GB2202995A - R F signal distribution - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for transferring RF signals between a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs comprises a plurality of output multiplexers (one 30 shown) each made up of a plurality of hybrid coupler/tunable filter combinations 211....218; each hybrid coupler/tunable filter combination will transmit a signal within the filter bandwidth but reflect other signals; the outputs of adjacent combinations 211....218 are connected in cascade. The RF signal inputs of the apparatus are supplied to one output multiplexer 30, and the inputs of each output multiplexer are connected to the inputs of the adjacent multiplexer, such that a signal not transmitted by one output multiplexer will be passed to a next output multiplexer, and so on. By appropriate tuning of the filters in the output multiplexers the RF signals may be reconfigurably distributed between the inputs and the outputs, and the need for switching is avoided whilst maintaining an acceptably low path loss. The system is formed in waveguide. <IMAGE>

Description

R. F. SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION This invention relates to apparatus for transferring RF signals between a plurality of RF signal inputs and a plurality of outputs, and more particularly, but not exclusively for transferring RF signals from a series of broadcast channels on a direct broadcast satellite to a series of transmitting antennas.

It may be required to use a direct broadcast satellite to broadcast a large number of T.V. Channels (say 10) to a number of different coverage areas. It may not be known before launch which channels are to be directe'd over which'coverage areas and it may be necessary to change the routing configuration between the channels and the transmitting antennas during the lifetime of the satellite. The principle of providing a direct broadcast satellite which may be reconfigured in this manner is known, but there have been no proposals as to how such a system might be constructed. In the specific description there is outlined a method proposed by the Applicants and using conventional approaches whereby a reconfigurable system could be provided using a switching network.Because such a system would require many switches to set up the required routing configurations, the system would be heavy, require many telecommand and telemetry lines and would have a substantial path loss for each route between input and output.

According to the present invention, there is provided apparatus for transferring RF signals between a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs of the system and comprising a plurality of multiplexing circuits each made up of a plurality of interconnected hybrid/tunable filter combinations, the multiplexing circuits being interconnected one with another and with said inputs to the outputs.

In the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein the distribution of the RF signals is achieved by suitable setting of the filters in the hybrid/tunable filter combinations and the need for switches to route the RF signals is avoided.

The invention will now be described by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagram representing the switching requirements in a first arrangement proposed by the Applicants; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a hybrid/tunable filter combination for use in the output multiplexer of Figure 3; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an output multiplexer made up of a plurality of the combinations of Figure 3, and Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing a RF distribution apparatus according to an embodiment of this invention.

Figure 1 is a diagram representing the switching requirements for providing switching between ten channels and eight OMUX's (output multiplexers). It can be shown that with these numbers it is possible to generate a total of 810 different routing configurations. The flexibility required could be met by using switches or hybrid couplers to provide a dividing network configuration. In the output section, minimising power loss is of importance, and the arrangement illustrated in Figure 1 therefore uses switches, since hybrid couplers halve the power at each pass. In the situations for which the arrangement of Figure 1 is intended, it will not be possible to use a conventional design OMUX due to the large number of output channels to be combined and thus other methods must be used.Also, for a reconfigurable system, it will be necessary to use tunable filters in the OMUX and therefore a conventional manifold system is not appropriate.

In the system of Figure 1, one channel can only go to one beam at a time and each beam can not receive more than five channels.

The input signal to each channel is amplified in a travelling wave tube 10 and then supplied to a switching network 12, only one of which is shown in detail in Figure 1. Each switching network comprises seven switches 14 arranged to allow the input to be switched to any one of eight outputs. Each of the eight outputs is passed into an array of eighty waveguide interconnections 16 to pass to the appropriate combining network 17 as selected by the switching network 12. Only one combining network is shown in detail. Each of the combining networks 17 supplies the signals via a tunable filter 18 to an OMUX 19 which feeds the antenna subsystem 20. The network shown has a built-in redundancy.

The network of Figure 1 would require 190 switches and 250 waveguide interconnections. Assuming a switch mass of 0.6 Kg, the mass of the interconnecting and switching network would be approximately 200 Kg. The path loss per channel of the system would be, to a rough estimation, about 4 dB. The system illustrated would require 360 telecommand lines and 360 telemetry lines.

In order to avoid the penalties associated with the mass of the system of Figure 1, its high number of command and telemetry lines, and the losses associated with each path, the Applicants have conceived a system which employs a plurality of multiplexing circuits each made up of a plurality of interconnected hybrid/tunable filter combinations. The multiplexing circuits are interconnected to allow RF signals received at the inputs to be reconfigurably distributed between the outputs by tuning of selected filters.

