Base station antenna and base station equipment

Abstract

A base station antenna and base station equipment, the base station antenna includes a signal processing unit and an antenna array, the signal processing unit includes a signal transceiver port, a phase-shifted feeding network and a filtering unit, the signal transceiver port is connected to the first end of the phase-shifted feeding network, the second end of the phase-shifted feeding network is connected to the first end of the filtering unit, and the second end of the filtering unit is connected to the antenna array. By cascading the filtering unit between the phase-shifted feeding network and the antenna array, not only can the nonlinear interference generated by the phase-shifted feeding network be suppressed in the downlink transmission scenario, so that the receiver receives a purer signal, the probability of interference of the signal emitted by the base station antenna with other frequency band signals in the receiver is reduced, and the anti-interference capability of the receiver is improved, but also the out-of-band interference of the signal in the current transmission link with the signal in other transmission links can be suppressed in the uplink transmission scenario, so as to improve the anti-interference capability of the base station antenna.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a base station antenna and base station equipment. Background Art

[0002] At present, massive multiple input multiple output (MM) technology, as a high-end form of the evolution of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology, has gradually become a key technology used in base station antennas. Taking the time division duplex (TDD) system as an example, the number of channels in a traditional TDD system can usually only be set to 2, 4 or 8, while the number of channels in a TDD system using MM technology can reach 64, 128 or even 256, and it can continue to increase in the future. By using the multi-channel of MM technology to jointly process the signal, the spatial diversity and multiplexing of the channel can effectively improve the signal transmission rate and the amount of data transmitted at one time.

[0003] However, there are usually some nonlinear devices in the base station antenna. After the signal is processed by these nonlinear devices, it will introduce nonlinear interference and other problems. During downlink transmission, if the nonlinear interference generated in the base station antenna is not suppressed, the signal emitted by the base station antenna may also interfere with the signals of other frequency bands in the receiver, reducing the anti-interference ability of the receiver. During uplink transmission, if the nonlinear interference generated in the base station antenna is not suppressed, the signal transmitted by a communication system in the base station antenna may also interfere with the signals transmitted by other communication systems, reducing the anti-interference ability of the base station antenna.

[0004] In summary, how to suppress the nonlinear interference generated in the base station antenna has become a problem that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present application provides a base station antenna and a base station device for suppressing nonlinear interference generated in the base station antenna.

[0006] In the first aspect, the present application provides a base station antenna, including a signal processing unit and an antenna array, the signal processing unit including a signal transceiver port, a phase-shifted feeding network and a filtering unit, the signal transceiver port is connected to the first end of the phase-shifted feeding network, the second end of the phase-shifted feeding network is connected to the first end of the filtering unit, and the second end of the filtering unit is connected to the antenna array. During downlink transmission, the phase-shifted feeding network can perform phase-shifted feeding on the transmission signal from the signal transceiver port and send it to the filtering unit, and the filtering unit can filter the transmission signal after phase-shifted feeding and send it to the antenna array, so that the antenna array radiates the filtered transmission signal. During uplink transmission, the filtering unit can filter the received signal from the antenna array and send it to the phase-shifted feeding network, and the phase-shifted feeding network can perform phase-shifted feeding on the filtered received signal and send it to the signal transceiver port.

[0007] In the above design, by cascading the filter unit between the phase-shifted feeding network and the antenna array, on the one hand, the nonlinear interference generated by the phase-shifted feeding network can be suppressed in the downlink transmission scenario, so that the receiver receives a purer signal, and the probability of interference of the signal emitted by the base station antenna on other frequency band signals in the receiver is reduced, and the anti-interference ability of the receiver is improved, thereby protecting the receiver. On the other hand, in the uplink transmission scenario, the out-of-band interference of the signal in the current transmission link on the signal in other transmission links can be suppressed, and the anti-interference ability of the base station antenna can be improved by purifying the signals on each transmission link in the base station antenna. It can be seen that this design can effectively improve the quality of the signals sent and received by the base station antenna.

[0008] In an optional design, the transmit signal and the receive signal can be carried in the same frequency band, such as carried in different time slots of the same frequency band in a TDD system. In this way, the base station antenna can use the same phase shift feeding parameters and the same filtering parameters to adjust the transmit and receive signals in the same frequency band. This method can achieve more precise phase shift adjustment or filtering adjustment for the frequency band.

[0009] In an optional design, the signal processing unit may include M signal transceiver ports and a first combiner / splitter, the first combiner / splitter includes M branch ends and a combining end, the M branch ends of the first combiner / splitter are respectively connected to the M signal transceiver ports, and the combining end of the first combiner / splitter is connected to the first end of the phase-shift feeding network. Wherein, M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. During downlink transmission, the first combiner / splitter can combine the M transmission signals from the M signal transceiver ports into one path and send them to the phase-shift feeding network. During downlink transmission, the first combiner / splitter can divide the received signal after phase-shift feeding into M paths and send them to the M signal transceiver ports respectively. In this design, M signal transceiver ports can correspond to M frequency bands. By sharing the same phase-shifted feed network to electrically adjust the transceiver signals of M frequency bands, sharing the same filter unit to filter the transceiver signals of M frequency bands, and sharing the same antenna array to radiate and receive the transceiver signals of M frequency bands, it is not necessary to set up a dedicated phase-shifted feed network, filter unit and antenna array for each frequency band of transceiver signals, effectively reducing the number of phase-shifted feed networks, filter units and antenna arrays that need to be deployed in the base station antenna, saving the layout space of the base station antenna. Moreover, this method integrates transceiver signals of more frequency bands on the same antenna array as much as possible, and also helps to realize the reuse of antenna arrays and reduce mutual interference between antenna arrays.

[0010] In an optional design, the base station antenna may include K signal processing units and a second combiner / splitter, the second combiner / splitter includes K branching ends and a combining end, the second ends of the K filtering units corresponding to the K signal processing units are respectively connected to the K branching ends of the second combiner / splitter, and the combining end of the second combiner / splitter is connected to the antenna array. Wherein, K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. During downlink transmission, the second combiner / splitter can combine the K filtered transmission signals sent by the K filtering units into one path and send them to the antenna array. During uplink transmission, the second combiner / splitter can divide the received signal into K paths and send them to the K filtering units respectively. In this design, the K signal processing units can correspond to K frequency bands respectively. By setting the corresponding filters for the receiving and transmitting signals of the K frequency bands respectively, different filtering rules can be set for different frequency bands, which facilitates the network optimization device to optimize the filtering operation of a certain frequency band. In addition, the design also sets up a dedicated phase-shifted feeding network for the transmit and receive signals of K frequency bands, so the transmit and receive signals of each frequency band can also be phase-shifted and fed independently, which helps the base station antenna to flexibly adjust the phase of each frequency band. Furthermore, the design radiates or receives the transmit and receive signals of K frequency bands through the same antenna array, which not only reduces the layout space occupied by the base station antenna, but also achieves stronger beam coverage capability with fewer transmit and receive channels to maximize the use of the antenna aperture.

[0011] In an optional design, the phase-shift feeding network may include a first digital phase shifter, wherein the first end of the first digital phase shifter corresponds to the first end of the phase-shift feeding network, and the second end of the first digital phase shifter corresponds to the second end of the phase-shift feeding network. The first digital phase shifter can perform phase-shift feeding on the transmission signal and then send it to the filtering unit, and can also perform phase-shift feeding on the received signal after filtering and then send it to the signal transceiver port. This design can achieve beamforming of the transceiver signal with only one digital phase shifter, which helps to reduce the number of components in the base station antenna and reduce the space occupied and the cost of the base station antenna.

[0012] In an optional design, the phase-shifted feeding network may include a power divider and N second digital phase shifters, the power divider includes a first end and N second ends, the first end of the power divider corresponds to the first end of the phase-shifted feeding network, the N second ends of the power divider are respectively connected to the first ends of the N second digital phase shifters, and the second ends of the N second digital phase shifters are connected to the filtering unit. Wherein, N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. During downlink transmission, the power divider can distribute the transmission signal into N transmission sub-signals and send them to the N second digital phase shifters respectively, and the N second digital phase shifters perform phase shifting on the N transmission sub-signals after power distribution and send them to the filtering unit. During uplink transmission, the N second digital phase shifters can perform phase shifting on the N received signals after filtering from the filtering unit and send them to the power divider, and the power divider weights the N received signals after phase shifting from the N second digital phase shifters and sends them to the signal transceiver port. In this design, by setting a power divider to distribute the power of the transmission signal or weighting multiple receiving signals, the transmission signal and the receiving signal can be divided into multiple links to transmit the transmission signal and the receiving signal in parallel, so as to improve the transmission efficiency of the transmission and reception signals. In addition, by setting N digital phase shifters to shift the phase of N transmission sub-signals or N receiving signals respectively, the radiation direction of the beam of the antenna array radiating the transmission signal or receiving the receiving signal can be changed more flexibly and finely.

