Antenna system and communication device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses an antenna system and a communication device, the antenna system comprises an antenna array, the antenna array comprises K layers of antenna units arranged along a first direction, planes where each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units are located are different planes, the number of the antenna units in at least one layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is greater than 2, k is an integer greater than 1; the communication device comprises the antenna system. According to the antenna system, the system capacity and the spectrum efficiency of a communication system are further improved under the constraint of a limited antenna array area.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technology, and in particular, to an antenna system and a communication device. Background Art

[0002] The fifth generation communication (5th Generation, 5G) system has higher requirements for system capacity, spectrum efficiency, etc. In the 5G system, massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology plays a vital role in the spectrum efficiency of the 5G system. When using MIMO technology, if the base station (BS) sends data to the user equipment (UE), it is necessary to perform coding modulation to map the bit information into transmission symbols, and map the transmission symbols to different antenna units through precoding for transmission. In order to maximize the freedom of the spatial channel, the large-scale MIMO antenna array generally sets the spacing of the MIMO antenna units (antenna units for short) to half a wavelength when designing the antenna. When the antenna unit spacing is half a wavelength, the coupling between the antenna units is small, the antenna unit has a higher radiation efficiency, and the antenna unit has a better consistency in the directional pattern.

[0003] According to the MIMO principle, as the number of antenna units increases, the spatial multiplexing capability of the communication system improves, which can bring about an improvement in system capacity and spectrum efficiency. If the spacing between antenna units in the antenna array remains unchanged, the area of ​​the antenna array will increase as the number of antenna units increases. However, in practical applications, the area of ​​the antenna array is subject to various restrictions. For example, in the actual deployment of the base station antenna array, due to factors such as wind resistance and deployment difficulty, there are certain restrictions on the area of ​​the antenna array, especially the width of the antenna array. In order to further increase the number of antenna units under the constraints of the limited antenna array area, the method of reducing the spacing between antenna units is often used. However, this method will increase the coupling effect between antenna units, resulting in a decrease in the radiation efficiency of each antenna unit and a decrease in the consistency of the antenna unit's directional pattern.

[0004] Under the constraint of limited antenna array area, how to further improve the system capacity and spectrum efficiency of MIMO systems is an issue that the industry urgently needs to solve. Summary of the invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application disclose an antenna system and a communication device, which can improve the system capacity and spectrum efficiency of a MIMO system under the constraint of a limited antenna array area.

[0006] The present application is introduced below from different aspects. It should be understood that the implementation methods and beneficial effects of the following different aspects can be referenced to each other.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides an antenna system, which includes an antenna array; the antenna array includes K layers of antenna units arranged along a first direction, the planes where the antenna units of each layer in the K layers of antenna units are located are different planes, the number of antenna units in at least one layer of the K layers of antenna units is greater than 2, and K is an integer greater than 1.

[0008] In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna array can arrange at least two layers of antenna units in the first direction, and the number of antenna arrays is expanded in the first direction, so that the number of antenna arrays and the spacing between antenna units in the antenna array are no longer limited by the plane area (i.e., the area of ​​the plane where each layer of antenna units is located). Then, the antenna array can arrange more antenna arrays than a two-dimensional antenna array in a plane, and the spacing between antenna units can be larger than that of a two-dimensional antenna array. The larger spacing can avoid the increase in coupling effect between antenna units, which leads to a decrease in the radiation efficiency of each antenna unit and a decrease in the consistency of the directional pattern of the antenna unit. A larger number of antenna arrays can bring about an improvement in the system capacity and spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system. It can be seen that the antenna array can improve the system capacity and spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system under the constraint of a limited antenna array area.

[0009] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the plane where the antenna units of each layer in the K layers of antenna units are located is substantially perpendicular to the first direction.

[0010] Among them, "substantially vertical" can be interpreted as vertical, nearly vertical, or having a certain preset angle with 90 degrees. For example, the preset angle can be 5 degrees, that is, "substantially vertical" can be interpreted as the angle between the plane where the antenna unit is located and the first direction is between 85 degrees and 90 degrees.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the antenna system further includes a radio frequency channel, and the radio frequency channel is used to drive part or all of the antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units.

[0012] The embodiments of the present application can expand the utilization of the depth dimension of the antenna array (i.e., the first aspect) under a certain antenna array area constraint, deploy more antenna units, avoid the influence of coupling effects between antenna units, maintain radiation efficiency and directional pattern consistency, and greatly improve MIMO spectrum efficiency under a certain antenna array area constraint.

[0013] With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, at least two antenna units among the antenna units driven by the radio frequency channel are of different types.

[0014] In the embodiments of the present application, different types of antenna units can bring greater differences in directional patterns, can better match the channel environment, and improve the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the antenna system further includes a phase shifting network, the phase shifting network is connected to the RF channel, and the phase shifting network is used to adjust the phase of the RF signal received and / or sent by the antenna unit driven by the RF channel.

[0016] In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna unit driven by the RF channel can be part or all of the antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units (i.e., antenna units in different layers), that is, the phase shift network can be used to adjust the phase of the RF signal received and / or sent by the antenna units in different layers. Then, the phase shift network can further change the shape of the channel-level directional pattern from the first direction, so as to match the specific channel environment and further improve the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0017] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the phase shift network includes a first phase shifter, and the first phase shifter connects part or all of the antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units.

[0018] In an embodiment of the present application, the first phase shifter can be used to adjust the phase of the radio frequency signal received and / or sent by part or all of the antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units. Then, the first phase shifter can further change the shape of the channel-level directional pattern from the first direction, so as to match the specific channel environment and further improve the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0019] Since the first phase shifter can change the shape of the channel-level radiation pattern, the first phase shifter can also be used to change the beam shape of the simulated beam in the beam measurement.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the phase shift network includes multiple second phase shifters, the number of the multiple second phase shifters is the same as the number of antenna units of the antenna array, and the multiple second phase shifters are connected to the antenna units of the antenna array in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the phase shifting network includes a third phase shifter, which connects part or all of the antenna units in the same layer of antenna units. The third phase shifter can also be used to change the beam pointing direction of the simulated beam in the beam measurement.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the K-layer antenna units include at least two types of antenna units.

