CN216751746U

CN216751746U - Distributed antenna system

Info

Publication number: CN216751746U
Application number: CN202123037253.0U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 闵海军; 张瑞; 许雷; 张航
Original assignee: Rosenberger Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Prologis Communication Technology Suzhou Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-12-06
Filing date: 2021-12-06
Publication date: 2022-06-14
Anticipated expiration: 2031-12-06

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a distributed antenna system. The system comprises: a plurality of ports configured to receive downstream signals or to emit upstream signals; a remote unit configured to send a downlink signal or receive an uplink signal; a power conditioning unit coupled between the plurality of ports and the remote unit and configured to transmit and condition either the downstream signal or the upstream signal, the power conditioning unit comprising: a plurality of first links respectively corresponding to different frequency bands; and a first power adjustment section including a first controller and an attenuator and a detector on each first link, the first controller being coupled to the attenuator and the detector of the respective first links to equalize the power of the link signals transmitted on the respective first links. The multi-band wireless communication system can support multi-band input, achieve power balance and improve system performance and wireless coverage effect.

Description

Distributed antenna system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to a distributed antenna system.

Background

Indoor wireless signal coverage refers to a coverage mode for indoor places such as residential buildings, subways, airports, stadiums, hotels, market complexes and the like. With the popularization of the fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G), about 85% of traffic flow will occur in indoor scenes, and the quality of indoor wireless signal coverage is directly related to the experience of 5G indoor applications. However, since 5G millimeter waves have low penetration and are susceptible to interference in spatial transmission, and many obstacles exist in indoor places, interference is strong, and environments are complex, the scheme that an outdoor base station covers indoors is poor in effect. For this reason, a mobile communication network called a distributed antenna system may be constructed for indoor wireless coverage. In such a communication network, signal sources are connected to a plurality of antenna nodes spatially separated by a signal transmission medium, thereby achieving better signal coverage.

There are more problems with current distributed antenna systems. For example, when there are signals of multiple frequency bands or multiple operators, the wireless coverage of the system is poor, or even the signal input of multiple frequency bands or multiple operators is not supported. In addition, the bandwidth of the current system affects the transmission rate, and it also has the disadvantages of high cost and inflexible design combination.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

To at least partially solve the above and other possible problems, embodiments of the present disclosure provide an improved distributed antenna system capable of supporting signal input of multiple frequency bands, achieving power balance, and improving system performance and wireless coverage.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a distributed antenna system, including: a plurality of ports configured to receive downstream signals or to emit upstream signals; a remote unit configured to transmit a downlink signal or receive an uplink signal; a power conditioning unit coupled between the plurality of ports and the remote unit and configured to transmit and condition either the downstream signal or the upstream signal, the power conditioning unit comprising: a plurality of first links respectively corresponding to different frequency bands; and a first power adjustment section including a first controller and an attenuator and a detector on each first link, the first controller being coupled to the attenuator and the detector of the respective first links to equalize the power of the link signals transmitted on the respective first links.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, the distributed antenna system further includes: an optical fiber coupled between the power conditioning unit and the remote unit, the optical fiber configured to transmit an optical signal between the power conditioning unit and the remote unit.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, the power regulating unit further includes: a first combining part; a plurality of second links, each corresponding to one of the plurality of ports and coupled to the corresponding port at one side, the plurality of second links being divided into a plurality of groups, each group corresponding to one of the plurality of first links and coupled to the corresponding first link at the other side via a first combining section; and a plurality of second power adjustment sections, each second power adjustment section corresponding to one of the plurality of groups and including a second controller and an attenuator and a detector located on each second link in the corresponding group, the second controller of each second power adjustment section being coupled to the attenuator and the detector of the respective second link of the corresponding group to equalize the power of the link signals transmitted on the respective second links of the corresponding group.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, the power regulating unit further includes: a second combining section; and an optical-to-electrical conversion section coupled to the plurality of first links via the second combining section on one side and coupled to the optical fiber on the other side, the optical-to-electrical conversion section being configured to convert between an electrical signal and an optical signal.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, the photoelectric conversion portion includes an analog ultra-wideband laser.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, the distributed antenna system further comprises: at least one optical network expansion unit coupled to the optical fiber and configured to compensate and expand an optical signal of the optical fiber to obtain a more multiplexed optical signal; and an optical-electrical composite cable coupled between the at least one optical expansion unit and the remote unit and configured to transmit optical signals and electrical power.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, a remote unit includes: at least one first optically integrated remote unit coupled to the composite optical-electrical cable and further coupled to or including the first plurality of antennas, and configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and compensate for the signals.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, the remote unit further includes: at least one second optically integrated remote unit coupled to the at least one first optically integrated remote unit in a cascaded manner and further coupled to or containing a plurality of second antennas, the at least one second optically integrated remote unit capable of receiving power from and exchanging signals with the at least one first optically integrated remote unit and configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and to compensate for the signals.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, each of the at least one first and at least one second optically-integrated remote units includes a diplexer or circulator on each radio frequency link configured to split the link signal in each radio frequency link into an uplink signal and a downlink signal, and a disconnector configured to adjust the radio frequency attenuation to a maximum in a state where the radio frequency link in which the disconnector is located is empty of signals.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, a remote unit includes: at least one first high power remote unit coupled between the optical fiber and the plurality of first antennas and configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and compensate for the signals.

