KR102347898B1 - Apparatus and method for correcting beam pattern in Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output system - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system of the present invention includes an antenna unit including an antenna array as a set of a plurality of antenna elements, and processing radio signals transmitted and received in response to each of the plurality of antenna elements. a signal processing unit including a plurality of radio elements for and a control unit for controlling the signal processing unit to recover the cell coverage loss according to the .

Description

Apparatus and method for correcting beam pattern in Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output system

The present invention relates to a beam pattern correction technology, and more particularly, a failure of a radio element that causes failure of at least one of a plurality of antenna elements of a massive multiple input multiple output system (Massive MIMO) In this case, the present invention relates to an apparatus capable of restoring coverage of a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system by correcting a beam pattern of a normal antenna element, and a method therefor.

The content described in this section merely provides background information for the present embodiment and does not constitute the prior art.

In general, a mobile communication system aims to provide stable voice and data by constructing a network that provides a fixed service coverage centering on a base station, and providing a good radio environment to a terminal of a user who is a mobile station within the coverage. These mobile communication systems are continuously evolving, and various networks have been built up to 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G mobile communication systems.

In addition, the 5G mobile communication system reduces the path loss of radio waves and increases the propagation distance of radio waves in the ultra-high frequency band. Various technologies such as full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO) and an array antenna are being discussed. In particular, the beamforming technology is one of the core technologies of the 5G mobile communication system, and in order to efficiently use radio frequency resources, the arrival area of radio waves is concentrated in a specific direction or the directivity of the reception sensitivity in a specific direction is increased. It means the skill to

That is, the beamforming technology is a technology for transmitting and receiving a signal by concentrating the energy radiated from the antenna in a specific direction. It receives a stronger signal from a desired direction, or transmits a signal in a desired direction and receives a signal from an unwanted direction. Antenna technology used to not receive. Accordingly, as a method to overcome the coverage issue by mitigating path loss and increasing the propagation distance of radio waves in a high frequency band, a beamforming technology that concentrates radio waves in a desired direction may be used.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Patent No. 2016-0114614, published on October 05, 2016 (Title: Feedback reporting method and apparatus for large-scale antenna array-based beamforming in a wireless communication system)

An object of the present invention is an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multi-input multi-output system that can minimize coverage loss due to failure through simple control even when a failure occurs in some of a plurality of antenna elements of an antenna array, and an apparatus for the same to provide a method.

An apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object includes an antenna unit including an antenna array, which is a set of a plurality of antenna elements, and the plurality of A signal processing unit including a plurality of radio elements for processing radio signals transmitted and received in response to each of the antenna elements, and when a failure of at least one antenna element among the plurality of antenna elements is detected, and a controller configured to control the signal processing unit to correct a beam pattern of a neighboring antenna element to recover a cell coverage loss due to a failure of the antenna element.

When the number of antenna elements in which the failure is detected is less than a first threshold, the control unit adjusts the phases of the neighboring antenna elements of the antenna element in which the failure is detected so that the beam direction of the neighboring antenna elements is disturbed. It includes a phase correction unit for controlling to change in the direction.

When the number of antenna elements in which the failure is detected is greater than or equal to a first threshold and less than a second threshold, which is a number greater than the first threshold, the control unit turns off the power of the radio element corresponding to the neighboring antenna element of the antenna element in which the failure is detected and a power processing unit for controlling an antenna element adjacent to the antenna element in which the failure is detected to be turned off.

The control unit includes a failure detection unit that detects a failure of at least one antenna element among the plurality of antenna elements, and outputs an alert indicating a beamforming failure when the number of antenna elements for which the failure is detected is equal to or greater than a second threshold.

The control unit includes a failure detection unit that detects a failure of at least one radio element among the plurality of radio elements of the signal processing unit, and detects at least one antenna element in which a failure occurs in response to the detected failure of the radio element.

The control unit includes a failure detection unit for detecting a failure of at least one antenna element among the plurality of antenna elements of the antenna unit.

The wireless device includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) that converts a received signal from an analog signal to a digital signal, a digital to analog converter (DAC) that converts a transmitted signal from a digital signal to an analog signal, and a down-converting frequency of the received signal. Down converter, up-converter that up-converts the frequency of a transmission signal, a low-noise amplifier (LNA) that amplifies a received signal to low noise, and a power amplifier (PA: Power Amplifier) that amplifies the transmission signal ), a switch for switching a connection path of a transmission signal and a reception signal to an antenna element, and a diplexer (Diplexer) for switching a connection path of a transmission signal and a reception signal to the antenna element.