[0013] In an optional design, the filtering unit may include N filters, the antenna array may include N groups of radiating units, the first ends of the N filters are respectively connected to the second ends of the N second digital phase shifters, and the second ends of the N filters are respectively connected to the N groups of radiating units. During downlink transmission, the N second digital phase shifters can perform phase shift processing on the N transmitted sub-signals after power distribution and send them to the N filters respectively, the N filters perform filtering processing on the N transmitted sub-signals after phase shift processing and send them to the N groups of radiating units, and the N groups of radiating units respectively radiate the N transmitted sub-signals after filtering processing. During uplink transmission, the N groups of radiating units send the N received signals to the N filters respectively, the N filters can perform filtering processing on the N received signals from the N groups of radiating units and send them to the N second digital phase shifters, the N second digital phase shifters perform phase shifting on the N received signals from the N filters after filtering processing and send them to the power divider. In this design, by setting N transmission links in each transceiver channel between the signal transceiver port and the antenna array, the transceiver signals can be transmitted in parallel through the N transmission links to improve the transmission efficiency of the transceiver signals. Moreover, by filtering the transceiver signals on the N transmission links respectively through N filters, the nonlinear interference generated by the nonlinear devices on each transmission link can be more specifically suppressed, and the signal quality transmitted on each transmission link can be accurately improved. While effectively reducing the interference of the downlink signal to the other frequency band signals in the receiver, the anti-interference ability of the base station antenna when processing the uplink signal is improved.

[0014] In an optional design, the base station antenna may also include a control unit and a control interface, wherein the input end of the control unit is connected to the control interface, and the output end of the control unit is connected to a digital phase shifter. The digital phase shifter may be a first digital phase shifter or N second digital phase shifters. When it is necessary to adjust the beam of the base station antenna, the control unit may send a phase shift control instruction to the digital phase shifter according to the phase shift control signal from the control interface, so that the digital phase shifter adjusts the phase of the transmitted signal or the received signal according to the phase shift control instruction, thereby achieving beam adjustment of the base station antenna. This design can adjust each digital phase shifter by means of a microwave switch, which helps to flexibly adjust the beam of the base station antenna through a convenient control method.

[0015] In a second aspect, the present application provides a base station device, comprising a base station antenna as described in any one of the first aspects and one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more transceivers can be connected to the base station antenna.

[0016] In an optional design, the transceiver is a remote radio unit.

[0017] These and other aspects of the present application will become more clearly understood in the description of the following embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a system architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application is exemplified;

[0019] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the internal structure of a base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplarily shown;

[0020] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a beamforming architecture is shown as an example;

[0021] Figure 4 An internal structure diagram of a base station antenna is exemplarily shown;

[0022] Figure 5 A schematic diagram showing the internal structure of another base station antenna is exemplified;

[0023] Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing the internal structure of another base station antenna is exemplified;

[0024] Figure 7 The following is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] Figure 8 The following is a schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplified;

[0027] Fig.10 A schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplified;

[0028] Fig.11 A schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplified;

[0029] Fig.12 The following is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] Fig.13 A structural diagram of another base station antenna corresponding to an embodiment of the present application is exemplarily shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The base station antenna provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applicable to various communication systems, for example: the fifth generation (5th Generation, 5G) communication system or the new wireless (new radio, NR) system, the 6G communication system, the long term evolution (longterm evolution, LTE) system, the global system of mobile communication (global system of mobile communication, GSM) system, the code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) system, the wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, the general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS) system, the LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) system, the universal mobile telecommunication system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), the world wide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, WiMAX) communication system, etc., of course, it can also be other unlicensed frequency band communication systems, without limitation.

[0032] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments.

[0033] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a system architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application is shown as an example. Figure 1 As shown, the system architecture may include wireless access network equipment, such as but not limited to Figure 1The base station 100 shown. The wireless access network device can be located in a base station subsystem (base btation bubsystem, BBS), 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), and is used to provide cell coverage for wireless signals to achieve connection between terminal equipment and the radio frequency end of the wireless network. Specifically, the base station 100 can be a base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a GSM or CDMA system, a base station (NodeB, NB) in a WCDMA system, an evolved base station (evolutional NodeB, eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (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, a base station in a future 5G network, or a base station in a future evolved PLMN network, etc., for example, a new wireless base station, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0034] like Figure 1 As shown, a possible structure of the base station 100 may include a base station antenna 110, a transceiver 120 and a baseband processing unit 130. Among them, the base station antenna may select a new generation of beamforming antennas to form an antenna system, such as using analog beamforming antennas and digital beamforming antennas to form a hybrid beamforming (HBF) antenna system. The transceiver 120 may be connected to the antenna port of the base station antenna 110, so that the base station antenna 110 may receive a transmission signal sent by the transceiver 120 through its antenna port and radiate it through the radiation unit of the base station antenna 110, or send a reception signal received by the radiation unit of the base station antenna 110 to the transceiver 120.

[0035] In implementation, the transceiver 120 may be a remote radio unit, the baseband processing unit 130 may be a baseband unit, and the base station antenna 110 is usually integrated with the remote radio unit in the same device, which is called an active antenna unit (AAU). In this scenario, the baseband unit can be used to process the baseband signal to be transmitted and transmit it to the remote radio unit, or receive the received signal sent by the remote radio unit (i.e., the received radio signal received by the base station antenna 110 during the signal reception process is converted and processed by the remote radio unit to obtain the baseband signal) and process it. The remote radio unit can convert the baseband signal to be transmitted sent by the baseband unit into a transmission radio signal (including performing necessary signal processing on the baseband signal to be transmitted, such as signal amplification, etc.), and then send the transmission radio signal to the base station antenna 110 through the antenna port of the base station antenna 110, and the base station antenna 110 radiates the transmission radio signal. Alternatively, the remote radio unit can also receive the received radio signal sent by the antenna port of the base station antenna 110, convert it into a received baseband signal, and then send it to the baseband unit.

[0036] It should be understood that Figure 1 Only the connection relationship between one transceiver 120 and one antenna port of the base station antenna 110 is illustrated. In other optional implementations, 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, and multiple transceivers 120 may be connected to the same baseband processing unit 130.

[0037] Figure 1 A possible deployment scenario of a base station antenna is also exemplified. Figure 1 As shown, the deployment scenario may include a pole, an antenna adjustment bracket, a feeder, a joint seal, and a grounding device. Among them, the end of the base station antenna 110 close to the antenna port can be fixedly connected to the pole, and the end of the base station antenna 110 away from the antenna port can be movably connected to the pole through the antenna adjustment bracket, so that the position of the base station antenna 110 can be adjusted through the antenna adjustment bracket. A feeder is led out from the antenna port of the base station antenna 110 and connected to the transceiver 120, and the feeder can also extend to the grounding pipe to connect to the grounding device. Among them, the connection between the antenna port and the feeder, and the connection between the feeder and the grounding pipe can be sealed by a joint seal. It should be understood that Figure 1 Only the deployment method of the base station antenna including one antenna is shown. In other scenarios, the base station antenna may also include multiple antennas installed around the pole. The installation positions of the multiple antennas may be the same or different. When the installation positions are different, the multiple antennas may form different beam coverage ranges.

[0038] Figure 2 The internal structure diagram of a base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplarily shown as follows: Figure 2 As shown, in the embodiment of the present application, the base station antenna may include a signal processing unit and an antenna array, which are usually placed in a radome. The radome has good electromagnetic wave penetration characteristics in electrical performance and can withstand the effects of external harsh environments in mechanical performance. These components are isolated from the external environment by the radome, which helps to protect these components from the effects of external harsh environments. The base station antenna may also include an antenna port, which is usually placed outside the radome to achieve plugging with the transceiver. The base station antenna may include at least one antenna array composed of multiple radiating units and a metal reflector. The multiple radiating units are usually placed on the front of the metal reflector. The metal reflector can reflect the antenna signal incident on the front of the metal reflector and gather it to the receiving point (i.e., the radiating unit) to improve the receiving sensitivity of the antenna signal and enhance the receiving ability of the antenna. In contrast to the radiating unit, other electrical components in the base station antenna are usually arranged on the back of the metal reflector. In this way, the metal reflector can also block or shield the radio waves emitted by other electrical components on its back to reduce the interference of other radio waves on the received signal. The metal reflector can also be called a bottom plate, an antenna panel, a reflective surface or a metal reflective surface. The frequencies of the radiation units in the same antenna array can be the same or different. The base station antenna can also include a transmission or calibration network (i.e., a transmission component or a calibration network) connected to the signal processing unit. The base station antenna can achieve different beam radiation directions through the transmission component, or can also change the phase of the signal through a phase shifter, or can also obtain a calibration signal (carrying a target phase) through a calibration network, and adjust the phase shift feeding parameters in the signal processing unit according to the deviation between the actual phase of the antenna array and the target phase, so as to gradually adjust the actual phase of the antenna array to the target phase, thereby achieving accurate transceiver operation.

