KR101809383B1 - Hybrid Butler Matrix and Communication Device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a hybrid Butler matrix and a communication device using the same. According to the present invention, the hybrid Butler matrix includes: a first Butler matrix which selects one among multiple ports, receives first signals to transmit the first signals through multiple antennas, and determines radiation patterns in accordance with the ports inputting the first signals; a second Butler matrix which selects one among multiple ports, receives second signals to transmit the second signals through multiple antennas, and determines radiation patterns in accordance with the ports inputting the second signals; and a first phase shifter which shifts the phase of the first signals and applies the first signals with the shifted phase to the first Butler matrix. Accordingly, a conventional phase shifter can be arranged on the front end of a conventional 44 Butler matrix when realizing an 88 or greater Butler matrix to reduce the realization complexity.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a hybrid Butler matrix and a communication device using the hybrid Butler matrix.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile communication field, and more particularly, to a beamforming technique for MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) applied to mobile communication.

The beamforming technique can be divided into analog beamforming and digital beamforming. Digital beamforming is a technique of changing the phase in a signal processing part to produce a beam forming effect.

The Butler Matrix is a structure that enables beamforming using multiple hybrid couplers. When a switch is positioned at the front end and one port is selected, the corresponding antenna radiation pattern is determined .

4 × 4 or 8 × 8 shapes. FIG. 1 shows a structure of a 4 × 4 Butler matrix, and FIG. 2 shows a structure of an 8 × 8 Butler matrix.

The disadvantage of such a Butler matrix is that four antenna elements are fixed at four antenna elements and eight antenna elements are fixed at eight antenna elements.

Also, in the implementation of 8 × 8 Butler matrix, the crossover part is very complicated as compared with 4 × 4, and it can not be implemented in a cross-sectional pattern, so that the performance deteriorates as the frequency increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been conceived to solve the problems as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an 8 × 8 Butler matrix, which can solve design complexity, provide various radiation patterns, Which provides a new Butler matrix structure.

In order to achieve the above object, a hybrid Butler matrix according to an embodiment of the present invention selects one of a plurality of ports, receives a first signal, transmits through a plurality of antennas, A first Butler matrix in which a radiation pattern is determined; A second Butler matrix in which one of the plurality of ports is selected and a second signal is received and transmitted through a plurality of antennas and a radiation pattern is determined according to a port to which a second signal is input; And a first phase shifter that transitions the phase of the first signal and applies it to the first Butler matrix.

The hybrid Butler matrix may include a second phase shifter that transitions the phase of the second signal and applies it to the second Butler matrix.

The first Butler matrix may be a 4x4 Butler matrix.

The second Butler matrix may be a 4x4 Butler matrix.

The maximum gain can occur when the same port is selected in the first Butler matrix and the second Butler matrix and the first phase shifter and the second phase shifter exhibit a certain phase difference.

A certain phase difference may be 180 °.

The hybrid Butler matrix may further include a distributor connected to the front end of the first phase shifter and the second phase shifter.

The difference between the phase shift angle of the first phase shifter and the phase shift angle of the second phase shifter may be 90 占 n (n = 0, 1, 2).

A third Butler matrix in which the hybrid Butler matrix selects one of a plurality of ports and receives a third signal and transmits through a plurality of antennas and a radiation pattern is determined according to a port to which a third signal is input; A third phase shifter that transitions the phase of the third signal and applies it to the third Butler matrix; A fourth Butler matrix in which one of the plurality of ports is selected and a third signal is received and transmitted through a plurality of antennas, and a radiation pattern is determined according to a port to which a fourth signal is input; And a fourth phase shifter which shifts the phase of the fourth signal and applies the phase shifted signal to the fourth Butler matrix.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for transmitting a signal, the method including: a first phase shifter shifting a phase of a first signal; The first Butler matrix selects one of a plurality of ports and receives a first signal having a phase shifted and transmits the first signal through a plurality of antennas and a radiation pattern is determined according to a port to which the first signal is input; And the second Butler matrix selects one of the plurality of ports, receives the second signal, transmits the signal through the plurality of antennas, and determines the radiation pattern according to the port to which the second signal is input.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus including: a transmitter for generating a first signal and a second signal; A first Butler matrix in which one of the plurality of ports is selected and a first signal is received and transmitted through a plurality of antennas, and a radiation pattern is determined according to a port to which the first signal is input; A second Butler matrix in which one of the plurality of ports is selected and a second signal is received and transmitted through a plurality of antennas and a radiation pattern is determined according to a port to which a second signal is input; And a first phase shifter that transitions the phase of the first signal and applies it to the first Butler matrix.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a signal transmission method including generating a first signal and a second signal; The first phase shifter transitioning the phase of the first signal; The first Butler matrix selects one of a plurality of ports, receives a first signal, transmits the first signal through a plurality of antennas, and determines a radiation pattern according to a port through which the first signal is input; The first Butler matrix may select one of the plurality of ports to receive the second signal and transmit the second signal through the plurality of antennas and determine the radiation pattern according to the port to which the second signal is input .