According to the present invention, coverage lost due to the failed antenna element can be recovered through phase control or power control for neighboring antenna elements of the failed antenna element. Accordingly, even when a partial failure occurs, coverage can be constantly maintained through phase control or power control, thereby improving the reliability of a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system.

1 is a diagram for explaining a communication system to which an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
2 is a diagram for explaining the overall configuration of an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram for explaining a detailed configuration of an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram for explaining an antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 to 7 are diagrams for explaining a method of adjusting a beam direction through phase control in a large-scale multiple input multiple output system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 to 10 are diagrams for explaining a method of increasing a beam width through power control in a large-scale multiple input multiple output system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a flowchart illustrating a method for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In order to clarify the characteristics and advantages of the problem solving means of the present invention, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to specific embodiments of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings.

However, detailed descriptions of well-known functions or configurations that may obscure the gist of the present invention in the following description and accompanying drawings will be omitted. Also, it should be noted that, throughout the drawings, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible.

The terms or words used in the following description and drawings should not be construed as being limited to conventional or dictionary meanings, and the inventor may appropriately define the concept of terms for describing his invention in the best way. Based on the principle that there is, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention. Accordingly, the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention, and do not represent all of the technical spirit of the present invention. It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

In addition, terms including ordinal numbers such as 1st, 2nd, etc. are used to describe various components, and are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from other components, and to limit the components. not used For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the second component may be referred to as the first component, and similarly, the first component may also be referred to as the second component.

In addition, when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “connected” to another element, it means that it is logically or physically connected or can be connected. In other words, it should be understood that a component may be directly connected or connected to another component, but another component may exist in between, and may be indirectly connected or connected.

In addition, the terms used herein are used only to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, terms such as "comprises" or "have" described in this specification are intended to designate that the features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification exist, but one or the It should be understood that the above does not preclude the possibility of the existence or addition of other features or numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

In addition, terms such as “…unit”, “…group”, and “module” described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented as hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software. have.

Also, "a or an", "one", "the" and similar terms are otherwise indicated herein in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims). or may be used in a sense including both the singular and the plural unless clearly contradicted by context.

In addition, embodiments within the scope of the present invention include computer-readable media having or carrying computer-executable instructions or data structures stored in the computer-readable media. Such computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer system. By way of example, such computer-readable media may be in the form of RAM, ROM, EPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage, or computer-executable instructions, computer-readable instructions, or data structures. It may include, but is not limited to, a physical storage medium such as any other medium that can be used to store or convey any program code means in .

In the following description and claims, a “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable the transfer of electronic data between computer systems and/or modules. When information is transmitted or provided to a computer system via a network or other communication connection (wired, wireless, or a combination of wired or wireless), the connection may be understood as a computer-readable medium. Computer readable instructions include, for example, instructions and data that cause a general purpose computer system or special purpose computer system to perform a particular function or group of functions. The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binary, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or even source code.

In addition, the present invention relates to personal computers, laptop computers, handheld devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones, PDAs, pagers. In a network computing environment having various types of computer system configurations including (pager) and the like, it may be applied to providing advertisements to the computer systems. The invention may also be practiced in distributed system environments where both local and remote computer systems linked through a network by a wired data link, a wireless data link, or a combination of wired and wireless data links perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, program modules may be located in local and remote memory storage devices.

First, a communication system to which an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described. 1 is a diagram for explaining a communication system to which an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. Referring to FIG. 1 , a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a base station 10 and a plurality of terminals 20 .