[0039] The following are some of the terms used in the following embodiments of the present invention:

[0040] (1) Radiating unit: It is a unit that constitutes the basic structure of the antenna, used to radiate or receive radio waves, and is a passive device. The radiating unit can convert high-frequency current into microwave signals to form a specific beam in space. The radiating units in the base station antenna mainly include two types: vibrator units and patch units. The vibrator unit is also called an antenna vibrator or vibrator, and is mainly used in dual-polarized antennas, low-frequency antennas or high-frequency antennas. The patch unit is mainly used in narrowband antennas, single-band antennas and indoor antennas. The radiating unit in this application can be used for single-band antennas or multi-band antennas, and can be used for single-polarized antennas or multi-polarized antennas. This application does not make specific restrictions on this.

[0041] (2) Feed network: The feed network is usually composed of a controllable impedance transmission line and may include a phase shifter and / or a power divider (PD), such as only a phase shifter, only a power divider, or both a phase shifter and a power divider. A phase shifter is a device that can adjust the phase of a signal and may include a digital phase shifter and an analog phase shifter. A power divider is a device that can divide an input signal into two or more output signals according to energy. The energy of the two or more output signals may be equal or unequal. When the power divider is used in reverse (i.e., receiving a signal through the output end and sending a signal through the input end), the power divider can also combine the two or more input signals into one output signal according to energy. The energy of the output signal is equal to the sum of the energy of the two or more input signals. The power divider used in reverse may also be called a combiner. When the feed network only includes a phase shifter, the feed network can feed the transmit signal to the radiating unit according to a certain phase, or send the receive signal to the remote radio unit according to a certain phase. When the feeding network only includes a power divider, the feeding network can feed the transmission signal to the radiating unit according to a certain amplitude, or send the receiving signal to the remote radio unit according to a certain amplitude. When the feeding network includes both a power divider and a phase shifter, the feeding network can feed the transmission signal to the radiating unit according to a certain amplitude and phase, or send the receiving signal to the remote radio unit according to a certain amplitude and phase.

[0042] (3) Phase-shifted feed network: refers to a feed network that includes a phase shifter, such as only a phase shifter, or both a phase shifter and a power divider.

[0043] (4) Filter: A passive device with frequency selection function, which can effectively filter out a specific frequency band or frequencies other than a certain frequency band, allowing useful signals with a specific frequency to pass through and attenuating signals of other frequencies, so as to filter out interference noise, perform spectrum analysis, and suppress out-of-band interference. The filter can be set in the feed network or phase-shift feed network, or in other components, or as a separate component.

[0044] (5) Communication system: In this application, the maximum frequency band range that can be carried by a radio frequency transceiver port of a remote radio frequency unit is referred to as a communication system. The radio frequency transceiver port is an interface device, which can be an MQ connector, a DIN connector or other standard connectors.

[0045] (6) Combiner / splitter: It is a combination of the functions of a combiner and a splitter. A combiner is a device that can combine two or more RF signals in two or more communication systems into one RF signal. A splitter is a device that can split one RF signal into two or more RF signals corresponding to two or more communication systems. A combiner / splitter is a device that can combine two or more RF signals in two or more communication systems into one RF signal and split one RF signal into two or more RF signals corresponding to two or more communication systems. Combiners, splitters and combiners / splitters can also prevent the signals in each communication system from interfering with each other.

[0046] (7) MM technology and beamforming:

[0047] MM technology is a high-end form of MIMO technology evolution and is a key technology in the development of 4.5G, 5G or 6G communication systems. Antennas under MM technology have smaller physical sizes, so more antennas can be set up in base station antennas with limited space. Even if the base station antennas in future communication systems use high-frequency carriers (such as 5G communication systems use millimeter-level high-frequency carriers) to transmit and receive signals, resulting in a small receiving energy area for a single antenna, the base station antenna can also increase the transceiver gain through a large number of antennas set up internally. In addition, MM technology also uses static scene beams and can increase the vertical degree of freedom for transceiver signals. In this way, with the support of MM technology, base station antennas can also flexibly adjust the beam shape of transceiver signals in the horizontal and vertical dimensions, which helps to improve the three-dimensional coverage capability of base station antennas.

[0048] In MM technology, the implementation method of beamforming is an important factor affecting the transceiver performance of base station antennas. Beamforming is a signal processing technology that uses a sensor array to send and receive signals in a directional manner, also known as beamforming or spatial filtering. When beamforming is implemented using a phase-shifted feed network, by adjusting the phase-shifted feed parameters of the phase-shifted feed network, signals at certain angles can obtain constructive interference, while signals at other angles can obtain destructive interference, so as to produce different beam coverage ranges. There are three commonly used beamforming methods in MM technology: analog beamforming, digital beamforming, and HBF. Among them, analog beamforming refers to beamforming analog signals, digital beamforming refers to beamforming digital signals, and HBF refers to beamforming both digital signals and analog signals. Generally speaking, the signal transmitted in the air is an analog signal, and the signal processed in the baseband unit is a digital signal. Therefore, after the uplink analog signal sent by the terminal device enters the remote radio unit through the base station antenna, it needs to be converted into a digital signal by an analog-to-digital converter before being transmitted to the baseband unit for processing. After entering the remote radio unit, the downlink digital signal sent by the baseband unit also needs to be converted into an analog signal by a digital-to-analog converter before being sent to the air through the radiation unit of the base station antenna. In this case, an analog-to-digital converter needs to be set on the remote radio unit side as the receiving end, and a digital-to-analog converter needs to be set on the remote radio unit side as the transmitting end. In this way, when the base station device adopts digital beamforming, the downlink digital signal can be beamformed before entering the digital-to-analog converter set on the remote radio unit side of the transmitting end, or the uplink analog signal transmitted in the air can be converted into a digital signal by the analog-to-digital converter set on the remote radio unit side of the receiving end before completing the beamforming process. When the base station device adopts analog beamforming, the downlink digital signal may be processed into an analog signal by the digital-to-analog converter set on the remote radio unit side of the transmitting end before the beamforming process is completed, or the uplink analog signal transmitted over the air may be processed into an analog signal by the analog-to-digital converter set on the remote radio unit side of the receiving end before the beamforming process is completed. When the base station device adopts HBF, the downlink digital signal may be processed into an analog signal by the digital-to-analog converter set on the remote radio unit side of the transmitting end before the digital beamforming process is completed, or the uplink analog signal transmitted over the air may be processed into an analog signal by the analog-to-digital converter set on the remote radio unit side of the receiving end before the analog beamforming process is completed.

[0049] Take the following transmission as an example, Figure 3 An exemplary schematic diagram of a beamforming architecture is shown, wherein: Figure 3Figure (a) shows the base station antenna architecture using analog beamforming. Figure 3 Figure (b) shows the base station antenna architecture using digital beamforming. Figure 3 Figure (c) shows the base station antenna architecture using HBF. Figure 3 As shown in Figure (a), a base station device using analog beamforming will send the downlink digital signal sent by the baseband unit to the RF link in the remote RF unit, which will be converted into a downlink analog signal in the remote RF link and input into the base station antenna through the antenna port. The downlink analog signal will then be mapped to different antenna arrays through the analog beamforming (ABF) matrix in the base station antenna. Figure 3 As shown in Figure (b), a base station device using digital beamforming will first map the downlink digital signal to different RF links in the remote RF unit through the digital beamforming (DBF) matrix in the baseband unit, and then send it to different antenna arrays in the base station antenna via different RF links. Figure 3 As shown in Figure (c), HBF is an evolution of digital beamforming. The base station equipment using HBF will first map the downlink digital signal to different RF links in the remote RF unit through the DBF matrix in the baseband unit, and then convert it into a downlink analog signal in each RF link and input it into the base station antenna through the antenna port, and then map it to different antenna arrays through the ABF in the base station antenna. DBF completes the final beamforming by combining digital beamforming and analog beamforming, which can switch beams more flexibly and quickly, effectively improving the antenna coverage performance of the base station antenna.

[0050] The following first introduces several optional internal structures of base station antennas by way of example.

[0051] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the internal structure of a base station antenna is shown as an example. Figure 4 As shown, in this example, the baseband unit performs digital beamforming on the downlink digital signal and then sends it to each RF link in the remote RF unit. Each RF link in the remote RF unit is provided with a digital-to-analog converter. Therefore, the downlink digital signal output by the baseband unit is converted into a downlink analog signal by the digital-to-analog converter in the remote RF unit, and then the analog beamforming is completed in the base station antenna. In this case, the base station antenna may include X antenna arrays with independent analog beamforming functions, such as antenna array 1, antenna array 2, ..., antenna array X, where X is a positive integer. Each of the X antenna arrays may include a metal reflector, a plurality of digital phase shifters, and a radiation unit group composed of a plurality of radiation units in a matrix form. The plurality of digital phase shifters and the radiation unit group may be arranged on the metal reflector. As shown in FIG. Figure 4 As shown, multiple digital phase shifters in each antenna array can be connected to different radiating units in the radiating unit group, and at least one of the multiple digital phase shifters has different phase shift parameters (or different total delay ranges) from the other digital phase shifters. In this way, the base station antenna can adjust the beam coverage corresponding to each antenna array by adjusting the phase shift parameters of each digital phase shifter in each antenna array. When the signal transmission efficiency is low, the base station antenna can also reduce the complexity of beamforming by reducing the phase shift parameters of some digital phase shifters to improve the signal transmission efficiency.

