JP2005236934A - Active array device and radio communications equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize proper radio communication, by making the same transmission outputs of radio sections and stabilizing reception sensitivity for communication terminals. <P>SOLUTION: A transmission system 20 in a first wireless section A, a transmission system 30 in a second wireless section B, a transmission system 40 in a third wireless section C and a transmission system 50 in a fourth wireless section D are connected by an automatic output adjusting circuit 60 to be the same output. Namely, with regard to the automatic output adjusting circuit 60, in the transmission systems 30, 40, 50 of the second to fourth wireless sections B to D, input sides of control sections 34, 44, 54 are connected between an operational amplifying section 25 and a control section of the transmission system 20 in the first wireless section A, so that an output signal from the operational amplifying section 25 can be inputted, not only to the control section 26 of the transmission system 20, but also to the control section 34 of the transmission system 30, the control section 44 of the transmission system 40 and the control section 54 of the transmission system 50. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an active array device and a wireless communication device, and more particularly to a technology including a plurality of wireless units each having a transmission system, a reception system, and an antenna.

  In recent years, in digital communication devices, information is transmitted by modulating a carrier wave with a digital information signal (baseband signal) for efficient transmission. In digital communications, effective use of frequency resources is achieved by increasing the transmission speed and increasing the number of channels that accommodate multiple users at the same frequency. On the other hand, with the increase in transmission speed, deterioration of communication quality becomes a problem, and various countermeasure technologies have been developed.

As one of countermeasures against such communication quality degradation, for example, an adaptive array device has been proposed and put into practical use (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1).
An adaptive array device is a method in which a directivity pattern is adaptively created by a plurality of antennas so that radio waves reach only a specific user. For example, a radio unit composed of a transmission system, a reception system, and an antenna is divided into four. With each set, during transmission, the transmission output of each set of transmission systems is adjusted, while during reception, by adjusting the reception input from each set of reception systems, good transmission and reception can be performed. The set of radio units is controlled to be able to transmit and receive independently.
"Proceedings of Adaptive Signal Processing in Spatial Domains and Their Applied Technologies" (Proceedings of the IEICE VOL.J75-B-II No.11 NOVEBER) JP 2001-94499 A (page 2-3, FIGS. 1 to 4)

As described above, in the conventional adaptive array device, if each set of radio units performs transmission and reception independently, the gain of the transmission output from each set of transmission units may be different at the time of transmission. However, for the user of the communication terminal, there is a problem that the reception sensitivity becomes unstable and good communication cannot be performed.
In addition, the technique described in Patent Document 1 detects the surroundings of an adaptive array base station by detecting that when the adaptive array base station receives a signal and the antenna is damaged and cannot direct directivity correctly. Although it is possible to search for an appropriate base station from base stations existing in the network and use it, it is the content at the time of reception, and no consideration is given to the occurrence of the above problems at the time of transmission It was.

  In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an active array device and a wireless communication device capable of stabilizing reception sensitivity with respect to a communication terminal by making the transmission output of each wireless unit the same during transmission and realizing good wireless communication The purpose is to do.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following configuration. That is,
The invention according to claim 1 is an active array device including a plurality of radio units each having a transmission system, a reception system, and an antenna, wherein the transmission outputs from the transmission systems in the respective radio units are the same as each other. An adjustment circuit is provided.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the active array device according to the first aspect, the output automatic adjustment circuit uses a transmission system of any one of the radio units as a reference transmission system and a transmission system of each of the other radio units. Are configured to match the output gain from each reference transmission system with the output gain from each tracking transmission system.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the active array device according to the second aspect, the reference transmission system includes at least a power amplifying unit that amplifies a high-frequency signal and outputs the amplified high-frequency signal to the corresponding antenna. And a coupler that captures a part of the high-frequency signal, a detector that converts the captured high-frequency signal into a DC signal, and a gain of the high-frequency signal that is input to the power amplifier based on the magnitude of the DC signal. The tracking transmission system includes at least a power amplification unit that amplifies a high-frequency signal, a coupler that outputs the amplified high-frequency signal to the corresponding antenna, and a reference transmission system. And a control unit that controls the gain of the high-frequency signal input to the power amplification unit based on the magnitude of the DC signal from the detector.
The invention according to claim 4 is characterized by comprising the active array device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the transmission systems in the respective radio units can be output with the same gain, the communication terminal can receive in a stable state, and good communication can be performed. There is an effect that can be realized.

  According to the second aspect of the invention, the output gain from the tracking transmission system can be matched with the output gain from the reference transmission system.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 3, while being able to simplify the component of a tracking transmission system, there exists an effect which can also aim at cost reduction.