A base station (10, BS: Base Station) refers to a terminal node of a network that directly communicates with the terminal (20). In one embodiment of the present invention, the beamforming control process will be mainly described centered on the base station 10, but the operation of the present invention may be performed by an upper node of the base station according to an implementation method. In addition, the base station 10 of the present invention can be replaced by terms such as a fixed station, Node B, eNode B (eNB), and an access point (AP), and the terminal 20 is a UE ( User Equipment), Mobile Station (MS), Mobile Subscriber Station (MSS), Subscriber Station (SS), and the like. In other words, specific terms used in the following description are provided to help the understanding of the present invention, and the use of these specific terms may be changed to other forms without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

A communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention is a network supporting beamforming technology, and such a network may exemplify a 5G mobile communication system of a very high frequency broadband. The present invention uses a beamforming technology supported by a 5G mobile communication system. The beamforming technology, which is a representative technology of the 5G mobile communication system 200, uses a plurality of beams output through a plurality of antenna elements having a parallel feed structure to adjust the input phase for each antenna as a phase adjuster. can be used to adjust the beam direction and pattern.

Next, an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. 2 is a diagram for explaining the overall configuration of an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a diagram for explaining a detailed configuration of an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a diagram for explaining an antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 to 7 are diagrams for explaining a method of adjusting a beam direction through phase control in a large-scale multiple input multiple output system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 8 to 10 are diagrams for explaining a method of increasing a beam width through power control in a large-scale multiple input multiple output system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, referring to FIG. 2 , the base station 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an antenna unit 100 , a signal processing unit 200 , and a control unit 300 . A detailed configuration of each of the antenna unit 100, the signal processing unit 200, and the control unit 300 will be described as follows.

The antenna unit 100 employs a massive multiple input multiple output system (Massive MIMO) technology. The MIMO technology is a technology capable of improving data transmission/reception efficiency by using a large-scale unit of transmit and receive antennas. In the multi-antenna technology, a single antenna path is not used to receive one entire message. Instead, in multi-antenna technology, data fragments received from multiple antennas are aggregated and merged to complete the data. When the multi-antenna technology is used, it is possible to improve a data transmission rate within a cell area of a specified size or to increase system coverage while guaranteeing a specific data transmission rate. 2, the antenna unit 100 is an antenna array (AA: Antenna Array) consisting of a plurality of antenna elements (AE: Antenna Element) of a massive multiple input multiple output (Massive MIMO: Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output) system. include For example, referring to FIG. 3 , the antenna unit 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may have a structure of 32Tx32Rx or 64Tx64Rx at 6 GHz or less, and 512Tx512Rx or 1024Tx1024Rx at 6 GHz or higher.

The signal processing unit 200 controls the overall operation of the base station 10 , and in particular, may serve to process signals to be transmitted or received through the antenna unit 100 . In particular, the signal processing unit 200 of the present invention may generate a beam to be used for signal transmission or reception, or may control beam characteristics, ie, amplitude, power, polarization, phase, and the like of the beam. The signal processing unit 200 includes a digital signal processing unit 210 and a high frequency signal processing unit 210 as shown in FIG. 3 .

The digital signal processing unit 210 includes at least one modem (MODEM) for performing modulation of a transmission signal and demodulation of a reception signal.

The radio frequency signal processing unit 220 includes a plurality of radio elements (RE) for processing a transmission signal and a reception signal. The plurality of radio elements (RE) include an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) that converts a received signal from an analog signal to a digital signal, a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) that converts a transmitted signal from a digital signal to an analog signal, and the frequency of the received signal. Down converter that down-converts the frequency of the transmission signal, the UP converter that up-converts the frequency of the transmission signal, the Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) that amplifies the received signal to low noise, and the power that amplifies the power of the transmission signal. An amplifier (PA: Power Amplifier), a switch (Switch) that switches a connection path with an antenna element (AE) in a time division duplex (TDD) method, and an antenna in a frequency division duplex (FDD) method and a diplexer that selects a connection path with the element AE.

In particular, the high-frequency signal processing unit 220 is a low-noise amplifier (LNA) and a down-converter (Down-Converter) or up-converter (UP-converter) and the phase adjuster (221: P1, P2, . ..) is further included. The phase adjusters 221 (P1, P2, ...) may control the phase and amplitude of each antenna element AE according to the control of the controller 300 .

