CN212323206U

CN212323206U - Base station antenna

Info

Publication number: CN212323206U
Application number: CN202021205602.8U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴利刚
Original assignee: Commscope Technologies LLC
Current assignee: Commscope Technologies LLC
Priority date: 2020-06-24
Filing date: 2020-06-24
Publication date: 2021-01-08
Anticipated expiration: 2030-06-24

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to base station antennas. A base station antenna, comprising: an array of radiating elements comprising a plurality of columns of radiating elements, each column comprising a plurality of radiating elements; a first phase shifter configured to change a phase of a radio frequency signal of a first frequency band for transmission in a beamforming manner; a second phase shifter configured to change a phase of a radio frequency signal of a second frequency band for transmission in a multi-beam manner, the second frequency band being different from the first frequency band, wherein the radio frequency signal of the second frequency band includes a first beam signal and a second beam signal; a multi-beam apparatus configured to generate output signals corresponding to the respective radiating elements from the phase-altered first beam signal and the phase-altered second beam signal; and a diplexer configured to receive the phase-altered radio frequency signals of the first frequency band and the output signals of the multi-beam apparatus and to transmit a diplexer output signal to a corresponding radiating element.

Description

Base station antenna

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to base station antennas.

Background

Cellular communication systems are well known in the art. In a typical cellular communication system, a geographic area is divided into a series of regions called "cells," and each cell is served by a base station. The base station may include a base station antenna, base band equipment, and radios configured to provide two-way radio frequency ("RF") communication with subscribers located throughout a cell. In many cases, a cell may be divided into multiple "sectors," and different base station antennas provide coverage for each sector. The base station antennas are typically mounted on towers or other raised structures, with the radiation beam ("antenna beam") generated by each antenna directed outward to serve a corresponding sector. A base station antenna typically includes a plurality of arrays of radiating elements. Each array of radiating elements may generate one or more antenna beams supporting service in various different frequency bands.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station antenna including: an array of radiating elements comprising a plurality of columns of radiating elements, each column comprising a plurality of radiating elements; a first phase shifter configured to change a phase of a radio frequency signal of a first frequency band for transmission in a beamforming manner; a second phase shifter configured to change a phase of a radio frequency signal of a second frequency band for transmission in a multi-beam manner, the second frequency band being different from the first frequency band, wherein the radio frequency signal of the second frequency band includes a first beam signal and a second beam signal; a multi-beam apparatus configured to generate output signals corresponding to the respective radiating elements from the phase-altered first beam signal and the phase-altered second beam signal; and a diplexer configured to receive the phase-altered radio frequency signals of the first frequency band and the output signals of the multi-beam apparatus and to transmit a diplexer output signal to a corresponding radiating element.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the second phase shifter comprises: a first beam phase shifter for changing a phase of the first beam signal; and a second beam phase shifter for changing a phase of the second beam signal.

In some embodiments according to the disclosure, a predetermined number of radiating elements in each column of radiating elements are coupled to the same duplexer, the base station antenna further comprising: a power divider configured to divide a corresponding duplexer output signal to a corresponding predetermined number of radiating elements in a predetermined power ratio.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the predetermined number is greater than or equal to 2, and less than or equal to 6.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the multi-beam device is a butler matrix.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the butler matrix includes a third input port that receives the phase-changed first beam signal, a fourth input port that receives the phase-changed second beam signal, and a plurality of first output ports that are respectively coupled to the corresponding radiating elements via the plurality of duplexers.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the array of radiating elements includes a plurality of rows, the plurality of output ports of each of the butler matrices being coupled to corresponding radiating elements in the same row.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the duplexer includes a first input port receiving the radio frequency signals of the first frequency band with the phase changed, a second input port coupled to the first output port of the butler matrix, and a second output port coupled to the corresponding radiating element.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the first phase shifter includes a plurality of first phase shifter output ports that are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same column.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station antenna including: an array of radiating elements comprising a plurality of columns of radiating elements, each column comprising a plurality of radiating elements; a multi-beam device configured to generate output signals corresponding to the respective radiating elements from first and second beam signals of radio frequency signals of a second frequency band for transmission in a multi-beam manner; a plurality of duplexers configured to receive radio frequency signals of a first frequency band for transmission in a beamforming manner and output signals of the multi-beam apparatus, and to output duplexer output signals; and

a phase shifter configured to change a phase of the duplexer output signal and output to a corresponding radiating element.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the butler matrix includes a third input port that receives the first beam signal, a fourth input port that receives the second beam signal, and a plurality of first output ports that are respectively coupled to the corresponding radiating elements via the plurality of duplexers.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the array of radiating elements includes a plurality of rows, the plurality of output ports of the butler matrix coupled to corresponding radiating elements in the same row.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the duplexer includes a first input port that receives radio frequency signals of a first frequency band, a second input port coupled to a first output port of the butler matrix, and a second output port coupled to a corresponding radiating element.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the first phase shifter includes a plurality of phase shifter output ports that are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same column of the array of radiating elements.