As described above, according to the embodiments of the present invention, the complexity of the implementation can be solved by placing the phase shifter at the front end of the existing 4 × 4 Butler matrix in the implementation of 8 × 8 or more Butler matrix.

Further, according to embodiments of the present invention, the phase shifter can be adjusted to produce various radiation patterns.

Further, according to embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to relatively easily implement the MIMO antenna implementation and the 4 × 4 Butler matrix beamforming by using the per-path polarized antenna, and all the RF signal lines except for the control signal line It can be implemented with only the front pattern.

1 shows the structure of a 4 × 4 Butler matrix,
Figure 2 shows the structure of an 8x8 Butler matrix,
FIG. 3 illustrates a structure of a hybrid 8 × 8 Butler matrix according to an embodiment of the present invention,
4 is a table showing the phase values of the antennas according to the port selection of the Butler matrix-1 and the Butler matrix-2 shown in FIG. 3,
5 is a diagram showing four Array Factors with the largest gain in the hybrid 8x8 Butler matrix shown in FIG. 3,
FIG. 6 is a table showing phase values of antennas according to port selection of a hybrid 8 × 8 Butler matrix for four Array Factors shown in FIG. 5;
Figures 7 to 12 illustrate yet another six Array Factors,
FIG. 13 is a table showing selection ports of Butler matrices for setting 10 kinds of array factors shown in FIGS. 6 to 12, phase transition angles of phase distributors,
14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an individual antenna for MIMO support.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hybrid Butler matrix according to an embodiment of the present invention. The hybrid Butler matrix according to an embodiment of the present invention is an element for beamforming of a MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) antenna system.

3, the hybrid Butler matrix according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a power divider 110, a phase shifter-1 121, a phase shifter-2 122 -1, < / RTI > 131 and Butler matrix-2 132, respectively.

The power divider 110 distributes the power of the transmission signal generated by the transceiver (not shown) to the phase shifter-1 121 and the phase shifter-2 122, and delivers the power.

The phase shifter-1 121 shifts the phase of a signal applied from the power divider 110 and transfers the phase to the Butler matrix-1.

The phase shifter-2 122 shifts the phase of a signal applied from the power divider 110 and transfers the phase to the Butler matrix-21 (132).

The Butler matrix-1 131 is a 4 × 4 Butler matrix and selects one of the four ports (R1, L2, R2, L1) to receive a phase-shifted signal in the phase shifter- And transmits through a plurality of antennas A1, A2, A3, and A4.

The radiation patterns of the antennas A1, A2, A3 and A4 are determined according to the ports of the Butler matrix-1 131 receiving the phase-shifted signals in the phase shifter-1 121.

The Butler matrix-2 132 is also a 4 × 4 Butler matrix and selects one of the four ports (R1, L2, R2, L1) to receive the phase-shifted signal in the phase shifter- And transmits through a plurality of antennas A5, A6, A7, and A8.

The radiation patterns of the antennas A5, A6, A7 and A48 are determined according to the ports of the Butler matrix-2 132 receiving the phase-shifted signals in the phase shifter-2 122.

The port selected to receive the signal from the Butler matrix-1 131 and the port selected to receive the signal from the Butler matrix-2 132 may be the same or different but will be described in detail later.

4 is a table showing phase values of antennas according to port selection of Butler matrix-1 (131) and Butler matrix-2 (132), which are 4x4 Butler matrix.

In the hybrid 8x8 Butler matrix according to the embodiment of the present invention using the Butler matrix-1 (131) and Butler matrix-2 (132) as shown in FIG. 4, four Array factors having the largest gains are shown in FIG. Respectively.