Meanwhile, when the base station 10 of the present invention transmits and receives signals, the operations of the digital signal processing unit 210 and the high frequency signal processing unit 220 will be described as follows. First, when the base station 10 transmits a signal to the terminal 20 , the digital signal processing unit 210 modulates a signal to be transmitted to the terminal 20 , that is, a transmission signal through a modem and demodulator (MODEM) to obtain a high frequency signal. It is transmitted to the signal processing unit 220 . Then, the DAC of the high-frequency signal processing unit 220 converts the transmission signal from the digital signal to the analog signal, and the up-converter converts the transmission signal through up-conversion to the pass band of the transmission medium. Band) is converted to the frequency band. And, the power amplifier (PA) amplifies the power to transmit the transmitted signal as a signal having sufficient power at the final stage. Thereafter, in the case of a time division duplexing (TDD) method, a switch or, in the case of a frequency division duplexing (FDD) method, it is transmitted to the terminal 20 through the antenna unit 100 through a diplexer. . In this case, the signal processing unit 200 of the present invention may control each beam to be transmitted through an antenna designated as a preset sector area. For example, the first transmitted beam is transmitted through a preset antenna among a plurality of antennas. After that, the number of antennas may be increased and the beam may be radiated.

In addition, when the base station 10 receives a signal from the terminal 20 , the received signal flowing in from the terminal 20 through the antenna unit 100 is transmitted through a switch or a diplexer and is transmitted through a high frequency It is input to the signal processing unit 220 . Then, the low-noise amplifier (LNA) of the high-frequency signal processing unit 220 performs a role of amplifying the signal while suppressing the noise as much as possible when amplifying the received signal embedded with noise in the air, that is, low-noise amplification. Then, the down-converter down-converts the frequency of the received signal, that is, high-frequency, and converts it to a baseband. Next, the ADC converts the received signal from an analog signal to a digital signal and provides it to the digital signal processing unit 210 . Then, the modem/demodulator (MODEM) of the digital signal processing unit 210 may acquire data of the received signal by demodulating the received signal.

On the other hand, the antenna element AE of the antenna array AA of the antenna unit 100 finally serves to radiate the electrical signal change on the conducting wire by radiating it as an electromagnetic wave in the air, and each of these antenna elements is a certain distance They are spaced apart and arranged in a row. At this time, each antenna element (AE) may be disposed in consideration of the wavelength size of the received signal, and between the low-noise amplifier (LNA) and the down-converter (Down-Converter) or the up-converter (UP-converter) and the power amplifier (PA). The posted phase adjusters 221: P1, P2, ... may control the phase and amplitude of each antenna element AE. That is, the antenna unit 100 of the base station 10 of the present invention performs a beamforming process through the phase adjuster 221. In the beamforming technique, the phase and magnitude values are changed for each antenna element and the beam refers to the process of forming In this case, a plurality of phase adjusters 221 of the present invention exist, and independent phase adjusters without mutual influence are used. Such an independent phase adjuster may apply a phase change to one analog signal to transmit or receive it through a plurality of antennas, and may form N independent spatially distinguishable beams at the same time. In addition, the phase adjuster 221 of the present invention performs an operation under the control of the controller 300 .

The controller 300 performs a control operation for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention. When a failure of at least one antenna element AE among the plurality of antenna elements AE is detected, the control unit 300 corrects the beam pattern of the neighboring antenna element AE of the antenna element AE in which the failure is detected to thereby correct the antenna. The signal processing unit 200 is controlled to recover the cell coverage loss due to the failure of the element AE. The control unit 300 includes a failure detection unit 310 , a phase correction unit 320 , and a power processing unit 330 .

The failure detection unit 310 monitors the high frequency signal processing unit 220 to detect a failure of at least one wireless device RE among the plurality of wireless devices RE of the high frequency signal processing unit 220, and In response to the failure, at least one antenna element AE in which a failure has occurred may be specified. Also, the failure detection unit 310 may directly monitor the antenna unit 100 to directly detect the failure of at least one antenna element AE among the plurality of antenna elements AE of the antenna unit 100 .

The failure detection unit 310 calls the phase correction unit 320, the power processing unit 330, or both the phase correction unit 320 and the power processing unit 330 according to the number of the antenna elements AE in which the failure has occurred. You can output an alarm without calling . The failure detection unit 310 calls the phase correction unit 320 when the number of the failed antenna elements AE is less than a preset first threshold, and the number of the failed antenna elements AE exceeds the preset first threshold. and is less than the second threshold, which is a number greater than the first threshold, the power processing unit 330 is called. In addition, when the number of the antenna elements AE in which the failure has occurred is equal to or greater than the second threshold, the failure detection unit 310 may output an alarm without calling both the phase correction unit 320 and the power processing unit 330 . For example, it is preferable that the first threshold is three. Also, it is preferable that the second threshold is 10.