[0023] In the present application, the types of antenna units can be divided based on different dimensions. For example, if the antenna units are divided based on the number of ports, antenna units with different numbers of ports are different types of antenna units, and the number of ports may include 1 port, 2 ports, etc.; for another example, if the antenna units are divided based on the antenna pattern characteristics, antenna units with different pattern characteristics are different types of antenna units, which can be divided into omnidirectional antennas, directional antennas, etc.; for another example, if the antenna units are divided based on the polarization characteristics, antenna units with different polarization modes are different types of antenna units, which may include linear polarization antennas, circular polarization antennas, elliptical polarization antennas, etc.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the number of antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is different.

[0025] In the embodiment of the present application, the number of antenna units in each layer of K layers of antenna units can be different. This method can make the array design more flexible, and does not require each layer to have the same array form.

[0026] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units includes M rows and N columns of antenna units, where M and N are both integers not less than 2.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the arrangement of the M rows and N columns of antennas in each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is the same.

[0028] In the embodiment of the present application, the arrangement and number of antenna units in each layer of K layers of antenna units can be the same. This method can simplify the multi-layer array design, and the beamforming design is simpler.

[0029] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the K-layer antenna units include a first-layer antenna units and a second-layer antenna units, the first-layer antenna units and the second-layer antenna units are two adjacent layers of antenna units, and the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the first-layer antenna units and the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the second-layer antenna units are aligned in a first direction;

[0030] Among them, i is not greater than M, and j is not greater than N.

[0031] In an embodiment of the present application, the arrangement and number of antenna units in each layer of K layers of antenna units may be the same, and after the antenna units in each layer are aligned in the first direction, an end-fire sub-array may be formed in the first direction, thereby improving the directivity and gain of the sub-array.

[0032] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the K-layer antenna units include a third-layer antenna unit and a fourth-layer antenna unit, the third-layer antenna unit and the fourth-layer antenna unit are two adjacent layers of antenna units, and the relative displacement in the first direction between the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the third-layer antenna units and the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the fourth-layer antenna units is less than a first interval, and the first interval is an interval between two adjacent antenna units in the same row or the same column of the antenna units in the same layer;

[0033] Among them, i is not greater than M, and j is not greater than N.

[0034] In an embodiment of the present application, the antenna units of adjacent layers in the antenna array are arranged in the same way, and the antenna units in the same row and column in adjacent layers are staggered in the first direction. Therefore, when the distance between the two layers is the first distance, the distance between the antenna units of the two layers can be greater than the first distance, thereby reducing the space occupied by the antenna array in the first direction.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the first interval may be half of the interval between two adjacent antenna units in the same row or column of the same layer of antenna units. The antenna array can maximize the distance between the antenna units of the two layers when the distance between the two layers is constant.

[0036] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may be an antenna system described in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect or any aspect thereof.

[0037] Exemplarily, the communication device may be a network device or a terminal device, wherein the network device is an entity for transmitting or receiving signals, and may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, such as a base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system or a code division multiple access (CDMA), or a base station (NodeB, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, or an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or the network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a network device in a fifth generation (5G) system or a network device in a new radio (NR) or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, such as a next generation base station (next generation NodeB, gNB); an entity on the user side of a terminal device for receiving or transmitting signals, such as user equipment, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0038] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system of mobile communication (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, 5G system or NR and future communication systems, etc., without limitation here.

[0039] The technical effects achieved in the above-mentioned aspects can be referred to each other or to the beneficial effects in the embodiments shown below, and will not be described in detail here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] Figure 1A is a schematic diagram of an antenna array of a base station provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 1B is a schematic diagram of another antenna array provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a hybrid beamforming provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 3A is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 3B is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an antenna system 10 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of an antenna system 20 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of an antenna array 60 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Fig. 7A is a schematic diagram of multiple antenna arrays provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 7B is a schematic diagram of a radio frequency channel driving antenna unit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of an antenna array 80 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an antenna array 90 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram of another RF channel driving antenna unit provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0054] In the description of the present application, the words "first", "second", etc. are only used to distinguish different objects, and do not limit the quantity and execution order, and the words "first", "second", etc. do not necessarily limit them to be different. For example, the first information and the second information, the first PDC type and the second PDC type, etc. are only used to distinguish different information, and do not limit their order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally also includes steps or units that are not listed, or optionally also includes other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0055] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means "or", for example, A / B can mean A or B. "And / or" in this article is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, "at least one (item)", "the following one (item) or more (items)" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items (items) or plural items (items). For example, at least one item (item) of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a, b and c. Among them, a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0056] In the description of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary", "for example" or "for example" should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary", "for example" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way.

[0057] It can be understood that in the description of this application, "when", "if" and "if" all mean that the device will perform corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances, and do not limit the time, nor do they require that the device must have a judgment action when it is implemented, nor do they mean that there are other limitations. Among them, the device performs corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances, including: the corresponding processing can be performed when the objective situation is met; or the corresponding processing can be performed only when the objective situation and other situations are met.

[0058] The term “simultaneously” in the present application may be understood as at the same time point, within a period of time, or within the same cycle, and may be understood in conjunction with the context.

[0059] Elements used in the singular herein are intended to mean "one or more" rather than "one and only one" unless specifically stated otherwise.

[0060] Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein.

[0061] It can be understood that in each embodiment of the present application, "A corresponds to B", "A corresponds to B", "B corresponding to A" or similar expressions indicate that B is associated with A, and B can be determined according to A. Determining B according to A does not mean determining B only according to A, and B can also be determined according to A and / or other information.

