JP2007251427A - Radio equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide radio equipment capable of efficiently suppressing the influence caused by the droop characteristics of a drive amplifier and a final amplifier, in the radio equipment, having the drive amplifier and the final amplifier on the transmission side, and outputting a transmission signal by TDMA (time division multiple access) system. <P>SOLUTION: In regard to an output from a final amplifier 140, an output value of substantially top timing of each time slot and an output value of the final amplifier in an identical slot after the above top timing are detected successively at predetermined sampling timing, and stored into a memory 191. Based on the difference between the output value of the top timing and each output value thereafter, an amplification adjustment signal generator 194 generates an adjustment signal for adjusting the gain of the drive amplifier 120. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio apparatus, and more particularly to a radio apparatus such as a radio base station and a communication terminal used for mobile communication such as a mobile phone system.

  In a radio with a drive amplifier and final amplifier in the transmission circuit, it is difficult to optimize the output of the APC circuit when the output of a single automatic transmission output control circuit (APC circuit) is input to both the drive amplifier and the final amplifier. A technique for dealing with such a case is disclosed in Patent Document 1.

JP 2004-40418 A

Toshinori Iinuma and four others, “Adaptive Array Antenna PHS Base Station <PBS-CS20B>”, Sanyo Electric Technical Report, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., May 2000, vol. 32, vol. 66, p. 80-88

  For example, in a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) system in which a transmission signal is modulated by a π / 4 shift QPSK system and communication is performed by a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) system in which transmission timing is divided for each slot, one time slot During this time, it is preferable to maintain a constant output (amplitude). However, the output of the drive amplifier and the final amplifier has a droop characteristic, and there is a problem that the output may gradually decrease. In particular, in the case of a transmission circuit provided in a base station, there is also a reason that the output of the final amplifier is large. According to the study of the present inventor, this output decrease is 0.2 for one slot timing (625 μsec in the case of PHS). In some cases, it may range up to 0.5 dB. In particular, in an adaptive array PHS base station as described in Non-Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that the transmission D / U characteristic (the intensity ratio between the desired signal D and the noise U) is deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless device capable of suppressing the influence of droop characteristics.

  In order to solve the above problems, a first radio apparatus according to the present invention includes, on a transmission side, a drive amplifier that amplifies an RF signal, and a final amplifier that further amplifies the output of the drive amplifier, and transmission timing In a radio apparatus that outputs a transmission signal in a time division multiple access scheme in which each slot is divided, first output value detection means for detecting an output value at a substantially leading timing of each slot for the output of the final amplifier, After the detection timing by the first output value detection means, a second output value detection means for detecting the output value of the final amplifier in the same slot, and an output value detected by the first output value detection means And a drive for adjusting the gain of the drive amplifier based on the difference between the output value detected by the second output value detecting means It is characterized in that it comprises a Npugein adjustment means.

  In the above-described configuration, the output value detected by the first output value detecting means is detected by the second output value detecting means after the output value at the substantially leading timing of the slot and the detection timing by the first output value detecting means. By adjusting the gain of the drive amplifier based on the difference from the output value of the final amplifier in the same slot, the influence due to the droop characteristic can be corrected.

  A second radio apparatus according to the present invention includes, on the transmission side, a drive amplifier that amplifies an RF signal and a final amplifier that further amplifies the output of the drive amplifier, and a time division multiplex connection in which transmission timing is divided for each slot In a radio apparatus that outputs a transmission signal in a system, first output value detection means for detecting an output value at a substantially leading timing of each slot, and detection by the first output value detection means for the output of the final amplifier After the timing, a second output value detecting means for detecting the output value of the final amplifier in the same slot, an output value detected by the first output value detecting means, and the second output value detecting means Output adjusting means for adjusting the output of the processor that outputs the signal that is the basis of the RF signal based on the difference from the output value detected by It is characterized in that it comprises.

  In this configuration, the influence of the droop characteristic can be corrected by correcting the output of a processor such as a DSP (digital signal processor) that is the basis of the RF signal. The wireless device includes an AD converter that performs AD (analog / digital) conversion on an output value of the final amplifier and inputs the converted value to the processor, and the processor converts the AD converter at a substantially head timing of each slot. A first output value detecting means for detecting an output value from the first output value, and a second output value for detecting an output value from the AD converter in the same slot after the detection timing by the first output value detecting means. Detecting means; and output signal adjusting means for adjusting an output based on a difference between the output value detected by the first output value detecting means and the output value detected by the second output value detecting means. It can be set as the structure provided.