FIG. 6 is a table showing the phase values of the antennas according to the port selection of the hybrid 8 × 8 Butler matrix according to the embodiment of the present invention for the four Array Factors shown in FIG.

6, the same port is selected in Butler matrix-1 (131) and Butler matrix-2 (132), and the phase difference of -1 (121) 122 is set to 180 degrees.

7 to 12 illustrate six different array factors. 13 shows a selection port of Butler matrix-1 131 for setting four Array Factors shown in FIG. 6 and six Array Factors shown in FIG. 7 to FIG. 12, The phase shift angle, the selection port of the Butler matrix-2 132, and the phase shift angle of the phase shifter -2 122 are shown in the table.

13, in order to maximize the gain, the phase difference between the phase shifter-1 121 and the phase shifter-2 122 must be 180 °, but not necessarily (0 °, 90 °, 180 °) can be confirmed.

13, the same port should be selected in the Butler matrix-1 131 and the Butler matrix-2 132 in order to maximize the gain. Otherwise, the same port can be selected and another port can be selected It is possible to confirm that it is possible.

14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an individual antenna for MIMO support. As shown in FIG. 14, a MIMO configuration is possible using an antenna capable of dual polarization feed. In this case, it is required to replace the power splitter 110 with a MIMO-supported transceiver.

Up to now, a hybrid Butler matrix and a communication apparatus using the hybrid Butler matrix have been described in detail with preferred embodiments.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a new hybrid 8 × 8 Butler matrix structure which can solve the design complexity, provide various radiation patterns, and implement MIMO easily in 8 × 8 Butler matrix implementation is proposed.

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present invention, in the implementation of the 8 × 8 or higher Butler matrix, the complexity of the implementation is eliminated by positioning the phase shifter at the front end of the existing 4 × 4 Butler matrix. By using this phase shifter, I was able to create a pattern.

In addition, the implementation of the MIMO antenna and the 4 × 4 Butler matrix beamforming can be relatively easily implemented using the per-pass polarized antenna, and the use of two polarizable antennas (eg, dual feed patch antenna) By choosing different polarizations, MIMO functionality is possible and beamforming is possible with an independent 4 × 4 Butler matrix.

In addition, all the RF signal lines except for the control signal line can be implemented by only the front surface pattern of the board, and the millimeter wave terminal can be improved in operational efficiency with various radiation patterns.

Furthermore, it is also possible to combine two hybrid 8x8 Butler matrices to implement a hybrid 16x16 Butler matrix.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

110: Power divider
121,122: Phase Shifter
131,132: Butler Matrix

Claims (12)