[0062] In order to maximize the freedom of spatial channels, large-scale MIMO antenna arrays generally set the spacing between MIMO antenna units (antenna units for short) to half a wavelength during antenna design. When the spacing between antenna units is half a wavelength, the coupling between antenna units is small and the antenna units have higher radiation efficiency.

[0063] For example, Figure 1A is a schematic diagram of an antenna array of a base station provided in an embodiment of the present application. In the present application, × represents a cross-polarized antenna unit, Figure 1A The antenna array is shown as an example, which is composed of cross-polarized antenna units. The antenna array has 8 columns in the horizontal dimension and 8 rows in the vertical dimension. The horizontal spacing D1 of each column antenna array and the vertical spacing D2 of each row antenna array are both 0.5 wavelengths. Considering the area of ​​the antenna unit, the vertical height and horizontal width of the antenna array are both about 4 wavelengths. For the convenience of description, the area of ​​the antenna unit is called area A. Then, it can be seen that Figure 1A It is exemplarily shown that 64 antenna units are deployed in area A.

[0064] Under certain antenna array area constraints, conventional half-wavelength spacing arrays cannot further deploy more antenna units. In order to further increase the number of antenna units and improve the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system under the limited antenna array area constraints, the antenna units can be deployed by reducing the spacing between antenna units.

[0065] For example, Figure 1B is a schematic diagram of another antenna array provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1A The antenna array in Figure 1B The antenna array shown is called a compact array.

[0066] like Figure 1B As shown, the vertical height and horizontal width of the tight array are both about 4 wavelengths (that is, the area of ​​the tight array is also area A). The horizontal spacing D1 of each column of antenna units in the tight array is 0.4 wavelengths, and the number of antennas arranged in the horizontal dimension is 10 columns; the vertical spacing D2 of each row of the antenna array is 0.5 wavelengths, and the number of antennas arranged in the horizontal dimension is 8 columns.

[0067] It can be seen that under the same antenna array area, the horizontal spacing D1 is changed from Figure 1A The 0.5 wavelength shown is reduced to Figure 1B The 0.4 wavelength shown above can reduce the number of antenna elements in the antenna array from Figure 1A The 64 shown is promoted to Figure 1B 80 shown.

[0068] By using a dense array, more antenna units are deployed within the limited antenna array area. However, since the spacing between antenna units is less than half a wavelength, the coupling effect between antenna units increases, resulting in a decrease in the radiation efficiency of each antenna unit and a decrease in the consistency of the antenna unit's directional pattern. Therefore, although the number of antenna units has increased, the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system is difficult to further improve due to the decrease in radiation efficiency.

[0069] In view of this, the present application proposes an antenna system and a communication device, the antenna system includes an antenna array, the antenna array includes K layers of antenna units arranged along a first direction, the planes where the antenna units of each layer in the K layers of antenna units are located are different planes, the number of antenna units in at least one layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is greater than 2, and K is an integer greater than 1. The antenna array can increase the number of antenna units through multiple layers of antenna units when the area of ​​each layer of antenna units is constant, thereby improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system without increasing the coupling effect of the antenna units.

[0070] It should be understood that the antenna array proposed in the present application is a three-dimensional structure (that is, the antenna units of the antenna array are arranged in at least one plane and at least one point on the plane). Therefore, the antenna array can also be called a three-dimensional array or a three-dimensional antenna array. The present application does not limit the naming of the antenna array.

[0071] On the other hand, in order to reduce the hardware cost of the MIMO system and improve the cost performance of the system, the MIMO system often adopts a hybrid beam forming (HBF) method.

[0072] For example, Figure 2 As shown in the figure, under the HBF method, one RF channel can drive multiple antenna units through a phase shifting network, which is composed of multiple analog phase shifters (referred to as phase shifters). Compared with the Digital Beam Forming (DBF) method, HBF can maintain similar spectral efficiency and drive a large number of antenna units through a small number of RF channels, thereby reducing the number of RF channels required by the MIMO system, reducing hardware costs, and improving the cost performance of the MIMO system.

[0073] Under the same antenna array area constraint, the three-dimensional array of the present application expands the use of the depth dimension of the antenna array (i.e., the first aspect mentioned above), deploys more antenna units and RF channels in the depth dimension, and Figure 1B Compared with a compact array, a three-dimensional array can reduce the coupling effect between antenna elements, thereby maintaining the radiation efficiency and the consistency of the radiation pattern.

[0074] Furthermore, the present application can also change the shape of the channel-level directional pattern through three-dimensional hybrid beamforming to match the specific channel environment, thereby achieving the beneficial effect of improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0075] Based on the above, in order to better understand the antenna system and communication device proposed in the present application, the network architecture applied in the embodiments of the present application is described below.

[0076] The technical solution of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, which include at least one communication device including the antenna system provided by the present application.

[0077] Exemplarily, the communication system can be: a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, a general packet radio service (GPRS), an LTE system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) system, an enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE) system, and a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) system. The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to other communication systems, such as a public land mobile network (PLMN) system, an advanced long-term evolution (LTE advanced, LTE-A) system, a fifth generation mobile communication (5G) system, a new radio (NR) system, a machine to machine communication (M2M) system, or other communication systems that will evolve in the future, etc., which are not limited by the embodiment of the present application. The technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to other communication systems, in which there are entities that can send control information and send (and / or receive) transmission blocks, and in which there are other entities that can receive control information and receive (and / or send) transmission blocks.

[0078] See also Figure 3A , Figure 3A It is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0079] like Figure 3AAs shown, the network device and the terminal devices 1 to 6 form a communication system, in which the network device sends downlink data to one or more of the terminal devices 1 to 6, and the terminal devices 1 to 6 can also send uplink data to the network device. In addition, aggregate transmission can be performed between the terminal devices, for example Figure 3A Terminal devices 4 to 6 shown in FIG. Figure 3A At least one of the network device and the terminal device includes the antenna system provided by the present application.

