric, balanced electromagnetic environment may exhibit balanced, symmetric coupling in the far field and low coupling levels in the near field. Since the coupling interference between the radiating elements is symmetrical and/or balanced, distortion of the radiation pattern can be reduced, which can improve the CPR performance of the antenna. In addition, according to some embodiments of the present invention, the rf energy is coupled to the parasitic element before being coupled from the first radiating element to the second radiating element, which prolongs the transmission path of the rf energy between the first radiating element and the second radiating element, thereby reducing the near-field coupling between the radiating elements and improving the isolation performance. According to the antenna assembly of some embodiments of the present invention, coupling interference between adjacent linear arrays can be reduced, and thus isolation is improved. Furthermore, antenna assemblies according to some embodiments of the present invention may also improve radiation pattern shape and/or improve cross-polarization discrimination performance of the antenna.

Some embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, fig. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a base station antenna according to some embodiments of the present invention; fig. 2 shows a schematic front view of an antenna assembly in the base station antenna of fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 1, the base station antenna 100 is an elongated structure extending along a longitudinal axis L. The base station antenna 100 may have a tubular shape of a substantially rectangular cross section. The base station antenna 100 includes a radome 110 and a top end cap 120. In some embodiments, the radome 110 and top end cap 120 may comprise a single integral unit, which may help to be waterproof. One or more mounting brackets 150 are provided on the rear side of the radome 110, which may be used to mount the base station antenna 100 to an antenna bracket (not shown) on, for example, an antenna tower. The base station antenna 100 further includes a bottom end cap 130, the bottom end cap 130 including a plurality of connectors 140 mounted therein. The base station antenna 100 is typically mounted in a vertical manner (i.e., the longitudinal axis L may be substantially perpendicular to a plane defined by the horizon when the base station antenna 100 is in normal operation).

As shown in fig. 2, the base station antenna 100 includes an antenna assembly 200, which antenna assembly 200 may be slidably inserted into the radome 110 from the top or bottom, for example, before the top or

bottom end cap

120, 130 is attached to the radome 110. The antenna assembly 200 includes a reflector 210 and an array 220 of radiating elements 222 mounted on or above the reflector 210 in rows and columns. The reflector 210 may serve as a ground plane for the radiating element 222.

In addition, parasitic elements 230 for the corresponding array 220 of radiating elements 222 may also be mounted on the reflector 210. The parasitic element 230 may be, for example, a conductive element mounted forward on the reflector 210 adjacent to the one or more radiating elements 222. Parasitic element 230 may be configured to shape the radiation pattern of one or more adjacent radiating elements. For example, parasitic element 230 may be designed to narrow the beamwidth of the radiation pattern of one or more adjacent radiating elements 222 in the azimuth plane. In some cases, parasitic element 230 may include a dipole, and may have approximately the same length as the dipole included in adjacent radiating element 222. Parasitic element 230 is not coupled to an antenna feed network that couples RF signals to array 220 of radiating elements 222 or from array 220 of radiating elements 222.

These parasitic elements 230 may be disposed around the array 220 of radiating elements 222 or between adjacent radiating elements 222. A portion of the parasitic elements 230 may be disposed between adjacent radiating elements 222 as an isolator to increase the isolation of the adjacent radiating elements to reduce coupling interference between the adjacent radiating elements. Another portion of the parasitic elements 230 may be disposed around the array 220 of radiating elements 222 and interact with corresponding radiating elements in the array 220 of radiating elements 222, e.g., in operation, the parasitic elements 230 may absorb radio waves emitted by the corresponding radiating elements 222 and re-radiate the radio waves outward with a different phase in order to adjust the shaped beam, e.g., beamwidth, of the array 220 of radiating elements 222.

These arrays 220 of radiating elements 222 may be, for example, a linear array of radiating elements or a two-dimensional array of radiating elements. In some embodiments, the array of radiating elements 220 may extend along substantially the entire length of the base station antenna 100. In other embodiments, the array of radiating elements 220 may extend only partially along the length dimension of the base station antenna 100. These arrays of radiating elements 220 may extend from the lower end to the upper end of the base station antenna 100 in a vertical direction V, which may be in the direction of the longitudinal axis L of the base station antenna 100 or parallel to the longitudinal axis L. The vertical direction V is perpendicular to the horizontal direction H and the forward direction F (see fig. 1). The arrays of radiating elements may extend forward from the reflector along a forward direction F.

In the present embodiment, only four linear arrays of radiating elements are shown by way of example: a plurality of first radiating elements (here illustratively 3) arranged in a vertically extending first array 2201; a plurality of second radiating elements (here illustratively 3) arranged in a second array 2202 extending vertically; a plurality of third radiating elements (here illustratively 3) arranged in a vertically extending third array 2203; a plurality of fourth radiating elements, here illustratively 3, is arranged in a vertically extending fourth array 2204. The four arrays are arranged adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction H.

