Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
  • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
  • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
  • H04B7/06—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station
  • H04B7/0613—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station using simultaneous transmission
  • H04B7/0615—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station using simultaneous transmission of weighted versions of same signal
  • H04B7/0617—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station using simultaneous transmission of weighted versions of same signal for beam forming
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
  • H01Q3/00—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system
  • H01Q3/26—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
  • H01Q3/30—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array
  • H01Q3/34—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array by electrical means
  • H01Q3/36—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array by electrical means with variable phase-shifters
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
  • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
  • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
  • H04B7/08—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the receiving station
  • H04B7/0837—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the receiving station using pre-detection combining
  • H04B7/0842—Weighted combining
  • H04B7/086—Weighted combining using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming

Definitions

• the present invention relates generally to beamforming. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems, devices, and methods for radio frequency (RF) beamforming in phased array applications.
• RF radio frequency
• Beamforming may be used to control the directionality of the reception or
• beamformers may be employed between a signal source and antenna radiating elements to "shape" a radiated field in three dimensional space.
• beamformers may be employed between antenna arrays and a receiver to affect (shape) the relative spatial sensitivity of a receiving system to signals originating in its field of view.
• Radio frequency (RF) beamforming is popular in millimeter wave applications.
• conventional RF phase rotators may utilize power combining and/or power splitting networks, which may split or combine power stage-by-stage.
• power combining networks and power splitting networks may consume a large amount of area and may exhibit substantial loss.
• FIG 1 depicts various beamforming array architectures.
• FIG 2A illustrates a beamforming transmitter including a plurality of power splitters.
• FIG 2B illustrates a beamforming receiver including a plurality of power
• FIG. 3 illustrates a transmitter beamforming device, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 4 illustrates another transmitter beamforming device, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 5 illustrates a receiver beamforming device, according to an exemplary
• FIG. 6 illustrates another receiver beamforming device, according to an
• FIG. 7 illustrates a device including a transmitter unit and a receiver unit, in
• FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method, according to an exemplary
• FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another method, according to an exemplary
• FIG. 1 illustrates various beamforming array architectures.
• FIG. 1 illustrates various receiver- based beamforming array architectures, one having ordinary skill will understand transmitter-based beamforming array architectures.
• reference numeral 100 indicates a radio frequency (RF) path beamforming architecture
• reference numeral 102 indicates a local oscillator (LO) path beamforming architecture
• reference numeral 104 indicates an intermediate frequency (IF) path beamforming architecture
• reference numeral 106 indicates a digital domain architecture.
• RF path beamforming may utilize a small area and low power. Further, RF path beamforming, such as RF path beamforming architecture 100, may exhibit a good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and a good signal to interference-plus- noise ratio (SINR). However, challenges of RF path beamforming include designing for a high linearity, wide band, low loss, and low-area RF phase shifter. Further, LO path beamforming, such as LO path beamforming architecture 102, may exhibit low sensitivity to LO amplitude variations. On the other hand, challenges of LO path beamforming include design of a large LO network, and it may be difficult to generate a millimeter wave LO signal.
• SNR signal-to-noise ratio
• SINR signal to interference-plus- noise ratio
• challenges of RF path beamforming include designing for a high linearity, wide band, low loss, and low-area RF phase shifter.
• LO path beamforming such as LO path beamforming architecture 102, may exhibit low sensitivity to
• IF path beamforming such as IF path beamforming architecture 104
• IF path beamforming architecture 104 may exhibit good linearity and may utilize a low power phase shifter.
• IF path beamforming includes less component sharing and a large LO network.
• offset calibration may be difficult to multiple mixers.
• a digital domain architecture such as digital domain architecture 106
• digital domain architecture 106 may be versatile, it may require a fast digital signal processor and may exhibit high power consumption.
• FIG. 2A illustrates a transmitter beamforming device 200 including a plurality of power splitters 202.
• Beamforming device 200 further includes an amplifier 206 configured to receive a signal from a radio frequency (RF) mixer (not shown) and distribution amplifiers 208.
• RF radio frequency
• beamforming device 200 splits power stage-by- stage in a 1:16 power distribution tree.
• Each power splitter 202 may consume a large amount of area and may exhibit substantial loss. As a result, the gain and ldB output power compression point of the device 200 may be degraded.
• FIG. 2B illustrates a receiving beamforming device 230 including a power
• power combining network 232 coupled between a plurality of low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 254 or a downconverter 252.
• power combining network 232 includes a plurality of passive combiners 238, 242, 248 and active power combiners 234.
• the insertion loss (IL) of power combiner 238 is denoted by block 236.
• the insertion loss of power combiners 242 and 248 is illustrated by blocks 240, 244, 246, and 250.