[0080] The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application is an entity on the user side for receiving or transmitting signals, such as user equipment, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device. The terminal device can also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile communication network (PLMN), etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0081] As an example but not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be referred to as wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also powerful functions achieved through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include full-featured, large-sized, and fully or partially independent of smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as devices that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various types of smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0082] In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can also be a terminal in the Internet of Things (IoT) system. IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect objects to the network through communication technology, thereby realizing an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and object-to-object interconnection. In the embodiment of the present application, IOT technology can achieve massive connections, deep coverage, and terminal power saving through, for example, narrow band (NB) technology.

[0083] In addition, in an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also include sensors such as smart printers, train detectors, and gas stations. Its main functions include collecting data (partial terminal devices), receiving control information and downlink data from network devices, and sending electromagnetic waves to transmit uplink data to network devices.

[0084] The network device in the embodiment of the present application is an entity for transmitting or receiving signals, and can be a device for communicating with a terminal device. The network device can be a base station (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system or code division multiple access (CDMA), or a base station (NodeB, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, or an evolved base station (evolved NodeB, eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or the network device can be a relay station, access point, vehicle-mounted device, wearable device, and a network device in a 5G network or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

[0085] The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device in a wireless network, such as a radio access network (RAN) node that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. At present, some examples of RAN nodes are: base station, next-generation base station gNB, transmission reception point (TRP), evolved Node B (evolved Node B, eNB), home base station, baseband unit (BBU), or access point (AP) in a WiFi system. In a network structure, the network device may include a centralized unit (CU) node, a distributed unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node.

[0086] For example, Figure 3B As shown, the above network device may be a base station, and the above terminal device may be a user equipment (User Equipment, UE). Among them, the base station and the UE may both include a radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, RRC) signaling interaction module, a media access control (Media Access Control, MAC) signaling interaction module and a physical layer (Physical Layer, PHY) signaling and data interaction module, wherein the RRC signaling interaction module is a module used by the base station and the UE to send and receive RRC signaling; the MAC signaling interaction module is a module used by the base station and the UE to send and receive Media Access Control-Control Element (Media Access Control-Control Element, MAC-CE) signaling; the PHY signaling and data interaction module is a module used by the base station and the UE to send and receive uplink / downlink control signaling and uplink / downlink data, and can be specifically used to send and receive downlink control signaling through a physical downlink control channel (Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH), send and receive the above-mentioned line control signaling through a physical uplink control channel (Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH), send and receive downlink data through a physical downlink shared channel (Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH), and send and receive downlink data through a physical uplink shared channel (Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PDSCH). Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH) sends and receives uplink data.

[0087] In an embodiment of the present application, a terminal device or a network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory management unit (MMU), and a memory (also called main memory). The operating system can be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through a process, such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a windows operating system. The application layer includes applications such as a browser, an address book, a word processing software, and an instant messaging software. In addition, the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, as long as it can communicate according to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application by running a program that records the code of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module in a terminal device or a network device that can call a program and execute a program.

[0088] In addition, various aspects or features of the present application can be implemented as methods, devices or products using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "product" used in this application covers computer programs that can be accessed from any computer-readable device, carrier or medium. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks or tapes, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), etc.), smart cards and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), cards, sticks or key drives, etc.). In addition, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0089] It should be noted that Figure 3A The number and type of terminal devices included in the network architecture shown are only examples, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. For example, more or fewer terminal devices that communicate with the network device may also be included, but for the sake of simplicity, they are not described one by one in the drawings. Figure 3AIn the network architecture shown, although network devices and terminal devices are shown, the application scenario may not be limited to network devices and terminal devices. For example, it may also include core network nodes or devices for carrying virtualized network functions, etc. These are obvious to those skilled in the art and will not be elaborated here.

[0090] In combination with the above network architecture, the antenna array provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below. In the present application, × represents a cross-polarization antenna unit.

[0091] See also Figure 4 , Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an antenna system 10 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0092] The antenna system 10 includes an antenna array 101, which includes K layers of antenna units arranged along a first direction, the planes where the antenna units of each layer in the K layers of antenna units are located are different planes, the number of antenna units in at least one layer of the K layers of antenna units is greater than 2, and K is an integer greater than 1.

[0093] Figure 4 The antenna array 101 is exemplarily shown to include two layers of antenna units, namely layer 1 and layer 2; wherein layer 1 includes at least one antenna unit, and layer 2 includes at least three antenna units. It should be understood that Figure 4 Exemplarily, a cross-polarization antenna unit is taken as an example to illustrate some antenna units.

[0094] The plane where the antenna units of each layer in the K layers of antenna units are located is substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The term “substantially perpendicular” may be interpreted as perpendicular, nearly perpendicular, or at a predetermined angle to 90 degrees.

[0095] Optionally, the K-layer antenna units may include at least two types of antenna units, or may all be antenna units of the same type. The types of antenna units in each layer of antenna units may be different, and / or the types of antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K-layer antenna units are different. For example, the antenna array 101 includes layer 1 and layer 2, the antenna units in layer 1 are all type 1, and the antenna units in layer 2 are all type 2, and type 1 and type 2 are two types; for another example, each layer of antenna units in the antenna array 101 includes antenna units of type 1 and type 2.

[0096] Optionally, the number of antenna units in each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units may be the same or different, which is not limited in the specific embodiments of the present invention.

[0097] Optionally, the arrangement of antenna units in each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units may be the same or different, and the specific embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. For example, the number of antenna units in each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is equal and the arrangement is M rows and N columns, where M and N are both integers not less than 2.

[0098] Optionally, the antenna system 10 may further include a panel, and at least one layer of antenna units in each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is located on the panel. Exemplarily, each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is located on a different panel, and the K panels where the K layers of antenna units are located are arranged along a first direction, and the K panels are substantially parallel to each other. Exemplarily, the K panels have the same area size and are arranged equidistantly along the first direction, and each panel includes antenna units arranged in M ​​rows and N columns.

[0099] In other embodiments of the present application, the antenna system includes, in addition to the antenna array 101, Figure 5 As shown, a radio frequency channel 201 may also be included, and the radio frequency channel 201 is used to drive part or all of the antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units, wherein the types of at least two antenna units in the antenna units driven by the radio frequency channel 201 may be the same or different.