  According to the invention of claim 4, since the outputs of all the transmission systems are the same during transmission, there is an effect that good wireless communication can be performed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram in which an active array device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to an adaptive array base station.
As shown in FIG. 1, the active array device 10 includes four sets of first to fourth radio units A to D. Among these first to fourth radio units A to D, the first radio unit A is configured to include a transmission system 20 as a reference transmission system, a reception system 29, and an antenna 29. In the second wireless unit B to the fourth wireless unit D, as in the first wireless unit A, transmission systems 3040 and 50 as follow-up transmission systems, reception systems 37, 47, and 57, and antennas 36, 46, and 56 It is comprised.

The transmission system 20 of the first radio unit A includes a variable gain unit 21, a power amplification unit 22, a coupler 23, a detection unit 24, an operational amplification unit 25, and a control unit 26.
The variable gain unit 21 controls the gain of the high-frequency signal to be output by the control unit 26 described later during transmission. The power amplifying unit 22 amplifies the high frequency signal output by the variable gain unit 21 with a constant gain. The coupler 23 is a so-called directional coupler, and transmits the high frequency signal amplified by the power amplification unit 22 from the antenna 28 via the mixing unit 27. On the other hand, a part of the high frequency signal is extracted and detected by the detection unit 24. Output to. The detector 24 converts the input high-frequency signal into a DC signal and outputs it to the subsequent operational amplifier 25.

The operational amplifier 25 amplifies the DC signal from the detector 24 to a desired level and outputs it to the control unit 26 at the subsequent stage. The control unit 26 controls the magnitude of the gain to be output to the variable gain unit 21 based on the magnitude of the DC signal amplified by the operational amplification unit 25.
On the other hand, an antenna 28 and a receiving system 29 are connected to the mixing unit 27, and at the time of transmission, a high-frequency signal output from the coupler 23 is output from the antenna 28 via the mixing unit 27. On the other hand, at the time of reception, a high-frequency signal input to the antenna 28 is taken into the reception system 29 via the mixing unit 27.

  The transmission system 30 in the second radio unit B includes a variable gain unit 31, a power amplification unit 32, a coupler 33, and a control unit 34. An antenna 36 is connected to the output unit of the coupler 33 via the mixing unit 35, and a receiving system 37 is connected to the mixing unit 35. Since the transmission system 40 in the third radio unit C and the transmission system 50 in the fourth radio unit D have the same configuration as the transmission system 30 in the second radio unit B, description thereof will be omitted below.

Then, the transmission system 20 in the first wireless unit A, the transmission system 30 in the second wireless unit B, the transmission system 40 in the third wireless unit C, and the transmission system 50 in the fourth wireless unit D are output automatic adjustments. The circuits 60 are connected so as to have the same output.
That is, the output automatic adjustment circuit 60 is configured such that in the transmission systems 30, 40, 50 of the second to fourth radio units B to D, the input side of the control units 34, 44, 54 is the transmission system 20 of the first radio unit A. Are connected between the operational amplifying unit 25 and the control unit 26, and the output signal from the operational amplifying unit 25 is not only the control unit 26 of the transmission system 20, but also the control unit 34 of the transmission system 30 and the control unit 44 of the transmission system 40. Input can also be made to the control unit 54 of the transmission system 50.

That is, in the transmission system 20 of the first radio unit A, when a high frequency signal to be output is detected by the detection unit 24 and amplified by the operational amplification unit 25, the amplified signal is input to the control unit 26 and The control unit 34, 44, 54 of the transmission system 30, 40, 50 is also input to the variable gain unit 31 corresponding to the control unit 34, 44, 54 based on the magnitude of the input signal. , 41, 51 are controlled independently, so that the transmission systems 20, 30, 40, 50 have the same output.
Therefore, in other words, the outputs of the transmission systems 30, 40, 50 of the second to fourth radio units B to D are output in accordance with the transmission system 20 of the first radio unit A.

Since the active array device 10 of the present embodiment is configured as described above, the operation during transmission will be described next. Hereinafter, the transmission system 20 of the first wireless unit A is referred to as a “reference transmission system 20”, and the transmission systems 30, 40, and 50 of the second to fourth wireless units B to D are referred to as “following transmission systems 30, 40, 50”. "And will be described.
At the time of transmission, the reference transmission system 20 of the first radio unit A, the follow-up transmission system 30 of the second radio unit B, the follow-up transmission system 40 of the third radio unit C, and the follow-up transmission system 50 of the fourth radio unit D Since the high-frequency signals are transmitted independently from the antennas 28, 36, 46, and 56, respectively, a radio link through which the user of the PHS terminal performs communication according to the transmitted contents is constructed.