According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station antenna including: a first sector split port; a second sector split port; a plurality of beamforming ports; an array of radiating elements having a plurality of columns, wherein each column includes a plurality of radiating elements; a plurality of first phase shifters coupled between corresponding beamforming ports and the array of radiating elements, the plurality of first phase shifters collectively having a plurality of first phase shifter output ports; a second phase shifter having an input port coupled to the first sector division port and a plurality of second phase shifter output ports; a third phase shifter having an input port coupled to the second sector division port and a plurality of third phase shifter output ports; a plurality of multi-beam devices, each coupled to a corresponding second phase shifter output port of the plurality of second phase shifter output ports and a corresponding third phase shifter output port of the plurality of third phase shifter output ports, the plurality of multi-beam devices collectively having a plurality of multi-beam device output ports; and a plurality of duplexers, each duplexer having a first input port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of first phase shifter output ports, a second input port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of multi-beam device output ports, and an output port coupled to a corresponding radiating element of the array of radiating elements.

In some embodiments according to the disclosure, two first phase shifters are coupled to a radiating element in each column of the array of radiating elements for radiators of each polarization direction of the radiating element.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the number of butler matrices connected to the array of radiating elements is twice the number of columns of the array of radiating elements.

In some embodiments according to the disclosure, a predetermined number of radiating elements in each column of radiating elements are coupled to the same duplexer, the base station antenna further comprising: and a power distributor configured to distribute the signal output from the output port of the corresponding duplexer to a corresponding predetermined number of radiating elements in a predetermined power ratio.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the array of radiating elements includes a plurality of rows, the plurality of multi-beam device output ports of each of the multi-beam devices being coupled to corresponding radiating elements in the same row.

In still another aspect according to the present disclosure, there is provided a base station antenna including: a first sector split port; a second sector split port; a plurality of beamforming ports; a multi-beam device having first and second input ports coupled to corresponding first and second sector split ports, and a plurality of multi-beam device output ports; a plurality of phase shifters having a total plurality of phase shifter output ports; a plurality of duplexers, each duplexer having a first input port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of beamforming ports, a second input port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of multi-beam device output ports, and an output port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of phase shifters; an array of radiating elements having a plurality of columns, wherein each column includes a plurality of radiating elements, wherein each phase shifter output port is coupled to a corresponding radiating element of the plurality of radiating elements in the array of radiating elements.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the array of radiating elements includes a plurality of rows, the plurality of multi-beam device output ports of each of the multi-beam devices being coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same row of the array of radiating elements.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, each of the phase shifters includes a plurality of phase shifter output ports, and the plurality of phase shifter output ports of each phase shifter are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same column of the array of radiating elements.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station comprising the above-mentioned base station antenna according to the present disclosure.

Other features of the present disclosure and advantages thereof will become more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

The present disclosure may be more clearly understood from the following detailed description, taken with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a base station antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a base station antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a base station antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Note that in the embodiments described below, the same reference numerals are used in common between different drawings to denote the same portions or portions having the same functions, and a repetitive description thereof will be omitted. In some cases, similar reference numbers and letters are used to denote similar items, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be discussed further in subsequent figures.

For convenience of understanding, the positions, sizes, ranges, and the like of the respective structures shown in the drawings and the like do not sometimes indicate actual positions, sizes, ranges, and the like. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the positions, dimensions, ranges, and the like disclosed in the drawings and the like.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that: the relative arrangement of the components and steps, the numerical expressions, and numerical values set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present disclosure unless specifically stated otherwise.

The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses. That is, the structures and methods herein are shown by way of example to illustrate different embodiments of the structures and methods of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand, however, that they are merely illustrative of exemplary ways in which the disclosure may be practiced and not exhaustive. Furthermore, the figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components.

Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail but are intended to be part of the specification where appropriate.

In all examples shown and discussed herein, any particular value should be construed as merely illustrative, and not limiting. Thus, other examples of the exemplary embodiments may have different values.