[0100] In a possible implementation, the radio frequency channel 201 is directly connected to the antenna array 101 .

[0101] In another possible implementation, Figure 5 As shown, the above antenna system may further include a phase shift network 202, the RF channel 201 is connected to the phase shift network 202, the phase shift network 202 is connected to the antenna array 101, and the phase shift network 202 is used to adjust the phase of the RF signal received and / or sent by the antenna unit driven by the RF channel 201.

[0102] Wherein: The relevant description of the antenna array 101 can be found in Figure 4 The relevant description will not be repeated here.

[0103] The RF channel 201 may be a RF channel, which is a hardware channel for transmitting and receiving signals between an antenna and a baseband chip. The RF channel may include components such as an antenna, a filter, a low noise amplifier (LNA), an analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog (A / D or D / A) converter, etc. Alternatively, the RF channel may include a plurality of sub-channels, each of which is used to transmit different RF signals, and the antenna units driven by the plurality of sub-channels may be different or the same.

[0104] The phase shift network 202 may include at least one phase shifter, wherein the phase shifter may be connected to one or more antenna units of the antenna array 101, and the phase shifter is used to shift the phase of the radio frequency signal received and / or transmitted by the antenna unit connected to the phase shifter.

[0105] Optionally, the phase shift network 202 may include a first phase shifter, which connects part or all of the antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units. The types of antenna units connected by the first phase shifter may be the same or different; the number of antenna units in each layer of antenna units connected by the first phase shifter may be the same or different.

[0106] Optionally, the phase shift network 202 may include a plurality of second phase shifters, the number of the plurality of second phase shifters is the same as the number of antenna units of the antenna array, and the plurality of second phase shifters are connected to the antenna units of the antenna array in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0107] It should be understood that Figure 5 Only the phase shift network 202 is exemplarily shown to be connected to two antenna units of the same type located in layer 1 and layer 2 of the antenna array 101, and the connection relationship between the phase shift network 202 and other antenna units of the antenna array 101 is shown in FIG. Figure 5 The specific connection relationship between the phase shift network 202 and the antenna array 101 can be found in the relevant description below.

[0108] above Figure 4 and Figure 5 The device embodiment shown includes many possible implementation schemes. Figures 6 to 8 Some of the implementation schemes are illustrated with examples. It should be noted that: Figures 5 to 8 For related concepts that are not explained, please refer to Figure 4 The corresponding description in the illustrated embodiment.

[0109] Among them, the above Figure 4 or Figure 5 The antenna array 101 in the embodiment may include various forms, as shown below. Figure 6 The antenna array 101 is exemplarily introduced.

[0110] See also Figure 6 , Figure 6 Schematic diagram of an antenna array 60 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The antenna array 60 is a possible specific form of the antenna array 101.

[0111] The antenna array 60 includes K layers of antenna units arranged along a first direction, the number of antenna units in each layer of the K layers of antenna units is the same, and each layer of antenna units includes M rows and N columns of antenna units, where M and N are both integers not less than 2. In the present application, the first direction may be referred to as a depth dimension, the arrangement direction of the M rows may be referred to as a vertical dimension, and the arrangement direction of the N columns may be referred to as a horizontal dimension.

[0112] like Figure 6 As shown, the antenna array 60 arranges N columns of antenna units in the horizontal dimension, M rows of antenna units in the horizontal dimension, and K layers of antenna units in the depth dimension, forming a three-dimensional array with N*M*K antenna units. Among them, the antenna units of the antenna array 60 are of the same type. It should be understood that Figure 6 Exemplarily, the antenna units of the antenna array 60 are all represented by 2-port cross-polarization antenna units, but the present application does not impose specific restrictions on the type of antenna units. The antenna units in the antenna array 60 can be replaced by any 1-port, 2-port or multi-port antenna units.

[0113] Optionally, the antenna array 60 may include a first layer of antenna units and a second layer of antenna units, the first layer of antenna units and the second layer of antenna units are two adjacent layers of antenna units, and the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the first layer of antenna units and the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the second layer of antenna units are aligned in the first direction; wherein i is not greater than M, and j is not greater than N. Exemplarily, Fig. 7A (a) in the figure exemplarily shows two adjacent layers of antenna units in the antenna array 60, namely, layer 1 and layer 2; two antenna units in layer 1 and layer 2, both located in the i-th row and j-th column, are aligned in the first direction (i.e., the depth dimension), and the interval between the two antenna units is L1, and the interval between two adjacent antenna units in the same row or column in the same layer of antenna units is L1'. In the embodiment of the present application, the aligned antenna units of the two layers can form an end-fire subarray in the first direction to improve the directivity and gain of the subarray.

[0114] Optionally, the antenna array 60 may include a third layer of antenna units and a fourth layer of antenna units, the third layer of antenna units and the fourth layer of antenna units are two adjacent layers of antenna units, the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the third layer of antenna units and the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the fourth layer of antenna units are relatively displaced in the first direction by less than a first interval, the first interval being the interval between two adjacent antenna units in the same row or column of the same layer of antenna units; wherein i is not greater than M, and j is not greater than N. Exemplarily, Fig. 7A(b) in the figure shows two adjacent layers of antenna units in the antenna array 60, namely, layer 3 and layer 4; two antenna units in layer 3 and layer 4, both located in the i-th row and the j-th column, are not aligned in the first direction (i.e., the depth dimension), and the interval between the two antenna units is L2; ​​the interval between two adjacent antenna units in the same row or the same column in the same layer of antenna units is L2'. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the size relationship between L2 and L2'.

