WO2022141072A1

WO2022141072A1 - Base station antenna and base station device

Info

Publication number: WO2022141072A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/140922
Authority: WO
Inventors: 赵虎; 习林茂; 冯涛
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-12-29
Filing date: 2020-12-29
Publication date: 2022-07-07
Also published as: CN116349091A

Abstract

Disclosed in the present application are a base station antenna and a base station device. The base station antenna comprises a signal processing unit, a signal feed unit, and an antenna array; a first channel is present between the signal processing unit and a remote radio unit, and the signal processing unit is used for receiving, from the remote radio unit by means of the first channel, a first control message that is used for indicating timing information of a first signal and a beam state corresponding to the timing information, and according to the first control message, transmitting a control instruction of the first signal to the signal feed unit, wherein the control instruction is used for indicating a phase-shifting feed state of the signal feed unit on the timing information corresponding to the beam state; the signal feed unit is used for performing phase-shifting feed processing on the first signal from the signal processing unit according to the control instruction and the phase-shifting feed state on the timing information corresponding to the beam state, and transmitting the first signal to the antenna array; and the antenna array is used for transmitting the first signal after phase-shifting feed.

Description

A base station antenna and base station equipment

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a base station antenna and base station equipment.

Background technique

Multiple input multiple output (multiple input multiple output, MIMO) technology is a core technology in long term evolution (long term evolution) systems and new radio (New Radio, NR) systems. In the MIMO system, multiple antennas are used between the transmitting end and the receiving end of the base station equipment. The transmitting end and the receiving end can form corresponding channels between each antenna, and the channels corresponding to each antenna do not affect each other. Do not interfere with each other. Signals can be transmitted between the transmitter and receiver through these channels to achieve spatial diversity and multiplexing of channels. Using the above-mentioned base station antenna to transmit signals not only helps to improve the transmission rate of the signal and the data amount of the transmitted signal at one time, but also improves the quality and accuracy of the signal transmission through channel transmission that does not interfere with each other.

In order to use multiple antennas to achieve different beam directions and beam coverage, the remote radio unit (RRU) can send control commands to the antennas. The magnitude of the vertical component and the horizontal component of the linear array antenna element, or the field strength of the composite component of the collinear array antenna element; after the antenna receives the control command, it can adjust the driving voltage of the motor, etc., to achieve the opposite movement. The adjustment of the phaser can realize the adjustment of parameters such as the phase of the antenna element and the adjustment of the antenna beam direction.

However, in the prior art, there may be a large delay from the RRU issuing the antenna control command to the antenna adjusting the beam direction, so that the base station cannot send or receive a specific beam direction at the required time, and it is difficult to improve the transmission performance of the antenna.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a base station antenna and base station equipment, which are used to dynamically adjust the base station antenna as required, so that the antenna can transmit or receive a specific beam direction and improve the performance of the base station antenna.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a base station antenna, including a signal processing unit, a signal feeding unit and an antenna array;

There is a first channel between the signal processing unit and the remote radio frequency unit, and is used to receive a first control message from the remote radio frequency unit through the first channel; the first control message is used to indicate the first control message. Timing information of a signal, and the corresponding beam state on the timing information; the first signal is a sending signal or a receiving signal; according to the first control message, the first signal is sent to the signal feeding unit The control instruction; the control instruction is used to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit on the timing information corresponding to the beam state;

The signal feeding unit is configured to perform phase-shift feeding on the first signal from the signal processing unit based on the phase-shift feeding state on the timing information corresponding to the beam state according to the control instruction process, and send it to the antenna array; or, according to the control instruction, based on the phase-shift feeding state on the timing information corresponding to the beam state, perform phase-shift feeding on the first signal from the antenna array processing and sending to the signal processing unit;

The antenna array is configured to transmit the first signal after phase-shift feeding, or receive the first signal and send it to the signal feeding unit.

Taking the first signal as the transmission signal as an example, through the above design, the signal processing unit can determine the timing information of the first signal and the beam state corresponding to the timing information according to the first control message, so that the signal processing unit feeds the signal The unit sends a control command of the first signal on the timing information corresponding to the first signal; so that the signal feeding unit adjusts the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit according to the control command, so that the phase-shifted feeding state It can be adjusted to the beam state corresponding to the timing information of the first signal, thereby realizing that the antenna array can transmit the first signal corresponding to the beam state. Correspondingly, taking the first signal as the received signal as an example, through the above design, the signal processing unit can determine the timing information of the first signal and the beam state corresponding to the timing information according to the first control message. The signal feeding unit sends the control instruction of the first signal on the timing information corresponding to the first signal. When receiving the first signal through the antenna array, the antenna array can send the first signal to the signal feeding unit, and at this time, the signal feeding unit can adjust the phase-shift feeding of the signal feeding unit according to the received control command state, so that the phase-shifted feeding state can correspond to the corresponding beam state on the timing information of the first signal. Since the signal feeding unit is adjusted to the corresponding phase-shifted feeding state on the timing of the first signal, the first signal can be normally received, and the received first signal can be sent to the signal processing unit, so that the signal can be processed The unit sends to the remote radio frequency unit to complete the correct reception of the first signal.

In an optional design, a second channel is further included between the signal processing unit and the remote radio frequency unit; the signal processing unit is further configured to: receive data from the remote end through the first channel Before the first control message sent by the radio frequency unit, the second control message sent from the remote radio frequency unit is received through the second channel; the second control message is used to indicate the phase-shift feed of the signal feeding unit. electrical state; the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit has a corresponding relationship with the beam state; the signal processing unit sends the control of the first signal to the signal feeding unit according to the first control message When the instruction is given, it is specifically used for: determining the control instruction of the first signal according to the first control message and the second control message, and sending the control instruction to the signal feeding unit.

In the above design, the remote radio unit can send the correspondence between the phase-shifted feed state and the beam state of the signal feed unit to the signal processing unit through the second channel in advance, so that the signal processing unit does not need to determine the signal feed unit. The correspondence between the phase-shifted feed state of the electrical unit and the beam state reduces the amount of calculation required by the signal processing unit, improves the signal processing efficiency of the signal processing unit, improves the performance of the base station antenna, and reduces the time delay of the base station antenna.

In an optional design, the first control message may include beam state indication information; the beam state indication information is used to indicate a beam state corresponding to the timing information of the first signal.

In the above design, the remote radio unit and the base station antenna can preset the size of the time unit of the timing information corresponding to the beam state in the first signal, for example, preset the minimum time unit corresponding to each beam state to 1 subframe , at this time, the beam state indication information may include the corresponding beam state in each subframe. In this scenario, after the base station antenna receives the beam state indication information, it can be determined that the minimum time unit corresponding to each beam state preset is 1 subframe, and it can be determined that the beam state indication information indicates the corresponding subframe on each subframe. and determine the timing information corresponding to each beam state. For example, beam state 1 corresponds to the first subframe and the second subframe, beam state 2 corresponds to the second subframe, and so on. For another example, the remote radio unit may pre-agreed with the base station antenna, and the beam state indication information is used to indicate the initial timing position of each beam state. 2 The first subframe number that appears consecutively, and the last subframe number of the first signal. Therefore, the signal processing unit can determine the subframe position corresponding to the beam state 1 and the subframe position corresponding to the beam state 2 .

In an optional design, the first control message further includes synchronization indication information; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate timing information of the first signal.

In the above design, the remote radio unit can dynamically adjust each beam state indicated by the beam state indication information, and the timing information of the first signal is indicated by the synchronization indication information, and the base station antenna can be based on the beam state indication information in the first control message. and synchronization indication information, determine the timing information corresponding to each beam state in the first signal, and adjust the base station antenna according to the timing information corresponding to each beam state, so as to transmit and receive signals in a specific beam direction.

In an optional design, the synchronization indication information includes: a relative relationship between timing information of the first signal and timing information of the first control message.

In the above design, the remote radio unit can dynamically adjust each beam state indicated by the beam state indication information, and indicate the relative relationship between the timing information of the first signal and the timing information of the first control message through the synchronization indication information. It avoids indicating the beam state corresponding to each time unit in the first signal, and effectively reduces the overhead of the first control message.

In an optional design, the synchronization indication information further includes: whether the first signal is a transmitted signal or a received signal. Through the above design, the base station antenna can determine that the first signal is a sending signal or a receiving signal based on the first control message received by the first channel.