To increase capacity, some wireless operators require that the base station antenna include a first "beamformed" array of radiating elements to allow the shape of the antenna beam to be actively changed and a second "multi-beam" array of radiating elements to produce multiple (e.g., 2) static antenna beams, thereby dividing a sector into two or more sub-sectors. For example, wireless operators require that the base station antenna contain a beam-forming array operating in the 2.6GHz band and a multi-beam (typically dual-beam) array operating in the 1.8GHz band. Conventional base station antennas incorporating this functionality mount the two arrays side-by-side or stack the two arrays in a vertical direction. However, since both arrays are relatively large (e.g., each array has 4 columns of radiating elements), the base station antenna is quite large. For example, placing the antennas side-by-side in the horizontal direction would increase the width of the antennas, and stacking in the vertical direction would increase the length of the antennas. The "vertical direction" herein means a direction substantially perpendicular to the horizontal plane. Wireless operators prefer smaller base station antennas, require less installation space on the tower and are subject to lower wind load levels.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a base station antenna comprising a single array of dual polarized radiating elements 106 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As is well known, a dual polarized radiating element refers to a radiating element having first and second radiators for transmitting and receiving RF signals with orthogonal polarization directions. This allows the base station antenna to produce twice the antenna beam without increasing the size of the array of radiating elements. Although the base station antenna of fig. 1 comprises dual polarized radiating elements, fig. 1 shows only a feed network of one of the two polarization directions. It should be understood that the feed network in fig. 1 should also be duplicated for the second polarization direction.

As shown in fig. 1, the base station antenna 100 comprises two ports 107 (each polarization direction) for the dual beam part of the antenna and four ports 109 (each polarization direction) for the beam forming part of the antenna. Ports 107-1 and 107-2 may be connected to one or more radios that provide RF signals for generating two static sector split beams. Ports 109-1 through 109-4 may connect to corresponding ports of a beamforming radio. The feed network of the dual beam part of the antenna comprises ports 107, a first beam phase shifter 101, a second beam phase shifter 102 and a butler matrix 105. The feed network of the beam forming part of the antenna comprises a port 109, a power divider 108 and a first phase shifter 103. A plurality of duplexers 104 are provided to connect the two feed networks to the array of radiating elements 106.

The radiating elements in the array of radiating elements 106 are arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns. In the embodiment of fig. 1, the array of radiating elements 106 comprises 40 dual polarized radiating elements arranged in 4 columns, 10 rows. As described above, the array of radiating elements 106 is shown to comprise dual polarized radiating elements, each comprising a first radiator having a-45 ° oblique polarization direction to transmit and receive RF radiation and a second radiator having a +45 ° oblique polarization direction to transmit and receive RF radiation. The individual radiators are shown as dipole radiators in fig. 1. It should be understood that radiating elements having other types of radiators can also be used, as long as the radiating element is a broadband radiating element capable of radiating/receiving Radio Frequency (RF) signals in two different frequency bands, a first frequency band and a second frequency band.

The lower right part of fig. 1 illustrates the feed network of the beam forming part of the antenna. As shown in fig. 1, port 109-1 feeds the radiator in the first polarization direction for each radiating element in the first column of radiating element array 106. Port 109-1 may be connected to a first port of a beamforming radio (not shown). The beamforming radio may generate RF signals in a first frequency band to be transmitted through the array of radiating elements 106. The RF signal power splitter 108 is input to port 109-1. The power divider 108 divides the RF signal into corresponding first and second sub-components which are input to the first and second phase shifters 103. Phase shifter 103 further divides the first and second subcomponents of the RF signal and adjusts the relative phases of these subcomponents so as to apply electrical downtilt angles to the antenna beam formed by the first column of radiating elements in response to the RF signal output by port 109-1. The phase-shifted sub-components of the RF signal output by phase shifter 103 are passed to corresponding duplexers 104. Duplexer 104 outputs the sub-components to individual radiating elements in radiating element array 106. In the exemplary embodiment shown in fig. 1, each first phase shifter 103 contains 5 output ports, and each phase shifter output is coupled to a single radiating element. Thus, a total of two phase shifters 103 are provided per column (per polarization direction) to feed 10 radiating elements in that column.

Ports 109-2 through 109-4 similarly feed the remaining three columns of radiating element array 106 through additional power dividers 108, phase shifters 103 and duplexers 104, which are not shown in fig. 1. Thus, the feed network of the beam forming part of the antenna 100 comprises: a total of 8 phase shifters 103 per polarization direction, or a total of 16 phase shifters 103.

It should be understood that the number of output ports of each phase shifter 103 is not limited to 5, but may be any number, which can be selected by one skilled in the art as desired. Also, the number of phase shifters 103 in the base station antenna depends on the number of radiating elements in the radiating element array 106 and the number of output ports of each phase shifter 103. For example, when each phase shifter 103 has 10 output ports, a total of 8 phase shifters 103 may be provided in the base station antenna 100 (and the power divider 108 may be omitted).