[0115] Fig. 7A (c) in FIG. 1 shows an example of the arrangement of adjacent antenna units in a close array. The close array has four antenna units arranged when the array width is A. At this time, the distance between adjacent antenna units is L3. Fig. 7A (a) and Fig. 7A The three-dimensional array shown in (b) has four antenna units arranged when the array width is width A. At this time, the spacing between adjacent antenna units can be greater than L3. Since a larger spacing can reduce the coupling effect between antenna units, it can be seen that the three-dimensional array can increase the number of antenna units while avoiding the influence of the coupling effect under the constraint of limited area.

[0116] In the embodiment of the present application, in addition to the horizontal and vertical dimension arrangements, the antenna units are arranged in the depth dimension of the antenna array to form a three-dimensional array. The three-dimensional array can deploy more antenna units than the traditional half-wavelength spacing antenna array under certain antenna array area constraints. And compared to the compact array, the spacing between antenna units becomes larger due to the expansion of the depth dimension. Thereby reducing the coupling effect between antenna units, improving the radiation efficiency of antenna units, and thus improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0117] Since the three-dimensional array expands the unit arrangement in the depth dimension, more antenna units can be deployed under the limited array area constraint. If the RF channels are increased accordingly, the hardware cost will increase. Figure 6 The antenna array 60 shown can be applied to Figure 4 The antenna system 20 drives the horizontal, vertical and depth three-dimensional antenna units through a small number of RF channels, reducing hardware costs and improving the cost-effectiveness of the MIMO system while maintaining similar spectrum efficiency.

[0118] If you will Figure 6 The antenna array 60 shown can be applied to Figure 4 In the antenna system 20, the RF channel 201 in the antenna system 20 can be used to drive antenna units of the same type between different layers, wherein the number of antenna units driven in different layers can be equal or unequal.

[0119] For example, see Figure 7B , Figure 7B It is a schematic diagram of a radio frequency channel driving antenna unit provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0120] Figure 7B Part of the apparatus of the antenna system 20 is shown by way of example, specifically including: a radio frequency channel 201a, a phase shift network 202a, and some antenna units of layer 1 and layer 2 in the antenna array 60. The radio frequency channel 201a is a sub-channel in the radio frequency channel 201 in the antenna system 20; the phase shift network 202a is a sub-network in the phase shift network 202, and the sub-network may include one or more phase shifters; the phase shift network 202a is connected to some antenna units of layer 1 and layer 2 in the antenna array 60, and is used to control some antenna units of layer 1 and layer 2. That is to say, the radio frequency channel 201a can drive a three-dimensional sub-array in the antenna array 60 through the phase shift network 202a, and the antenna units driven by the radio frequency channel 201a are located at different depth dimensions of the three-dimensional sub-array.

[0121] It should be understood that since the three-dimensional array expands the unit arrangement in the depth dimension, more antenna units can be deployed under the constraint of limited array area. If the RF channels are increased accordingly, the hardware cost will increase. Figure 6 The antenna array 60 shown can be applied to Figure 4 The antenna system 20 drives the horizontal, vertical and depth three-dimensional antenna units through a small number of RF channels, reducing hardware costs and improving the cost-effectiveness of the MIMO system while maintaining similar spectrum efficiency.

[0122] For example, a radio frequency channel 201 can drive n columns of antenna units in the horizontal dimension, m rows of antenna units in the vertical dimension, and k layers of antenna units in the depth dimension through a phase shifting network 202, wherein n is not greater than the above-mentioned N_i, m is not greater than the above-mentioned Mi, and k is not greater than the above-mentioned K. In the present application, the phase shifter connecting the k layers of antenna units in the depth dimension may be referred to as a first-dimensional phase shifter, and the phase shifter connecting the n columns of the horizontal dimension and the m rows of the vertical dimension may be referred to as a second-dimensional phase shifter. It should be understood that the first-dimensional phase shifter may also be referred to as a depth-dimensional phase shifter, and the second-dimensional phase shifter may also be referred to as a horizontal-dimensional and vertical-dimensional phase shifter, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the naming of the phase shifters.

[0123] At this time, by changing the value of the phase shifter in the phase shift network 202, the direction and shape of the RF channel level pattern can be changed. Figure 1A and Figure 1BThe antenna array) is the same as that of the antenna array of the MIMO system. By changing the value of the second-dimensional phase shifter, the horizontal and vertical directions of the RF channel-level directional pattern can be changed; the difference is that the shape of the channel-level directional pattern can be further changed by the value of the first-dimensional phase shifter in the phase shift network 202, so as to match the specific channel environment and achieve the beneficial effect of further improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system. Specifically, assuming that the directional patterns of the i-th (i=1,2,…k) antenna unit driven in the vertical dimension are F i (θ, φ), where θ is the elevation angle, φ is the azimuth angle, and the phase shifter phase of the i-th antenna element is j is an imaginary number, then the shape of the directional pattern adjusted by the first-dimensional phase shifter is Based on the specific channel environment, by changing the value of the first-dimensional phase shifter, the shape of the channel-level directional pattern can be changed to match the channel environment, thereby improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0124] The following Figure 8 The antenna array 101 is exemplarily introduced.

[0125] See also Figure 8 , Figure 8 Schematic diagram of an antenna array 80 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The antenna array 80 is the above Figure 4 or Figure 5 Another possible specific form of the antenna array 101 in FIG.

[0126] The antenna array 80 includes K layers of antenna units arranged along a first direction, at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units have different numbers of antenna units, and the types of antenna units in the antenna array 80 are the same. In this application, the first direction is referred to as a depth dimension, the arrangement direction of the M rows is referred to as a vertical dimension, and the arrangement direction of the N columns is referred to as a horizontal dimension.

[0127] like Figure 8 As shown, the antenna array 80 includes K layers of antenna units in the depth dimension, wherein the i-th layer (i=1, 2, ...K) is arranged N in the horizontal dimension. i Antenna units are arranged in M ​​horizontal dimensions. i The antenna units form a A three-dimensional array of antenna elements, where N i and M i are all integers not less than 1. It should be understood that Figure 8 The antenna units of the antenna array 80 are exemplarily represented by a 2-port cross-polarization antenna unit, but the present application does not impose any specific restrictions on the type of antenna units of the antenna array 80. The antenna units in the antenna array 80 can be replaced by any 1-port, 2-port or multi-port antenna units.