In an optional design, a third channel is further included between the signal processing unit and the remote radio frequency unit; the signal processing unit is further configured to receive data from the remote radio frequency through the third channel Synchronization indication information of the unit; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate timing information of the first signal.

Through the above design, when the signal processing unit may not be able to send the indication information in the first control message through the first channel in time, the synchronization indication information can also be sent through the third channel. For example, the first channel is used to send the information in the first control message. The beam state indication information of the third channel is used to send the synchronization indication information in the first control message. For another example, the first control message can also be divided into a first part and a second part according to the data volume of the first control message, the first part of the first control message is sent through the first channel, and the third channel is used to send the first part. The second part in the control message. Therefore, in order to reduce the transmission delay of the first control message, the base station antenna can be prepared to adjust to the corresponding beam state at the time sequence corresponding to the first signal, and the requirement for the base station antenna is reduced.

In an optional design, the communication rate of the first channel may be greater than the communication rate of the second channel.

In this way, the real-time performance of sending the first control message can be improved, and the delay in sending the first control message can be reduced.

In an optional design, the communication rate of the third channel may be greater than the communication rate of the second channel.

In an optional design, the signal feeding unit includes a phase shifter; the beam state indication information includes at least one of the following: a switch state of the phase shifter, a connection state of the phase shifter, Beam direction information. Based on this solution, the content of the beam state indication information can be sent as required, thereby improving the flexibility of the beam state indication.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a remote radio frequency unit, including a processing module and a first port; the first port is used to connect a first channel between the remote radio frequency unit and a base station antenna; the processing module , used to generate a first control message; the first control message is used to indicate the timing information of the first signal and the corresponding beam state on the timing information; the first signal is a sending signal or a receiving signal; the a first port, used for sending the first control message to the base station antenna through the first channel; the first control message is used to instruct the signal feeding unit in the base station antenna to use the first signal The time corresponding to the timing information of the first signal is adjusted to the phase-shifted feeding state corresponding to the beam state of the first signal.

Through the above design, the remote radio unit can establish a first channel with the base station antenna through the first port, and the remote radio unit can send the first control message to the base station antenna through the first channel. The signal feeding unit in the base station antenna is adjusted to the phase-shift feeding state corresponding to the beam state of the first signal at the time corresponding to the timing information of the first signal. Taking the first signal as the transmitted signal as an example, after receiving the first control message through the first channel of the base station antenna, the signal processing unit can determine the timing information of the first signal and the beam corresponding to the timing information according to the first control message state, the signal processing unit sends a control command of the first signal to the signal feeding unit on the timing information corresponding to the first signal; so that the signal feeding unit adjusts the phase-shift feeding of the signal feeding unit according to the control command state, so that the phase-shifted feeding state can correspond to the corresponding beam state on the timing information of the first signal. In this way, the phase-shifted feeding state of the base station antenna can be adjusted at the time level corresponding to the beam state of the first signal, so as to receive or transmit signals in a specific beam direction to the base station antenna, and improve the performance of the base station.

In an optional design, it further includes a second port; the second port is used to connect a second channel between the remote radio frequency unit and the base station antenna; the processing module is further configured to generate Before the first control message, a second control message is generated; the second control message is used to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit; the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit and the beam The states have a corresponding relationship; the second port is configured to send the second control message to the base station antenna through the second channel.

Through the above method, the remote radio unit can send the second control message to the base station antenna based on the second channel, and send the corresponding relationship between the phase-shifted feeding state and the beam state of the signal feeding unit to the signal processing unit, so that the signal processing unit can be processed. The unit does not need to determine the corresponding relationship between the phase-shifted feed state of the signal feed unit and the beam state, reduces the amount of calculation required by the signal processing unit, and improves the signal processing efficiency of the signal processing unit, so as to improve the performance of the base station antenna and reduce the delay.

In an optional design, the first control message includes: beam state indication information; the beam state indication information is used to indicate a beam state corresponding to the timing information of the first signal.

In the above design, the remote radio unit and the base station antenna can preset the size of the time unit of the timing information corresponding to the beam state in the first signal, for example, preset the minimum time unit corresponding to each beam state to 1 subframe , at this time, the beam state indication information may include the beam state corresponding to each subframe, so that the base station antenna can determine the timing position corresponding to each beam state on the first signal through the beam state indication information (for example, the subframe position, It can also be the location of the corresponding time unit).

In an optional design, the first control message further includes: synchronization indication information; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate timing information of the first signal.

In the above design, the remote radio unit can dynamically adjust each beam state indicated by the beam state indication information, and the timing information of the first signal is indicated by the synchronization indication information, and the base station antenna can be based on the beam state indication information in the first control message. and synchronization indication information, determine the timing information corresponding to each beam state in the first signal, and adjust the antenna of the base station accordingly, so as to transmit and receive signals in a specific beam direction.

In an optional design, the synchronization indication information includes: a relative relationship between timing information of the first signal and timing information of the first control message. Through this design, the remote radio unit can dynamically adjust each beam state indicated by the beam state indication information, and use the synchronization indication information to indicate the relative relationship between the timing information of the first signal and the timing information of the first control message, thereby , it can avoid indicating the beam state corresponding to each time unit in the first signal, and effectively reduce the overhead of the first control message.

In an optional design, the synchronization indication information further includes: whether the first signal is a transmitted signal or a received signal. With this design, the remote radio unit can also indicate that the first signal is a sending signal or a receiving signal, so that the base station antenna adjusts the signal feeding unit accordingly to send the first signal or receive the first signal at the corresponding time.

In an optional design, a third port is further included; the third port is used to connect a third channel between the remote radio frequency unit and the base station antenna; the processing module further uses to generate synchronization indication information; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate timing information of the first signal; the third port is used to send the synchronization indication information to the base station antenna through the third channel.

Through the above design, when the first channel may not be able to send the indication information in the first control message in time, the processing module can send it through the third port of the third channel, for example, the first channel is used to send the beam in the first control message Status indication information, the third channel is used to send the synchronization indication information in the first control message. For another example, the processing module may further divide the first control message into a first part and a second part according to the data volume of the first control message, send the first part of the first control message through the first channel, and use the third channel for the first part of the first control message. The second part of the first control message is sent. Therefore, the delay in sending the first control message can be reduced, so that the base station antenna can be adjusted to the corresponding beam state at the time sequence corresponding to the first signal, and the requirements on the base station antenna can be reduced.

In an optional design, the communication rate of the first channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel. In this way, the real-time performance of sending the first control message can be improved, and the delay in sending the first control message can be reduced.

In an optional design, the communication rate of the third channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel. In this way, the real-time performance of sending the first control message can be improved, and the delay in sending the first control message can be reduced.

In an optional design, the base station antenna includes a phase shifter; the beam state indication information includes at least one of the following: the state of the phase shifter switch, the connection state of the phase shifter, and the beam direction information. Based on this design, the content of the beam state indication information can be sent as required, thereby improving the flexibility of the beam state indication.

Exemplarily, in the base station antenna shown in the first aspect above, at least one radiation unit among the plurality of radiation units included in the antenna array is a dual-polarized radiation unit. In the base station antenna shown in the first aspect above, the phase-shifting feed network may be a vertical feed network, which is used to adjust the downtilt angle of the beam.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a base station device, including the first aspect and the base station antenna in any possible design of the first aspect and/or any one of the second aspect and the second aspect Remote RF unit in possible designs. In addition, the base station equipment may further include a plurality of transceivers, and the plurality of transceivers are respectively connected to one radio port of the base station equipment.

Exemplarily, in the base station device shown in the third aspect above, the transceiver may be a remote radio unit (radio remote unit, RRU).