In some implementations of the disclosure, the remote unit further comprises: at least one second high power remote unit coupled in cascade between the at least one first high power remote unit and the plurality of second antennas, the at least one second high power remote unit capable of exchanging signals with the at least one first high power remote unit and configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and compensate for the signals.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of first links includes a duplexer or circulator configured to separate the link signal in each first link into an uplink signal and a downlink signal.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, the distributed antenna system further includes: and the at least one combining unit is coupled between the plurality of ports and the power regulating unit.

The summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. The summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

Drawings

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the following more particular descriptions of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generally represent like parts throughout the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic structural diagram of a power adjusting unit of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic structural diagram of an optical network expansion unit and a first optically integrated remote unit of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic structural diagram of a combining unit of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of a first variant of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic structural diagram of another power regulating unit of the distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic block diagram of a second variant of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic block diagram of a third variant of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic block diagram of a fourth variant of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a first high power remote unit and a second high power remote unit of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic block diagram of a fifth variant of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic block diagram of a sixth variant of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 shows a schematic block diagram of a seventh variation of a distributed antenna system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

The term "include" and variations thereof as used herein is meant to be inclusive in an open-ended manner, i.e., "including but not limited to". Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term "or" means "and/or". The term "based on" means "based at least in part on". The terms "one example embodiment" and "one embodiment" mean "at least one example embodiment". Other explicit and implicit definitions are also possible below.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an improved distributed antenna system is presented. In the system, the power balance among different frequency bands can be adjusted by arranging the power adjusting unit so as to improve the wireless coverage effect of the antenna system. The improved system supports any combination of a plurality of different frequency bands, thereby meeting different requirements of users.

Fig. 1 illustrates a distributed antenna system 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the distributed antenna system 100 may include a plurality of ports 110, the plurality of ports 110 being configured to receive downlink signals or to emit uplink signals. As an example, the plurality of ports 110 may be connected to various sources such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) or a base station Unit with a Radio frequency output (e.g., a small cell), which may provide signals of different frequency bands or signals of one or more operators. Distributed antenna system 100 may receive downlink signals from various sources and pass uplink signals from mobile terminals to the sources via a plurality of ports 110.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the distributed antenna system 100 may include a remote unit configured to transmit a downlink signal or receive an uplink signal. For example, the Remote Unit may include an optically Integrated Remote Unit (IRU) 170 shown in fig. 1. As an example, multiple remote units 170 may be installed at different locations of an indoor site to cover as large a spatial range as possible. Thus, multiple remote units may transmit downlink signals from a source to mobile terminals at different locations in space, or receive uplink signals from mobile terminals, e.g., via antennas.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the distributed antenna system 100 may include a power adjustment unit 130 coupled between the plurality of ports 110 and the remote unit 170 and configured to transmit and adjust a downlink signal or an uplink signal. By way of example, Power adjustment Unit 130 may be referred to as a Power Balance Master Unit (PBMU), which may adjust the Power of downstream signals from multiple ports 110 or may adjust upstream signals from remote Unit 170.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic structural diagram of the power adjusting unit 130 of the distributed antenna system 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the power adjusting unit 130 may include a plurality of first links 131 and a first power adjusting part 132, the plurality of first links 131 respectively correspond to different frequency bands, and the first power adjusting part 132 includes a first controller coupled to the Attenuator ATT and the detector of each first link, and an Attenuator ATT and a detector on each first link, so as to make the power of the link signals transmitted on each first link uniform. In other words, the power adjusting unit 130 may adjust the power of the link signal transmitted on each first link 131 so as to make the power of the link signals of different frequency bands transmitted on the plurality of first links 131 uniform. As an example, downlink signals from multiple ports 110 or uplink signals from multiple first antennas 120 may be transmitted on multiple first links 131, and different first links 131 may transmit signals of different frequency bands. The first power adjustment section 132 may adjust signals on the plurality of first links 131 so that link signals of different frequency bands have substantially the same power to achieve power balance. It is noted that this power balancing means that the powers of the individual link signals are adjusted to be identical to each other, but a certain error range is allowed, for example a 1dB error range for the downlink output power. Therefore, the power transmission of the link signals in the system can be improved without increasing the power consumption and the cost of the system equipment, for example, weak link signals are enhanced, and therefore the signal coverage effect of the distributed antenna system is improved. It is to be understood that although the distributed antenna system 100 shown in fig. 1 includes one power adjusting unit 130, two, three or more power adjusting units 130 may be provided in the distributed antenna system 100 as needed.