The phase corrector 320 is called by the failure detection unit 310 to operate when the number of antenna elements AE in which a failure occurs is less than a preset first threshold. Accordingly, if the number of antenna elements AE in which the failure has occurred is less than the first threshold, the phase correction unit 320 determines that the radiation angle of the beams of the antenna element AE and the antenna element AE adjacent to the failure occur in the forward direction. It is controlled to change by q angle in the direction of the antenna element AE. To this end, the phase corrector 320 may control the phase adjuster 221 corresponding to the antenna element AE and the neighboring antenna element AE in which the failure has occurred.

For example, referring to FIG. 5 , it is assumed that a failure occurs in the middle antenna element AE_C among the five antenna elements AE_U, AE_L, AE_E, AE_R, and AE_D arranged in a cross shape. Then, the phase corrector 320 determines that the radiation angles of the antenna elements adjacent to the central antenna element AE_C, that is, the upper, lower, left, and right antenna elements AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, and AE_R of the central antenna element AE_C, are in the forward direction. It is controlled to change by q angle in the direction of the failed antenna element AE.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7 , as shown in FIG. 6A , it is assumed that the radiation angles of the antenna elements AE_C, AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, AE_R, that is, the beam direction are all normal in the forward direction. do. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7A , a plurality of beams cover the entire cell coverage CC.

At this time, as shown in (B) of FIG. 6 , a beam of the antenna element AE_C may be lost due to a failure of the antenna element AE_C. Accordingly, as shown in (B) of FIG. 7 , a loss region L is generated in a part of the cell coverage CC.

In this way, when the loss region L occurs, as shown in (c) of FIG. 6 , the phase corrector 320 performs the antenna elements AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, and The signal processing unit 200 is controlled so that the radiation angle of AE_R, that is, the beam direction, is changed by q angle from the forward direction to the direction of the antenna element AE_C in which the disturbance has occurred. That is, the phase correction unit 320 is the antenna element (AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, AE_R) adjacent to the antenna element (AE_C) through the phase adjuster 221 corresponding to the antenna element (AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, AE_R) has a failure. ) so that the beam direction is changed by an angle of q from the forward direction to the direction of the antenna element AE_C in which the failure has occurred. Then, as shown in FIG. 7C , the entire cell coverage CC may be covered again by compensating for an area in which the surrounding beam is lost.

The power processing unit 330 is called and operated by the failure detection unit 310 when the number of antenna elements AE having a failure is greater than or equal to a preset first threshold and less than a second threshold. Accordingly, when the number of the antenna elements AE in which the failure occurs is greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than the second threshold, the power processing unit 330 closes the antenna element AE in which the failure occurs because the beam width of the antenna element AE is wide. control so as to To this end, the power processing unit 330 is a radio element RE corresponding to the antenna element AE and the neighboring antenna element AE, that is, ADC, DAC, down converter, up-converter UP. converter), a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), a Power Amplifier (PA), a Switch, and a Diplexer are turned off to not operate.

For example, referring to FIG. 8 , of the 36 antenna elements AE_11 to AE_66 arranged in 5 rows and 5 columns, the antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, It is assumed that a failure has occurred in AE_34, AE_44). Then, the power processing unit 330 is an antenna element adjacent to the failed antenna element (AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44), that is, the antenna element (AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44) of the upper, lower, left and right antenna elements (AE_23, AE_24) , AE_32, AE_42, AE_35, AE_45, AE_53, AE_54) by controlling the power to the radio device (RE) corresponding to the control so that the power is not supplied and turned off (OFF). Accordingly, the upper, lower, left, and right antenna elements AE_23, AE_24, AE_32, AE_42, AE_35, AE_45, AE_53, AE_54 of the failed antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44 are turned off.

Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10 , as shown in FIG. 9(a) , the radiation angles, ie, beam directions, of 36 antenna elements AE_11 to AE_66 arranged in 5 rows and 5 columns are all normal in the forward direction. Assume that In this case, as shown in (X) of FIG. 10 , a plurality of beams covers the entire cell coverage (CC).

At this time, as shown in (b) of FIG. 9 , as a failure occurs in the antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44, the beams of the failed antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44 will be lost. can Accordingly, as shown in (Y) of FIG. 10 , a loss region L is generated in a part of the cell coverage CC.