Description of drawings

Fig. 1a exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a base station antenna;

FIG. 1b exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a system architecture to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable;

FIG. 2 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a base station antenna;

FIG. 3 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of the internal structure of another base station antenna;

FIG. 4 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of the internal structure of another base station antenna;

FIG. 5a exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a connection mode of a base station antenna and a transceiver provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5b exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a phase shifter switch provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5c exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a phase shifter provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5d exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a phase shifter provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6a exemplarily shows a schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a base station antenna provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6b exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a first control message provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6c exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a first control message provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6d exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a first control message provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6e exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of a first control message provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7a exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of another base station antenna provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7b exemplarily shows a schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a base station antenna provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8a exemplarily shows a schematic structural diagram of another base station antenna provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8b exemplarily shows a schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a base station antenna provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An embodiment of the present application provides a base station antenna, as shown in FIG. 1a , which includes multiple antenna ports, a feed network, and a multiple-column antenna array, and the feed network includes multiple input ports, multiple output ports, and a switch (in the figure (not shown), multiple input ports are connected to multiple antenna ports one by one, and each output port can be connected to an antenna array corresponding to a feed network, wherein the switch of the feed network can be used to change the feed network The connection status between the output port and the input port of . When the switch of the feed network is adjusted, that is, under different connection states in the feed network, the number of input ports connected to multiple output ports in the feed network is different, and the transmission and reception channels formed by the communication between the input port and the antenna port It can also be different to realize the selection of the antenna array when transmitting and receiving signals. In addition, the switch of the feed network may further include a switch of a phase shifter in the feed network to switch the phase of the corresponding antenna element of the base station antenna. The switching timing and switching status are determined by the control message sent by the transceiver, and the switching switch of the feeding network is controlled according to the switching timing and switching status, so that the base station antenna can synchronously switch the corresponding base station antenna when receiving and transmitting the signal of the corresponding beam status. The phase and other states of the antenna elements realize the switching of the beam direction of the base station antenna at the symbol level.

The following is an explanation of the words that this application refers to or may refer to:

1) Time domain resources, including time units, time units can be slots, mini-slots, symbols or other time domain granularities (such as system frames, subframes), one of which A slot may include at least one symbol, eg, 14 symbols, or 12 symbols.

In 5G NR, a time slot can be composed of at least one of a symbol used for downlink transmission, a symbol used as a flexible symbol, a symbol used for uplink transmission, etc. Such a time slot composition is called a different time slot format (slot format). format, SF), there may be up to 256 slot formats.

Time slots can have different time slot types, and different time slot types include different numbers of symbols. For example, a mini slot (mini slot) contains less than 7 symbols, 2 symbols, 3 symbols, 4 symbols, etc., A normal time slot (slot) contains 7 symbols or 14 symbols or the like. Depending on the subcarrier spacing, the length of each symbol can be different, and therefore the slot length can be different.

2) At least one, refers to one, or more than one, that is, includes one, two, three and more; multiple, refers to two, or more than two, that is, includes two, three, four and more ; Connection means coupling, including direct connection or indirect connection via other devices to achieve electrical communication.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the application scenarios of the base station antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention are introduced, and then the specific structure of the base station antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention is introduced.

The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile Communication system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, and new wireless (new radio, NR) communication system, etc. Of course, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to a machine-to-machine (M2M) network, an internet of things (Internet of things, IoT) network, or other networks. In the embodiments of the present application, the above terms all refer to links established between devices of the same type, and have the same meaning. The so-called equipment of the same type may be a link between terminals and terminals, a link between a base station and a base station, or a link between a relay node and a relay node, etc. This embodiment of the present application This is not limited.

Please refer to FIG. 1b, which is an application scenario applied by the embodiment of the present application, or a network architecture applied by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1b, the network architecture may include radio access network equipment, such as but not limited to the base station 100 shown in FIG. 1b. The network architecture may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG. 1b. The network device is an access device through which the terminal accesses the network through wireless communication, and may be a base station. Wherein, the network equipment corresponds to different equipment in different systems, for example, in the fourth-generation mobile communication technology (4th-generation, 4G) system, it can correspond to an evolved base station (evolutional Node B, eNB or e-NodeB) in LTE , which corresponds to the next generation node B (gNB) in the 5G NR system. The radio access network equipment may be located in a base station bub system (BSS), a terrestrial radio access network (UMTS terrestrial radio access network, UTRAN) or an evolved terrestrial radio access network (evolved universal terrestrial radio access, E -UTRAN), it is used for cell coverage of wireless signals to realize the connection between terminal equipment and the radio frequency end of the wireless network. Specifically, the base station 100 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) in a GSM or CDMA system, a Node B (NodeB, NB) in a WCDMA system, or an eNB or an eNodeB in an LTE system , it can also be a wireless control module in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or the base station 100 can also be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a base station in the future 5G network Or a base station in a future evolved PLMN network, for example, a new wireless base station, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

The embodiments of the present application may be applicable to uplink signal transmission, and may also be applicable to downlink signal transmission. For downlink signal transmission, the sending device is a network device, and the corresponding receiving device is a terminal; for uplink signal transmission, the sending device is a terminal, and the corresponding receiving device is a network device. This embodiment of the present application does not limit the direction of signal transmission.

The following takes the network device as a base station as an example. Specifically, the radio access network equipment may include, but is not limited to, the base station 100 shown in FIG. 1b. The base station 100 may include an antenna 110 , a transceiver (TRX) 120 and a baseband processing unit 130 . The base station antenna may select a new generation of beamforming antennas to form an antenna system, for example, each beamforming antenna is used to form a hybrid beamforming (Hybrid Beamforming, HBF) antenna system. The transceiver 120 can be connected to the antenna port of the base station antenna 110, and the base station antenna 110 can receive the transmit signal sent by the transceiver 120 through its antenna port and radiate it out through the radiating element of the base station antenna 110, or radiate the radiating element of the base station antenna 110. The received received signal is sent to the transceiver 120 .

In an implementation, the transceiver 120 may be a remote radio unit RRU, and the baseband processing unit 130 may be a base band unit (BBU). In this case, the BBU can be used to process the baseband signal to be sent and transmit it to the RRU, or receive the received signal sent by the RRU (that is, the received radio frequency signal received by the base station antenna 110 during the signal reception process is converted and processed by the RRU). signal) and process it. The RRU can convert the to-be-sent baseband signal sent by the BBU into a transmit radio frequency signal (including performing necessary signal processing on the to-be-sent baseband signal, such as signal amplification, etc.), and then transmits the transmit radio frequency signal through the antenna port of the base station antenna 110 To the base station antenna 110, the transmitted radio frequency signal is radiated by the base station antenna 110. Alternatively, the RRU may also receive the received radio frequency signal sent by the antenna port of the base station antenna 110, convert it into a received baseband signal, and send it to the BBU.

It should be understood that FIG. 1 b only illustrates the connection relationship between one transceiver 120 and one antenna port of the base station antenna 110 . In other optional embodiments, the number of antenna ports in the base station antenna 110 may also be at least two, and the number of transceivers 120 may also be at least two, wherein each antenna port may be connected to one transceiver 120, multiple transceivers 120 may be connected to the same baseband processing unit 130.

The BBU may be connected to the RRU through a common public radio interface (CPRI) or enhanced CPRI (enhance CPRI, eCPRI), and the RRU may be connected to the base station antenna 110 through a feeder. The base station antenna 110 may be a passive antenna, which is separated from the RRU and may be connected by a cable. Alternatively, the base station antenna 110 may be an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU), that is, the antenna unit of the AAU and the RRU are integrated into one piece. AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing and related functions of active antennas.

FIG. 2 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a base station antenna. As shown in FIG. 2 , in this example, the base station antenna 110 may include an antenna array, a feed network and an antenna port, and the base station antenna may include a feed network and an antenna array. Antenna arrays may consist of radiating elements arranged in a certain geometrical order for receiving and/or radiating radio waves. The first end of the feeding network is connected to the antenna port of the base station antenna, and the antenna port is used for connecting with the port of the transceiver 120 to realize the communication between the base station antenna and the transceiver 120 . The second end of the feed network is connected to the antenna array. The remote radio frequency module in this example may include a radio frequency transmit port _TX , a radio frequency receive port _RX , and the radio frequency transmit port _TX and the radio frequency receive port _RX are connected to the antenna port of the base station antenna.

During downlink transmission, the transmission signal from the radio frequency transmission port _TX can be sequentially transmitted to the feeder network through the output end of the transceiver, the antenna port and the first end of the feeder network, and then the feeder network performs the transmission on the transmission signal. After the feed is processed, it is sent to the antenna array for radiation. During uplink transmission, the antenna array receives the received signal and sends it to the feeder network through the second end of the feeder network. The antenna port transmits to the RF receive port R _X .

Specifically, the output end of the feeding network is connected to the antenna array, and is used to feed each radiating element in the antenna array, so that the antenna array radiates multiple beams, wherein different beams can cover different ranges; the feeding network can A phase shifter is included to change the radiation direction of the radiation beam of the antenna array; the feed network can include a vertical dimension feed network and a horizontal dimension feed network.