In other embodiments, more radiating element arrays 220 (e.g., one or more high-band radiating element arrays, one or more mid-band radiating element arrays, and/or one or more low-frequency radiating element arrays) may be mounted on the reflector 210. A portion of the radiating elements 222 may be low-band radiating elements that may cover a frequency band of, for example, 617MHz to 960MHz or one or more partial ranges therein. Another portion of the radiating elements 222 may be mid-band radiating elements, which may cover a frequency band of, for example, 1427MHz to 2690MHz or one or more partial ranges thereof. The further partial radiating element 222 may be a high-band radiating element whose operating band may be 3GHz to 5GHz or one or more partial ranges therein.

In addition, because the plurality of radiating element arrays 220 are more closely spaced together on the area-limited reflector 210 to improve the electronic scanning capability of the antenna in the azimuth plane, the spacing between the radiating elements 222 is reduced. The reduced spacing results in reduced isolation (also referred to as in-plane polarization isolation) between radiating elements 222 in adjacent arrays, particularly radiating elements of the radiating elements having dipoles of the same polarization. For this reason, it is desirable to increase the isolation between the radiating elements 222 in adjacent arrays in order to improve the beamforming performance of the base station antenna. For this purpose, the adjacent radiating element arrays 220 may be arranged offset from each other, i.e. the feeding points of the radiating elements in the adjacent radiating element arrays 220 are offset in the vertical direction V, i.e. are no longer horizontally aligned. Thereby, the spatial distance between radiators of the same polarization (e.g., dipole radiators) of adjacent radiating elements is increased to improve the isolation. In other embodiments, two adjacent radiating element arrays may be designed to be vertically aligned with each other.

According to various embodiments of the present invention, in order to improve the radiation pattern generated by each array 220, such as improving cross-polarization discrimination performance, the radiating elements 222 are arranged in a symmetrical, balanced layout with respect to the electromagnetic coupling environment, so that the coupling interference effect between adjacent radiating elements 222 exhibits better balance, improving the shape of the radiation pattern. Next, a partial schematic view of the radiating element array 220 and a schematic view of the parasitic element array 230 of the antenna assembly 200 according to some embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with the aid of fig. 3 and 4.

Fig. 3 is a partial schematic front view of the antenna assembly 200, which is surrounded by a dashed line in fig. 2. Referring to fig. 3, the illustrated portion of the antenna assembly 200 includes: the first sub-array 2201' comprises two vertically arranged first radiating elements; the second sub-array 2202' includes three vertically arranged second radiating elements; the third sub-array 2203' includes two vertically arranged third radiating elements.

Two adjacent radiating elements 222 in each sub-array are spaced apart with a first spacing (d) therebetween, while radiating elements 222 in adjacent sub-arrays that are adjacent to each other are spaced apart with a second spacing (d') therebetween. In the present embodiment, the first interval d is substantially equal to the second interval d'. Thus, according to some embodiments of the present invention, the array of radiating elements 220 mounted on the reflector 210 has a substantially symmetrical layout. "symmetrical layout" is to be understood as: the spacing between one radiating element and each adjacent radiating element is substantially equal so that the coupling interference of adjacent radiating elements to the radiating element is also presented in a symmetrical manner. To this end, the radiating elements shown in fig. 3 may together enclose a regular hexagonal topology. This can be seen, for example, with respect to the middle second radiating element in the second sub-array 2202' in fig. 3. This symmetrical layout is advantageous: first, a relatively symmetrical coupling environment is created for each radiating element, so that the coupling interference effects of surrounding radiating elements, e.g., adjacent radiating elements, are balanced with each other, which is beneficial for improving the radiation pattern shape of the antenna; second, the spacing between adjacent arrays can be designed more closely to maintain the compactness of the antenna.

In some embodiments, the respective first spacings between two adjacent radiating elements in each sub-array may be slightly offset from each other as determined by the manufacturing process, in which case the respective first spacings may then be averaged to form a first average spacing; similarly, the respective second pitches between two adjacent radiating elements in two adjacent arrays may also be slightly offset from each other, and then the respective second pitches may be averaged to obtain the second average pitch. In particular embodiments of the present invention, to achieve a relatively symmetrical layout, the absolute value of the first average pitch minus the second average pitch may be less than 10%, 5%, 2% or 1% of the first or second average pitch.