Each duplexer (diplexer)104 is a three-port radio frequency device. Duplexer 104 may have a frequency division function of high pass filtering, low pass filtering, or band pass filtering. Each duplexer 104 includes a first band port through which only RF signals of the first band pass, a second band port through which only RF signals of the second band pass, and a common port through which both RF signals of the first and second bands pass. Each duplexer 104 has a first band port coupled to a corresponding output of a corresponding one of phase shifters 103, a second band port coupled to a corresponding output of butler matrix 105 (as described below), and a common port coupled to a corresponding one of the radiating elements. Each duplexer 104 allows two different feed networks to feed corresponding ones of the radiating elements so that the radiating elements can transmit and receive RF signals in two different frequency bands. In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, each dipole radiator of each radiating element has a corresponding duplexer 104. Therefore, the base station antenna 100 includes a total of 80 duplexers 104. For simplicity, only a portion of duplexers 104 is shown, and the other duplexers 104 have similar connections.

The upper part of fig. 1 illustrates the feed network of the dual beam part of the antenna. The feed network of the dual-beam portion is connected to one or more radios that produce a static dual-beam. The static dual beams are generated from the RF signal of the second frequency band. The second frequency band is different from the first frequency band. It should be understood that different countries and regions use different frequency bands for different types of wireless communication services. Thus, some examples of the first and second frequency bands in this disclosure are as follows:

a second frequency band: 1710-; a first frequency band: 2300-2400 MHz;

a second frequency band: 1850-; a first frequency band: 2496 and 2690 MHz;

a second frequency band: 1695 and 2180 MHz; a first frequency band: 2300-2690 MHz.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the multi-beam portion of antenna 100 is configured to produce a pair of antenna beams (i.e., a total of four antenna beams) for each polarization direction. A first port of a radio is connected to a first beam phase shifter 101 and a second port of the radio (which may be the same radio or a different radio) is connected to a second beam phase shifter 102. The first beam phase shifter 101 may split the RF signal output by the first port of the radio into a plurality of sub-components (10 sub-components in the exemplary embodiment of fig. 1), and may adjust the relative phases of the individual sub-components of the RF signal to apply an electrical downtilt to a first antenna beam of the dual-antenna beams. The second beam phase shifter 102 may split the RF signal output by the second port of the radio into a plurality of sub-components (again, 10 sub-components in the exemplary embodiment of fig. 1), and may adjust the relative phases of the individual sub-components of the RF signal to apply an electrical downtilt to the second of the dual-antenna beams.

In the illustrated embodiment, the first beam phase shifter 101 and the second beam phase shifter 102 each have 10 outputs. A total of 10 butler matrices 105 are also provided, with each butler matrix 105 being connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of output ports of the first beam phase shifter 101 and a corresponding one of the plurality of output ports of the second beam phase shifter 102. Each butler matrix 105 includes 4 output ports, each of which is connected to a corresponding radiating element in a row of radiating elements of the array 106. For example, four output ports of the first butler matrix 105 in fig. 1 are respectively coupled to the first dipole radiators in the four radiating elements of the uppermost row of the radiating element array 106 through four duplexers 104 (only one of the four duplexers is shown in fig. 1).

Butler matrix 105 is a known type of beam forming network widely used in multi-beam antenna systems. The butler matrix may include various components such as 3dB branch line directional couplers, 45 ° phase shifters, 0dB cross couplers, and the like. Various butler matrix designs are known in the art. In the ideal case where the butler matrix is a passive network, each beam formed by the butler matrix can gain the gain provided by the entire array of radiating elements 106, and the formed antenna beams are directed in different directions so that they are generally orthogonal. The Butler matrix is simple to manufacture, can be realized by a transmission line structure, and is low in cost. The internal structure of the butler matrix is not described in detail herein.

The number of input ports of each butler matrix 105 is equal to the number of beams transmitted in the multi-beam mode. Since the multi-beam portion of the antenna 100 of fig. 1 is designed to produce a pair of static, sector-divided antenna beams, each butler matrix 105 has two input ports, as shown in fig. 1. Each butler matrix may be designed to include a number of output ports corresponding to the number of columns of radiating elements in the array of radiating elements 106.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the array of radiating elements 106 is 4 columns and 10 rows, and two butler matrices 105 (i.e., one for each polarization direction) are required for 8 radiating elements in each row. Therefore, the base station antenna 100 is provided with 20 butler matrices 105. As noted above, for simplicity, only one polarization direction is shown in fig. 1, and only the output ports of one butler matrix (and corresponding connections to array 106 through diplexer 104) are shown. The remaining butler matrices 105 have similar connections.