The vertical dimension feeding network can be used to adjust the beam width and the vertical dimension beam pointing. may include at least one phase shifter. In an implementation, multiple outputs of the vertical dimension feed network may be respectively connected to each radiating element in a column of antenna arrays, and the input end of the vertical dimension feed network is connected to one output port. The input end of the feeding network is connected to the antenna port to form a transceiver channel, wherein each antenna port corresponds to a transceiver channel, and the antenna port can be connected to the transceiver 120 .

The horizontal dimension feed network can be used for horizontal dimension beamforming of the transmitted signal, and can be used to change the beam width, shape and beam direction of the beam; in the specific implementation, the horizontal dimension feed network can also be used to adjust the beam radiated by the radiation unit The horizontal dimension azimuth angle of the The port is connected to at least one input port, and the number of input ports connected to multiple output ports is different in any two connection states; multiple input ports are connected to multiple antenna ports one by one, and the antenna ports are used to send signals to An input port connected to the antenna port, and for receiving the received signal sent by the input port connected to the antenna port.

With the above structure, by changing the connection state between the output port and the input port in the horizontal dimension feeding network, the number of the antenna ports in the base station antenna 110 that are connected to the antenna array can be changed, and the transceivers that can actually be used by the base station antenna 110 can be changed. number of channels. Further, each antenna port that communicates with the antenna array can be connected to the transceiver 120, so that the number of TRX used in the base station equipment can be changed according to the use requirements of the transceiver channel without the need to replace the base station antenna to realize the antenna. Handover of transceiving signals, where TRX can be an RRU.

In order to adjust the antenna by electronic control, an ESC control circuit can be added between the transceiver and the base station antenna. Through the ESC control circuit, the transceiver can issue a control command to adjust the antenna to the antenna. Correspondingly, components for ESC antenna control are added to the feeding network.

Wherein, the feeding network may further include: a control module, a drive module, and an execution module. The base transceiver station sends the control command to the antenna through the slow control channel, the control module determines the content of the control command by analyzing the control command, and the control module determines the control command of the driving module according to the content of the control command and the state information of the driving module , the control command can be used to adjust the drive signal of the drive module, so that the drive module drives the transmission device, and drives the physical position of the phase shifter in the execution module to change, the drive module controls the execution module to adjust the phase of the antenna, and finally realizes the antenna array. The phase difference of the RF signal at different times. By changing the phase of the collinear array antenna element, changing the amplitude of the vertical component and the horizontal component, and changing the field strength of the combined component, the purpose of adjusting the vertical angle of the antenna is achieved. That is, the control module sends a corresponding control command to the driving module, instructing the driving module to control the execution module to change the beam of the radio frequency signal formed by the antenna, so as to adjust the beam direction of the antenna.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3 , the control module may include an MCU; the driving module may include: a motor for driving the phase shifter antenna array, a transmission device, and a motor driving device. The execution module may include: a phase shifter and the like.

The base transceiver station sends the control command to the antenna through the slow control channel, the control module determines the content of the control command by analyzing the control command, and the control module determines the control command of the driving module according to the content of the control command and the state information of the driving module , the control command can be used to adjust the drive signal of the motor in the drive module, so that the motor drive output drives the specified drive voltage to control the motor operation. After the motor runs, the transmission device is driven to drive the physical position of the phase shifter in the execution module. Change, drive the motor to control the execution module to adjust the phase of the antenna, and finally realize the phase difference of the radio frequency signal of the antenna array in different periods.

Combined with Figure 3, the slow control channel can be connected to the transceiver and the MCU through the RS485 interface, and supports the traditional RS485 signal multi-point bus mode. Multiple transceivers and multiple MCUs can be connected through the RS485 interface using star and daisy chains. way cascade. Through the RS485 interface, the transceiver can control the base station antenna (remote electric tilt (RET) device) of the control unit MCU without an ESC antenna, control the downtilt angle of the antenna, and improve the downtilt angle of the ESC antenna. control performance. The data communication rate of the slow control channel is 9.6kbps.

With reference to FIG. 2, in other embodiments, as shown in FIG. 4, the slow control channel between the transceiver and the MCU may be connected through a bias device (BiasT) and a modem device (OOK modem). The line can share the same line with the signal of the control command through the coaxial cable, DC power line, RF signal line between the transceiver and the antenna of the base station; this connection method can be applied to the control of the transceiver and the ESC antenna Communication with the base station antenna of the unit RCU (eg, antenna integrated with a bias tee, BT). The data communication rate of the slow control channel is 9.6kbps.

In this embodiment of the present application, the control commands sent by the slow control channel can satisfy the AISG protocol. Under this protocol, the issuing time of the control commands sent by the transceiver and the effective time for the base station antenna to realize the antenna beam state have no mandatory timing constraints relation. Therefore, the base station antenna adjusts the beam direction according to the received control command, which is only applicable to the scenario where the same beam state is maintained for a long period of time. In the scenario where the beam direction changes with time, the base station antenna cannot determine when Adjusting the state of the antenna cannot be adjusted to the corresponding beam direction in time as needed. The adjustment of the base station antenna in the above scheme is difficult to apply to the dynamic change of the beam direction or the dynamic switching of the online and offline transmission of the base station. A feeder network results in that the send and receive signals can only be regulated electrically through the same set of phase-shifted feed parameters. In this way, the uplink and downlink transmissions are coupled together, so that the base station antenna cannot be adjusted to the different beams required for the uplink and downlink transmissions in time, resulting in interface errors. The transmission rate is slow, reducing the network performance of the base station antenna.

Based on the above problems, as shown in FIG. 5a , which is a schematic structural diagram of a base station antenna and a transceiver provided in an embodiment of the present application, the feed network of the base station antenna may include: a signal processing unit and a signal feed unit; The base station antenna may include a signal processing unit, a signal feeding unit and an antenna array; the signal feeding unit is used for phase-shifting and feeding the transmitted signal from the transceiver and then sending it to the antenna array; The received signal of the antenna array is sent to the transceiver; the antenna array is used for radiating the transmitted signal after phase-shifted feeding, or, receiving the received signal and sending it to the signal feeding unit.

The signal processing unit is connected with the transceiver; a first channel is included between the signal processing unit and the transceiver.

Among them, in one possible implementation, the first channel may be a channel connecting the transceiver and the signal processing unit through an RS485 interface, and in another possible implementation, the first channel may also be connected through BiasT and OOKmodem Channels for transceivers and signal processing units. In order to synchronize the related control information of the transmission beam state, the communication rate of the first channel may be set to be greater than the default communication rate of the AISG protocol (the communication rate of the slow control channel).

The signal processing unit is configured to receive a first control message from the transceiver through the first channel; the first control message is used to indicate timing information of the first signal and a beam corresponding to the timing information Status information; the first signal is the sending signal or the receiving signal; the signal processing unit can convert the received first control message into a control instruction that the drive module can parse and execute, so as to instruct the drive module to control the execution The module adjusts the beam direction and beam state corresponding to the first signal transmitted by the antenna array on the timing information corresponding to the first signal.

It should be noted that the timing information in this application may be the time domain resources of the first signal configured by the base station, and the specific configuration method is not limited in this application.

In a specific implementation process, the signal processing unit may send a control instruction of the first signal to the signal feeding unit according to the first control message; the control instruction is used to instruct the signal feeding unit to The phase-shift feeding state on the timing information corresponding to the beam state information.

In some embodiments, the signal feeding unit may include a drive module and an execution module. Wherein, the driving module may include a phase shifter switch, and the phase shifter switch may be used to control turning on and off of the phase shifter. For example, the phase shifter switch can control the switching of the transceiver mode of the base station antenna. For example, when the phase shifter switch is in an on state, the base station antenna is in a signal transmission mode, and when the phase shifter switch is in an off state, the base station antenna is in a signal reception mode. In some embodiments, the phase shifter switch can also be used to connect to the port of the antenna element, and control the working states of different antenna elements through the phase shifter. In other embodiments, a plurality of phase shifter switches may also be provided, each phase shifter switch is used to turn on the correspondingly connected base station antenna elements, and by combining multiple phase shifter switches, the turned on antenna elements are selected to Realize the joint work of the corresponding antenna elements, and realize the beam state of the corresponding signal.

The execution module may include at least one phase shifter, and the phase shifter is used for switching or controlling the phase and amplitude of the radio frequency signal to realize different beam states.