• each power combiner 238, 242, 248, 234 may consume a large amount of area and may exhibit substantial loss.
• due at least partially to the use of power combiners 238, 242, 248, 234, which combine power stage-by-stage a noise figure of beamforming device 230 may be degraded.
• FIG. 3 illustrates a device 300, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
• Device 300 which may also be referred to as a "transmitter beamforming architecture," includes a plurality of transmit paths 312A-312H.
• Each transmit path 312 of device 300 includes a driver amplifier 306, a phase shifter 304, and a power amplifier 302. More specifically, for example, transmit path 312A includes driver amplifier 306A, phase shifter 304A, and power amplifier 302A.
• device 300 is illustrated as having eight transmit paths, embodiments of the present invention are not so limited. Rather, device 300 may include any number of transmit paths.
• Device 300 further includes a mixer 310 configured to receive a signal 311. Further, mixer 310 has an output coupled to amplifier 308.
• An output of amplifier 308 is coupled to each transmit path 312A-312H. More specifically, in the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, output of amplifier 308 is coupled to each input of a plurality of driver amplifiers 306A-306H. Each driver amplifier 306 has an output coupled to a respective phase shifter 304, which is further coupled to a respective power amplifier 302. It is noted that device 300 includes eight antenna branches (i.e., each transmit path is associated with an antenna).
• the transmit paths 312A-312H of device 300 may have similar or different
• driver amplifiers 306A-306H may be clustered proximate mixer 310. Stated another way, driver amplifiers 306A-306H may be physically proximate mixer 310 and, therefore, the distributed effect, which normally exists in millimeter wave circuits, may not be significant. As a result, a voltage and/or current domain may be used rather than a power domain.
• mixer 310 may upconvert signal
• amplifier 308 may convey an amplified signal to each transmit path 312A-312H (i.e., amplifier 308 conveys an amplified signal to an input of each driver amplifier 306A- 306H).
• the signal may be amplified by an associated driver amplifier 306, phase-shifted by an associated phase shifter 304 and amplified by an associated power amplifier 302.
• a signal may be amplified by driver amplifier 306C, phase-shifted by phase shifter 304C, amplified by power amplifier 302C, and conveyed to an antenna coupled to power amplifier 302C.
• each power amplifier 302 may be coupled to an antenna (not shown in FIG. 3).
• device 300 is configured for signal splitting in a voltage domain, a current domain, or both, rather than a power domain.
• device 300 may not require power combining or power splitting networks, which undesirably consume large amounts of area. Further, loss due to power splitting may be avoided.
• device 300 includes a single mixer pair and simplifies in-phase and quadrature (IQ) and DC offset calibration compared to other methods of beamforming, such as baseband beamforming or LO beamforming. As a result, a complex local oscillator (LO) distribution may not be required.
• IQ in-phase and quadrature
• DC offset calibration compared to other methods of beamforming, such as baseband beamforming or LO beamforming.
• FIG. 4 illustrates a device 400, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
• Device 400 which may also be referred to as a "transmitter beamforming architecture," includes a plurality of transmit paths 412A-412H.
• Each transmit path 412A-412H of device 400 includes a phase shifter 304, a driver amplifier 306, and a power amplifier 302. More specifically, for example, transmit path 412A includes driver amplifier 406A, phase shifter 404A, and power amplifier 402A.
• device 400 is illustrated as having eight transmit paths, embodiments of the present invention are not so limited. Rather, device 400 may include any number of transmit paths.
• Device 400 further includes mixer 410 configured to receive signal 411. Further, mixer 410 has an output coupled to amplifier 408.
• An output of amplifier 408 is coupled to each transmit path 412A-412H. More specifically, in the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, output of amplifier 408 is coupled to each input of a plurality of phase shifters 404A-404H. Each phase shifter 404A-404H has an output coupled to a respective driver amplifier 306, which is further coupled to a respective power amplifier 302. It is noted that device 400 includes eight antenna branches (i.e., each transmit path is associated with an antenna branch).
• the transmit paths 412A-412H of device 400 may have similar or different
• driver amplifiers 406A-406H and phase shifters 404A-404H may be clustered proximate mixer 410. Stated another way, driver amplifiers 406A-406H and phase shifters 404A-404H may be physically proximate mixer 410 and, therefore, the distributed effect, which normally exists in millimeter wave circuits, may not be significant. As a result, a voltage and/or current domain may be used rather than a power domain.
• mixer 410 may upconvert signal
• each transmit path 412A-412H may convey an amplified signal to each transmit path 412A-412H (i.e., amplifier 408 conveys an amplified signal to an input of each phase shifter 404A-404H).