In order to further reduce coupling interference between the arrays and improve isolation, parasitic elements 230 may be disposed around each radiating element in some embodiments of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2 and 4, the antenna assembly 200 may include a plurality of first parasitic elements 2301 extending in a vertical direction V. The first parasitic elements 2301 are respectively disposed on both sides (in the horizontal direction) of each radiating element array 220. The antenna assembly 200 may include a plurality of second parasitic elements 2302 extending in the horizontal direction H. The second parasitic elements 2302 are respectively arranged on both sides (in the vertical direction) of each of the radiating elements of the radiating element array 220. In other embodiments, the antenna assembly 200 may have only the first parasitic element 2301 or the second parasitic element 2302. It should also be understood that the arrangement of the first and second

parasitic elements

2301, 2302 shown in fig. 2 and 4 is only one exemplary embodiment, and that the number and arrangement thereof may be changed as desired.

The above arrangement of the first parasitic element 2301 and the second parasitic element 2302 is advantageous: first, the first parasitic element 2301 can effectively isolate coupling interference between adjacent arrays, while the second parasitic element 2302 can effectively isolate coupling interference between adjacent radiating elements 222 of the same array, thereby further reducing the coupling interference effect on each radiating element 222; secondly, parasitic elements are arranged on the left side and the right side of each radiating element 222, and on the upper side and the lower side of each radiating element 222, so that a relatively symmetrical isolation environment is created for each radiating element 222, and the shape of a radiation pattern is improved; third, the arrays of radiating elements 220 may be more closely spaced together based on enhanced isolation measures, thereby maintaining the compactness of the base station antenna 100.

However, since the radiating element 222 varies in its position in the front of the reflector, the intensity of the coupling disturbance experienced varies. Typically, for example, in an array consisting of four linear arrays 220, radiating elements 222 in the middle region of the array may be subject to more coupling interference from surrounding radiating elements 222 than radiating elements 222 in the outer regions of the array. According to a further embodiment of the present invention, different first parasitic elements 2301 and/or second parasitic elements 2302 may be arranged at different distances (also referred to herein as "heights") in front of the reflector 210 based on the coupling interference strength experienced by the radiating elements depending on the position in the array. For example, the height of the first parasitic element 2301 and/or the second parasitic element 2302 may decrease one or more times from the middle region toward the outer region of the array of radiating elements 222.

Referring to fig. 5, a simplified schematic diagram of the parasitic element array 230 according to fig. 4 is shown. In this simplified schematic, the first parasitic element 2301 extends vertically from top to bottom; the second parasitic element 2302 extends horizontally from left to right. As can be seen from the graph below fig. 5, the first parasitic elements 2301 extending between the middle two arrays 220 have a first height, the first parasitic elements 2301 extending between each middle array 220 and the corresponding outer array have a second height less than the first height, and the parasitic elements 2301 extending along the outer edge of each outer array have a third height less than the second height. Accordingly, the height of the first parasitic element 2301 decreases twice (from h to h ' and from h ' to h ') from the middle region toward the outer region of the radiating element array 220. In the present embodiment, five columns of the first parasitic elements 2301 are provided for the four radiating element arrays 220 in total. To this end, the first parasitic element 2301 may have three different heights: the first parasitic element 2301 in the middle column has the highest height h (since the coupling interference from the surrounding radiating element 222 is strongest in this region); the first parasitic element 2301 in the outer column has the lowest height h "(since the coupling interference from the surrounding radiating elements is weakest in this region); the height h' of the other two remaining columns of first parasitic elements 2301 is between h and h ". Similarly, the height of the second parasitic element 2302 may be set according to the coupling interference strength in the position as the first parasitic element 2301. It should also be understood that the design and height setting of the first parasitic element 2301 shown in fig. 5 is only an exemplary embodiment, and the specific arrangement thereof may be changed as needed.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure without substantially departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, all changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims. The disclosure is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.

Claims

1. An antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna comprising a reflector and an antenna array, the antenna array comprising a plurality of vertically extending arrays, wherein the plurality of vertically extending arrays comprises:

a plurality of first radiating elements arranged in a first array of vertically extending arrays, the first radiating elements extending forwardly from the reflector;

a plurality of second radiating elements arranged as a second array of vertically extending arrays, the second radiating elements extending forwardly from the reflector;

wherein the first and second arrays of vertically extending arrays are adjacent to each other in a horizontal direction, and two adjacent first radiating elements are spaced apart from each other by a first pitch, and one first radiating element is spaced apart from one adjacent second radiating element by a second pitch, wherein the first pitch is equal to the second pitch,

wherein the antenna assembly further comprises a plurality of parasitic elements for the antenna array, the parasitic elements being arranged alongside the first and second arrays of the vertically extending array, between adjacent first radiating elements and between adjacent second radiating elements, wherein one of the parasitic elements extends further forward from the reflector than another one of the parasitic elements, the one parasitic element being closer to the middle of the antenna array than the other parasitic element.

2. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 1, wherein the parasitic elements are mounted at three or more different distances in front of the reflector, wherein at least some of the parasitic elements between the first and second arrays of the vertically extending array are mounted further away from the reflector than at least some of the parasitic elements not between the first and second arrays of the vertically extending array.

3. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 1, wherein the parasitic element descends multiple times in horizontal and/or vertical direction from the antenna array middle region towards the outer region.

4. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna as recited in claim 1, wherein the second radiating elements are vertically offset with respect to the first radiating elements.

5. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna as recited in claim 1, wherein a parasitic element is disposed around each of the first radiating elements and each of the second radiating elements.

6. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 1, wherein the parasitic elements further comprise a plurality of vertically extending first parasitic elements, each first parasitic element being respectively arranged on both sides of the first radiating element in the horizontal direction and on both sides of the second radiating element in the horizontal direction.

7. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 6, wherein the distance of the first parasitic element in the forward direction of the reflector is set according to the coupling interference strength in the position where the first parasitic element is located.

8. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 6, wherein the distance of the first parasitic element in the forward direction of the reflector decreases one or more times from the antenna array middle region towards the outer side region.

9. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 1, wherein the parasitic elements further comprise a plurality of horizontally extending second parasitic elements, each second parasitic element being respectively arranged on both sides of the first radiating element in the vertical direction and on both sides of the second radiating element in the vertical direction.

10. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna of claim 9, wherein the distance of the second parasitic element in the forward direction of the reflector is set according to the coupling interference strength in the position where the second parasitic element is located.

11. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 9, wherein the distance of the second parasitic element in the forward direction of the reflector decreases one or more times from the antenna array middle region towards the outer side region.

12. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of vertically extending arrays further comprises: a plurality of third radiating elements arranged as a third array of vertically extending arrays; the first array of the vertically extending array, the second array of the vertically extending array and the third array of the vertically extending array are sequentially arranged in the horizontal direction, wherein one second radiating element is taken as a center, and a regular hexagon shape is formed by two first radiating elements adjacent to the center, two second radiating elements adjacent to the center and two third radiating elements adjacent to the center.

13. An antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna comprising a reflector and an antenna array, the antenna array comprising a plurality of vertically extending arrays, wherein the plurality of vertically extending arrays comprises:

wherein a first array of the vertically extending arrays and a second array of the vertically extending arrays are adjacent to each other in a horizontal direction, wherein an average of a pitch between adjacent first radiating elements is a first average pitch and an average of a pitch between one first radiating element and one adjacent second radiating element is a second average pitch, wherein an absolute value of the first average pitch minus the second average pitch is less than 10% of the first or second average pitch,

wherein the antenna assembly further comprises a plurality of parasitic elements for the antenna array, the parasitic elements being arranged along the sides of the first and second arrays of the vertically extending array, between adjacent first radiating elements and between adjacent second radiating elements, wherein the distance the parasitic elements extend forward from the reflector decreases one or more times in a horizontal and/or vertical direction from the antenna array middle area towards the outer side area.

14. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna of claim 13, wherein an absolute value of the first average spacing minus the second average spacing is less than 5% of the first or second average spacing.

15. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna of claim 13, wherein the first average spacing is equal to the second average spacing.

16. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna as recited in claim 13, wherein the second radiating elements are vertically offset with respect to the first radiating elements.

17. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna as recited in claim 13, wherein a parasitic element is disposed around each of the first radiating elements and each of the second radiating elements.

18. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 13, wherein the parasitic elements further comprise a plurality of vertically extending first parasitic elements, each first parasitic element being arranged on each side of the antenna array in the horizontal direction with respect to the first and second radiating elements.

19. The antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to claim 13, wherein the parasitic elements further comprise a plurality of horizontally extending second parasitic elements, each second parasitic element being arranged on each side of the antenna array in a vertical direction with respect to the first and second radiating elements.

20. A base station antenna comprising an antenna assembly for a beamforming antenna according to one of claims 1 to 19.

21. A base station antenna having a beamforming array and comprising a reflector, an antenna array comprising a plurality of columns of radiating elements extending forward from the reflector, a plurality of first parasitic elements and a plurality of second parasitic elements, characterized in that:

the first parasitic elements are arranged as a plurality of first parasitic element columns arranged between respective pairs of adjacent columns of radiating elements and arranged outside a last column of the columns of radiating elements, wherein at least some of the first parasitic elements arranged between the first pair of adjacent columns of radiating elements are arranged farther from the reflector than first parasitic elements outside the last column of columns of radiating elements.

22. The base station antenna of claim 21, wherein the first parasitic element extending furthest forward from the reflector is in the middle of the first plurality of columns of parasitic elements.

23. The base station antenna of claim 21, wherein the second parasitic elements are arranged in a plurality of second parasitic element rows, wherein at least some of the second parasitic elements arranged in the middle region of the antenna array are arranged farther from the reflector than other second parasitic elements at the periphery of the columns of antenna elements.