The control command sent by the signal processing unit may be sent at the time of the timing information of the first signal corresponding to the corresponding beam state, and the control command may carry the control signal corresponding to the beam state by the drive module, for example , the control signal may be to control the execution module to turn on or off the switch of the phase shifter in the execution module, or the control signal may be to control the execution module to set the corresponding port in the phase shifter to a connected state or a disconnected state. After the execution module receives the control signal sent by the driving module, it can convert the control signal into a control command for switching or controlling the phase and amplitude of the radio frequency signal, so as to realize the corresponding beam state adjustment. After the drive module receives the control command, it can convert the control signal of the drive module to control the execution module according to the received control command, and convert it into a control signal to control the phase shifter in the execution module, so as to adjust the position of the phase shifter. The phase-shift feeding state on the timing information corresponding to the beam state information.

As a possible implementation, as shown in Figure 5b, the phase shifter switch can drive the PIN tube to be in two states of forward bias and reverse bias. In some embodiments, when the PIN transistor is forward biased, e.g., the drive voltage is 1V, the drive current reaches a constant current state, enabling the phase shifter switch to be turned ON. When the PIN tube is in reverse bias, a reverse high voltage is driven (for example, as shown in Figure 5b, the voltage is 50V), so that the PIN tube is in an off state and the phase shifter is in an OFF state. Through the phase shifter switch, the switching of the switch in microseconds can be realized, so that the beam of the base station antenna can be synchronized with the air interface signal (for example, the first signal) of the transceiver, that is, it can be realized on each time domain symbol. The beam state corresponds to the phase-shifted feed state of the scheduling antenna, enabling symbol-level beam scheduling.

In a possible implementation manner, the execution module may include a phase shifter composed of electronically controlled switching devices such as PIN tubes, MEMS switches, and FET tubes, and may also be an integrated control module, which is not limited herein.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5c , taking the radio frequency branch of the radio frequency channel of the antenna element to adjust the phase of the phase shifter as an example, by switching the port connected to the feed network, for example, the phase shifter includes port 1 , port 2 and port 3, when port 1 and port 2 are connected to the feeder network, the phase corresponding to the phase shifter is θ; when port 1 and port 3 are connected to the feeder network, the phase shifter corresponds to The phase of the phase shifter is θ ₂ . When ports 2 and 3 are connected to the feeding network, the corresponding phase of the phase shifter is θ+θ ₂ . At this time, by loading different radio frequency branches, the phase shifter can be changed.

As shown in Fig. 5d, the phase shifter controls the opening or closing of the radio frequency channel through a switch, so as to realize the rotation of the radio frequency channel, so as to realize the phase change of the antenna element connected to the phase shifter. For example, the switch S1 is controlled to be connected at the input part, and the switch S1' is controlled to be connected at the output part, so that the input and the output are connected through the radio frequency channel ₁₁ . The switch S2 is controlled to be connected at the input part, and the switch S2' is controlled to be connected at the output part, so that the input and the output are connected through the radio frequency channel ₁₂ . In the above manner, the adjustment of the input and output phases is achieved. By adjusting the switch of the radio frequency channel, the effect of adjusting the phase of the antenna element is realized, and the discrete control of the phase is realized.

Optionally, after the signal processing unit determines the state of the antenna array when the driving module and the execution module transmit the first signal, the signal processing unit can also feed back the state information of the base station antenna that transmits the first signal to the transceiver through the first channel.

The state information of the base station antenna may be the state information of the drive module, the state information of the execution module, the state information of the antenna array, etc., and may also include time information corresponding to the state information of the base station antenna, and the time information may correspond to the first signal timing information. In some embodiments, the state information of the drive module may include a drive signal for adjusting a motor in the drive module, the state information of the execution module may include: physical position information of the phase shifter in the execution module, and the state information of the antenna array may include The phase of the antenna, the magnitude of the vertical component and the horizontal component, the field strength of the composite component, etc.

The transceiver may determine the transmission state of the first signal based on the feedback state information of the base station antenna that transmits the first signal, and may further adjust the control message sent to the base station antenna to improve the transmission performance of the base station antenna.

Of course, the signal processing unit may also feed back other management and maintenance information for controlling the antenna of the base station to the transceiver through the first channel. Reference may be made to the above-mentioned embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

Using the base station antenna as shown in Figure 5a, each signal (such as a transmit signal or a receive signal) can determine the time domain position corresponding to the phase-shifted feed of the respective signal through the control message, so as to achieve the corresponding time domain position, The adjustment of the antenna array by the phase shifter carries out the radiation or reception of the signal. In this way, the flexibility of phase-shifted feeding of the signal can be realized to the greatest extent possible, which helps to realize the corresponding beam for each uplink and downlink transmission.

With reference to the schematic structural diagram of the base station antenna and the transceiver in FIG. 5a, as shown in FIG. 6a, an embodiment of the present application provides a base station antenna control method, the transceiver is connected to the base station antenna; the base station antenna and the transceiver The first ports can be set respectively, and the first channel can be established through the first port of the transceiver and the first port of the base station antenna; wherein, in a possible implementation manner, the first channel can be through the RS485 interface. The channel connecting the transceiver and the signal processing unit, in another possible implementation manner, the first channel may also be a channel connecting the transceiver and the signal processing unit through BiasT and OOKmodem. In order to synchronize the related control information of the transmission beam state, the communication rate of the first channel may be set to be greater than the default communication rate of the AISG protocol (the communication rate of the slow control channel). The method includes:

Step 601: Send a first control message to the base station antenna through the first channel.

Wherein, the first control message is used to indicate the timing information of the first signal and the corresponding beam state information on the timing information; the first signal is a sending signal or a receiving signal; the first control message is used for The signal feeding unit of the base station antenna is adjusted to a corresponding phase-shifted feeding state on the timing information corresponding to the beam state information, so as to radiate the first signal.

Correspondingly, the signal processing unit receives the first control message from the transceiver through the first channel.

In a specific implementation process, the first control message may indicate timing information of the first signal and beam state information corresponding to the timing information in various ways. The following takes the mode a1 and the mode a2 as an example to illustrate.

Manner a1: The beam state of the first signal is indicated by indicating the beam state corresponding to each time unit.

For example, the first control message includes: beam state indication information; the beam state indication information is used to indicate beam state information corresponding to the timing information of the first signal.

In some embodiments, the time units occupied by the beam states corresponding to each beam state information may be the same. Therefore, the size of the time domain occupied by each beam state may be preset. For example, the time unit occupied by each beam state is the size of one subframe or one symbol. In other embodiments, the time domain size occupied by different beam states may not be considered, and the beam state in each time unit is used as a beam state indication information for sending, so as to avoid sending the time domain size occupied by each beam state and the complexity of setting the corresponding indication information, while reducing the complexity of the signal processing unit parsing the first control message.

In some embodiments, taking the time unit as one symbol as an example, the first control message may indicate beam state indication information corresponding to each symbol. As shown in Figure 6b, beam state indication information 1 is used to indicate the beam state on time unit 1, beam state indication information 2 is used to indicate the beam state on time unit 2, and beam state indication information 3 is used to indicate the beam state on time unit 3 The beam state of , the beam state indication information 4 is used to indicate the beam state on the time unit 4 . The time length T1 of each time unit is the same value, for example, each time unit corresponds to each symbol in the available time-frequency resources. Therefore, the time length of each time unit is the length of one symbol. Therefore, the first control message may not carry the time domain position indicated by each beam state information. Taking the beam state indication information 1 as an example, when the signal processing unit receives the beam state indication information 1, it can be determined according to the preset delay time and the moment when the beam state indication information 1 is received (for example, when it is determined that the beam state indication information is received. The cyclic prefix (CP) in the information 1 is the start time, and within the preset time period) determines the start time of the time unit 1 for sending the control command corresponding to the beam state indication information 1 to the feeder network. At the start time of the time unit 1, a control command corresponding to the beam state indication information 1 is sent to adjust the base station antenna to the state of the base station antenna corresponding to the beam state indication information 1. Each beam state indication information in beam state indication information 1 to beam state indication information 4 illustrated in FIG. 6b may be sent in one first control message, or may be sent in multiple first control messages.