By way of example, the detector may comprise, for example, a coupler disposed on each first link 131, and a radio frequency detection circuit coupled to the coupler. Each coupler may extract a power signal from a corresponding first link 131 that is proportional to the power level of the link signal and provide the extracted power signal to the rf detection circuit. The rf detection circuit converts the power signal from the coupler into an analog voltage, and outputs the analog voltage to the controller after analog-to-digital conversion by an analog-to-digital converter, for example. The controller may receive detection signals for all first links 131 that are transmitting link signals and control attenuators ATT (such as digitally controlled attenuators) on these first links 131 to adjust the signal power on these first links 131 and to make the power levels on these first links 131 the same, thereby ensuring that link signals of different frequency bands are transmitted at substantially uniform power levels.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of first links 131 includes a duplexer or circulator configured to separate the link signal in each first link into an uplink signal and a downlink signal. Through the duplexer, the distributed antenna system 100 may support signal transmission in a Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) manner, and through the circulator, the distributed antenna system 100 may support signal transmission in a Time Division Duplexing (TDD) manner. Further, the above-described detector and attenuator ATT may be provided in the uplink and downlink in the first link, respectively, to perform detection adjustment of the power of the signal in the uplink and downlink, respectively. The uplink and downlink in the first link may also be provided with amplifier tubes to compensate for transmission loss, as needed.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the power adjusting unit 130 further includes a first combining part 133, a plurality of second links 134, and a plurality of second power adjusting parts 135. Each of the second links 134 corresponds to one of the plurality of ports 110 and is coupled to the corresponding port at one side, and the plurality of second links 134 are divided into a plurality of groups, each of which corresponds to one of the plurality of first links 131 and is coupled to the corresponding first link 131 at the other side via the first combining part 133. Each of the second power adjusting sections 135 corresponds to one of the plurality of groups, and each of the second power adjusting sections 135 includes a second controller and an attenuator ATT and a detector on each of the second links in the corresponding group, and the second controller of each of the second power adjusting sections 135 is coupled to the attenuator ATT and the detector of each of the second links of the corresponding group to equalize the power of the link signals transmitted on each of the second links of the corresponding group. In other words, each second power adjustment section may adjust the power of the link signal transmitted on each second link 134 in the corresponding group to make the power of the link signals of different attributes from different operators transmitted on the respective second links 134 in the corresponding group uniform. It is noted that, similar to the power balance in the first link, the power of each second link 134 in the corresponding group, after being adjusted, also allows for a reasonable error range, such as a ± 1dB error range of the downlink output power.

As an example, the second links 134 may be divided into a plurality of groups according to frequency bands, in other words, the second links 134 of each group transmit signals within the same frequency band. At the same time, different second links of each group may transmit signals of different attributes from different operators. The first combining section 133 combines the signals of the second links in each group into one signal to be delivered to the corresponding first link 131. Each second link group may correspond to one second power adjustment section 135, and thus, the second power adjustment section 135 may adjust link signals of the respective second links within each group to ensure that signals from different operators within the same frequency band have the same power level.