  The first output value detecting means obtains an output value a plurality of times from the beginning of the slot until a predetermined time elapses, and uses the maximum value of the obtained output value as an output value at a substantially beginning timing of the slot. A configuration is preferable. In addition, the wireless device includes a timing control unit that controls a detection timing of the output value by the second output value detection unit after the first output value detection unit detects an output value at a substantially leading timing. The timing control means may be configured to reduce the number of samplings per unit time, compared to when the first output value detection means acquires the output value a plurality of times. This is because the output drop due to the droop characteristic appears remarkably at the beginning of one time slot. When applied to PHS, the first output value detection means preferably detects the output value during the first 4 μs to 6 μs of the slot, for example, and the detection value of the first output value detection means is Since it becomes a reference value for correction, a configuration in which the output value is acquired a plurality of times and the maximum value of the acquired output value is obtained is more preferable.

  A third wireless device according to the present invention includes a drive amplifier for amplifying an RF signal and a final amplifier for further amplifying the output of the drive amplifier on the transmission side, and time division multiple connection in which transmission timing is divided for each slot In a radio apparatus that outputs a transmission signal by a method, an output reduction information storage unit that stores information related to the output reduction degree of the final amplifier in the same slot, and the RF signal based on the contents of the output reduction information storage unit Output signal adjusting means for adjusting the output of the processor that outputs the signal that is the basis of the above.

  Note that the transmission circuit of the wireless device according to the present invention is preferably provided corresponding to each transmission antenna in an adaptive array antenna. With this configuration, it is possible to suppress deterioration of transmission D / U characteristics in an adaptive array PHS base station.

  According to the wireless device of the present invention, it is possible to suppress the influence of the droop characteristics of the drive amplifier and the final amplifier.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
First, the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration on the transmission side in the radio apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  On the transmission side of the wireless device, a digital signal processor (DSP) 100, an up converter 110, a drive amplifier 120, a final amplifier 140, a coupler 150, an isolator 160, an AD converter 180, and an amplification adjustment signal output unit 190 are provided. Yes. A radio wave based on the output signal is transmitted from the antenna 170 via the isolator 160. Note that the duplexer for switching to the receiving side is not shown in the figure. A matching circuit may be provided between the drive amplifier 120 on the transmission side and the final amplifier 140, but is not shown in the figure.

  The DSP 100 generates an intermediate frequency signal (IF signal) based on input of output signal information (a signal indicating audio to be transmitted, data indicating data, hereinafter also referred to as “Tx signal”). The IF signal is converted into a higher frequency signal by the LO signal of a predetermined frequency output from the frequency synthesizer in the up-converter 110 and output to the drive amplifier 120 as an RF signal. The drive amplifier 120 amplifies the RF signal and sends it to the final amplifier 140. The final amplifier 140 is an amplifier that is also called a power amplifier (PA) or a high power amplifier (HPA), and further amplifies the output of the drive amplifier 120.

  The coupler 150 detects the output power of the final amplifier 140. Conventionally, it is provided to send output power to a known APC (auto power control) circuit. As described above, in the conventional APC circuit, the output is input only to the final amplifier 140 or to both the final amplifier 140 and the drive amplifier 120. It should be noted that the isolator 160 is also generally provided conventionally for the stable operation of the final amplifier 140, prevention of cross modulation, and the like.

  In the present embodiment, the output value of the coupler 150 is AD (analog / digital) converted by the AD converter 180 and then input to the amplification adjustment signal output unit 190. The amplification adjustment signal output unit 190 stores the value obtained by sampling the output value of the coupler 150 converted into, for example, 256-gradation digital data in the AD converter 180 at a predetermined sampling timing, and the output value of the coupler 150. The sampling control unit 192 that controls the sampling timing for storing the data in the memory 191 and the output value stored in the memory 191 are used to correct the output drop due to the droop characteristics of the drive amplifier 120 and the final amplifier 140. An amplification adjustment signal generation unit 194 that outputs an adjustment signal for adjusting the gain is provided. The amplification adjustment signal generation unit 194 has a comparison circuit that detects the difference between the output value of the start timing sampled at substantially the start timing of one time slot and stored in the memory 191 and the output value reduced by the droop characteristic In 193, the detected difference is input.

  The sampling control unit 192 first stores the output value of the coupler 150 in the memory 191 at substantially the head timing of each slot in synchronization with the corresponding TDMA slot timing by a CPU (not shown). In the case of PHS, this detection timing is preferably about 5.2 μsec after the beginning of the slot. For example, it is also preferable to detect the output value a plurality of times during the first 10 μs of the slot and take the maximum value.

  Thereafter, the output value of the coupler 150 is further detected at a predetermined timing and stored in the memory 191. Only the head timing may be stored in the memory 191, and thereafter, the value stored in the memory 191 may be compared with the detected value. Further, with respect to the sampling timing after the first sampling in one slot, the time interval or the like is not particularly limited and does not need to be a constant interval, but the output drop due to the droop characteristic is remarkable at the beginning of one time slot. Therefore, the number of samplings per unit time can be reduced as time elapses from the start timing of the slot.