For example, in a possible scenario, the transceiver may send a first control message for indicating beam state indication information 1 and beam state indication information 2. The signal processing unit may determine the time unit 1 and the time unit 2 according to the positions of the beam state indication information 1 and the beam state indication information 2 in the first control message in the first control message. For example, the signal processing unit receives the beam state indication information 1 at time 1, and sends a control command corresponding to the beam state indication information 1 according to a preset delay time (that is, the signal processing unit and the transceiver agree to receive the beam state indication information after receiving the beam state indication information). time), the signal processing unit determines the time unit 1 after delaying the corresponding time at time 1. The signal processing unit receives the beam state indication information 2 at time 2, and determines the time unit 2 after delaying the corresponding time at time 1 according to the preset delay time. Furthermore, the transceiver can indicate the time unit 1 and the time unit 2 through the position of the beam state indication information 1 and the beam state indication information 2 in the first control message, and indicate the time unit 1 and the time unit 2 through the beam state indication information 1. The beam state corresponding to the time unit 1, and the beam state corresponding to the time unit 2 is indicated by the beam state indication information 2. Therefore, the signal processing unit can, according to the received first control message, control when the time unit 1 arrives. The base station antenna is adjusted to the beam state indicated by the beam state indication information 1, and when the time unit 2 arrives, the base station antenna is controlled to be adjusted to the beam state indicated by the beam state indication information 2.

Optionally, the first control message may further include indication information indicating that the first signal is a received signal or a sent signal. The indication information may be combined with the beam state indication information, or may be sent separately, which is not limited herein.

In other embodiments, broadcast messages are sent on time unit 1 to time unit 4, and the transceiver may send beam state indication information corresponding to different time units within a scanning period to the signal processing unit. For example, as shown in Fig. 6c, in one scanning period, the sector to be scanned by the broadcast message includes 4 beam directions. Therefore, the first control message needs to send at least the beam state indication information corresponding to the 4 beam directions, for example , beam state indication information 1 to beam state indication information 4. At this time, the first control message sent by the transceiver may sequentially carry beam state indication information 1 to beam state indication information 4 in a scanning order. Correspondingly, the signal processing unit may, according to the beam state indication information 1 to the beam state indication information 4 carried in the first control message, determine that there are 4 beam directions to be scanned in each scanning period, and the beam directions are determined according to the beam state. Scanning is performed in the order of instruction information 1 to beam state instruction information 4 . At the same time, it is also possible to determine the switching timing of each beam state according to the preconfigured length of the time unit occupied by each beam state, and then control the base station antenna accordingly according to the determined switching timing of each beam state to achieve broadcast The message scans 4 beam directions.

In a specific implementation process, the beam state indication information includes at least one of the following: the state of the phase shifter switch, the connection state of the phase shifter, and beam direction information.

In a possible implementation manner, the beam state indication information 1 may be used to indicate the beam direction corresponding to the beam state. For example, the beam direction may include the angle corresponding to the beam in the horizontal direction and the angle corresponding to the vertical direction. Optionally, the beam state indication information 1 may also be used to indicate a signal transceiving mode. For example, the beam state indication information 1 may be used to indicate that the signal corresponding to the time unit is a transmit signal, or the beam state indication information 1 may be used to indicate that the signal corresponding to the time unit is a receive signal. The signal processing unit determines the state of the switch of the phase shifter according to the beam state indication information 1, or determines the connection state of the phase shifter, so as to realize the beam direction and the transceiving mode indicated by the beam state indication information 1.

In a possible implementation manner, the beam state indication information 1 can be used to indicate the state of the phase shifter switch. When the phase shifter switch is in the state indicated by the beam state indication information 1, the corresponding beam direction and signal transmission and reception can be realized. mode. For example, when the phase shifter switch 1 is in a forward bias, the phase shifter switch 1 is turned on, and the base station antenna is in a state of transmitting signals. When the phase shifter switch 1 is in reverse bias, the phase shifter switch 1 is turned off, and the base station antenna is in a state of receiving signals.

In another possible implementation manner, the beam state indication information 1 may be used to indicate the connection state of the phase shifter, so that the connection state of the phase shifter, in the state indicated by the beam state indication information 1, can realize the corresponding beam direction. . For example, with reference to Fig. 5c, the beam state indication information 1 can be used to indicate the port to which the phase shifter is correspondingly connected. For example, the beam state indication information 1 can be used to indicate that the phase shifter is connected to port 1 and port 2, so as to realize the indication through the beam state The information indicates the phase of the antenna moved by the phase shifter. For another example, with reference to Figure 5d, the beam state indication information 1 can also be used to indicate the open or closed state of the radio frequency channel of the phase shifter. For example, the beam state indication information 1 can be used with In order to instruct the phase shifter to connect S1 and S2, the phase of the antenna that is moved by the phase shifter is indicated by the beam state indication information. The specific indicated parameters can be determined according to the structure of the phase shifter, which is not limited here.

Manner a2: The first control message includes beam state indication information and synchronization indication information; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate each timing information of the first signal.

In a possible implementation manner, the synchronization indication information includes: a relative relationship between each timing information of the first signal and timing information of the first control message.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6d , the first control message includes beam state indication information 1 to beam state indication information 4 , and synchronization indication information 1 to synchronization indication information 4 . Each synchronization indication information correspondingly indicates the length or number of time units occupied by the beam state corresponding to each beam state indication information. For example, the time length occupied by the beam state 1 corresponding to the beam state indication information 1 is 4 symbols. In this case, the synchronization indication information 1 may indicate the time length of 4 symbols. The time length occupied by the beam state 2 corresponding to the beam state indication information 2 is 2 symbols. In this case, the synchronization indication information 2 may indicate a time length of 2 symbols. The time length occupied by the beam state 3 corresponding to the beam state indication information 3 is 2 symbols. In this case, the synchronization indication information 3 may indicate the time length of 2 symbols. The time length occupied by the beam state 4 corresponding to the beam state indication information 4 is 1 symbol. In this case, the synchronization indication information 1 may indicate the time length of one symbol.

In another possible implementation manner, the synchronization indication information includes: the first signal is a transmitted signal or a received signal. The synchronization indication information indicates whether the resource corresponding to each time unit is an uplink resource or a downlink resource, and determines whether the signal on each time unit is a transmitted signal or a received signal.

For example, as shown in Figure 6e, beam state indication information 1 and beam state indication information 2 correspond to uplink signals, and the time length is T1, and beam state indication information 3 to beam state indication information 5 correspond to downlink signals, and the time length is T2. At this time, the synchronization indication information may be correspondingly indicated at the position of the first time unit where the signal is switched to the uplink signal. For example, the synchronization indication information 1 is used to indicate that the position is the starting position of the uplink signal, and the synchronization indication information 2 is used to indicate that the position is the starting position of the uplink signal. Indicates that this position is the starting position of the downlink signal. Alternatively, the end position of the uplink and downlink handover can also be indicated, which is used to indicate that the next time unit is the time domain position of the handover. For example, the synchronization indication information 1 is used to indicate that the next time unit is the start position of the uplink signal, and the synchronization indication information 2 is used to indicate that the next time unit is the start position of the downlink signal.

In another possible implementation, the synchronization indication information may also be used to indicate the time length of the uplink and downlink signals. For example, the synchronization indication information 1 may be used to indicate T1, and the synchronization indication information 2 may be used to indicate T2. Of course, an indication manner of the synchronization indication information can also be set as required, which is not limited here.

Step 602: The signal processing unit controls the base station antenna to send and receive a first signal according to the first control message.

In a possible implementation manner, the signal processing unit may send a control instruction of the first signal to the signal feeding unit according to the first control message. Wherein, the control instruction is used to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit on the timing information corresponding to the beam state. For the specific implementation process, reference may be made to the implementation manners in FIGS. 5 a to 5 d , which will not be repeated here.

Through the above method, the transceiver obtains the beam state of the first signal on each timing information from the baseband unit, generates a first control message for the base station antenna, and sends the first control message to the base station antenna through the first channel. Correspondingly, the signal processing unit of the antenna converts the first control message into control information in the drive module and the execution module (for example, the indication information of the switch state of the phase shifter and the enable signal of the phase shifter), and uses the enable signal. The switch of the phase shifter is controlled to realize that the beam state on each timing information of the first signal and the phase shift feed state of the phase shifter can be adjusted synchronously, so as to realize beam synchronization at the symbol level.

As shown in FIG. 7a, a schematic structural diagram of a base station antenna and a transceiver provided by an embodiment of the present application, the base station antenna includes a signal processing unit, a signal feeding unit, and an antenna array; A first channel is included between the signal processing unit and the transceiver; a second channel is also included between the transceiver and the base station antenna; in this embodiment of the present application, the second channel may be A slow control channel that satisfies the AISG protocol. The communication rate of the first channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel.