• the signal may be phase-shifted by an associated phase shifter 404, amplified by an associated driver amplifier 406, and further amplified by an associated power amplifier 402.
• a signal may be phase-shifted by phase shifter 404C, amplified by driver amplifier 406C, amplified by power amplifier 402C, and conveyed to an antenna coupled to power amplifier 402C.
• each power amplifier 302 may be coupled to an antenna (not shown in FIG. 3).
• device 400 is configured for signal splitting in a voltage domain, a current domain, or both, rather than a power domain.
• device 400 may not require power combining or power splitting networks, which undesirably consume large amounts of area. Further, loss due to power splitting may be avoided.
• device 400 includes a single mixer pair and simplifies in-phase and quadrature (IQ) and DC offset calibration compared to other methods of beamforming, such as baseband beamforming or LO beamforming. As a result, a complex local oscillator (LO) distribution may not be required.
• IQ in-phase and quadrature
• DC offset calibration compared to other methods of beamforming, such as baseband beamforming or LO beamforming.
• FIG. 5 illustrates a device 500, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
• Device 500 which may also be referred to as a "receiver beamforming architecture," includes a plurality of receive paths 512A-512H.
• Each receive path 512A- 512H includes a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 502, a phase shifter 504, and a
• LNA low-noise amplifier
• each receive path of device 500 has a phase shifter 504 coupled between an LNA 502 and a transconductance amplifier 506.
• receive path 512A includes a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 502A, a phase shifter 504A, and a transconductance amplifier 506A.
• LNA low-noise amplifier
• device 500 is illustrated as having eight receive paths, embodiments of the present invention are not so limited. Rather, device 500 may include any number of receive paths.
• Device 500 further includes an amplifier 508 having an input coupled to each receive path 512A-512H. More specifically, in the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, an output of each transconductance amplifier 506A-506H is coupled to an input of amplifier 508.
• device 500 includes a mixer 510 configured to receive and downconvert a signal output from amplifier 508. It is noted that device 500 includes eight antenna branches (i.e., each transmit path is associated with an antenna). The receive paths 512A-512H of device 500 may have similar or different routing lengths. Further, a phase shifter may be utilized to compensate for phase differences caused by different routing lengths. It is further noted that, according to one exemplary embodiment, transconductance amplifiers 506A-506H may be clustered proximate mixer 510. Stated another way, transconductance amplifiers 506A-506H may be physically proximate mixer 510 and, therefore, the distributed effect, which normally exists in millimeter wave circuits, may not be significant. As a result, a voltage and/or current domain may be used rather than a power domain.
• phase shifter 504 may shift a phase of the received signal and convey the signal to an associated transconductance amplifier 506, which may provide an amplified signal to amplifier 508.
• a signal received by an antenna may be conveyed to LNA 502D, which may then convey an amplified signal to an associated phase shifter 504D.
• Phase shifter 504D may shift a phase of the received signal and convey the signal to an associated transconductance amplifier 506D, which may provide an amplified signal to amplifier 508.
• a combined signal may be conveyed to mixer 510, which may downconvert the combined signal to baseband for further processing.
• device 500 is configured for signal combining in a voltage domain, a current domain, or both, rather than a power domain.
• device 500 may not require power combining or power splitting networks, which undesirably consume large amounts of area. Further, loss due to power combining may be avoided.
• device 500 includes a single mixer pair and simplifies calibration.
• FIG. 6 illustrates a device 600, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
• Device 600 which may also be referred to as a "receiver beamforming architecture," includes a plurality of receive paths 612A-612H.
• Each receive path 612A- 612H includes low-noise amplifier (LNA) 602, transconductance amplifier 606, and phase shifter 604. More specifically, each receive path of device 600 has a transconductance amplifier 606 coupled between an LNA 602 and a phase shifter 604.
• receive path 612A includes a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 602A, a transconductance amplifier 606A, and a phase shifter 604A.
• LNA low-noise amplifier
• device 600 is illustrated as having eight receive paths, embodiments of the present invention are not so limited. Rather, device 600 may include any number of receive paths.
• Device 600 further includes an amplifier 608 having an input coupled to each receive path 612A- 612H. More specifically, in the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, an output of each phase shifter 604A-604H is coupled to an input of amplifier 608.
• device 600 includes mixer 610 configured to receive and downconvert a signal output from amplifier 608. It is noted that device 600 includes eight antenna branches (i.e., each transmit path is associated with an antenna).
• the receive paths 612A-612H of device 600 may have similar or different routing lengths. Further, a phase shifter may be utilized to compensate for phase differences caused by different routing lengths.