By providing a plurality of second power adjusting sections 135 and providing an attenuator ATT, a detector and a controller, each second power adjusting section 135 can adjust the link signal power for a respective second link in the corresponding second link group. The operation principle of the attenuator ATT (such as a digitally controlled attenuator), the detector and the controller in each second power adjustment section 135 is similar to that of the first power adjustment section 135, and thus, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

As shown in fig. 1, in certain embodiments of the present disclosure, distributed antenna system 100 further includes an optical fiber 140, optical fiber 140 being coupled between power conditioning unit 130 and remote unit 170, optical fiber 140 being configured to transmit optical signals between power conditioning unit 130 and remote unit 170. By adopting optical fiber transmission, the distributed antenna system 100 has the advantages of low loss, strong interference resistance, high transmission speed and the like. In one embodiment, the distributed antenna system 100 may employ analog fiber optic technology. In other words, the signal transmitted by the optical fiber 140 of the distributed antenna system 100 is an analog signal, and thus, the transmission rate and bandwidth of the system can be further increased. In some embodiments, the distributed antenna system 100 transmits analog signals and, within a portion of its cells, may be converted to digital signals by a digital-to-analog converter for digital processing within the portion of the cells and, after digital processing, converted back to analog signals by a digital-to-analog converter for transmission.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the power adjusting unit 130 further includes a second combining portion 136 and an optical-to-electrical converting portion 137, the optical-to-electrical converting portion 137 is coupled to the plurality of first links 131 via the second combining portion 136 on one side and coupled to the optical fiber 140 on the other side, and the optical-to-electrical converting portion 137 is configured to convert between an electrical signal and an optical signal. As an example, the second combining section 136 may combine the downlink signals of the plurality of first links 131 to transmit the combined signal to the remote unit 170 through the optical fiber 140, or may divide the uplink signal from the optical fiber 140 into multiple signals to transmit on the plurality of first links 131. It is to be understood that although the power adjusting unit 130 shown in fig. 2 includes one photoelectric conversion portion 137, two, three, or more photoelectric conversion portions 137 may be provided in the power adjusting unit 130 as needed.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the photoelectric conversion portion 137 includes an analog ultra-wideband laser module. As an example, each photoelectric conversion module of the photoelectric conversion section 137 may employ an analog ultra-wideband laser module. In the analog ultra-wideband laser module, a downlink radio frequency RF signal is input and then is divided into 8 paths of optical signals through optical power to be output, and an uplink adopts 8 paths of independent photoelectric conversion receiving units which convert a plurality of paths of optical signals into radio frequency RF signals and then combine the radio frequency RF signals into one path of radio frequency RF signal to be output. The optical transceiver component circuit of the laser module can modulate the downlink broadband radio frequency signal to 1550nm optical wavelength for transmission, and modulate the uplink broadband radio frequency signal to 1310nm optical wavelength for transmission. By arranging the analog ultra-wideband laser module, the distributed antenna system 100 can support broadband transmission of at least one of 2G/3G/4G/5G signals, and uplink and downlink support a frequency range of 690MHz to 3800 MHz. In some embodiments, the analog ultra-wideband laser module of the photoelectric conversion portion 137 may detect the power value of the received 8 optical signals in real time, and separately compensate for the loss of each optical link, so as to ensure that the optical fiber loss of each optical signal is not different due to different remote distances, and the amplitude of each output signal is still the same through adaptive compensation.