Combined with Figure 5a, the base station antenna shown in Figure 7a can also use the slow control channel (second channel) in the original base station antenna on the basis of the signal that meets the requirements of the independent ESC, that is, the base station antenna and the transceiver A second port may be respectively set, and a second channel is established through the second port of the transceiver and the second port of the base station antenna. The transceiver can send the second control message without high time requirement in advance, so as to reduce the overhead of the first control message sent by the first channel. It does not need to directly replace the traditional antenna structure, and it also helps to improve the flexibility of deploying base station antennas. With reference to the architecture of the base station antenna and the transceiver shown in FIG. 7a, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for controlling the base station antenna, as shown in FIG. 7b, including:

Step 701: The transceiver sends a second control message to the base station antenna through the second channel.

In a specific implementation process, the second control message may carry different information, so as to be combined with the first control message to indicate the beam state and the corresponding phase-shifted feeding state of the first signal on the timing information. In the following, mode b1 and mode b2 are used as examples to illustrate.

Manner b1: The second control message is used to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit; the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit has a corresponding relationship with the beam state.

In some embodiments, the second control message may indicate the switching state of the phase shifter, the connection state of the phase shifter, and the like, a phase-shifted feeding state. At the same time, it can also be used to indicate the corresponding relationship between the phase-shifted feeding state and the beam state. Correspondingly, after receiving the second control message, the control module may send the second control message to the signal processing unit, and the signal processing unit may determine the phase-shift feeding state corresponding to the beam state according to the second control message. Since the corresponding relationship between the phase-shifted feed state of the signal feed unit and the beam state basically does not change with time, it can be sent to the base station antenna through the second channel in advance to prevent the second control message from occupying the first channel and reduce the transmission rate of the first channel. The delay of the first control message can further improve the flexibility of the transceiver to control the antenna of the base station.

Mode b2: The time domain position corresponding to each beam state may be sent periodically, that is, the transceiver presets the time domain position corresponding to each beam state. For example, in conjunction with Figure 6c, beam state indication information 1 to beam state The four beam states indicated by the indication information 4 are one scanning period. Therefore, the transceiver can indicate the time length of the scanning period and the corresponding time length of each beam direction in each scanning period through the second channel in advance. The sequence of 4 beam states within each scan period. The transceiver can carry the starting beam state information of the scanning period in the control message sent on the first channel to indicate all 4 beam states included in a complete scanning period. It is not necessary to indicate corresponding to each beam state. The signaling overhead on the first channel is saved, and the delay is reduced.

Therefore, the second control message may further include: synchronization indication information; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate time-frequency information corresponding to the beam state.

Correspondingly, when the time lengths of the uplink signal and the downlink signal are also preset, the second control message may also be used to indicate the time length of the uplink signal and the time length of the downlink signal. When the transceiver sends the first control message through the first channel to indicate the uplink signal, it can carry the starting position of the uplink signal, that is, the position of the uplink signal can be determined according to the length of the uplink signal indicated in the second control message , effectively saving the overhead of the first control message. Similarly, when the transceiver sends the first control message through the first channel to indicate the downlink signal, it can carry the starting position of the downlink signal, that is, it can determine the downlink signal according to the length of the downlink signal indicated in the second control message. The position of the signal effectively saves the overhead of the first control message.

In another possible implementation manner, when the uplink signal and the downlink signal are distributed periodically, the second control message can also be used to indicate the time length of the uplink signal and the time length and period of the downlink signal, so that the transceiver When the first control message is sent through the first channel to indicate the uplink signal or the downlink signal, it can carry the starting position of a cycle of the uplink signal and the downlink signal, that is, the length of the uplink signal indicated in the second control message and the The length of the downlink signal determines the position of the uplink signal and the position of the downlink signal within a period, which effectively saves the overhead of the first control message.

Step 702: The transceiver sends a first control message to the base station antenna through the first channel.

In a specific implementation process, the first control message may indicate the timing information on the first signal and the beam state corresponding to the timing information in various manners. Mode c1 and mode c2 are exemplified below.

Manner c1: The first control message includes: beam state indication information; the beam state indication information is used to indicate the beam state corresponding to the timing information of the first signal. The beam state indication information may include beam direction information. For example, the beam direction information may be a preset beam index number.

In this way, the time domain position corresponding to each beam state may be preset, and after the transceiver is preset, synchronization indication information may be generated, and the synchronization indication information is used to indicate the corresponding beam state indication information. The length of the time unit of each timing information. For example, the synchronization indication information may be the length T1 of the time unit of the beam state corresponding to the beam state information or the number of the minimum time unit. Since the synchronization indication information does not need to be changed or scheduled in real time, with reference to Figure 6b, the first control message sent in the first channel does not need to carry the synchronization indication information, but is sent in advance in the form of synchronization indication information through the second channel to the base station antenna. For example, the synchronization indication information may be sent to the control module by sending the second control message through the second channel, and the control module forwards the synchronization indication information to the signal processing unit.

Manner c2: In a scenario where the time domain position corresponding to each beam state cannot be preset, the time domain position corresponding to each beam state may be indicated by the synchronization indication information. At this time, the first control message may further include: synchronization indication information. For the synchronization indication information, reference may be made to the implementation manner in which the synchronization indication information is included in the first control message in FIG. 6b, and details are not described herein again.

Alternatively, in combination with mode b2, when the second control message sends the synchronization indication information correspondingly, the synchronization indication information in the first control message may be set accordingly. For example, the second control message carries the time length corresponding to the beam direction. The synchronization indication information of the control message may be used to indicate the starting time domain position corresponding to each beam direction. For another example, the second control message carries the time length corresponding to the uplink signal, and the synchronization indication information of the first control message may be used to indicate the starting time domain position corresponding to the uplink signal. For details, refer to mode b2, which will not be repeated here, in order to achieve the purpose of flexibly configuring the control message and improve the performance of the transceiver in controlling the antenna of the base station.

Step 703: The base station antenna transmits and receives the first signal according to the first control message and the second control message.

The information processing unit can determine the beam state corresponding to the timing information of the first signal according to the beam state indication information in the first control message and the corresponding relationship between the beam state and the phase-shifted feed state in the second control message, and The corresponding phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit in the beam state. The signal processing unit may send the control instruction of the first signal to the signal feeding unit according to the determined phase-shifted feeding state at the time corresponding to the corresponding timing information. Wherein, the control instruction is used to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit on the timing information corresponding to the beam state. For the specific implementation process, reference may be made to the implementation manners in FIGS. 5 a to 5 d , which will not be repeated here.

Through the above method, the transceiver obtains the beam state of the first signal on each timing information from the baseband unit, generates the first control message and the second control message for the base station antenna, and advances the preconfigured information through the second channel Send to the base station antenna, and use the first channel to send the first control message to the base station antenna to send the beam state indication information or synchronization indication information with higher delay requirements. Correspondingly, the signal processing unit of the antenna converts the first control message and the second control message into control information in the drive module and the execution module (for example, the indication information of the switch state of the phase shifter and the enable signal of the phase shifter) , the enable signal is used to control the switch of the phase shifter, so that the beam state on each timing information of the first signal and the phase shift feed state of the phase shifter can be adjusted synchronously, so as to realize beam synchronization at the symbol level.

Considering that the overhead of sending the first control message on the first channel may be relatively large, as shown in FIG. 8a, a schematic structural diagram of a base station antenna and a transceiver provided by an embodiment of the present application, the base station antenna includes a signal processing unit, a signal feeding unit and an antenna array; the signal processing unit is connected with a transceiver; a first channel is included between the signal processing unit and the transceiver; there is also a connection between the transceiver and the base station antenna A third channel is included; that is, both the base station antenna and the transceiver can be provided with third ports respectively, and a third channel is established through the third port of the transceiver and the third port of the base station antenna. The communication rates of the first channel and the second channel may be the same or different. Both the first channel and the third channel may be used to transmit the first control message. Optionally, a second channel is further included between the transceiver and the base station antenna; for the setting method of the second channel, reference may be made to FIG. 6 a , which will not be repeated here. The communication rate of the first channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel; the communication rate of the third channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel.

With reference to Fig. 8a, as shown in Fig. 8b, a method for controlling a base station antenna provided by an embodiment of the present application further includes:

Step 801: Send the first part of the first control message to the base station antenna through the first channel;

For example, the first part of the first control message may be beam state indication information. For specific implementation manners, reference may be made to the above-mentioned embodiments, and details are not described herein again. In addition, the first part of the first control message may also be other content of the first control message, which is not limited herein.