Further, it should be understood that butler matrix 105 is one example of a multi-beam apparatus of the present disclosure. However, the multi-beam apparatus is not limited to the butler matrix, and any apparatus capable of generating the output signals corresponding to the respective radiation elements from the first beam signal and the second beam signal may be used as the multi-beam apparatus. For example, in addition to the butler matrix 105, the multi-beam device may be, for example, a Radio Remote Unit (RRU), a 90 ° hybrid coupler, or the like.

Further, in the exemplary embodiment of fig. 1, the first beam phase shifter 101 and the second beam phase shifter 102 are both phase shifters having 10 output ports. The 10 output ports of the first beam phase shifter 101 are respectively connected to the input ports of the corresponding 10 butler matrices of the first polarization direction. The 10 output ports of the second beam phase shifter 102 are also connected to the input ports of the corresponding 10 butler matrices 105 for the first polarization direction, respectively. As described above, the base station antenna 100 has 20 butler matrices in the case where each butler matrix 105 has 4 output ports, and the base station antenna 100 has 2 first beam phase shifters 101 and 2 second beam phase shifters 102 (one for each polarization direction in this case). In other embodiments, the first beam phase shifter 101 and the second beam phase shifter 102 may have different numbers of output ports. For example, if the first beam phase shifter 101 and the second beam phase shifter 102 each have only 5 output ports, the number of first beam phase shifters 101 and second beam phase shifters 102 would be doubled and a power splitter would be coupled between the input ports 107-1, 107-2 and the first beam phase shifter 101 and second beam phase shifter 102 in a similar manner as the input port 109-1 and two phase shifters 103 are shown. Therefore, it should be understood that any suitable number of output ports of each first beam phase shifter 101 and each second beam phase shifter 102 may be selected. Also, the number of first and second beam phase shifters in the base station antenna depends on the number of radiating elements in the radiating element array 106, the number of output ports of the butler matrix, and the number of output ports of each of the first and second beam phase shifters 101 and 102.

The base station antenna 100 shown in fig. 1 is capable of transmitting radio frequency signals of the second frequency band in a multi-beam manner while transmitting radio frequency signals of the first frequency band in a beam forming manner only by the single radiation element array 106. Thereby reducing the size of the base station antenna.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a base station antenna according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the base station antenna 200 includes a first beam phase shifter 201, a second beam phase shifter 202, a phase shifter 203, a plurality of duplexers 204, a plurality of butler matrices 205, and a radiation element array 206. The connection between these components is similar to that of the corresponding components in the base station antenna 100 shown in fig. 1, and the description will not be repeated. However, the base station 200 includes a greater number of power dividers 208, and the power dividers 208 are located between the duplexer 204 and the radiating element array 206.

The array of radiating elements 206 is similar to the array of radiating elements 106 of the base station antenna 100 shown in fig. 1, i.e. the array of radiating elements 206 also comprises 4 columns and 10 rows of dual polarized radiating elements. The difference between the base station antenna 100 of fig. 1 and the base station antenna 200 of fig. 2 is that the output of each duplexer 204 in the base station antenna 200 is input into a power divider 208, and the power divider 208 divides the input RF signal into 2 sub-components and passes the sub-components to the corresponding radiating elements. As shown in fig. 2, in each column of radiating elements, two adjacent radiating elements are connected to corresponding output ports of the power divider 208. By including the power divider 208, the number of phase shifters 203 and the number of butler matrices 205 can be reduced. For example, compared to the base station antenna 100 shown in fig. 1, the number of duplexers 204 is reduced from 80 to 40, the number of phase shifters 203 is reduced from 16 to 8, and the number of butler matrices 205 is reduced from 20 to 10. It should be understood that only the feed network for one of the two polarization directions is shown in fig. 2.

It should be understood that the number of output ports of the power splitter 208 is not limited to 2, but may be any suitable number. For example, where the array of radiating elements comprises 9 columns of 9 rows of radiating elements, each power splitter 208 may include three output ports, each connected to 3 adjacent radiating elements in the same column. Furthermore, in some embodiments, not all of the power dividers 208 have the same number of output ports.

Furthermore, for simplicity, only a portion of the power splitter 208 and a portion of the duplexer 204 are shown in fig. 2. As described above, actually, the base station antenna 200 includes 40 duplexers 204 and 40 power dividers 208.