As shown in fig. 1, in certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the distributed antenna system 100 further includes at least one Optical Network Extender Unit (NEU) 150 and an Optical-electrical composite cable 160. At least one optical network expansion unit 150 is coupled to the optical fiber 140 and is configured to compensate and expand the optical signal of the optical fiber 140 to obtain a more multiplexed optical signal. The optical-electrical composite cable 160 is coupled between the at least one optical expansion unit 150 and the remote unit 170, and is configured to transmit optical signals and electrical power. In some embodiments, the remote unit includes at least one first optically integrated remote unit 170, the at least one first optically integrated remote unit 170 coupled to the optical-electrical composite cable 160 and further coupled to or containing the plurality of first antennas 120. The at least one first optically integrated remote unit 170 is configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and to compensate for the signals. As an example, the power conditioning unit 130 may support 32 optical fibers connected to 8 optical expansion units 150, and each optical expansion unit 150 may support 8 first optically integrated remote units 170 connected by a composite optical-electrical cable, and a single first optically integrated remote unit 170 may support coupling to multiple antennas (e.g., 8 antennas), or the first antenna 120 may be integrated or built into the first optically integrated remote unit 170, e.g., 8 antennas may be built into the single first optically integrated remote unit 170. In the optical network expansion unit 150 and the first optical integrated remote unit 170, the optical power value received by each path may be detected in real time, and the loss of each optical link may be compensated independently, so that, under the condition that the optical fiber loss of each path in the distributed antenna system is different due to different remote distances, the amplitudes of the output signals of each path may be the same through adaptive compensation. Furthermore, by providing the optical-electrical composite cable 160, power can be supplied to the remote unit to efficiently support operation of the remote unit.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic structural diagram of the optical network expansion unit 150 and the first optically integrated remote unit 170 of the distributed antenna system 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As an example, each optical network expansion unit 170 may correspond to one optical port of the power adjustment unit 130. In the optical network expansion unit 170, the optical signals from the power conditioning unit 130 and the optical fiber 140 may be wavelength division multiplexed into uplink and downlink signals, and converted into radio frequency signals by the optical-to-electrical conversion device. An amplifying tube and an attenuator ATT can be arranged on the radio frequency link, the uplink signal and the downlink signal can be amplified through the amplifying tube to make up for the loss of optical transmission, and the attenuator ATT can be used for adjusting the power of the uplink signal and the power of the downlink signal. Then, the radio frequency signal is converted into an optical signal by an optical-to-electrical converter. Subsequently, the uplink and downlink signals are combined together by wavelength division multiplexing and expanded into a plurality of signals by an optical splitter to be supplied to a plurality of optical ports. Therefore, the optical network expansion unit 170 can expand the signal of the optical port into multiple paths of signals as required and output the signals to the first optical integrated remote unit 170 through multiple optical ports, thereby realizing signal expansion.

In some embodiments, the power adjusting unit 130 and the optical network expansion unit 150 may include respective monitoring units, the monitoring unit of the power adjusting unit 130 may perform dynamic address allocation on the optical network expansion unit 150 and monitor a state of a link to the optical network expansion unit 150, and the monitoring unit of the optical network expansion unit 150 may perform dynamic address allocation on the optical integrated remote unit 170 and monitor a state of a link to the optical integrated remote unit 170. Specifically, since the connection between the optical ports of the adjacent stage devices may change (for example, due to the plugging and unplugging of the optical fibers), before monitoring the optical fiber connection state or when the alarm state of the optical ports changes, an address may be allocated to the onu and/or the lru to implement dynamic address allocation, and the optical fiber links to the onu and/or the lru are monitored according to the allocated address.

As an example, the grouping of the respective photoelectric conversion modules and light receiving channels in the photoelectric conversion section 137 of the power adjusting unit 130 may be determined according to different system standards. For example, in a link from the power adjusting unit 130 (e.g., PBMU) to the optical network expansion unit 150 (i.e., NEU), for a two-transmit-two-receive (2T2R) system, the 4 photoelectric conversion modules in the photoelectric conversion portion 137 are divided into two groups, the first module (optical ports 1-8) and the second module (optical ports 9-16) are one group, where optical ports 1 and 9 are a main path and a backup path for each other and are connected to the same NEU, and so on; the third module (light ports 17-24) and the fourth module (25-32) are in another group. And the monitoring unit of the PBMU records the light receiving alarm of each optical port in the photoelectric conversion module. If no alarm is received, the optical port is judged to be connected with the NEU. The PBMU closes all the optical receiving channels of the photoelectric conversion modules, then sequentially opens the optical receiving switches of the photoelectric conversion modules of each group (such as the optical receiving switches of the optical ports 1 and 9) without the optical receiving alarm, and sends the verification information. After the NEU reply message is confirmed, the PBMU sends the NEU determination of the address to be allocated. After the PBMU receives the confirmation message, the address of the NEU is automatically allocated. The monitoring unit of the PBMU may then perform state monitoring on the link to the NEU. In a similar manner, the monitoring unit of the optical network expansion unit 150 (i.e., NEU) may dynamically allocate addresses for the optically integrated remote units 170 (i.e., IRUs) and monitor the status of links to the IRUs. In this way, the superior device (e.g., PBMU) can automatically monitor the operation of the inferior device (e.g., NEU and/or IRU) and automatically monitor the status of the entire fiber link without manually monitoring, which improves the difficulty and timeliness of system link monitoring.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the first optically integrated remote unit 170 includes a diplexer or circulator on each radio frequency link configured to split the link signal in each radio frequency link into an uplink signal and a downlink signal, and a disconnect switch configured to adjust the radio frequency attenuation to a maximum in a state where the radio frequency link in which the disconnect switch is located is empty of signals. As an example, the optical path portion of the first optically integrated remote unit 170 may include an optical-to-electrical conversion device to convert an optical signal to an electrical signal or an electrical signal to an optical signal. The radio frequency part of the first optically integrated remote unit 170 splits the link signal into uplink and downlink and compensates the signal. The isolation switch of the first optical integrated remote unit 170 can adjust the rf attenuation to the maximum under the condition that the link has no signal, so as to increase the isolation between channels, thereby improving the anti-interference capability. Finally, the first optical integrated remote unit 170 may transmit the downlink signal through the first antenna 120 or receive the uplink signal through the first antenna 120.