[0052] Figure 5 The internal structure diagram of another base station antenna is shown as an example. Figure 5 As shown, in this example, the base station antenna may include a radiation unit module, a power division module, a phase shifter module, a connection structure module, a driver and a controller connected in sequence. Among them, the radiation unit module may include multiple groups of radiation units arranged in parallel, each group of radiation units may include an odd number (such as 3) of radiation units, the power division module may include multiple groups of power dividers arranged in parallel, the phase shifter module may include multiple phase shifters arranged in parallel (such as phase shifter 1, phase shifter 2, phase shifter 3 and phase shifter 4), and the connection structure module may include multiple parallel connection structures. In the base station antenna, multiple groups of radiation units, multiple groups of power dividers, multiple phase shifters and multiple connection structures correspond to each other. Each connection structure can be connected to a corresponding phase shifter, each phase shifter can also be connected to a corresponding group of power dividers, and each group of power dividers can also be connected to each radiation unit in a corresponding group of radiation units. In this case, after receiving a control instruction for a certain phase shifter, the controller can send a driving instruction to the driver according to the control instruction, and the driver drives the connection structure corresponding to the target phase shifter to move, thereby driving the target phase shifter to move, so as to change the phase shift parameter of the target phase shifter, and then change the beam coverage range of the radiation unit.

[0053] Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing the internal structure of another base station antenna is shown as an example. Figure 6 As shown, in this example, in addition to the radiating unit, the base station antenna may also include a phase shifter, and each radiating unit and each phase shifter are arranged in a matrix to form a phased scanning array. When the base station device adopts this base station antenna structure, there are two types of phase shifters in the base station device, one of which is integrated in the base station antenna and directly connected to the radiating unit, and the other is integrated in the RF transceiver channel (i.e., RF link) of the remote RF unit. In this way, the base station device can more flexibly achieve different phase shifting purposes by comprehensively adjusting the phase shifter in the remote RF remote unit and the phase shifter in the base station antenna.

[0054] like Figures 4 to 6In the illustrated base station antenna, each antenna array corresponds to a transceiver channel. Although these base station antennas can improve the transceiver performance of the base station antenna by increasing the number of transceiver channels, these base station antennas only set phase shifters and radiation units in each transceiver channel, but do not set filtering units. Therefore, each transceiver channel cannot filter the signals transmitted by each other, resulting in the base station antenna being unable to suppress the nonlinear interference generated in each transceiver channel. This will not only increase the interference of the downlink signal sent by the base station antenna to the receiver on other frequency band signals in the receiver, but may also cause the signals in each transceiver channel of the base station antenna to interfere with each other, thereby reducing the quality of the transceiver signal of the base station antenna. In an optional implementation, although a filtering unit can also be set on the outside of the radiation unit (i.e., at the main feed input port of the antenna array) to eliminate signal interference by sequentially connecting the phase shifter, the radiation unit and the filtering unit, this connection method can only eliminate interference before the downlink signal enters the base station antenna or eliminate interference before the uplink signal is sent to the air, but cannot suppress the interference generated inside the base station antenna, cannot effectively protect the receiver, and cannot suppress the mutual interference of signals on each transceiver channel inside the base station antenna. In addition, the increase in the number of transceiver channels will also increase the cost of the base station antenna. If the cost of the base station antenna is limited, Figures 4 to 6 The illustrated configuration method can only configure a small number of transmit and receive channels, resulting in a corresponding decrease in the beam coverage capability of the base station antenna.

[0055] In view of this, the present application provides a base station antenna to suppress the interference generated inside the base station antenna and to maximize the beam coverage capability of the base station antenna while saving layout space.

[0056] The specific structure of the base station antenna in the present application is introduced below with a specific embodiment. Exemplarily, the TDD system is used as an example for introduction below. In the TDD system, the base station antenna can use different time slots of the same radio frequency band to perform uplink and downlink transmission respectively.

[0057] It should be noted that, in the following description, the name of each port is only an exemplary description, and in other optional implementations, each port may also have other names. For example, the other name of the port may refer to a common name, such as: the other name of the input terminal may be the first communication terminal, and the other name of the output terminal may be the second communication terminal. For another example, the other name of the port may also refer to a name related to the function implemented by the port, such as: the input terminal is used to refer to a port with a receiving function, so the other name of the input terminal may also be a receiving terminal, and the output terminal is used to refer to a port with a sending function, so the other name of the output terminal may also be a sending terminal. There are many ways to name the port, as long as the port having the same or similar function as the port in the present application can be implemented, even if the port name is different from the port name in the present application, it also falls within the protection scope of the present application, and the present application will not repeat them one by one.

[0058] It should be noted that in the following description, ports and ports have a corresponding relationship, which may mean that the two ports are the same port, or that the two ports are connected through a line, and this application does not make any specific limitation on this.

[0059] It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0060] Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects. For example, the first combiner / splitter and the second combiner / splitter are only used to distinguish different combiners / splitters, and do not indicate the difference in priority or importance of the two combiners / splitters.

[0061] [Example 1]

[0062] Figure 7 The schematic diagram of the structure of a base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplarily shown as follows: Figure 7As shown, the base station antenna may include a signal processing unit and an antenna array. The signal processing unit may include a signal transceiver port (TR), a phase-shifted feeding network and a filtering unit, the signal transceiver port TR is connected to the first end (A1) of the phase-shifted feeding network, the second end (A2) of the phase-shifted feeding network is connected to the first end (B1) of the filtering unit, and the second end (B2) of the filtering unit is connected to the antenna array. In this example, the signal transceiver port TR may correspond to the antenna port of the base station antenna, such as the signal transceiver port TR is the antenna port of the base station antenna, or the signal transceiver port TR is connected to the antenna port of the base station antenna through a line. An antenna port of the base station antenna may correspond to a frequency band and may be connected to a radio frequency communication port of a remote radio frequency unit. For downlink transmission, after the signal transceiver port TR receives the transmission signal (such as the downlink RF signal) from the remote RF unit, it sends the transmission signal to the phase-shift feeding network. The phase-shift feeding network can perform phase-shift feeding processing on the transmission signal and send it to the filtering unit. Then, the filtering unit filters out the signals except the transmission signal of the frequency band corresponding to the signal transceiver port TR (that is, the frequency band corresponding to the antenna port connected to the signal transceiver port TR) from the transmission signal after phase-shift feeding, and only retains the transmission signal of the frequency band corresponding to the signal transceiver port TR. Then, the transmission signal of the frequency band is sent to the antenna array, and the antenna array radiates the transmission signal of the frequency band. For uplink transmission, the same antenna array receives a received signal (such as an uplink RF signal) and sends the received signal to a filtering unit. The filtering unit then filters out signals other than the received signal of the frequency band corresponding to the signal transceiver port TR from the received signal, and only retains the received signal of the frequency band corresponding to the signal transceiver port TR. The received signal of the frequency band is then sent to a phase-shift feeding network, which performs phase-shift feeding on the received signal of the frequency band and sends it to the signal transceiver port TR, and then transmits it to a remote RF unit.

[0063] use Figure 7 The base station antenna shown in the figure, by cascading the filtering unit between the phase-shifted feeding network and the antenna array, can suppress the nonlinear interference generated by the phase-shifted feeding network in the downlink transmission scenario, so that the receiver receives a purer signal, reduce the probability of interference of the signal emitted by the base station antenna with other frequency band signals in the receiver, improve the anti-interference ability of the receiver, and achieve the purpose of protecting the receiver. On the other hand, it can also suppress the out-of-band interference of the signal in the current transmission link with the signal in other transmission links in the uplink transmission scenario, and improve the anti-interference ability of the base station antenna by purifying the signals on each transmission link in the base station antenna. It can be seen from this that Figure 7 The base station antenna shown can effectively improve the quality of sending and receiving signals of the base station antenna.

[0064] In an optional implementation, a transceiver channel of the base station antenna can be used only to process transceiver signals of the same frequency band. In this case, the transmission signal and the reception signal in a transceiver channel can be carried in different time slots of the same frequency band. For example, when the base station antenna includes only one transceiver channel, the base station antenna can also have only one antenna port, which is connected to a radio frequency transceiver port of a remote radio frequency unit. In this way, the base station antenna can receive a transmission signal of a certain frequency band sent by the connected radio frequency transceiver port through its antenna port in a certain time slot, and then perform phase-shift feeding processing and filtering processing on the transmission signal according to the downlink transmission process in the above content, and then radiate the processed transmission signal into the air through the radiation unit of the base station antenna. The base station antenna can also receive a reception signal of the same frequency band sent by the terminal device in another time slot through its radiation unit, and then perform filtering processing and phase-shift feeding processing on the reception signal according to the uplink transmission process in the above content, and then send it to the remote radio frequency unit through the antenna port of the base station antenna.