In the following description, embodiments of the hybrid/tunable filter combination, the multiplexing circuit and the overall distribution system will be described.

Referring to Figure 2, there is shown a single hybrid/tunable filter combination 21 which, when cascaded with other similar elements, forms the output multiplexer of Figure 3.

The combination comprises an input hybrid coupler 22 including inlet ports 1 and 2, the outputs of the hybrid coupler being supplied to respective tunable band pass filters 24 each set at the same centre frequency f, and bandwidth. The outputs from the filters 24 are passed to the input ports of a further hybrid coupler 26 having output ports 3 and 4. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, each coupler 22, 26 is formed of two lengths of waveguide arranged side-byside with a communicating aperture. Each coupler has the property that a signal supplied to a port results in two signals at the opposed outlet ports of substantially equal amplitude but at phases of 0 (at the aligned port) and -S/2 (at the non-aligned port). Thus if both of the filters 24 are matched to a signal supplied to input port 1 of the hybrid coupler 10, the signal will be transmitted to output port 4 of the coupler 26. Similarly, a matched signal supplied to port 2 would be transmitted to port 3.

The tunable filters 24 are of a type which transmits frequencies within the filter bandwidth but reflects frequencies outside the bandwidth. If an out-of-band signal is supplied to a port of the combination 21, the signal will be reflected out of the other port of the same hybrid coupler. For example an out-of-band signal supplied to port 1 will be reflected by the filters 24 to pass to port 2, thence into a high power load 28.

In Figure 3, eight of the combinations 211...21g of Figure 1 are cascaded together by connecting port 4 of each combination 21n to port 3 of the adjacent combination 21n+1 to form a tunable OMUX 30. In such an arrangement, the filters of each combination are tuned to respective exclusive bandwidths f1 .... f7. Thus a signal S1 applied to the input port 1 of the first combination 211 and having a frequency within bandwidth f1, will be transmitted through the element to port 4, whence it will be passed to port 3 of. the next combination 212. However, since the filters of the next combination are tuned to a different bandwidth f2 the signal S, will be reflected by the filter f2 and will thus pass out'of port 4 of that combination.The signal S2 applied to port 1 of the combination 212 will also be passed through port 4 of the combination (assuming that it is within the bandwidth f2). Thus, as indicated in Figure 3, the cascaded combinations together act as a tunable OMUX 30 having an output 32 from port 4 of combination 218. If there is no input to a combination, then the filters 24 of the element are tuned out of band (frequency fo) to ensure that all the signal input at port 3 is reflected out of port 4. Thus the OMUX can incorporate redundant combinations such as combination 215.

A OMUX similar to that of Figure 3 but with ten combinations 21 cascaded could be used to replace the combining network 17 and associated tunable filters 18 and OMUXs 19 of the arrangement of Figure 1. The arrangement of Figure 1 would require eight OMUXs 30, and the outputs from the travelling wave tubes 10 would still have to be routed to each OMUX. This would require seventy switches and eighty associated waveguide interconnections.

The Applicants have designed an apparatus - illustrated in Figure 4 - in which the requirement for the switches can be removed. In this arrangement, eight tunable OMUXs 301....308 of the type shown in Figure 3 but each comprising ten combinations 21 cascaded together are interconnected as to be described below. Each channel input signal is amplified by a travelling wave tube 34 and then supplied via inputs 361...

3610 to port 1 of the input hybrid coupler 22 of a respective combination 2111...2110 in OMUX 301. The filters 211 to 2110 of each OMUX are tuned to respective exclusive bandwidths, and a filter in a given combination in one OMUX is tuned to the same bandwidth as the filters in the corresponding combination in the remaining OMUXs.

The OMUXs 301 to 308 are interconnected by connecting port 2 of the input hybrid coupler 22 of a combination 21m in an OMUX 30n to port 1 of the corresponding combination 21m in the adjacent OMUX 30n+1. Thus, in the array of interconnected OMUXs 30, the combinations 21m are interconnected at their input ends to corresponding combinations 21m in adjacent OMUX's, to form interconnected rows.

A signal input at an input 36m will be applied to each combination 21m in turn until it reaches a combination containing filters matched to the signal. Thereupon it will be transmitted by the appropriate combination to pass to the outlet 32 of the OMUX containing that combination. At their output ends, the combinations 21m are interconnected with adjacent combinations 21m+1 in the same OMUX to form interconnected columns. As in the OMUX of Figure 3, port 4 of the final combination 2110 in the cascade of each OMUX 301...308 forms the output 321...328 and is connected to the respective antenna subsystem (not shown). The references to rows and columns are used in relation to the arrangement shown in Figure 4 for the purposes of explanation only.