In some embodiments, the power conditioning unit 130 and the first optical integrated remote unit 170 may be compatible with the transmission of at least two TDD switching signals, such as 4G TDD and 5G TDD. As an example, the power adjusting unit 130 may include a first synchronization module for a first system and a second synchronization module for a second system, the first synchronization module generating a first downlink switching signal such as a 4G downlink switching signal, and the second synchronization module generating a second downlink switching signal such as a 5G downlink switching signal, and the power adjusting unit 130 may time-share the first downlink switching signal and the second downlink switching signal to the first optical integrated remote unit 170 through one optical fiber interface. The first optical integrated remote unit 170 receives and detects the downlink TDD switching signal, and then outputs a first downlink switching signal, a first uplink switching signal, a second downlink switching signal, and a second uplink switching signal related to the downlink TDD switching signal, respectively. Therefore, the compatible transmission of two TDD switch signals and the output of the uplink and downlink switching switch signals are realized.

In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the distributed antenna system 100 further includes at least one Combining Unit (CU) 180, the at least one combining Unit 180 being coupled between the plurality of ports 110 and the power conditioning Unit 130. Fig. 4 shows a schematic structural diagram of the combining unit 180 of the distributed antenna system 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The combining unit 180 may be directly coupled to the plurality of ports 110 on one side and coupled to the power adjusting unit 130 on the other side. As an example, power adjustment unit 130 may support access by 8 combining units.

Fig. 5 shows a first variation of the distributed antenna system 100 of fig. 1, and fig. 6 shows a schematic structural diagram of the power adjusting unit 139 of the distributed antenna system 100. As shown in fig. 5 and 6, the power conditioning Unit 130 may be replaced by a power conditioning Unit 139, where the power conditioning Unit 139 may be referred to as a Master Unit (Master Unit, IM 2U). In contrast to the power balancing master unit PBMU shown in fig. 2, the power adjusting unit 139 as the IM2U may include only a part of the circuit of the PBMU, for example, the IM2U may not include the first combining section 133, the second link 134, and the second power adjusting section 135. That is, IM2U may omit the adjustment of signals of different operators in the same frequency band, which may simplify the structure of the power adjustment unit and reduce the cost, and is suitable for a scenario where there are no multiple operator signals in a single frequency band. In this implementation, the combining unit 180 combines each path of base station signal or information source signal and outputs the combined signal to the power adjusting unit 139, and only 1 path or 2 paths of signal transmission may be supported between the combining unit 180 and the power adjusting unit 139, so as to combine and output the signals and reduce cables required for transmission.

Fig. 7 shows a second variation of the distributed antenna system 100 of fig. 1. As shown in fig. 7, in addition to the at least one first optically integrated remote unit 170, the remote units in the distributed antenna system 100 may further include at least one second optically integrated remote unit 170 ', the at least one second optically integrated remote unit 170' being coupled to the at least one first optically integrated remote unit 170 in a cascaded manner and also being coupled to or including a plurality of second antennas 120 ', the at least one second optically integrated remote unit 170' being capable of receiving power from the at least one first optically integrated remote unit 170 and exchanging signals with the at least one first optically integrated remote unit 170 and being configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and compensate for the signals. As an example, the second optically integrated remote unit 170 ' may have a similar structure to the first optically integrated remote unit 170, and may be cascaded to a corresponding one of the first optically integrated remote units 170, whereby the first optically integrated remote unit 170 may supply power to the second optically integrated remote unit 170 ' and transmit the power divided optical signal to the second optically integrated remote unit 170 ' of the second stage. In this way, it is possible to extend a downlink signal from a source to more antennas to transmit to a mobile terminal in a larger spatial range, or to receive an uplink signal from a mobile terminal in a larger spatial range through more antennas. In one embodiment, one or more second optically integrated remote units 170' are cascaded to one or more first optically integrated remote units 170 in a one-to-one fashion. The cascade expansion can be simply and effectively realized in a one-to-one manner. However, it is understood that the second optically integrated remote unit 170' may be cascaded to the first optically integrated remote unit 170 in other suitable manners, such as one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many.