  The amplification adjustment signal generation unit 194 adjusts the gain of the drive amplifier 120 so as to correct the decrease in the output of the final amplifier 140 due to the droop characteristic according to the difference between the output value at the substantially leading timing and the output value sampled thereafter. Outputs the adjustment signal to be adjusted.

  In the PHS system, as shown in FIG. 2, one TDMA / TDD frame (5 milliseconds) is divided into eight time slots, and the first slot to the fourth slot are downlink slots (base station to terminal). From the fifth slot to the eighth slot are uplink slots (terminal to base station). The length of one slot is 625 μsec. For example, if the transmission circuit of the present embodiment is provided on the base station side, the timing indicated by (a) to (d) in FIG. Do.

  As described above, the output drop of 0.2 to 0.5 dB can occur in one slot (625 μsec) due to the droop phenomenon generated in the drive amplifier 120 and the final amplifier 140. For example, the timing (a) After that, sampling of the output value of the coupler 150 is continued within the timing range of the first slot, and the gain of the drive amplifier 120 is adjusted according to the drop from the head of the slot timing. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing in more detail the output drop due to the droop characteristic during one time slot. The drop in output due to droop characteristics appears prominently at the beginning of one time slot. In the case of PHS, when the PHS is detected, the output value is detected until about 10 μs have elapsed from the slot start timing. The point that it is preferable to do this, and the point that the detection timing of the most preferable slot substantially at the beginning is about 5.2 μsec after the beginning (when applied to PHS) are shown. The timing after the lapse of 5.2 μs (corresponding to the timings of (a), (b), (c) and (d) in FIG. 2) is not intended to be limited to 5.2 μs. It is also possible to obtain a maximum value of detected output values by increasing the number of samplings for obtaining the output value at substantially the head timing, and thereafter reducing the number of samplings.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration on the transmission side in the radio apparatus according to the present embodiment. Detailed description of the same components as those in the first embodiment will be omitted.

The present embodiment is different in that the output of the AD converter 180 is directly input to the DSP 100. Specifically, for example, it can be input to the general-purpose input terminal of the DSP 100.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the DSP 100 in the present embodiment. In the same figure, detailed illustration is omitted for a part for performing signal processing of a general transmission signal, and only a part necessary for the description of the present embodiment is shown.

  The DSP 100 is provided with a memory 101, a sampling control unit 102, and an output adjustment unit 103. The memory 101 has the same function as the memory 191 provided in the first embodiment, and stores the output value of the AD converter 180. The sampling control unit 102 corresponds to the sampling control unit 192 of the first embodiment, and controls the timing at which the output of the AD converter 180 is sampled and stored in the memory 101 from the CPU output corresponding to the TDMA slot timing. Output a signal.

  The output adjustment unit 103 adjusts the amplitude of the IF signal output to the up-converter 110 based on the output value of the AD converter 108 that is sampled and stored in the memory 101. Specifically, the amplitude is increased so as to correct the decrease in output. This processing can be easily realized by processing of a program incorporated in the DSP 100.

  As in the present embodiment, the adjustment of the amplitude of the output signal within the DSP 100 is performed even when, for example, the frequency of the output signal (frequency synthesizer frequency) is higher than that in the first embodiment. There is an advantage that there is no need to make components other than the processor (such as the APC circuit and the component used for gain adjustment of the drive amplifier of the first embodiment) other than the processor that transmits an output signal like the DSP 100 correspond to a high frequency. .

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a third embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration on the transmission side in the radio apparatus according to the present embodiment. Detailed description of the same components as those in the first embodiment will be omitted.

  In the present embodiment, feedback of the output of the coupler 150 is omitted in order to cope with the droop phenomenon, information indicating a decrease in the output value predicted by the droop phenomenon is stored in the DSP in advance, and the stored information The amplitude of the IF signal is adjusted based on the above. Specifically, an output adjustment table 104 is provided in the DSP 100, and the amplitude of the IF signal is adjusted based on the contents of the table 104 and the slot timing.

  The timing control unit 105 acquires the TDMA slot timing from the output from the CPU, and sends the TDMA slot timing to the output adjustment unit 106. The timing adjustment unit 105 corresponds to the sampling control unit of the first and second embodiments, and acquires the slot timing from the CPU.

  Then, the output adjustment unit 106 according to the present embodiment refers to the contents of the output adjustment table 104 and adjusts the output at the slot timing. In this way, the output drop due to the droop characteristic can be predicted in advance and stored in the table because the degree of the output drop due to the droop characteristic depends on individual differences of the driver amplifier and the final amplifier, and is predicted in advance. This is because it is considered possible. In the present embodiment, the detection value of the temperature sensor 300 is input to the DSP 100. However, this is provided in order to entirely correct the change in the output value due to the temperature. In the second embodiment, a configuration in which correction using a temperature sensor is added can also be adopted.