[0128] In the embodiment of the present application, in addition to the horizontal and vertical dimension arrangements, the antenna units are arranged in the depth dimension of the antenna array to form a three-dimensional array. The three-dimensional array can deploy more antenna units than the traditional half-wavelength spacing antenna array under certain antenna array area constraints. And compared to the compact array, the spacing between antenna units becomes larger due to the expansion of the depth dimension. Thereby reducing the coupling effect between antenna units, improving the radiation efficiency of antenna units, and thus improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0129] It should be understood that since the three-dimensional array expands the unit arrangement in the depth dimension, more antenna units can be deployed under the constraint of limited array area. If the RF channels are increased accordingly, the hardware cost will increase. Figure 8 The antenna array 80 shown can be applied to Figure 4 The antenna system 20 drives the horizontal, vertical and depth three-dimensional antenna units through a small number of RF channels, reducing hardware costs and improving the cost-effectiveness of the MIMO system while maintaining similar spectrum efficiency.

[0130] If you will Figure 8 The antenna array 80 shown can be applied to Figure 4 In the antenna system 20, the RF channel 201 in the antenna system 20 can be used to drive antenna units of the same type between different layers, wherein the number of antenna units driven in different layers can be equal or unequal.

[0131] For example, a radio frequency channel 201 can drive n columns of antenna units in the horizontal dimension, m rows of antenna units in the vertical dimension, and k layers of antenna units in the depth dimension through a phase shifting network 202, wherein n is not greater than the above-mentioned N_i, m is not greater than the above-mentioned Mi, and k is not greater than the above-mentioned K. In the present application, the phase shifter connecting the k layers of antenna units in the depth dimension may be referred to as a first-dimensional phase shifter, and the phase shifter connecting the n columns of the horizontal dimension and the m rows of the vertical dimension may be referred to as a second-dimensional phase shifter. It should be understood that the first-dimensional phase shifter may also be referred to as a depth-dimensional phase shifter, and the second-dimensional phase shifter may also be referred to as a horizontal-dimensional and vertical-dimensional phase shifter, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the naming of the phase shifters.

[0132] At this time, by changing the value of the phase shifter in the phase shift network 202, the direction and shape of the RF channel level pattern can be changed. Figure 1A and Figure 1BThe antenna array) is the same as that of the antenna array of the MIMO system. By changing the value of the second-dimensional phase shifter, the horizontal and vertical directions of the RF channel-level directional pattern can be changed; the difference is that the shape of the channel-level directional pattern can be further changed by the value of the first-dimensional phase shifter in the phase shift network 202, so as to match the specific channel environment and achieve the beneficial effect of further improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system. Specifically, assuming that the directional patterns of the i-th (i=1,2,…k) antenna unit driven in the vertical dimension are F i (θ, φ), where θ is the elevation angle, φ is the azimuth angle, and the phase shifter phase of the i-th antenna element is j is an imaginary number, then the shape of the directional pattern adjusted by the first-dimensional phase shifter is Based on the specific channel environment, by changing the value of the first-dimensional phase shifter, the shape of the channel-level directional pattern can be changed to match the channel environment, thereby improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0133] See also Fig. 9 , Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of an antenna array 90 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The antenna array 90 is the above Figure 4 or Figure 5 A possible specific form of the antenna array 101 in FIG.

[0134] The antenna array 90 includes K layers of antenna units arranged along a first direction, wherein at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units have different numbers of antenna units, and the types of antenna units in the antenna array 90 are different. The antenna units in each layer or between each layer may be different. In this application, the first direction is referred to as the depth dimension, the arrangement direction of the M rows is referred to as the vertical dimension, and the arrangement direction of the N columns is referred to as the horizontal dimension.

[0135] like Fig. 9 As shown, the antenna array 90 includes K layers of antenna units in the depth dimension, wherein the i-th layer (i=1, 2, ...K) is arranged N in the horizontal dimension. i Antenna units are arranged in M ​​horizontal dimensions. i The antenna units form a A three-dimensional array of antenna elements, where N i and M i are integers not less than 1.

[0136] exist Fig. 9In the table, "×", "○", and "△" are used to represent different types of antenna units. For example, "○" represents a 1-port antenna unit; "×" represents a 2-port antenna unit; and "△" represents a 3-port antenna unit. For another example, "○" represents a linearly polarized antenna unit; "×" represents a circularly polarized antenna unit; and "△" represents an elliptically polarized antenna unit. It should be understood that the classification by number of ports and the classification by polarization characteristics are illustrative only and should not constitute a limitation on the types of antenna units in this application.

[0137] Optionally, the antenna units of the antenna array 90 may also include any 1-port, 2-port, or multi-port (number of ports>2) antenna units, that is, the types of antenna units in the stereo array may be different. Specifically, the types of antenna units between different depth dimension layers may be different, and the types of antenna units within the same depth dimension layer may also be different.

[0138] By arranging antenna units in the depth dimension, the antenna array 90 can deploy more antenna units than the traditional half-wavelength spacing antenna array under a certain antenna array area constraint. And compared with a dense array, due to the expansion of the depth dimension, the spacing between antenna units becomes larger. This reduces the coupling effect between antenna units, improves the radiation efficiency of antenna units, and further improves the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0139] It should be understood that since the three-dimensional array expands the unit arrangement in the depth dimension, more antenna units can be deployed under the constraint of limited array area. If the RF channels are increased accordingly, the hardware cost will increase. Fig. 9 The antenna array 90 shown is applied to Figure 4 The antenna system 20 drives the horizontal, vertical and depth three-dimensional antenna units through a small number of RF channels, reducing hardware costs and improving the cost-effectiveness of the MIMO system while maintaining similar spectrum efficiency.