Fig. 8 shows a third variation of the distributed antenna system 100 of fig. 1. As shown in fig. 8, instead of the optically integrated Remote Unit IRU, the Remote units in the distributed antenna system 100 may include at least one first High Power Remote Unit (HPRU) 190, the at least one first High Power Remote Unit 190 being coupled between the optical fiber 140 and the plurality of first antennas 120 and configured to convert between optical signals and electrical signals and compensate for the signals. With the first high power remote unit HPRU 190, a high power two-stage architecture can be constructed. Therefore, source signals of multiple frequency bands and multiple operators can be transmitted to the HPRU end through optical fibers or cables for signal coverage. The high power remote unit HPRU is capable of receiving and transmitting more power and may couple to more antennas than the optically integrated remote unit IRU, thereby achieving a greater range of signal coverage with fewer remote units.

Fig. 9 shows a fourth variation of the distributed antenna system 100 in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 9, the remote units in the distributed antenna system 100 also include at least one second high power remote unit 190'. At least one second high power remote unit 190 ' is coupled in a cascaded manner between the at least one first high power remote unit 190 and the plurality of second antennas 120 ', the at least one second high power remote unit 190 ' being capable of exchanging signals with the at least one first high power remote unit 190 and being configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and compensate for the signals. Similar to the implementation of fig. 7, the high power remote units HPRUs may also be cascaded, i.e. the second high power remote unit 190' is cascaded, e.g. by a cable, to the corresponding first high power remote unit 190. In this way, it is possible to extend a downlink signal from a source to more antennas to transmit to a mobile terminal in a larger spatial range, or to receive an uplink signal from a mobile terminal in a larger spatial range through more antennas. In one embodiment, one or more second high power remote units 190' are cascaded in a one-to-one manner to one or more first high power remote units 190. The cascade expansion can be simply and effectively realized in a one-to-one manner. However, it will be appreciated that the second high power remote unit 190' may also be cascaded to the first high power remote unit 190 in other suitable ways, such as one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic of the structure of a first high power remote unit 190 and a second high power remote unit 190'. As an example, the first high power remote unit 190 or the second high power remote unit 190' may be a 4G HPRU or a 5G HPRU, where the 4G HPRU may support transmission and coverage of different frequency bands of LTE700, LTE800, LTE900, LTE1800, LTE2600, WCDMA2100, etc., and the 5G HPRU may support transmission and coverage of 5GNR signals.

Fig. 11, 12, and 13 show fifth, sixth, and seventh variations of the distributed antenna system 100 of fig. 1. As shown in fig. 11, in a fifth variation of the distributed antenna system 100, the power conditioning unit PBMU 130 in fig. 1 is replaced with a power conditioning unit IM2U 139 and the optical network expansion unit 150 and the first optically integrated remote unit 170 are replaced with a first high power remote unit 190. As shown in fig. 12, in the sixth modification of the distributed antenna system 100, a second high power remote unit 190' cascaded with the first high power remote unit 190 is further added as compared with the fifth modification. As shown in fig. 13, in a seventh variation of distributed antenna system 100, power conditioning unit PBMU 130 in fig. 7 of the second variation is replaced with power conditioning unit IM2U 139. Thus, the distributed antenna system 100 may be constructed in a variety of ways depending on user needs.

Through the embodiment of the disclosure, the power balance between different frequency bands and/or different operators can be adjusted in the distributed antenna system, and any combination of multiple frequency bands (for example, 8 frequency bands) is provided, so that the coverage effect of wireless communication is improved. In addition, a communication network constructed by the distributed antenna system of the present disclosure can support MIMO (e.g., 2 × 2MIMO, 4 × 4MIMO)4G and 5G independent networking and hybrid networking, and can simultaneously support 4G TDD LTE and 5G NR TDD.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the disclosure set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the disclosure are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure. Moreover, while the above description and the related figures describe example embodiments in the context of certain example combinations of components and/or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of components and/or functions may be provided by alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In this regard, for example, other combinations of components and/or functions than those explicitly described above are also contemplated as within the scope of the present disclosure. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