In addition, in the base station antenna 100 shown in fig. 1 and the base station antenna 200 shown in fig. 2, the phases of the sub-components of the radio frequency signal of the first frequency band are adjusted by the

phase shifters

103 and 203, and the phases of the sub-components of the radio frequency signal of the second frequency band are adjusted by the first beam phase shifters 101 and 201 and the second beam phase shifters 102 and 202. In this way, the electrical downtilt of the radio frequency signal of the first frequency band and the electrical downtilt of the radio frequency signal of the second frequency band can be adjusted individually.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a base station antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, the base station antenna 300 includes a plurality of phase shifters 309, a plurality of duplexers 304, a butler matrix 305, and a radiating element array 306.

The array of radiating elements 306 is similar to the array of radiating elements 106 shown in fig. 1, and also includes 4 columns and 10 rows of dual polarized radiating elements.

The base station antenna 300 comprises a first port 307-1 and a second port 307-2 (in each polarization direction), the first port 307-1 and the second port 307-2 being connectable to a first port and a second port of a radio device (not shown). Ports 307-1 and 307-2 are connected to two input ports of butler matrix 305, respectively. The butler matrix 305 has four output ports, and can generate output signals corresponding to the respective radiation elements from the input first and second beam signals. The output signal is output from an output port (first output port) of the butler matrix 305 to the power divider 308. The power splitter 308 splits the signal and provides two sub-components of the signal to corresponding first input ports of the first and second duplexers 304.

Further, the RF signal of the first frequency band transmitted in the beamforming manner is divided by another power divider 308, and the sub-components of the RF signal are input to the corresponding second input ports of the first and second duplexers 304. The duplexer 304 may mix the radio frequency signal of the first frequency band with the output signal from the butler matrix 305 and output the mixed signal to the phase shifter 309.

The phase shifter 309 may divide the input signal, then change the phase of the sub-components, and supply the phase-changed mixed signal to the corresponding radiation element.

It should be appreciated that only a portion of phase shifter 309 and its output ports are shown in fig. 3 for simplicity. In the case where each phase shifter 309 has 5 output ports, there are 2 phase shifters 309 per column of radiating elements, and 16 phase shifters 309 are provided in total in the base station antenna 300. Similarly, only a portion of the duplexer 304 and butler matrix 305 are shown in fig. 3. The number of duplexers 304 is the same as the number of phase shifters 309. A total of two butler matrices 305 are provided, one butler matrix 305 for each polarization direction.

In the base station antenna 300 shown in fig. 3, a phase shifter 309 is disposed between a duplexer 304 and a radiating element array 306. In this way, the phase shifter 309 may simultaneously change the phase of the sub-component of the radio frequency signal of the first frequency band and the phase of the sub-component of the radio frequency signal of the second frequency band without having to provide different phase shifters for the different frequency bands. The number of phase shifters in the base station antenna is reduced.

In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, the following technical solutions may also be included:

1. a base station antenna, comprising:

an array of radiating elements comprising a plurality of columns of radiating elements, each column comprising a plurality of radiating elements;

a first phase shifter configured to change a phase of a radio frequency signal of a first frequency band for transmission in a beamforming manner;

a second phase shifter configured to change a phase of a radio frequency signal of a second frequency band for transmission in a multi-beam manner, the second frequency band being different from the first frequency band, wherein the radio frequency signal of the second frequency band includes a first beam signal and a second beam signal;

a multi-beam apparatus configured to generate output signals corresponding to the respective radiating elements from the phase-altered first beam signal and the phase-altered second beam signal; and

a diplexer configured to receive the phase-altered radio frequency signals of the first frequency band and the output signals of the multi-beam apparatus and to transmit a diplexer output signal to a corresponding radiating element.

2. The base station antenna according to 1, wherein the second phase shifter comprises:

a first beam phase shifter for changing a phase of the first beam signal; and

a second beam phase shifter for changing a phase of the second beam signal.

3. The base station antenna according to 1, wherein a predetermined number of radiating elements in each column of radiating elements are coupled to the same duplexer,

the base station antenna further includes:

a power divider configured to divide a corresponding duplexer output signal to a corresponding predetermined number of radiating elements in a predetermined power ratio.

4. The base station antenna according to 3, wherein the predetermined number is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 6.

5. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein the multi-beam device is a Butler matrix.

6. The base station antenna according to claim 5, wherein,

the butler matrix includes a third input port that receives the phase-changed first beam signal, a fourth input port that receives the phase-changed second beam signal, and a plurality of first output ports that are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements via the plurality of duplexers.

7. The base station antenna of claim 6, wherein the array of radiating elements comprises a plurality of rows, the plurality of output ports of each of the Butler matrices being coupled to corresponding radiating elements in the same row.

8. The base station antenna according to claim 6 or 7, wherein,

the duplexer includes a first input port, a second input port and a second output port, an

The first input port receives radio frequency signals of a first frequency band of which the phase is changed, the second input port is coupled to a first output port of the butler matrix, and the second output port is coupled to a corresponding radiating element.

9. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein the first phase shifter comprises a plurality of first phase shifter output ports that are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same column.

10. A base station antenna, comprising:

a multi-beam device configured to generate output signals corresponding to the respective radiating elements from first and second beam signals of radio frequency signals of a second frequency band for transmission in a multi-beam manner;

a plurality of duplexers configured to receive radio frequency signals of a first frequency band for transmission in a beamforming manner and output signals of the multi-beam apparatus, and to output duplexer output signals; and

11. The base station antenna of claim 10, wherein the multi-beam device is a butler matrix.

12. The base station antenna according to claim 11, wherein,

the butler matrix includes a third input port that receives the first beam signal, a fourth input port that receives the second beam signal, and a plurality of first output ports that are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements via the plurality of duplexers.

13. The base station antenna of claim 12, wherein the array of radiating elements comprises a plurality of rows, the plurality of output ports of the butler matrix coupled to corresponding radiating elements in the same row.

14. The base station antenna according to claim 12 or 13, wherein,

the duplexer includes a first input port, a second input port, and a second output port,

the first input port receives radio frequency signals of a first frequency band, the second input port is coupled to a first output port of the butler matrix, and the second output port is coupled to a corresponding radiating element.

15. The base station antenna of claim 10, wherein the first phase shifter comprises a plurality of phase shifter output ports that are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same column of the array of radiating elements.

16. A base station antenna, comprising:

a first sector split port;

a second sector split port;

a plurality of beamforming ports;

an array of radiating elements having a plurality of columns, wherein each column includes a plurality of radiating elements;

a plurality of first phase shifters coupled between corresponding beamforming ports and the array of radiating elements, the plurality of first phase shifters collectively having a plurality of first phase shifter output ports;

a second phase shifter having an input port coupled to the first sector division port and a plurality of second phase shifter output ports;

a third phase shifter having an input port coupled to the second sector division port and a plurality of third phase shifter output ports;

a plurality of multi-beam devices, each coupled to a corresponding second phase shifter output port of the plurality of second phase shifter output ports and a corresponding third phase shifter output port of the plurality of third phase shifter output ports, the plurality of multi-beam devices collectively having a plurality of multi-beam device output ports; and

a plurality of duplexers, each duplexer having a first input port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of first phase shifter output ports, a second input port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of multi-beam device output ports, and an output port coupled to a corresponding radiating element of the array of radiating elements.

17. The base station antenna of claim 16, wherein the multi-beam device is a butler matrix.

18. The base station antenna of claim 16, wherein two first phase shifters are coupled to the radiating elements in each column of the array of radiating elements for radiators of each polarization direction of the radiating elements.

19. The base station antenna according to claim 17, wherein the number of butler matrices connected to the radiating element array is twice the number of columns of the radiating element array.

20. The base station antenna according to claim 16, wherein a predetermined number of radiating elements in each column of radiating elements are coupled to the same duplexer,

the base station antenna further includes:

and a power distributor configured to distribute the signal output from the output port of the corresponding duplexer to a corresponding predetermined number of radiating elements in a predetermined power ratio.

21. The base station antenna of 20, wherein the predetermined number is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 6.

22. The base station antenna of claim 16, wherein the array of radiating elements comprises a plurality of rows, the plurality of multi-beam device output ports of each of the multi-beam devices being coupled to corresponding radiating elements in the same row.

23. A base station antenna, comprising:

a first sector split port;

second sector split port

A plurality of beamforming ports;

a multi-beam device having first and second input ports coupled to corresponding first and second sector split ports, and a plurality of multi-beam device output ports;

a plurality of phase shifters having a total plurality of phase shifter output ports;

a plurality of duplexers, each duplexer having a first input port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of beamforming ports, a second input port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of multi-beam device output ports, and an output port coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of phase shifters;

wherein each phase shifter output port is coupled to a corresponding radiating element of a plurality of radiating elements in the array of radiating elements.

24. The base station antenna of claim 23, wherein the multi-beam device is a butler matrix.

25. The base station antenna of claim 23, wherein the array of radiating elements comprises a plurality of rows, the plurality of multi-beam device output ports of each of the multi-beam devices being coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same row of the array of radiating elements.

26. The base station antenna of claim 23, wherein each phase shifter includes a plurality of phase shifter output ports, and the plurality of phase shifter output ports of each phase shifter are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same column of the array of radiating elements.

27. A base station comprising a base station antenna as claimed in any of claims 1 to 26 above.

The terms "front," "back," "top," "bottom," "over," "under," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the disclosure described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.