In the hybrid Butler matrix,
A first Butler matrix for receiving a first signal and transmitting through a plurality of antennas;
A second Butler matrix for receiving a second signal and transmitting through a plurality of antennas;
A first phase shifter that transitions the phase of the first signal to a first phase shift angle and applies the phase shift to the first Butler matrix; And
And a second phase shifter that transitions the phase of the second signal to a second Butler matrix with a second phase shift angle different from the first phase shift angle,
The first Butler matrix,
A first signal is received by selecting one of a plurality of ports, a radiation pattern is determined according to a port through which the first signal is input,
The second Butler matrix,
The first signal is received by selecting one of the plurality of ports, the radiation pattern is determined according to the port through which the second signal is input,
The first Butler matrix is an n x n Butler matrix,
The second Butler matrix is an n x n Butler matrix,
The hybrid Butler matrix is a 2n x 2n Butler matrix,
The phase shift angle of the first phase shifter and the phase shift angle of the second phase shifter are controlled independently of each other, and the phase difference is 90 占 n (n = 0, 1, 2)
The maximum gain,
The same port is selected in the first Butler matrix and the second Butler matrix, and the phase difference between the first phase shifter and the second phase shifter is 180 °. delete The method according to claim 1,
The first Butler matrix,
A 4 × 4 Butler matrix.
The method of claim 3,
The second Butler matrix,
A 4 × 4 Butler matrix.
delete delete The method according to claim 1,
And a splitter coupled to the front end of the first phase shifter and the second phase shifter.
delete The method according to claim 1,
A third Butler matrix in which one of the plurality of ports is selected and a third signal is received and transmitted through a plurality of antennas and a radiation pattern is determined according to a port to which a third signal is input;
A third phase shifter that transitions the phase of the third signal and applies it to the third Butler matrix;
A fourth Butler matrix in which one of the plurality of ports is selected and a third signal is received and transmitted through a plurality of antennas, and a radiation pattern is determined according to a port to which a fourth signal is input;
And a fourth phase shifter for shifting the phase of the fourth signal to a fourth Butler matrix.
In a signal transmission method of a hybrid Butler matrix,
The first phase shifter provided in the hybrid Butler matrix transitions the phase of the first signal to a first phase shift angle;
A first Butler matrix provided in the hybrid Butler matrix receives a first signal having a phase shifted and transmits the first signal through a plurality of antennas; And
The second phase shifter provided in the hybrid Butler matrix transitions the phase of the second signal to a second phase shift angle different from the first phase shift angle;
And a second Butler matrix provided in the hybrid Butler matrix receives the phase-shifted second signal and transmits the second signal through a plurality of antennas,
The first Butler matrix,
A first signal is received by selecting one of a plurality of ports, a radiation pattern is determined according to a port through which the first signal is input,
The second Butler matrix,
The first signal is received by selecting one of the plurality of ports, the radiation pattern is determined according to the port through which the second signal is input,
The first Butler matrix is an n x n Butler matrix,
The second Butler matrix is an n x n Butler matrix,
The hybrid Butler matrix is a 2n x 2n Butler matrix,
The phase shift angle of the first phase shifter and the phase shift angle of the second phase shifter are controlled independently of each other, and the phase difference is 90 占 n (n = 0, 1, 2)
The maximum gain,
Wherein the same port is selected in the first Butler matrix and the second Butler matrix and the phase difference between the first phase shifter and the second phase shifter is 180 °. A transmitter for generating a first signal and a second signal;
A first Butler matrix for receiving a first signal and transmitting through a plurality of antennas;
A second Butler matrix for receiving a second signal and transmitting through a plurality of antennas;
A first phase shifter that transitions the phase of the first signal to a first phase shift angle and applies the phase shift to the first Butler matrix; And
And a second phase shifter that transitions the phase of the second signal to a second Butler matrix with a second phase shift angle different from the first phase shift angle,
The first Butler matrix,
A first signal is received by selecting one of a plurality of ports, a radiation pattern is determined according to a port through which the first signal is input,
The second Butler matrix,
The first signal is received by selecting one of the plurality of ports, the radiation pattern is determined according to the port through which the second signal is input,
The first Butler matrix is an n x n Butler matrix,
The second Butler matrix is an n x n Butler matrix,
A hybrid Butler matrix consisting of a first Butler matrix, a second Butler matrix, a first phase shifter and a second phase shifter is a 2n × 2n Butler matrix,
The phase shift angle of the first phase shifter and the phase shift angle of the second phase shifter are controlled independently of each other, and the phase difference is 90 占 n (n = 0, 1, 2)
The maximum gain,
Wherein the same port is selected in the first Butler matrix and the second Butler matrix and the phase difference between the first phase shifter and the second phase shifter is 180 °. Generating a first signal and a second signal;
The first phase shifter provided in the hybrid Butler matrix transitions the phase of the first signal to a first phase shift angle;
A first Butler matrix provided in the hybrid Butler matrix receives a first signal and transmits the first signal through a plurality of antennas;
The second phase shifter provided in the hybrid Butler matrix transitions the phase of the second signal to a second phase shift angle different from the first phase shift angle;
And a second Butler matrix provided in the hybrid Butler matrix receives the second signal and transmits the second signal through a plurality of antennas,
The first Butler matrix,
A first signal is received by selecting one of a plurality of ports, a radiation pattern is determined according to a port through which the first signal is input,
The second Butler matrix,
The first signal is received by selecting one of the plurality of ports, the radiation pattern is determined according to the port through which the second signal is input,
The first Butler matrix is an n x n Butler matrix,
The second Butler matrix is an n x n Butler matrix,
The hybrid Butler matrix is a 2n x 2n Butler matrix,
The phase shift angle of the first phase shifter and the phase shift angle of the second phase shifter are controlled independently of each other, and the phase difference is 90 占 n (n = 0, 1, 2)
The maximum gain,
Wherein the same port is selected in the first Butler matrix and the second Butler matrix and the phase difference between the first phase shifter and the second phase shifter is 180 °.

Images