When this loss region L occurs, the power processing unit 330 controls the antenna elements adjacent to the failed antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44, that is, the upper and lower portions of the antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44. The power of the radio element RE corresponding to the left and right antenna elements AE_23, AE_24, AE_32, AE_42, AE_35, AE_45, AE_53, AE_54 is controlled to be turned OFF. Accordingly, the antenna elements AE_23, AE_24, AE_32, AE_42, AE_35, AE_45, AE_53, and AE_54 neighboring the antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44 are turned off.

Accordingly, as shown in (c) of FIG. 9, the peripheral antenna elements AE_12, AE_13, AE_14, AE_15, AE_21, AE_22, AE_25, AE_26, AE_31, AE_36, AE_41, AE_46, AE_51, AE_52, AE_55, AE_56, AE_62, AE_63, AE_64, AE_65) are widened. Then, as shown in (Z) of FIG. 10 , the entire cell coverage CC can be covered again by compensating for an area in which the beam around the beam width is widened according to the beam width correction.

Next, a method for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple-input multiple-output system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 11 , it is assumed that the large-scale MIMO system is operating in step S110 according to the operation of the base station 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. At this time, the failure detection unit 310 of the control unit 300 monitors the antenna unit 100 and the high frequency signal processing unit 220 in step S120 to determine whether a faulty antenna element AE is detected. The failure detection unit 310 monitors the high frequency signal processing unit 220 to detect a failure of at least one wireless device RE among the plurality of wireless devices RE of the high frequency signal processing unit 220, and In response to the failure, at least one antenna element AE in which a failure has occurred may be specified. Also, the failure detection unit 310 may directly monitor the antenna unit 100 to directly detect the failure of at least one antenna element AE among the plurality of antenna elements AE of the antenna unit 100 .

As a result of the determination of step S120, if a failure is detected, the failure detection unit 310 proceeds to step S130, and as a result of the determination of step S120, if no failure is detected, the failure detection unit 310 repeats steps S110 and S120.

When a failure is detected, the failure detection unit 310 checks the number of antenna elements AE having a failure in step S130 .

As a result of checking in step S130 , if the number of antenna elements AE having a failure is less than the first threshold, the failure detection unit 310 calls the phase corrector 320 and proceeds to step S140 . On the other hand, as a result of checking in step S130, the failure detection unit 310 calls the power control unit 330 and proceeds to step S160 if the number of the antenna elements AE in which the failure has occurred is greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than the second threshold. On the other hand, as a result of checking in step S130, the failure detection unit 310 does not call both the phase correction unit 320 and the power control unit 330 if the number of the antenna elements AE in which the failure occurs is equal to or greater than the second threshold, step S180 proceed with

When the number of antenna elements AE having a failure is less than the first threshold, the phase correction unit 320 performs phase control in step S140. That is, the phase corrector 320 controls the phase so that the beam directions of the antenna element AE and the neighboring antenna element AE are changed by q angle from the forward direction to the direction of the antenna element AE in which the failure has occurred. To this end, the phase corrector 320 may control the phase adjuster 221 corresponding to the antenna element AE and the neighboring antenna element AE in which the failure has occurred. For example, referring to FIG. 5 , it is assumed that a failure occurs in the middle antenna element AE_C among the plurality of antenna elements AE_U, AE_L, AE_E, AE_R, and AE_D. Then, the phase corrector 320 changes the beam direction of the antenna elements AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, and AE_R neighboring the failed antenna element AE_C from the forward direction to the direction of the failed antenna element AE by an angle of q. As far as possible, the phase adjuster 221 of the antenna elements AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, and AE_R adjacent to the antenna element AE_C in which the failure occurs is controlled.