As used herein, the word "exemplary" means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration," and not as a "model" that is to be replicated accurately. Any implementation exemplarily described herein is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. Furthermore, the disclosure is not limited by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, utility model content, or detailed description.

As used herein, the term "substantially" is intended to encompass any minor variation resulting from design or manufacturing imperfections, device or component tolerances, environmental influences, and/or other factors. The word "substantially" also allows for differences from a perfect or ideal situation due to parasitics, noise, and other practical considerations that may exist in a practical implementation.

In addition, the foregoing description may refer to elements or nodes or features being "connected" or "coupled" together. As used herein, unless expressly stated otherwise, "connected" means that one element/node/feature is directly connected to (or directly communicates with) another element/node/feature, either electrically, mechanically, logically, or otherwise. Similarly, unless expressly stated otherwise, "coupled" means that one element/node/feature may be mechanically, electrically, logically, or otherwise joined to another element/node/feature in a direct or indirect manner to allow for interaction, even though the two features may not be directly connected. That is, to "couple" is intended to include both direct and indirect joining of elements or other features, including connection with one or more intermediate elements.

In addition, "first," "second," and like terms may also be used herein for reference purposes only, and thus are not intended to be limiting. For example, the terms "first," "second," and other such numerical terms referring to structures or elements do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context.

It will be further understood that the terms "comprises/comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

In the present disclosure, the term "providing" is used broadly to encompass all ways of obtaining an object, and thus "providing an object" includes, but is not limited to, "purchasing," "preparing/manufacturing," "arranging/setting," "installing/assembling," and/or "ordering" the object, and the like.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the boundaries between the above described operations merely illustrative. Multiple operations may be combined into a single operation, single operations may be distributed in additional operations, and operations may be performed at least partially overlapping in time. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of operations may be altered in various other embodiments. However, other modifications, variations, and alternatives are also possible. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail by way of example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing examples are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. The various embodiments disclosed herein may be combined in any combination without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A base station antenna, comprising:

2. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein the second phase shifter comprises:

a first beam phase shifter for changing a phase of the first beam signal; and

a second beam phase shifter for changing a phase of the second beam signal.

3. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein a predetermined number of radiating elements in each column of radiating elements are coupled to the same duplexer,

the base station antenna further includes:

4. The base station antenna of claim 3, wherein the predetermined number is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 6.

6. The base station antenna of claim 5,

7. The base station antenna of claim 6, wherein the array of radiating elements comprises a plurality of rows, and wherein the plurality of first output ports of each of the Butler matrices are coupled to corresponding radiating elements in the same row.

8. The base station antenna according to claim 6 or 7,

9. The base station antenna of claim 1, wherein the first phase shifter comprises a plurality of first phase shifter output ports that are each coupled to a corresponding radiating element in a same column.

10. A base station antenna, comprising:

12. The base station antenna of claim 11,

13. The base station antenna of claim 12, wherein the array of radiating elements comprises a plurality of rows, and wherein the plurality of first output ports of the butler matrix are coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same row.

14. The base station antenna according to claim 12 or 13,

15. The base station antenna of claim 10, wherein the phase shifter comprises a plurality of phase shifter output ports that are each coupled to a corresponding radiating element in a same column of the array of radiating elements.

16. A base station antenna, comprising:

a first sector split port;

a second sector split port;

a plurality of beamforming ports;

18. The base station antenna according to claim 16, characterized in that for each polarization direction radiator of the radiating elements two first phase shifters are coupled to the radiating elements in each column of the array of radiating elements.

20. The base station antenna of claim 16, wherein a predetermined number of radiating elements in each column of radiating elements are coupled to the same duplexer,

the base station antenna further includes:

21. The base station antenna of claim 20, wherein the predetermined number is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 6.

22. The base station antenna of claim 16, wherein the array of radiating elements comprises a plurality of rows, and wherein the plurality of multi-beam device output ports of each of the multi-beam devices are coupled to corresponding radiating elements in the same row.

23. A base station antenna, comprising:

a first sector split port;

second sector split port

A plurality of beamforming ports;

25. The base station antenna of claim 23, wherein the array of radiating elements comprises a plurality of rows, and wherein the plurality of multi-beam device output ports of each of the multi-beam devices are coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same row of the array of radiating elements.

26. The base station antenna of claim 23, wherein each of the phase shifters comprises a plurality of phase shifter output ports, and wherein the plurality of phase shifter output ports of each phase shifter are respectively coupled to corresponding radiating elements in a same column of the array of radiating elements.

27. A base station, characterized in that it comprises a base station antenna according to any of claims 1-26.