  At the time of transmission, in the reference transmission system 20, the high-frequency signal that has passed through the variable gain unit 21 is amplified by the power amplification unit 22, and the amplified high-frequency signal is transmitted from the antenna 28 through the coupler 23 and the mixing unit 27. A part of the high-frequency signal passing through the coupler 23 is taken in by the detector 24 and converted into a DC signal. The converted DC signal is amplified by the operational amplifier 25, and the amplified signal is converted to the controller 26. , The control unit 26 feedback-controls the variable gain unit 21 based on the magnitude of the input signal, thereby controlling the output gain, and a high-frequency signal of the controlled output gain is transmitted from the antenna 28. Sent.

In this case, since the output automatic adjustment circuit 60 is connected between each of the reference transmission system 20 and the tracking transmission systems 30, 40, 50, that is, the output side of the operational amplifier 25 of the reference transmission system 20 is corrected. It is connected to the input side of each control unit 34, 44, 54 in the transmission system 30, 40, 50.
Therefore, when the DC signal amplified by the operational amplification unit 25 is input not only to the control unit 26 but also to the control units 34, 44, and 54, the corrected transmission systems 30, 40, and 50 excluding the reference transmission system 20. Since the control units 34, 44, and 54 in FIG. 4 control the corresponding variable gain units 31, 41, and 51 based on the input signal from the operational amplification unit 25, the reference transmission is performed from the variable gain units 31, 41, and 51, respectively. Since it is output in the same manner as in the case of the variable gain unit 21 of the system 20, the same high-frequency signal as that of the reference transmission system 20 is transmitted from the respective correction output systems 30, 40, 50.

  As a result, according to the present embodiment, the reference transmission system 20 and the other follow-up transmission systems 30, 40, and 50 can transmit high-frequency signals with the same output gain. Since it can output with the same gain, it can be made to receive in the stable state with respect to the PHS terminal as a communication terminal, and favorable communication can be implement | achieved.

Moreover, the reference transmission system 20 includes the variable gain unit 21, the power amplification unit 22, the coupler 23, and the control unit 26 described above, and also includes a detection unit 24 and an operational amplification unit 25. In D, since it becomes unnecessary to provide the detection unit 24 and the operational amplification unit 25 as in the case of the reference transmission system 20, the number of components as the transmission system is reduced, and the configuration can be simplified accordingly. At the same time, the cost can be reduced. In addition, the output automatic adjustment circuit 60 can easily and automatically adjust the output gain of the reference transmission system and the output gain of each tracking transmission system.
In this way, when each of the transmission systems 20, 30, 40, and 50 outputs with the same gain, the output is easily and accurately adjusted even when each transmission system varies the output every time. You can also

  In the above embodiment, as the automatic output adjustment circuit 60, the output signal of the operational amplification unit 25 in the reference transmission system 20 is output to the control unit 26, and the control units 34 and 44 of the follow transmission systems 30, 40, and 50. , 54 is shown as an example, but the configuration shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, in the follow-up transmission systems 30, 40, 50 of the second wireless unit B to the fourth wireless unit D, the operational amplifiers 38, 48, 58 may be connected, and the automatic output adjustment circuit 60 may be configured so that an output signal from the detection unit 24 of the reference transmission system 20 can be input to the operational amplification units 38, 48, and 58.

  It is a circuit block diagram which applied the active array apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention to an adaptive array base station.   It is a circuit block diagram which shows the modification of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10 Active array device 20 First transmission system (reference transmission system)
30 Second transmission system (follow-up transmission system)
40 Third transmission system (follow-up transmission system)
50 4th transmission system (follow-up transmission system)
28, 36, 46, 56 Antenna 29, 37, 47, 57 Reception system 60 Output automatic adjustment circuit

Claims (4)

An active array device including a plurality of radio units having a transmission system, a reception system, and an antenna,
An active array apparatus comprising an automatic output adjustment circuit that makes the transmission outputs from the transmission systems in the respective radio units the same. The active array device according to claim 1,
When the transmission system of one of the radio units is a reference transmission system, and the transmission system of each other radio unit is a tracking transmission system, the output automatic adjustment circuit adjusts the output gain from the reference transmission system. An active array device characterized in that output gains from the respective tracking transmission systems are made to coincide with each other. The active array device according to claim 2, wherein
The reference transmission system includes at least a power amplification unit that amplifies a high-frequency signal, a coupler that outputs the amplified high-frequency signal to the corresponding antenna, and a part of the high-frequency signal, and a captured high-frequency signal And a control unit for controlling the gain of the high-frequency signal input to the power amplification unit based on the magnitude of the DC signal,
The follow-up transmission system includes at least a power amplifying unit that amplifies a high-frequency signal, a coupler that outputs the amplified high-frequency signal to the corresponding antenna, and a magnitude of a DC signal from the detector in the reference transmission system And a control unit for controlling the gain of the high-frequency signal input to the power amplification unit. A wireless communication device comprising the active array device according to claim 1.

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