According to the phase control of step S140 described above, the beam direction of the antenna elements (AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, AE_R) neighboring the antenna element (AE_C) where the failure occurs in step S150 is q from the forward direction to the direction of the failed antenna element (AE). Beam sweeping is performed by changing the angle. Through this beam sweeping, the beams of the antenna elements AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, and AE_R neighboring the failed antenna element AE_C compensate for the area lost by the failed antenna element AE_C. Accordingly, the entire cell coverage CC can be recovered. For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, it is assumed that the radiation angles, ie, beam directions, of the antenna elements AE_C, AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, and AE_R are all normal in the forward direction. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7A , a plurality of beams cover the entire cell coverage CC. At this time, as shown in (B) of FIG. 6 , a beam of the antenna element AE_C may be lost due to a failure of the antenna element AE_C. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 7B , a loss region L is generated in a part of the cell coverage CC. In this way, when the loss region L occurs, as shown in (c) of FIG. 6 , the phase corrector 320 performs the antenna elements AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, and The neighboring antenna elements AE_U, AE_D, AE_L, AE_R of the failed antenna element AE_C through the phase adjuster 221 so that the beam direction of the AE_R is changed by q angle from the forward direction to the direction of the failed antenna element AE_C. ) so that the beam direction is changed by an angle of q from the forward direction to the direction of the antenna element AE_C in which the failure has occurred. Then, as shown in FIG. 7C , the entire cell coverage CC may be covered again by sweeping the area in which the surrounding beam is lost.

On the other hand, when the number of antenna elements AE having a failure is greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than the second threshold, the power control unit 330 performs power control in step S160. That is, the power processing unit 330 is a radio element RE corresponding to the antenna element AE and the neighboring antenna element AE, that is, ADC, DAC, a down converter, an up converter. ), a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), a Power Amplifier (PA), a Switch, and a Diplexer are turned off to not operate. For example, referring to FIG. 8 , of the 36 antenna elements AE_11 to AE_66 arranged in 5 rows and 5 columns, the antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, It is assumed that a failure has occurred in AE_34, AE_44). Then, the power processing unit 330 is an antenna element adjacent to the failed antenna element (AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44), that is, the antenna element (AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44) of the upper, lower, left and right antenna elements (AE_23, AE_24) , AE_32, AE_42, AE_35, AE_45, AE_53, AE_54) by controlling the power to the radio device (RE) corresponding to the control so that the power is not supplied and turned off (OFF).

Accordingly, in step S170, the neighboring antenna element AE of the failed antenna element AE is turned off, and the neighboring antenna element AE of the neighboring antenna element AE of the failed antenna element AE. increases the beam width of For example, referring to FIGS. 9 and 10 , as shown in (a) of FIG. 9 , the radiation angles, ie, beam directions, of the 36 antenna elements AE_11 to AE_66 arranged in 5 rows and 5 columns are all in the forward direction. Assume that it is in a steady state. In this case, as shown in (X) of FIG. 10 , a plurality of beams covers the entire cell coverage (CC). At this time, as shown in (b) of FIG. 9 , as a failure occurs in the antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44, the beams of the failed antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44 will be lost. can Accordingly, as shown in (Y) of FIG. 10 , a loss region L is generated in a part of the cell coverage CC. When this loss region L occurs, the power processing unit 330 performs the antenna elements AE_23, AE_24, AE_32, AE_42, AE_35, AE_45, AE_53, AE_54 adjacent to the failed antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44. ) by controlling the power of the radio element (RE) corresponding to the control to be turned off (OFF). Accordingly, the antenna elements AE_23, AE_24, AE_32, AE_42, AE_35, AE_45, AE_53, and AE_54 neighboring the antenna elements AE_33, AE_43, AE_34, AE_44 are turned off. Then, as shown in (c) of FIG. 9, the antenna elements (AE_23, AE_24, AE_32, AE_42, AE_35, AE_45, AE_53, AE_54) of the antenna elements (AE_12, AE_13, AE_14, AE_15) that are turned off (C) , AE_21, AE_22, AE_25, AE_26, AE_31, AE_36, AE_41, AE_46, AE_51, AE_52, AE_55, AE_56, AE_62, AE_63, AE_64, AE_65) are widened. Accordingly, as shown in (Z) of FIG. 10, the peripheral antenna elements AE_12, AE_13, AE_14, The beam width of AE_15, AE_21, AE_22, AE_25, AE_26, AE_31, AE_36, AE_41, AE_46, AE_51, AE_52, AE_55, AE_56, AE_62, AE_63, AE_64, AE_65) increases to compensate for the area where the beam is lost. By doing so, the entire cell coverage (CC) can be recovered.