[0065] In another optional implementation, a transceiver channel of the base station antenna can be used to process transceiver signals of multiple frequency bands. In this case, the transmission signal in a transceiver channel can be carried in the same time slot of multiple frequency bands, and the reception signal in the transceiver channel can be carried in another time slot of the multiple frequency bands. For example, when the base station antenna includes only one transceiver channel, the base station antenna can have multiple antenna ports and multiple signal transceiver ports that correspond to each other. The multiple antenna ports can be respectively connected to multiple RF transceiver ports of the same remote RF unit, or respectively connected to RF transceiver ports of different remote RF units, and one RF transceiver port corresponds to one frequency band. In this way, the base station antenna can receive transmission signals of multiple frequency bands transmitted by the connected multiple RF transceiver ports in a certain time slot through its multiple antenna ports, and then perform phase shift feeding processing and filtering processing on the transmission signals of multiple frequency bands according to the downlink transmission process in the above content, and then radiate the processed transmission signals into the air through the radiation unit of the base station antenna. The base station antenna can also receive reception signals of multiple frequency bands sent by the terminal device in another time slot through its radiation unit, and then filter and phase-shift the reception signals of multiple frequency bands according to the uplink transmission process in the above content, and then send them to multiple remote RF units or different RF transceiver ports of the same remote RF unit through multiple antenna ports of the base station antenna.

[0066] In a specific design, Figure 8 The structural diagram of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplarily shown as follows: Figure 8 As shown, in this example, the signal processing unit may include a first combiner / splitter and M signal transceiver ports, such as TR1, TR2, ..., TR M, M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The first combiner / splitter may include M branching terminals (such as C1, C2, ..., C M ) and a combining end (C0), M branching ends C1 to C M Connect M signal receiving and transmitting ports TR1 to TR M , the combining end C0 of the first combiner / splitter is connected to the first end A1 of the phase-shifted feeding network. In this design, M signal transceiver ports TR1 to TR M In downlink transmission, the first combiner / splitter receives signals from the M signal transceiver ports TR1 to TR2. M After the transmission signals of the M frequency bands are combined, the transmission signals of the M frequency bands can be combined into one path and then sent to the phase-shift feeding network. The phase-shift feeding network then performs phase-shift feeding processing on the combined transmission signal and then sends it to the filtering unit. The filtering unit can select the M signal transceiver ports TR1 to TR1 from the combined transmission signal. M The signals of other frequency bands other than the corresponding M frequency bands (including but not limited to other frequency bands in the TDD system and satellite frequency bands, etc.) are filtered out, and only the M signal transceiver ports TR1 to TR M The corresponding M frequency bands of the transmission signal are then sent to the antenna array for radiation. In uplink transmission, when the filter unit receives the receiving signal from the antenna array, the filter unit can remove the M signal transceiver ports TR1~TR from the received signal. M The received signals outside the corresponding M frequency bands are filtered out, and only M signal transceiver ports TR1 to TR M The received signals of the M frequency bands corresponding to the phase shift feeding network are then sent to the phase shift feeding network, and the received signals of the M frequency bands are subjected to phase shift feeding processing by the phase shift feeding network and then sent to the first combiner / splitter, and the first combiner / splitter can divide the received signals after the phase shift feeding into M receiving signals corresponding to the M frequency bands and send them to the M signal receiving ports TR1~TR corresponding to the M frequency bands respectively. M .

[0067] It should be noted that when the base station antenna performs downlink transmission, there may be one or some signal transceiver ports that do not receive the transmission signal. In this case, the number of transmission signals in the transmission signals of the M frequency bands may be less than M, such as there is only one transmission signal. When the base station antenna performs uplink transmission, there may be only one or some frequency bands of reception signals in the received signal after phase shift feeding. In this case, one or more of the M received signals obtained by branching may have empty reception signals, that is, no reception signal exists, or no reception signal passes through the one or more channels.

[0068] use Figure 8 In the base station antenna shown, the transceiver signals of multiple frequency bands can share the same phase-shifted feed network for electrical adjustment, the same filter unit for filtering, and the same antenna array for radiation and reception. This method does not need to set up a dedicated phase-shifted feed network, filter unit, and antenna array for each frequency band of transceiver signals, thereby effectively reducing the number of devices required to be deployed in the base station antenna and saving the layout space of the base station antenna. Moreover, one antenna array corresponds to one transceiver channel. This solution integrates transceiver signals of more frequency bands on the same antenna array as much as possible, which can not only realize beam adjustment of signals of multiple frequency bands while reducing the number of transceiver channels, but also reduce mutual interference between antenna arrays through antenna array multiplexing.

[0069] The above embodiment introduces the possibility that the base station antenna includes only one signal processing unit. In the embodiment of the present application, the base station antenna may also include multiple signal processing units. The structures of the multiple signal processing units may all be the same as the same signal processing unit introduced in the above embodiment. The structures of different signal processing units in the multiple signal processing units may also be the same as the two different structures of signal processing units introduced in the above embodiment. Figure 7 Taking the signal processing unit shown in the figure as an example, a possible structure of a base station antenna including multiple signal processing units is exemplarily introduced:

[0070] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown as an example. Fig. 9 As shown, the base station antenna may include an antenna array, a second combiner / splitter and K signal processing units, such as signal processing unit 1, signal processing unit 2, ..., signal processing unit K, wherein the structure of each signal processing unit is similar to Figure 7 The structures of the signal processing units shown are the same, and the K signal processing units may correspond to K frequency bands respectively, where K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. In this case, the second combiner / splitter may include K branching terminals (such as Z1, Z2, ..., Z K ) and a combining end Z0, the second ends (such as P) of the K filtering units (such as filtering unit 1, filtering unit 2, ..., filtering unit K) corresponding to the K signal processing units 12 , P 22 ,……,P K2 ) are respectively connected to the K branch terminals Z1 to Z2 of the second combiner / splitter K, the combining end Z0 of the second combiner / splitter is connected to the antenna array. When transmitting downlink, after receiving the transmission signals of K frequency bands after filtering from K filtering units, the second combiner / splitter can combine the transmission signals of the K frequency bands after filtering into one channel and send them to the antenna array for radiation. Among them, the number of transmission signals in the transmission signals of the K frequency bands after filtering can be less than K, such as the signal processing unit corresponding to a certain frequency band or certain frequency bands does not receive the transmission signal. When transmitting uplink, after receiving the reception signal from the antenna array, the second combiner / splitter can divide the reception signal into K receiving signals corresponding to the K frequency bands and send them to the K filtering units respectively, and the K filtering units filter the received reception signals according to the frequency bands corresponding to the signal processing units where they are located. Among them, the number of reception signals in the K receiving signals obtained by branching may be less than K, such as there is no signal of a certain frequency band or certain frequency bands in the reception signal received by the second combiner / splitter. In this case, the second combiner / splitter may not send the reception signal to the filtering units corresponding to these non-existent frequency bands.

[0071] Use Fig. 9 The base station antenna shown in the figure, by setting corresponding filters for the transceiver signals of each frequency band, can not only set different filtering rules for different frequency bands, so as to facilitate the network optimization equipment to optimize the filtering operation of a certain frequency band, but also suppress the nonlinear interference generated by the nonlinear devices in each communication system through the filters set in each communication system, so as to achieve the coexistence of the communication systems corresponding to each frequency band in the same transceiver channel on the basis of improving the user experience. In addition, the design also sets up a dedicated phase-shift feeding network for the transceiver signals of each frequency band, so the transceiver signals of each frequency band can also be phase-shifted and fed independently, which helps to flexibly adjust the phase of each frequency band. Furthermore, the design radiates or receives transceiver signals of multiple frequency bands through the same antenna array, which can not only reduce the layout space occupied by the base station antenna, but also achieve stronger beam coverage capability through fewer transceiver channels to maximize the use of the antenna aperture. In this way, even in the scenario where the dynamic beam needs to be switched quickly, this type of base station antenna can maximize the antenna gain through separate phase-shift feeding to accurately point to the user, effectively improving the network performance of the base station antenna.

[0072] It should be understood that Fig. 9 Any of the signal processing units shown may also be replaced by Figure 8 Any scheme of the base station antenna obtained by a simple replacement operation of the signal processing unit shown is within the protection scope of the present application, and the present application will not introduce them one by one.

[0073] Now continue in the above embodiment Figure 7Based on the technical solution corresponding to the base station antenna shown in the figure, the structure of the phase-shifted feeding network is further introduced. It should be noted that the second embodiment is only based on Figure 7 The structure of the phase-shifted feeding network is introduced by taking the base station antenna architecture of FIG. 1 as an example. The structure of the signal feeding network is also applicable to the phase-shifted feeding network in any base station antenna shown in the above content.