Step 802: Send the second part of the first control message to the base station antenna through a third channel;

For example, the second part of the first control message may be synchronization indication information of the first control message.

In a possible implementation manner, the synchronization indication information may be used to indicate each timing information of the first signal. In another possible implementation manner, the synchronization indication information includes: a relative relationship between each timing information of the first signal and timing information of the first control message. In yet another possible implementation manner, the synchronization indication information may also be used to indicate that the first signal is an uplink signal or a downlink signal. For specific implementation manners, reference may be made to the above-mentioned embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

It should be noted that the manner of dividing the first control message into the first part and the second part may be divided according to the type of the content sent by the first control message, for example, the way of sending beam state indication information and synchronization indication information. , so that the field types of the messages sent in each channel are consistent, and the complexity of the base station antenna analysis is reduced. Another possible division method can also be divided by the data volume of the first control message. For example, the first control message is divided into two data packets with the same data volume as the first part of the first control message and the first control message. Second part of the message. Sending the first part of the first control message through the first channel and sending the second part of the first control message through the third channel increases the time taken for sending the first control message and reduces the delay.

Step 803: The signal processing unit controls the sending and receiving of the first message according to the first part of the first control message and the second part of the first control message.

The signal processing unit may determine the first control message according to the first part of the first control message received by the first channel and the second part of the first control message received by the third channel. The time domain position where the first signal is located and the beam state at each time domain position are determined through the first control message, and further, the signal processing unit may send the first signal to the signal feeding unit according to the first control message. A signal control command. Wherein, the control instruction is used to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit on the timing information corresponding to the beam state. For the specific implementation process, reference may be made to the implementation manners in FIGS. 5 a to 5 d , which will not be repeated here.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the transceiver may also use the second channel in the original base station antenna to send a second control message that does not have a higher time requirement in advance, so as to reduce the first control message sent by the first channel. The overhead of the second control message, and the specific sending manner and sending content of the second control message may refer to the embodiment in FIG. 7b, which will not be repeated here.

Through the above method, the transceiver obtains the beam state of the first signal on each timing information from the baseband unit, generates a first control message to the base station antenna, and sends the first part of the first control message to the base station antenna through the first channel , and send the second part of the first control message to the base station antenna through the third channel. Correspondingly, the signal processing unit of the antenna converts the first part and the second part of the first control message into control information in the drive module and the execution module (for example, the indication information of the switch state of the phase shifter and the use of the phase shifter). The enable signal is used to control the switch of the phase shifter, so that the beam state on each timing information of the first signal and the phase-shift feeding state of the phase shifter can be adjusted synchronously to realize beam synchronization at the symbol level . The ability to send the first control message is effectively improved, the time delay for sending the first control message is reduced, the complexity of receiving the first control message by the base station antenna is reduced, and the applicability of the base station antenna is improved.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to the processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine such that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce Means for implementing the functions specified in a flow or flow of a flowchart and/or a block or blocks of a block diagram.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory result in an article of manufacture comprising instruction means, the instructions The apparatus implements the functions specified in the flow or flow of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded on a computer or other programmable data processing device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process such that The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow or blocks of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the protection scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A base station antenna, comprising a signal processing unit, a signal feeding unit and an antenna array;

There is a first channel between the signal processing unit and the remote radio frequency unit, and is used to receive a first control message from the remote radio frequency unit through the first channel; the first control message is used to indicate the first control message. Timing information of a signal, and the corresponding beam state on the timing information; the first signal is a sending signal or a receiving signal; according to the first control message, the first signal is sent to the signal feeding unit The control instruction; the control instruction is used to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit on the timing information corresponding to the beam state;

The signal feeding unit is configured to perform phase-shift feeding on the first signal from the signal processing unit based on the phase-shift feeding state on the timing information corresponding to the beam state according to the control instruction process, and send it to the antenna array; or, according to the control instruction, based on the phase-shift feeding state on the timing information corresponding to the beam state, perform phase-shift feeding on the first signal from the antenna array processing and sending to the signal processing unit;

The antenna array is configured to transmit the first signal after phase-shift feeding, or receive the first signal and send it to the signal feeding unit.
The base station antenna according to claim 1, wherein a second channel is further included between the signal processing unit and the remote radio frequency unit;

The signal processing unit is also used for:

Before receiving the first control message sent from the remote radio frequency unit through the first channel, the second control message sent from the remote radio frequency unit is received through the second channel; the second control message uses to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit; the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit has a corresponding relationship with the beam state;

When the signal processing unit sends the control instruction of the first signal to the signal feeding unit according to the first control message, it is specifically used for:

According to the first control message and the second control message, the control instruction of the first signal is determined and sent to the signal feeding unit.
The base station antenna according to claim 2, wherein the first control message comprises:

Beam state indication information; the beam state indication information is used to indicate the corresponding beam state on the timing information of the first signal.
The base station antenna according to claim 3, wherein the first control message further comprises:

Synchronization indication information; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate timing information of the first signal.
The base station antenna according to claim 4, wherein the synchronization indication information comprises: a relative relationship between timing information of the first signal and timing information of the first control message.
The base station antenna according to claim 4, wherein the synchronization indication information further comprises: whether the first signal is a transmitted signal or a received signal.
The base station antenna according to claim 3, wherein a third channel is further included between the signal processing unit and the remote radio frequency unit;

The signal processing unit is further configured to receive synchronization indication information from the remote radio frequency unit through the third channel; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate timing information of the first signal.
The base station antenna according to any one of claims 2-7, wherein the communication rate of the first channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel.
The base station antenna according to claim 7, wherein the communication rate of the third channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel.
The base station antenna according to any one of claims 3-7, wherein the signal feeding unit includes a phase shifter; and the beam state indication information includes at least one of the following:

The switch state of the phase shifter, the connection state of the phase shifter, and the beam direction information.
A remote radio frequency unit, comprising a processing module and a first port; the first port is used to connect a first channel between the remote radio frequency unit and a base station antenna;

The processing module is used to generate a first control message; the first control message is used to indicate the timing information of the first signal and the corresponding beam state on the timing information; the first signal is a sending signal or a receiving signal Signal;

The first port is used to send the first control message to the base station antenna through the first channel; the first control message is used to indicate that the signal feeding unit in the base station antenna is in the first channel. The time corresponding to the timing information of a signal is adjusted to the phase-shifted feeding state corresponding to the beam state of the first signal.
The remote radio frequency unit according to claim 11, further comprising a second port; the second port is used to connect a second channel between the remote radio frequency unit and the base station antenna;

The processing module is further configured to generate a second control message before generating the first control message; the second control message is used to indicate the phase-shifted feeding state of the signal feeding unit; the signal feeding The phase-shifted feeding state of the unit has a corresponding relationship with the beam state;

The second port is configured to send the second control message to the base station antenna through the second channel.
The remote radio unit of claim 12, wherein the first control message comprises:

Beam state indication information; the beam state indication information is used to indicate the corresponding beam state on the timing information of the first signal.
The remote radio unit of claim 13, wherein the first control message further comprises:

Synchronization indication information; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate timing information of the first signal.
The remote radio unit according to claim 14, wherein the synchronization indication information comprises: a relative relationship between timing information of the first signal and timing information of the first control message.
The remote radio unit according to claim 15, wherein the synchronization indication information further comprises: whether the first signal is a sending signal or a receiving signal.
The remote radio frequency unit according to claim 13, further comprising a third port; the third port is used to connect a third channel between the remote radio frequency unit and the base station antenna;

The processing module is further configured to: generate synchronization indication information; the synchronization indication information is used to indicate timing information of the first signal;

The third port is configured to send the synchronization indication information to the base station antenna through the third channel.
The remote radio frequency unit according to any one of claims 12-17, wherein the communication rate of the first channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel.
The remote radio frequency unit of claim 17, wherein the communication rate of the third channel is greater than the communication rate of the second channel.
The remote radio frequency unit according to any one of claims 13-17, wherein the base station antenna includes a phase shifter; and the beam state indication information includes at least one of the following:

The switch state of the phase shifter, the connection state of the phase shifter, and the beam direction information.
A base station device, characterized in that it comprises: the base station antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 10 and the remote radio frequency unit according to any one of claims 11 to 20 .