  As described above, by applying the transmission circuit according to the wireless device of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently suppress the influence of the droop characteristics of the drive amplifier and the final amplifier. This adjustment is applied to a mobile communication base station having an adaptive array antenna as described in Non-Patent Document 1, and transmission D is performed by performing droop correspondence with outputs to all antenna elements. A greater effect of suppressing deterioration of the / U characteristic can be obtained.

(Modification)
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the contents of the present invention are not limited to the specific examples described in the above embodiments. For example, the following modifications may be considered. .

(1) The transmission circuit as described in the above embodiment can be applied not only to a mobile communication base station but also to a terminal such as a mobile phone.
(2) In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the PHS system has been described. However, any system other than the PHS system can be applied as long as the system communicates by the TDMA method.

  The present invention can be applied to a radio apparatus such as a base station or a terminal of a mobile communication system that performs communication by a TDMA system like a PHS system.

It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure by the side of the transmission in the radio | wireless apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the slot structure of a TDMA / TDD frame. It is the figure which showed in more detail about the output fall by the droop characteristic during 1 time slot. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure by the side of the transmission in the radio | wireless apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure of DSP100 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure by the side of the transmission in the radio | wireless apparatus of 3rd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

100 DSP
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Memory 102 Sampling control part 103,106 Output adjustment part 104 Output adjustment table 105 Timing control part 110 Up converter 120 Drive amplifier 140 Final amplifier 150 Coupler 160 Isolator 170 Antenna 180 AD converter 190 Amplification adjustment signal output part 191 Memory 192 Sampling control Unit 193 comparison circuit 194 amplification adjustment signal generation unit 300 temperature sensor

Claims (7)

In a radio apparatus that includes a drive amplifier that amplifies an RF signal and a final amplifier that further amplifies the output of the drive amplifier on the transmission side, and that outputs a transmission signal in a time division multiple access scheme in which transmission timing is divided for each slot ,
A first output value detecting means for detecting an output value at a substantially leading timing of each slot for the output of the final amplifier;
A second output value detecting means for detecting an output value of the final amplifier in the same slot after the detection timing by the first output value detecting means;
Drive amplifier gain adjusting means for adjusting the gain of the drive amplifier based on the difference between the output value detected by the first output value detecting means and the output value detected by the second output value detecting means; A wireless device comprising: In a radio apparatus that includes a drive amplifier that amplifies an RF signal and a final amplifier that further amplifies the output of the drive amplifier on the transmission side, and that outputs a transmission signal by a time division multiple access method in which transmission timing is divided for each slot ,
A first output value detecting means for detecting an output value at a substantially leading timing of each slot for the output of the final amplifier;
A second output value detecting means for detecting an output value of the final amplifier in the same slot after the detection timing by the first output value detecting means;
The output of the processor that outputs a signal that is the basis of the RF signal based on the difference between the output value detected by the first output value detection means and the output value detected by the second output value detection means And an output adjusting means for adjusting the power. The wireless device includes:
An AD converter that AD (analog-digital) converts the output value of the final amplifier and inputs it to the processor;
The processor is
First output value detection means for detecting an output value from the AD converter at substantially the head timing of each slot;
A second output value detecting means for detecting an output value from the AD converter in the same slot after the detection timing by the first output value detecting means;
Output signal adjusting means for adjusting the output based on a difference between the output value detected by the first output value detecting means and the output value detected by the second output value detecting means. The wireless device according to claim 2. The first output value detection means includes:
The output value is acquired a plurality of times from the beginning of the slot until the elapse of a predetermined time, and the maximum value of the acquired output values is set as the output value at the substantially start timing of the slot. The wireless device according to any one of the above. The wireless device includes:
Timing control means for controlling the detection timing of the output value by the second output value detection means after the first output value detection means detects the output value at substantially the leading timing;
The timing control means is
The radio apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the number of samplings per unit time is reduced as compared with the case where the first output value detection unit acquires the output value a plurality of times. In a radio apparatus that includes a drive amplifier that amplifies an RF signal and a final amplifier that further amplifies the output of the drive amplifier on the transmission side, and that outputs a transmission signal in a time division multiple access scheme in which transmission timing is divided for each slot ,
Output reduction information storage means for storing information relating to the output reduction degree of the final amplifier in the same slot;
A radio apparatus comprising: an output signal adjusting unit that adjusts an output of a processor that outputs a signal that is a basis of the RF signal based on contents of the output decrease information storage unit.   7. A radio apparatus comprising an adaptive array antenna, wherein a transmission circuit provided in the radio apparatus according to claim 1 is provided corresponding to each transmission antenna.