[0074] [Example 2]

[0075] In the embodiments of the present application, the phase-shifting feeding network may refer to any network that can realize the phase-shifting feeding function. For example, the phase-shifting feeding network may include a phase shifter, or may also include a power divider. Among them, the type of phase shifter may be a digital phase shifter, or may be an analog phase shifter, without specific limitation. The following example introduces two possible structures of phase-shifting feeding networks by taking the phase-shifting feeding network including a digital phase shifter as an example. Among them, the digital phase shifter is a discontinuous phase shifting device, which internally includes a circuit for controlling phase changes and related radio frequency paths. Through the circuit and the related radio frequency paths, a constant phase offset function can be realized, such as phase switching can be completed at least within milliseconds. The digital phase shifter can be realized by a microwave switch, or by other devices with a constant phase difference function, without specific limitation.

[0076] Structure 1

[0077] Fig.10 A schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown as an example. Fig.10As shown, in this example, the phase-shifting feeding network may include a digital phase shifter (i.e., a first digital phase shifter), and the filtering unit may include a filter. Wherein, the first end of the digital phase shifter corresponds to the first end A1 of the phase-shifting feeding network, such as the first end of the digital phase shifter is the first end A1 of the phase-shifting feeding network, or the first end of the digital phase shifter is connected to the first end A1 of the phase-shifting feeding network through a line. The second end of the digital phase shifter corresponds to the second end A2 of the phase-shifting feeding network, such as the second end of the digital phase shifter is the second end A2 of the phase-shifting feeding network, or the second end of the digital phase shifter is connected to the second end A2 of the phase-shifting feeding network through a line. Correspondingly, the first end of the filter corresponds to the first end B1 of the filtering unit, such as the first end of the filter is the first end B1 of the filtering unit, or the first end of the filter is connected to the first end B1 of the filtering unit through a line. The second end of the filter corresponds to the second end B2 of the filtering unit, such as the second end of the filter is the second end B2 of the filtering unit, or the second end of the filter is connected to the second end B2 of the filtering unit through a line. During downlink transmission, the digital phase shifter can process the phase of the transmission signal from the signal transceiver port TR to the target phase and then send it to the filter. Although the digital phase shifter will inevitably produce out-of-band interference problems in the process of changing the signal phase, a filter is cascaded after the digital phase shifter. The filter can filter out the signals of other frequency bands except the transmission signal of the frequency band corresponding to the signal transceiver port TR from the transmission signal of the target phase, and only retain the transmission signal of the frequency band corresponding to the signal transceiver port TR to suppress the interference generated inside the digital phase shifter. Afterwards, the filter sends the transmission signal of the frequency band to the antenna array for radiation. During uplink transmission, the filter can filter out the signals of other frequency bands except the reception signal of the frequency band corresponding to the signal transceiver port TR from the reception signal from the antenna array, and only retain the reception signal of the frequency band corresponding to the signal transceiver port TR, so as to make the signal in the current communication system purer, thereby reducing the interference effect of the signal in the current communication system on the signals in other current communication systems. Afterwards, the filter can send the received signal of the frequency band to the digital phase shifter, and the digital phase shifter processes the phase of the received filtered received signal to the target phase and sends it to the signal transceiver port TR. In this way, the signal in the current communication system is filtered by the filter, and the directional pattern of the receiving antenna is changed by the digital phase shifter, so that the uplink signal can be fed to the remote radio unit through the filter and the digital phase shifter almost losslessly.

[0078] In an optional implementation, the digital phase shifter can achieve phase shifting by microwave switching. Fig.10As shown, in this mode, the base station antenna may also include a control interface and a remote control unit (or control unit), and a switch control circuit C may also be provided in the digital phase shifter. The control end of the switch control circuit C may be connected to the output end of the remote control unit through a radio frequency transmission line, and the input end of the remote control unit may be connected to the control interface through a radio frequency transmission line. The control interface is an interface for data exchange between the base station antenna and the remote radio frequency unit, and is usually used to carry a driving voltage and a driving current. When the phase shift parameter of the digital phase shifter needs to be adjusted, the control interface may also receive an externally input phase shift control signal and send it to the remote control unit. The remote control unit parses the phase shift control signal to determine the target phase shift parameter corresponding to the digital phase shifter, and then inputs a driving voltage and a control stream (such as a digital control stream) to the switch control circuit C according to the target phase shift parameter. Under the action of the driving voltage received by the switch control circuit C, the digital phase shifter performs phase shifting according to the target phase shift parameter indicated by the control stream received by the switch control circuit C. Among them, the driving voltage may adopt the voltage provided by the antenna interface standard organization (AISG), or may also adopt the voltage provided by other standard protocols.

[0079] use Fig.10 The base station antenna shown in the figure can adjust the phase of the downlink analog signal sent by the remote radio unit or the uplink analog signal received by the radiation unit in the analog domain (i.e., analog beamforming) by setting a digital phase shifter. This adjustment method has no mechanical transmission and helps to achieve rapid phase shift of the transmitted and received signals. Moreover, the phase adjustment in the analog domain can also be combined with the digital beamforming on the baseband unit side to achieve HBF, which helps to further improve the accuracy and efficiency of the beamforming of the base station equipment.

[0080] Structure 2

[0081] Fig.11 A schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown as an example. Fig.11 As shown, the plurality of radiating elements in the antenna array may be divided into N groups of radiating elements, such as radiating element group 1, radiating element group 2, ..., radiating element group N, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2. In this case, the filtering unit may include N first ends (such as B 11 , B 12 ,……,B 1N ) and N second terminals (such as B 21 , B 22 ,……,B 2N), the phase-shift feeding network may include a power divider and N digital phase shifters (i.e., second digital phase shifters), such as digital phase shifter 1, digital phase shifter 2, ..., digital phase shifter N. The power divider may include a first end (E0) and N second ends, such as E1, E2, ..., E N Each of the N digital phase shifters may include a first terminal and a second terminal. For example, digital phase shifter 1 includes a first terminal F 11 and the second end F 12 The digital phase shifter 2 includes a first terminal F 21 and the second end F 22 , ..., the digital phase shifter N comprises a first terminal F N1 and the second end F N2 The first end E0 of the power divider corresponds to the first end A1 of the phase-shift feeding network (for example, the first end E0 of the power divider is the first end A1 of the phase-shift feeding network, or the first end E0 of the power divider is connected to the first end A1 of the phase-shift feeding network through a line), and the N second ends E1 to E N Connect the N first terminals F of the N digital phase shifters to 11 ~F N1 , the N second terminals F of the N digital phase shifters 12 ~F N2 Connect the N first terminals B of the filter unit respectively 11 ~B 1N , the N second terminals B of the filter unit 21 ~B 2N N groups of radiation units are connected respectively.

[0082] In the above structure 2, during downlink transmission, after receiving the transmission signal from the signal transceiver port TR, the power divider can distribute the transmission signal into N transmission sub-signals according to the pre-configured weights and send them to N digital phase shifters. The N digital phase shifters can respectively shift the phases of the received N transmission sub-signals after power distribution and send them to the filtering unit. The filtering unit respectively filters the N transmission sub-signals according to the frequency bands corresponding to the N links allocated by the power divider to obtain N filtered transmission sub-signals, and then sends the N filtered transmission sub-signals to N groups of radiation units, which are radiated out by the N groups of radiation units. Among them, the pre-configured weights can be pre-configured in the power divider by those skilled in the art as needed, such as equal power division or unequal power division. Assuming that in a case of unequal power division, the preconfigured weights correspond to 0.3, 0.5 and 0.2, then the power allocator can distribute the power of the transmitted signal according to these three weights to obtain transmitted sub-signal 1, transmitted sub-signal 2 and transmitted sub-signal 3. The power of transmitted sub-signal 1 accounts for 30% of the total power of the transmitted signal, the power of transmitted sub-signal 2 accounts for 50% of the total power of the transmitted signal, and the power of transmitted sub-signal 3 accounts for 20% of the total power of the transmitted signal.

[0083] In the above structure 2, when uplink transmission is performed, after receiving N received signals from N groups of radiation units, the filtering unit can filter the N received signals according to the frequency bands corresponding to the N links allocated by the power divider to obtain N filtered received signals, and then send the N filtered received signals to the N digital phase shifters respectively. The N digital phase shifters can perform phase shift processing on the N received signals respectively received and send them to the power divider. The power divider can weight the N received signals after phase shift processing according to the pre-configured weights and send them to the signal transceiver port TR. Assuming that the pre-configured weights are still 0.3, 0.5 and 0.2, after the power divider receives the received signal 1, the received signal 2 and the received signal 3, it can weight and combine the power of the received signal 1, the power of the received signal 2 and the power of the received signal 3 according to the weights of 0.3, 0.5 and 0.2 to obtain the weighted received signal.