Each OMUX comprises ten pairs of tunable filters each tuned to a respective exclusive frequency bandwidth, and thus an arrangement of eight OMUXs includes eighty pairs of tunable filters. As described above in relation to Figure 2, in each pair, the filters are adjusted to have the same centre frequency and bandwidth.

The pairs of filters are adjusted in accordance with the configuration requirements. For example assume that the signal on input 361 is to be routed to output 321. This is achieved by ensuring that the filters in combination 211 of OMUX 301 are tuned so that they are matched to the signal on input 361 so that the signal passes through combination 211 of the first OMUX to reach output 321.

If it is wished to route, say, input 362 to output 325, then it is necessary to arrange that the filters in combinations 212 of OMUXs 301 to 304 are not matched to input 362, but that the filter in combination 212 of OMUX 305 is matched to this input. In this way, the signal 362 will be reflected at successive OMUXs until it reaches OMUX 305 where it will pass through combination 212 to reach 325.

The arrangement of Figure 4 may be thought of in terms of a matrix of order 10x8 in which the rows represent the input channels and the columns represent the outputs to the antenna subsystems. In such a matrix the matrix elements axy represent whether the filters in the combination 21X of OMUX 30y are matched to the frequency input on input 36x and thus whether the signal input on input 36X will be passed to this outlet 32y of OMUX 30y From a consideration of the operation of the arrangement of Figure 4, it will be appreciated that an input signal cannot be routed to more than one output.

In this system it is possible to route the input signals to any one of the output beams by appropriate adjustment of the pairs of filters in the OMUXs 30, and there is no requirement for the switches of the arrangement of Figure 1. There will thus be a considerable saving in terms of both cost and mass. Also, it will not be necessary to provide 720 control lines.

The path loss for each route between the input and output will vary depending on the position of the combination 21 within the OMUX and the position of the OMUX in the output network For example the losses in the route between input 3610 and output 321 will be much less than the losses in the route between input 361 and output 368. Channels or beams requiring a particularly high EIRP may be positioned in the network accordingly to minimise path loss. For a system connecting ten channels to eight beams, the path loss will vary from about 0.3 dB to 5 dB depending on the routing. For the system of Figure 1, the path loss will be about 4 dB for all routes.

The arrangement illustrated in Figure 4 may also be operated to provide a distribution system for distributing a further set of inputs between a further set of outputs. From Figure 4 it will be seen that the input ports 2 of each of the input hybrid couplers in OMUX 308 are shown connected to a high power load 28. However, these ports may form the inputs 361l....36llo of another distribution system having outlets on each OMUX 301....308 formed by the output port 3 of each output hybrid coupler 26 in combination 211 of each OMUX. It will however be appreciated that the routing configuration of both the first and second systems will be dependent in the setting of the filters, and thus that the routing configuration of one system may not be varied independently of that for the other system.

Claims (6)

1. Apparatus for transferring RF signals between a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs of the apparatus and comprising a plurality of multiplexing circuits each made up of a plurality of interconnected hybrid/tunable filter combinations, the multiplexing circuits being interconnected one with another and with said inputs and said outputs for reconfigurably distributing the RF signals received at the inputs to the outputs.

2. Apparatus for transferring RF signals between a plurality of RF signal inputs and a plurality of RF signal outputs of the apparatus and comprising a plurality of multiplexing circuits each comprising a plurality of hybrid/tunable filter combinations having their outputs connected together to form said multiplexing circuits and the inputs of said multiplexing circuits being connected with the inputs of the other multiplexing circuits for reconfigurably distributing RF signals received at the RF signal inputs to the RF signal outputs.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each hybrid/tunable filter combination comprises two hybrid couplers each having two inlet ports and two outlet ports, the outlet ports of one of said hybrid couplers being connected to respective tunable filters the outputs of which are connected to respective input ports of the other hybrid coupler.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein each multiplexing circuit comprises a series of hybrid/tunable filter combinations interconnected so that respective ones of the output ports of the output hybrid coupler are connected to respective others of the output ports of the output hybrid coupler in an adjacent combination.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said RF signal inputs are supplied to respective ones of the input ports of the input hybrid couplers of one of said multiplexing circuits, and respective others of the input ports of the hybrid couplers are connected to respective ones of the input ports of the respective input hybrid coupler in an adjacent multiplexing circuit.

6. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to and as illustrated in any one of Figures 2 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.