1. A distributed antenna system (100), comprising:

a plurality of ports (110) configured to receive downstream signals or to emit upstream signals;

a remote unit configured to send the downlink signal or receive the uplink signal;

a power conditioning unit coupled between the plurality of ports (110) and the remote unit and configured to transmit and condition the downstream signal or the upstream signal, the power conditioning unit comprising:

a plurality of first links (131) respectively corresponding to different frequency bands, an

A first power adjustment section (132) comprising a first controller coupled to the attenuators and detectors of the respective first links to equalize the power of the link signals transmitted on the respective first links, and an attenuator and detector on each first link.

2. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 1, further comprising:

an optical fiber (140) coupled between the power conditioning unit and the remote unit, the optical fiber (140) configured to transmit optical signals between the power conditioning unit and the remote unit.

3. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 2, wherein the power adjustment unit further comprises:

a first coupling unit (133);

a plurality of second links (134), each second link (134) corresponding to one port (110) of the plurality of ports (110) and coupled to the corresponding port (110) at one side, the plurality of second links (134) being divided into a plurality of groups, each group corresponding to one first link (131) of the plurality of first links (131) and coupled to the corresponding first link (131) at the other side via the first combining section (133); and

a plurality of second power adjustment sections (135), each second power adjustment section corresponding to one of the plurality of groups and including a second controller and an attenuator and detector located on each second link in the corresponding group, the second controller of each second power adjustment section (135) being coupled to the attenuator and detector of the respective second link of the corresponding group to equalize the power of the link signals transmitted on the respective second links of the corresponding group.

4. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 2, wherein the power adjustment unit further comprises:

a second coupling unit (136); and

an optical-to-electrical conversion section (137) coupled to the plurality of first links (131) via the second combining section (136) on one side and coupled to the optical fiber (140) on the other side, the optical-to-electrical conversion section (137) configured to convert between an electrical signal and an optical signal.

5. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 4, wherein the photoelectric conversion portion (137) comprises an analog ultra-wideband laser.

6. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 2, further comprising:

at least one optical network expansion unit (150) coupled to the optical fiber (140) and configured to compensate and expand the optical signal of the optical fiber (140) to obtain a more multiplexed optical signal; and

an optical-electrical composite cable (160) coupled between the at least one optical network expansion unit (150) and the remote unit and configured to transmit optical signals and electrical power.

7. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 6, wherein the remote unit comprises:

at least one first optically integrated remote unit (170) coupled to the optical-electrical composite cable (160) and further coupled to or containing the plurality of first antennas (120), and the at least one first optically integrated remote unit (170) is configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and compensate for the signals.

8. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 7, wherein the remote unit further comprises:

at least one second optically integrated remote unit (170 ') coupled to the at least one first optically integrated remote unit (170) in a cascaded manner and further coupled to or including a plurality of second antennas (120 '), the at least one second optically integrated remote unit (170 ') being capable of receiving electrical power from and exchanging signals with the at least one first optically integrated remote unit (170) and being configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and compensate for the signals.

9. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 8, wherein each of the at least one first optically integrated remote unit (170) and the at least one second optically integrated remote unit (170') includes a diplexer or circulator and an isolator switch on each radio frequency link,

wherein the diplexer or circulator is configured to split the link signal in each radio frequency link into an uplink signal and a downlink signal, and the isolation switch is configured to adjust the radio frequency attenuation to a maximum in a state where the radio frequency link in which the isolation switch is located is empty of signals.

10. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 2, wherein the remote unit comprises:

at least one first high power remote unit (190) coupled between the optical fiber (140) and the plurality of first antennas (120) and configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and compensate for the signals.

11. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 10, wherein the remote unit further comprises:

at least one second high power remote unit (190 ') coupled in cascade between the at least one first high power remote unit (190) and the plurality of second antennas (120 '), the at least one second high power remote unit (190 ') being capable of exchanging signals with the at least one first high power remote unit (190) and being configured to convert between optical and electrical signals and to compensate for the signals.

12. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 1, wherein each first link (131) of the plurality of first links (131) comprises a duplexer or circulator configured to separate the link signal in each first link (131) into an uplink signal and a downlink signal.

13. The distributed antenna system (100) of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one combining unit (180) coupled between the plurality of ports (110) and the power conditioning unit.