On the other hand, when the number of antenna elements AE having a failure is equal to or greater than the second threshold, the lost area cannot be recovered through phase control or power control. Accordingly, the failure detection unit 310 outputs an alert informing that the failure detection unit 310 fails to form a beam in step S180. Accordingly, the equipment may be replaced or repaired by the operator in step S190.

As described above, while this specification contains numerous specific implementation details, these are not to be construed as limiting as to the scope of any invention or claim, but rather may be specific to particular embodiments of the particular invention. It should be understood as a description of the features present. Certain features that are described herein in the context of separate embodiments may be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments, either individually or in any suitable subcombination. Furthermore, although features operate in a particular combination and may be initially depicted as claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination may in some cases be excluded from the combination, the claimed combination being a sub-combination. or a variant of a sub-combination.

Likewise, although acts are depicted in the figures in a particular order, it should not be construed that all acts shown must be performed or that such acts must be performed in the specific order or sequential order shown to obtain desirable results. In certain cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Further, the separation of the various system components of the above-described embodiments should not be construed as requiring such separation in all embodiments, and the program components and systems described may generally be integrated together into a single software product or packaged into multiple software products. You have to understand that you can.

Certain embodiments of the subject matter described herein have been described. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. For example, acts recited in the claims may be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results. As an example, the processes depicted in the accompanying drawings do not necessarily require the specific illustrated order or sequential order to achieve desirable results. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.

The present description sets forth the best mode of the invention, and provides examples to illustrate the invention, and to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the invention. The specification thus prepared does not limit the present invention to the specific terms presented. Accordingly, although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above-described examples, those skilled in the art can make modifications, changes, and modifications to the examples without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be defined by the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for correcting a beam pattern in a large-scale multiple input multiple output system and a method therefor. can be compensated for Accordingly, the cell coverage can be kept constant, so that the reliability of the communication system is improved. Therefore, the present invention has industrial applicability because it has sufficient potential for commercialization or business, as well as to the extent that it can be clearly implemented in reality.

10: base station 20: terminal
100: antenna unit 200: signal processing unit
210: digital signal processing unit 220: high frequency signal processing unit
300: control unit 310: failure detection unit
320: phase correction unit 330: power processing unit

Claims (7)

An antenna unit including an antenna array that is a set of a plurality of antenna elements;
a signal processing unit including a plurality of radio elements for processing radio signals transmitted and received in correspondence with each of the plurality of antenna elements; and
When a failure of at least one antenna element among the plurality of antenna elements is detected, the signal processing unit may be configured to correct a beam pattern of an antenna element adjacent to the antenna element in which the failure is detected to recover cell coverage loss due to the failure of the antenna element. including; a control unit to control
the control unit
If the number of antenna elements in which the failure is detected is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and is less than a second threshold, which is a number greater than the first threshold,
Controlling an antenna element adjacent to the antenna element in which the failure is detected to be turned off so that a beam width of the adjacent antenna element of the turned-off antenna element is increased.
A device for correcting a beam pattern. According to claim 1,
the control unit
If the number of antenna elements for which the failure is detected is less than a first threshold,
By adjusting the phase of the neighboring antenna element of the antenna element in which the failure is detected,
Controlling the beam direction of the neighboring antenna element to change to the direction of the antenna element (AE) in which the failure has occurred
A device for correcting a beam pattern. delete According to claim 1,
the control unit
A failure of at least one antenna element among the plurality of antenna elements is detected, and when the number of antenna elements for which the failure is detected is equal to or greater than a second threshold, an alert indicating beamforming failure is output.
A device for correcting a beam pattern. According to claim 1,
the control unit
Detecting a failure of at least one radio element among a plurality of radio elements of the signal processing unit, and detecting at least one antenna element in which a failure has occurred in response to the detected failure of the radio element
A device for correcting a beam pattern. delete According to claim 1,
The wireless device
ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) that converts the received signal from an analog signal to a digital signal,
DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) that converts the transmitted signal from digital signal to analog signal,
Down converter that down-converts the frequency of the received signal,
Up-converter (UP converter) that up-converts the frequency of the transmission signal,
Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) that amplifies the received signal to low noise;
A power amplifier (PA) that amplifies the transmitted signal,
A switch for switching a connection path of a transmission signal and a reception signal with an antenna element, and
Characterized in that it comprises at least one of a diplexer for switching a connection path of a transmission signal and a reception signal with an antenna element
A device for correcting a beam pattern.

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