[0084] use Fig.11The base station antenna shown in the figure can be divided into multiple links to transmit the transmission signal and the reception signal in parallel by setting a power divider to distribute the power of the transmission signal or to weight multiple reception signals, so as to improve the transmission efficiency of the transmission and reception signals. Moreover, by setting N digital phase shifters to perform phase shift processing on N transmission sub-signals or N reception signals respectively, it is not only possible to change the beam radiation direction of the antenna array radiating the transmission signal or receiving the reception signal more flexibly and finely, but also to adjust the beam through the comprehensive adjustment of N phases. This adjustment method has a smaller deviation and helps to improve the accuracy of beam adjustment. In this way, even when the number of transceiver channels is fixed, this method can improve the beam scanning capability of the base station antenna through the power distribution function of the power divider and the phase shifting function of multiple digital phase shifters, realize dynamic adjustment of the beam, and improve the network performance and user experience of the base station antenna. In addition, through the phase adjustment of the digital phase shifter in the analog domain and the phase adjustment of the baseband unit in the digital domain, hybrid beamforming can be realized together. This method helps to increase the speed of beam switching and effectively improve the network performance and user experience of the base station equipment.

[0085] In an optional embodiment, continue to refer to Fig.11 As shown, digital phase shifters 1 to N can realize phase shifting by microwave switching. In this way, the base station antenna can also include a control interface and a remote control unit, and each digital phase shifter of digital phase shifters 1 to N can also be provided with a switch control circuit (such as a switch control circuit C1 in digital phase shifter 1, a switch control circuit C2 in digital phase shifter 2, ..., a switch control circuit CN in digital phase shifter N), and the control end of the switch control circuit in each digital phase shifter (i.e., the control end of the switch control circuit C1, the control end of the switch control circuit C2, ..., the control end of the switch control circuit CN) can be connected to the output end of the remote control unit, and the input end of the remote control unit can be connected to the control interface. When it is necessary to adjust the phase shift parameter of a certain phase shifter, the control interface can send an externally input phase shift control signal to the remote control unit, and the remote control unit parses the phase shift control signal to determine the target digital phase shifter to be adjusted and the corresponding target phase shift parameter, and then can input a driving voltage and a control flow (such as a digital control flow) to the switch control circuit set in the target digital phase shifter to be adjusted according to the target phase shift parameter, so that the target digital phase shifter is phase-shifted according to the target phase shift parameter indicated by the control flow under the action of the driving voltage.

[0086] The solution in the above structure 2 is actually to realize one input and N outputs, or N inputs and one output, through a power divider and N digital phase shifters. This is just a possible structure of the phase-shifted feeding network. It should be understood that as long as a phase-shifted feeding network with one input and N outputs, or N inputs and one output, can be realized, it is within the protection scope of this application, and this application will not elaborate on this one by one.

[0087] In an optional design, the digital phase shifter and the switch control circuit arranged thereon can be placed on the back of the metal reflector of the antenna array. In this way, by distributing the digital phase shifters and the radiating elements on both sides of the metal reflector, it is helpful to utilize the isolation effect of the metal reflector to reduce the influence of the phase shifting operation on the radiating elements.

[0088] In an optional design, the digital phase shifter and the switch control circuit disposed thereon can be integrated on a printed circuit board (PCB), so that the distance between the digital phase shifter and the switch control circuit disposed thereon can be shortened, so that the control instructions of the switch control circuit can be transmitted to the digital phase shifter more quickly, so as to improve the control efficiency of the digital phase shift. Alternatively, in another optional design, the digital phase shifter and the switch control circuit disposed thereon can also be independently designed as required, and this application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0089] In an optional design, any adjacent components in the signal processing unit can be set to an integrated design, a jumper connection or an RF cable connection, or can also be set to other connection methods as needed. Among them, any adjacent components can refer to a power divider and N digital phase shifters, or can refer to N digital phase shifters and a filter unit, or can refer to a power divider, N digital phase shifters and a filter unit. When set to an integrated design or a jumper connection, the signal can be transmitted directly between adjacent components without being transmitted through an RF cable, which not only helps to reduce the number of RF cables and reduce costs, but also reduces insertion loss and increases the speed of signal flow transmission.

[0090] In an optional design, the power divider or filter can be implemented in a microstrip line or a suspended strip line to effectively reduce insertion loss. Of course, other implementation forms, such as an integrated design, can also be used as needed.

[0091] It should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiment 2 is only to introduce the possible structure of the phase-shifting feeding network by taking the phase shifter as a digital phase shifter as an example. The present application does not limit the type, form and implementation of the phase shifter. For example, the phase shifters in different signal processing units can be of the same type or of different types, and the present application does not limit this.

[0092] Now continue in the above embodiment Fig.11 Based on the technical solution corresponding to the base station antenna shown in the figure, the structure of the filtering unit and the antenna array is further introduced. It should be noted that the third embodiment is only based on Fig.11 The structure of the filtering unit and the antenna array is introduced by taking the base station antenna architecture as an example. The structure of the filtering unit and the antenna array is also applicable to the filtering unit and the antenna array in any base station antenna shown in the above content.

[0093] [Example 3]

[0094] Fig.12 A schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown as an example. Fig.12 As shown, in this example, the filtering unit may include N filters, such as filter 1, filter 2, ..., filter N, and each of the N filters may include a first end and a second end, such as filter 1 includes a first end H 11 and the second end H 21 , filter 2 includes a first terminal H 12 and the second end H 22 , ..., the filter N includes a first terminal H 1N and the second end H 2N . The N first terminals of the N filters H 11 ~H 1N Corresponding to the N first terminals of the filter unit (such as Fig.11 B 11 ~B 1N , such as the N first terminals H of the N filters 11 ~H 1N That is, the N first terminals B of the filter unit 11 ~B 1N , or the N first ends H of the N filters 11 ~H 1N The N first terminals B of the filter unit are connected through lines respectively 11 ~B 1N ), the N second ends H of the N filters 21 ~H 2N Corresponding to the N second terminals of the filter unit (such as Fig.11 B 21 ~B 2N , such as the N second ends H of the N filters 21 ~H 2N That is, the N second terminals B of the filter unit 21 ~B 2N , or the N second ends H of the N filters 21 ~H 2N The N second terminals B of the filter unit are connected through lines respectively. 21 ~B2N ). In this case, any one of the N digital phase shifters can send the phase-shifted transmission sub-signal to the connected filter, and any one of the N filters can filter the received phase-shifted transmission sub-signal and send it to a connected group of radiation units. Alternatively, any one of the N filters can filter the received signal from a connected group of radiation units and send it to the connected digital phase shifter, and any one of the N digital phase shifters can phase-shift the received signal and send it to the power divider. By setting filters on each transmission link of the same transceiver channel, each transmission link can use its own filter to filter its own transmitted signal. This method can more specifically suppress the nonlinear interference generated by the nonlinear devices on each transmission link, accurately improve the signal quality transmitted on each transmission link, and maximize the protection of the receiver.

[0095] In an optional embodiment, continue to refer to Fig.12 As shown, each group of radiation units in the N groups of radiation units may include multiple radiation units (such as Fig.12 Each graphic “×” in the figure is a radiation unit). In this case, the antenna array may also include N power dividers (short for power dividers) corresponding to the N groups of radiation units (or N filters), such as power divider 1, power divider 2, ..., power divider N. Each of the N power dividers may include a first end and multiple second ends, and the number of second ends is the same as the number of radiation units included in a group of radiation units corresponding to the power divider. The first end of each power divider can be connected to the second end of the corresponding filter, and the multiple second ends of each power divider can be respectively connected to the multiple radiation units included in the corresponding group of radiation units. Fig.12 As shown, it is assumed that radiation unit group 1 to radiation unit group N include X1, X2, ..., X N Radiating elements (X1, X2, ..., X N is a positive integer), the power divider 1 may include a first end G1 and X1 second ends 11, 12, ..., 1X1, and the first end G1 of the power divider 1 is connected to the second end H of the filter 1 12 , the second ends 11~1X1 of the power divider 1 are respectively connected to the corresponding X1 radiation units; the power divider 2 may include a first end G2 and X2 second ends 21, 22, ..., 2X2, the first end G2 of the power divider 2 is connected to the second end H of the filter 2 22 The second ends 21 to 2X2 of the power divider 2 are respectively connected to the corresponding X2 radiation units; ...; the power divider N may include a first end G N and X NThe second terminals N1, N2, ..., NX N , the first end G of the power divider N N Connect the second end H of the filter N N2 The second terminals N1 to NX1 of the power divider N are connected to the corresponding X N Radiating unit.

[0096] In this embodiment, during downlink transmission, any one of the N filters can send the filtered transmission sub-signal to the connected power divider. Any one of the N power dividers can distribute power to the received filtered transmission sub-signal to obtain multiple transmission sub-signals, and then feed the multiple transmission sub-signals into multiple radiation units in a corresponding group of radiation units, and radiate the multiple transmission sub-signals through the multiple radiation units. During uplink transmission, after any one of the N power dividers receives multiple reception signals from the connected multiple radiation units, the received multiple reception signals can be weighted and sent to the connected filter. After any one of the N filters receives the reception signal sent by the connected power divider, the reception signal can be filtered and the filtered reception signal can be sent to the connected digital phase shifter. In this way, the base station antenna can not only realize the parallel transmission of the receiving and transmitting signals through the power divider in the signal processing unit, but also realize the parallel receiving and transmitting operation of the radiation unit through the power divider set in the antenna array, effectively improving the signal processing efficiency of the base station antenna.