[0140] If you will Fig. 9 The antenna array 90 shown can be used in Figure 4 In the antenna system 20, the RF channel 201 in the antenna system 20 can be used to drive antenna units of different types between different layers, wherein the number of antenna units driven in different layers can be equal or unequal.

[0141] For example, see Fig.10 , Fig.10 2 is a schematic diagram of another RF channel driving antenna unit provided in an embodiment of the present application. The RF channel 201b may be a sub-channel in the RF channel 201 in the antenna system 20, and the phase shift network 202b may be a sub-network in the phase shift network 202. Fig.10As shown, the RF channel 201b is connected to the phase shift network 202b; the phase shift network 202b is connected to some antenna units in layer 1 and layer 2, and the phase shift network 202b is used to adjust the phases of some antenna units in layer 1 and layer 2, wherein some antenna units in layer 1 and layer 2 are of different types, then the RF channel 201b can drive antenna units of different types between different layers (i.e., some antenna units in layer 1 and layer 2) through the phase shift network 202b.

[0142] For example, a radio frequency channel 201 can drive n columns of antenna units in the horizontal dimension, m rows of antenna units in the vertical dimension, and k layers of antenna units in the depth dimension through a phase shifting network 202, where n is not greater than the above Ni, m is not greater than the above Mi, and k is not greater than the above K. In the present application, the phase shifter connecting the k layers of antenna units in the depth dimension may be referred to as a first-dimensional phase shifter, and the phase shifter connecting the n columns of antenna units in the horizontal dimension and the m rows of antenna units in the vertical dimension may be referred to as a second-dimensional phase shifter. It should be understood that the first-dimensional phase shifter may also be referred to as a depth-dimensional phase shifter, and the second-dimensional phase shifter may also be referred to as a horizontal-dimensional and vertical-dimensional phase shifter, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the naming of the phase shifters.

[0143] By changing the value of the phase shifter in the phase shift network 202, the direction and shape of the RF channel level pattern can be changed. Figure 1A and Figure 1B The antenna array of the same dimension) is the same. By changing the value of the second-dimensional phase shifter, the horizontal and vertical directions of the RF channel-level pattern can be changed. In particular, the shape of the channel-level pattern can be further changed by the value of the first-dimensional phase shifter to match the specific channel environment, thereby achieving the beneficial effect of further improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system. Specifically, assuming that the direction patterns of the i-th (i=1,2,…k) antenna unit driven in the vertical dimension are F i (θ, φ), where θ is the elevation angle, φ is the azimuth angle, and the phase shifter phase of the i-th antenna element is j is an imaginary number, then the shape of the directional pattern adjusted by the first-dimensional phase shifter is Based on the specific channel environment, by changing the value of the first-dimensional phase shifter, the shape of the channel-level directional pattern can be changed to match the channel environment, thereby improving the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system. It should be understood that different types of antenna units bring greater directional pattern differences, which can better match the channel environment and improve the spectrum efficiency of the MIMO system.

[0144] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which may be an antenna system described in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect or any aspect thereof.

[0145] The antenna system provided in this application can be applied to base station side or UE side antenna design (such as WiFi antenna) to achieve improvements in wireless communication spectrum efficiency and cost-effectiveness under limited aperture constraints.

[0146] 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. In addition, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, or it can be an electrical, mechanical or other form of connection.

[0147] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed 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 technical effects of the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0148] 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. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0149] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or partly contributed to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a readable storage medium, including a number of 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 method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned readable storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code.

[0150] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An antenna system, characterized in that: The antenna system comprises an antenna array; The antenna array includes K layers of antenna units arranged along a first direction, the planes where the antenna units of each layer in the K layers of antenna units are located are different planes, the number of antenna units in at least one layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is greater than 2, and K is an integer greater than 1.

2. The antenna system according to claim 1, characterized in that The plane where each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is located is substantially perpendicular to the first direction.

3. The antenna system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The antenna system further includes a radio frequency channel, and the radio frequency channel is used to drive part or all of the antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units among the K layers of antenna units.

4. The antenna system according to claim 3, characterized in that At least two antenna units among the antenna units driven by the radio frequency channel are of different types.

5. The antenna system according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The antenna system further comprises a phase shifting network, which is connected to the radio frequency channel and is used to adjust the phase of the radio frequency signal received and / or sent by the antenna unit driven by the radio frequency channel.

6. The antenna system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The phase shift network includes a first phase shifter, and the first phase shifter connects part or all of the antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units among the K layers of antenna units.

7. The antenna system according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that: The phase shift network includes a plurality of second phase shifters, the number of the plurality of second phase shifters is the same as the number of antenna units of the antenna array, and the plurality of second phase shifters are connected to the antenna units of the antenna array in a one-to-one correspondence.

8. The antenna system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The K-layer antenna units include at least two types of antenna units.

9. The antenna system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The number of antenna units in at least two layers of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units is different.

10. The antenna system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: Each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units includes M rows and N columns of antenna units, and both M and N are integers not less than 2.

11. The antenna system according to claim 10, characterized in that: The antenna units of M rows and N columns in each layer of antenna units in the K layers of antenna units are arranged in the same manner.

12. The antenna system according to claim 11, characterized in that The K-layer antenna units include a first-layer antenna units and a second-layer antenna units, the first-layer antenna units and the second-layer antenna units are two adjacent layers of antenna units, and the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the first-layer antenna units are aligned with the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the second-layer antenna units in the first direction; Among them, the i is not greater than the M, and the j is not greater than the N.

13. The antenna system according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The K-layer antenna units include a third-layer antenna unit and a fourth-layer antenna unit, the third-layer antenna unit and the fourth-layer antenna unit are two adjacent layers of antenna units, the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the third-layer antenna units and the antenna units in the i-th row and j-th column of the fourth-layer antenna units have a relative displacement in the first direction that is less than a first interval, and the first interval is an interval between two adjacent antenna units in the same row or the same column of the same layer of antenna units; Among them, the i is not greater than the M, and the j is not greater than the N.

14. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising the antenna system as claimed in any one of claims 1-13.

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