• transconductance amplifiers 606A-606H and phase shifters 604A-604H may be clustered proximate mixer 610. Stated another way, transconductance amplifiers 606A-606H and phase shifters 604A-604H may be physically proximate mixer 610 and, therefore, the distributed effect, which normally exists in millimeter wave circuits, may not be significant. As a result, a voltage and/or current domain may be used rather than a power domain.
• transconductance amplifier 606 may provide amplification and convey the signal to an associated phase shifter 604, which may provide a desired phase shift and, thereafter, convey the signal to amplifier 608.
• a signal received by an antenna may be conveyed to an associated LNA 602F, which may then convey an amplified signal to an associated transconductance amplifier 606F.
• Transconductance amplifier 606F may provide amplification and convey the signal to an associated phase shifter 604F, which may provide a desired phase shift and, thereafter, convey the signal to amplifier 608.
• a combined signal may be conveyed to mixer 610, which may downconvert the combined signal to baseband for further processing.
• device 600 is configured for signal combining in a voltage domain, a current domain, or both, rather than a power domain.
• device 600 may not require power combining or power splitting networks, which undesirably consume large amounts of area. Further, loss due to power combining may be avoided.
• device 600 includes a single mixer pair and simplifies calibration compared to other beamforming methods, such as baseband beamforming or LO beamforming.
• FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a device 700.
• Device 700 may include one or more antennas 702.
• a transmit (TX) data processor 704 receives and processes data and generates one or more streams of data.
• the processing by TX data processor 704 is system dependent and may include, e.g., encoding, interleaving, symbol mapping, and so on.
• the processing typically further includes channelization and spectral spreading.
• TX data processor 704 also converts each stream of data into a corresponding analog baseband signal.
• a transmitter unit 706 receives and conditions (e.g., amplifies, filters, and frequency upconverts) the baseband signals from TX data processor 704 and generates an RF output signal for each antenna used for data transmission.
• the RF output signals are transmitted via antennas 702.
• Controller 716 may direct the operation of various processing units within device 125.
• memory units 718 may store data and program codes for controllers 716.
• transmitter unit 706 may include device 300, which is illustrated in FIG 3, or device 400, which is illustrated in FIG. 4.
• receiver unit 712 may include device 500, which is illustrated in FIG 5, or device 600, which is illustrated in FIG. 6.
• FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method 800, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.
• Method 800 may include receiving a signal in at least one of a plurality of receive paths (depicted by numeral 802).
• Method 800 may also include combining each signal received in each receive path of the plurality of receive paths in at least one of a voltage domain and a current domain (depicted by numeral 804).
• FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another method 900, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.
• Method 900 may include amplifying a signal (depicted by numeral 902). Further, method 900 may include conveying the amplified signal to at least one transmit path of a plurality of transmit paths in at least one of a voltage domain and a current domain (depicted by numeral 904).
• exemplary embodiments include beamforming devices configured to process signals (i.e., signal splitting or signal combining) in a voltage domain, a current domain, or both, rather than in a power domain. Accordingly, in comparison to conventional devices, the beamforming devices described herein may not require area consuming power splitting networks and power combining networks. As a result, loss caused by either power combining networks or power splitting networks may also be avoided. Further, impedance matching (e.g., matching to a 50 Ohm or 100 Ohm impedance) may not be required.
• modulation techniques including, but not limited to, QPSK, 16-QAM, and 64-QAM.
• embodiments of the present invention may be suitable for double side balanced mixers or single side balance mixers.
• exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which are suitable for transmitter and receivers implementations, are capable of providing 360 degree coverage.
• digitally controlled switches may be used for phase combining and rotating, and quadrant selection may be based on a desired total phase shift.
• DSP Digital Signal Processor
• ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
• FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array
• a general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine.
• a processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of
• microprocessors one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
• Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.
• a storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer.
• such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.
• any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium.
• Disk and disc includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Variable-Direction Aerials And Aerial Arrays (AREA)
• Radio Transmission System (AREA)
• Amplifiers (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=47892003

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Families Citing this family (12)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (14)

• 2012
  • 2012-02-27 US US13/406,268 patent/US9490886B2/en active Active
• 2013
  • 2013-02-27 CN CN201380010843.3A patent/CN104137438B/zh active Active
  • 2013-02-27 WO PCT/US2013/028102 patent/WO2013130673A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2013-02-27 JP JP2014558974A patent/JP6279490B2/ja active Active
  • 2013-02-27 ES ES13710199T patent/ES2900386T3/es active Active
  • 2013-02-27 EP EP13710199.4A patent/EP2820774B1/en active Active
  • 2013-02-27 KR KR1020147026792A patent/KR102123567B1/ko active Active

Patent Citations (3)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events