[0097] In the embodiment of the present application, since the power divider is arranged between the base station antenna and the remote radio frequency unit, it is a device closer to the baseband unit, so the power divider can also be called a front power divider. Power dividers 1 to N are arranged between the antenna array and the terminal device, and are devices far away from the baseband processing unit, so power dividers 1 to N can also be called rear power dividers 1 to N.

[0098] It should be noted that the above is only an introduction to a possible setting method of the signal processing unit by taking the filter set between the digital phase shifter and the power divider as an example. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the setting order of the digital phase shifter and the filter in the signal processing unit. For example, the digital phase shifter and the filter can be set in the order of the digital phase shifter, the filter and the power divider introduced in the above content, or can be set in the order of the filter, the digital phase shifter and the power divider. Some links can also be set in the order of the digital phase shifter, the filter and the power divider, and the other links can be set in the order of the filter, the digital phase shifter and the power divider, and so on.

[0099] In the embodiments of the present application, when the signal processing unit includes a power distributor, a digital phase shifter, and a filter, the power distributor, the digital phase shifter, and the filter can be arranged on the same physical unit, or they can be arranged on different physical units respectively, or they can be arranged arbitrarily in a manner that some components are combined in one physical unit and some components are arranged separately, and the present application does not limit this. Moreover, the above embodiments are all introduced by taking the filter unit arranged inside the signal processing unit as an example. In actual operation, the filter unit can also be arranged outside the signal processing unit, and the present application does not limit this.

[0100] It should be noted that the various embodiments in this application can also be combined with each other to form new embodiments. For example:

[0101] Fig.13 A schematic diagram showing the structure of another base station antenna corresponding to an embodiment of the present application is shown as an example. Fig.13 As shown, the base station antenna in this embodiment is combined Fig. 9 Base station antenna and Fig.10 The new base station antenna obtained by the base station antenna shown. In this example, the base station antenna may include an antenna array, a second combiner / splitter and K signal processing units, such as signal processing unit 1, signal processing unit 2, ..., signal processing unit K, wherein the phase-shift feed network in each signal processing unit may include a digital phase shifter, such as the phase-shift feed network 1 in the signal processing unit 1 includes a digital phase shifter 1, the phase-shift feed network 2 in the signal processing unit 2 includes a digital phase shifter 2, ..., the phase-shift feed network K in the signal processing unit K includes a digital phase shifter K. The first end of each digital phase shifter corresponds to the first end of the phase-shift feed network, and the second end of each digital phase shifter corresponds to the second end of the phase-shift feed network. Switch control circuits C1 to CK are respectively provided in the digital phase shifters 1 to the digital phase shifters K, and the control ends of the switch control circuits C1 to CK are respectively connected to the output end of the remote control unit, and the input end of the remote control unit is connected to the control interface. In this example, the base station antenna can adjust the phase shift parameters of each digital phase shifter through a remote control unit so that each transmission signal can achieve a different phase, and then combine each transmission signal into one through a second combiner / splitter and feed it to the corresponding radiation unit through a power divider. The base station antenna can also combine the receiving signals of multiple radiation units into one through a power divider and send it to the second combiner / splitter, and the second combiner / splitter divides the receiving signal into multiple receiving sub-signals and sends them to multiple digital phase shifters. The remote control unit adjusts the phase shift parameters of each digital phase shifter so that the multiple receiving sub-signals achieve different phases.

[0102] For example, in addition to setting a filter between the phase shifter and the power divider, the embodiment of the present application may also set another filter between the phase shifter and the signal transceiver port, such as Figure 2 As shown. This setting method can also filter out impurities in the transmission signal transmitted by the remote radio frequency unit before sending it to the phase shifter, so that the phase shifter can be made to phase-shift and feed only useful signals instead of useless out-of-band interference signals as much as possible, so as to save the processing resources of the base station antenna. Moreover, this method can also filter out impurities in the received signal before sending the received signal after the phase shift processing of the phase shifter to the remote radio frequency unit. In this way, not only can the remote radio frequency unit only perform subsequent processing on useful signals to save the processing resources of the remote radio frequency unit, but also it can reduce the nonlinear interference generated by the phase shifter and improve the quality of the received signal transmitted to the remote radio frequency unit. Through two filtering operations, the nonlinear interference and out-of-band interference in the base station antenna can be further suppressed.

[0103] also, Figure 2 The scheme of setting a combiner / splitter between the phase shifter and the signal receiving and transmitting port corresponds to Figure 8 Base station antenna shown. Figure 2 The scheme of setting filters and phase shifters between the signal transceiver port and the antenna array corresponds to Figure 7 It should be understood that the signal processing unit can be configured in addition to Figure 2 In addition to the illustrated components, other components may be provided without specific limitation.

[0104] It should be noted that the above embodiment of the present application only introduces the possible structure of the base station antenna by taking one antenna as an example. In practical applications, the base station antenna may also include multiple antennas, and one or more of the multiple antennas may use the solution in the present application to implement filtering and phase shifting, which will not be introduced in the present application.

[0105] It should be understood that the various components in the above embodiments of the present application refer to functional devices, and the present application does not limit the specific implementation methods of these functional components.

[0106] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present application also provides a base station device, including the base station antenna provided in an embodiment of the present application, and including one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more transceivers can be respectively connected one by one to multiple antenna ports in the base station antenna.

[0107] Exemplarily, the transceiver in the base station device may be a remote radio unit.

[0108] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a high-density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disc (SSD)).

[0109] The terms "component", "module", "system", etc. used in this specification are used to represent computer-related entities, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, an execution thread, a program and / or a computer. By way of illustration, both applications running on a computing device and a computing device can be components. One or more components may reside in a process and / or an execution thread, and a component may be located on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components may be executed from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. Components may, for example, communicate through local and / or remote processes based on signals having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component between a local system, a distributed system and / or a network, such as the Internet interacting with other systems through signals).

[0110] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or in a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0111] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0112] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0113] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0114] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0115] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be essentially or partly embodied in the form of a software product that contributes to the prior art. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: various media that can store program codes, such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, read-only memories (ROM), random access memories (RAM), magnetic disks or optical disks.

[0116] Although some possible embodiments of the present application have been described, those skilled in the art may make additional changes and modifications to these embodiments once they have learned the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the embodiments of the present application and all changes and modifications falling within the scope of the present application.

[0117] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and 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

1. A base station antenna, characterized in that: It comprises a signal processing unit and an antenna array; the signal processing unit comprises M signal transceiver ports, a first combiner / splitter, a phase-shifted feeding network and a filtering unit, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2; the first combiner / splitter comprises M branching ends and a combining end, the M branching ends of the first combiner / splitter are respectively connected to the M signal transceiver ports, the combining end of the first combiner / splitter is connected to the first end of the phase-shifted feeding network, the second end of the phase-shifted feeding network is connected to the first end of the filtering unit, and the second end of the filtering unit is connected to the antenna array; The first combiner / splitter is used to combine the M transmission signals from the M signal transceiver ports into one path and send it to the phase-shift feeding network, or to divide the received signal after phase-shift feeding into M paths and send them to the M signal transceiver ports respectively; The phase-shift feeding network is used to perform phase-shift feeding on the transmission signal from the first combiner / splitter and then send it to the filtering unit, or to perform phase-shift feeding on the received signal after filtering from the filtering unit and then send it to the first combiner / splitter; The filtering unit is used to filter the transmission signal after phase-shift feeding and then send it to the antenna array, or to filter the reception signal from the antenna array and then send it to the phase-shift feeding network; The antenna array is used to radiate the transmission signal after filtering, or to receive the reception signal and send it to the filtering unit.

2. The base station antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sending signal and the receiving signal corresponding to a signal transceiver port are carried in the same frequency band.

3. The base station antenna according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The phase-shift feeding network comprises a first digital phase shifter, wherein a first end of the first digital phase shifter corresponds to a first end of the phase-shift feeding network, and a second end of the first digital phase shifter corresponds to a second end of the phase-shift feeding network; The first digital phase shifter is used to perform phase shifting and feeding on the transmission signal and then send it to the filtering unit, or to perform phase shifting and feeding on the received signal after filtering and then send it to the signal transceiver port.

4. The base station antenna according to claim 3, characterized in that: The base station antenna further includes a control unit and a control interface; an input end of the control unit is connected to the control interface, and an output end of the control unit is connected to a digital phase shifter; the digital phase shifter is the first digital phase shifter; The control unit is used to send a phase shift control instruction to the digital phase shifter according to the phase shift control signal from the control interface; The digital phase shifter is used to adjust the phase of the transmitted signal or the received signal according to the phase shift control instruction.

5. A base station device, characterized in that: A base station antenna as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 and one or more transceivers; The one or more transceivers are connected to the base station antenna.

6. The base station device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The transceiver is a remote radio frequency unit.

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