Phase shift apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application is a phase shift apparatus. The apparatus comprises: a first phase shift module, a second phase shift module and M combiners, M being an integer greater than 1; an input interface of the first phase shift module is used for receiving a carrier component of a first signal, and each output interface among M output interfaces of the first phase shift module is connected to a first input interface of one combiner among the M combiners; an input interface of the second phase shift module is used for receiving a sideband component of the first signal, and each output interface among M output interfaces of the second phase shift module is connected to a second input interface of one combiner among the M combiners; an output interface of each combiner among the M combiners is used for connecting to an input interface of one antenna unit among M antenna units in an antenna array. Compared with traditional phase shift apparatuses, the phase shift apparatus provided by the present application can improve dispersion efficiency in orders of magnitude and achieve small-size or monolithic integration.

Description

Phase shifter

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on June 15, 2023, with application number 202310715387.8 and application name “Phase Shifter”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of optical communications, and more specifically, to a phase shifting device. Background Art

[0003] A fully connected hybrid beamforming (HBF) antenna system implements analog-domain beamforming by inserting a phase shifter between any transceiver unit and any antenna unit. Each phase shifter can independently weight the signal, resulting in a total of N times M weights. For a fully connected HBF antenna system with many antenna units, for example, a system including M antenna units and N transceiver units, where M is greater than N, a traditional fully connected HBF antenna system requires N times M phase shifters. This excessive number of phase shifters leads to excessive hardware complexity. One simplification is to implement only steerable vector beams in the fully connected HBF antenna system, with each beam controlling both horizontal and vertical directions. Theoretically, the minimum number of weights required is 2N. However, how to reduce the number of phase shifters to the minimum of 2N—that is, how to decouple the number of phase shifters from the size of the antenna units in the HBF antenna system—the field of microwave photonics offers a promising approach for achieving this goal. To realize the steered vector HBF antenna system, the optical domain dispersion effect can be utilized. The basic idea is to use a hardware-fixed (purely passive) dispersion phase-shifting network, whose output signal phase changes with the wavelength of the input microwave photon signal. After changing the wavelength of the microwave photon signal, the phase of the output signal of all channels of the entire dispersion phase-shifting network is synchronously refreshed, thereby decoupling the phase shifter and the antenna scale of the HBF antenna system.

[0004] However, the dispersion effect of traditional dispersion phase shifters is extremely weak, making it impossible to integrate them in a small volume or on a single chip. The manufacturing cost and scale have become bottlenecks limiting the further application of traditional dispersion phase shifters.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a phase shifting device that can improve dispersion efficiency by orders of magnitude and achieve small volume or single-chip integration.

[0007] In a first aspect, a phase shifting device is provided, which includes: a first phase shifting module, a second phase shifting module and M combiners, where M is an integer greater than 1, wherein the input interface of the first phase shifting module is used to receive the carrier component of the first signal, and one of the M output interfaces of the first phase shifting module is connected to the first input interface of one of the M combiners; the input interface of the second phase shifting module is used to receive the sideband component of the first signal, and one of the M output interfaces of the second phase shifting module is connected to the second input interface of one of the M combiners; and the output interface of one of the M combiners is used to connect to the input interface of one of the M antenna units in the antenna array.

[0008] Based on the above technical solution, the carrier component and sideband component of the first signal are respectively input into the phase shifter through the input interfaces of the two phase shifter modules of the phase shifter. The CS (C represents carrier, S represents sideband) separation dispersion mechanism can improve the dispersion efficiency by an order of magnitude compared to traditional dispersion phase shifters, thereby enabling the phase shifter to be compact or integrated on a single chip.

[0009] In some implementations, the first phase-shifting module includes M delay lines, and the first end and the second end of one of the M delay lines of the first phase-shifting module are respectively connected to the input interface of the first phase-shifting module and one of the M output interfaces of the first phase-shifting module; the second phase-shifting module includes M delay lines, and the first end and the second end of one of the M delay lines of the second phase-shifting module are respectively connected to the input interface of the second phase-shifting module and one of the M output interfaces of the second phase-shifting module.

[0010] In some implementations, the M delay lines of the first phase shifting device are included in M1 delay line sets, each delay line set includes M2 delay lines, M1 is the number of antenna units in the horizontal dimension of the antenna array, and M2 is the number of antenna units in the vertical dimension of the antenna array, or, M1 is the number of antenna units in the vertical dimension of the antenna array, and M2 is the number of antenna units in the horizontal dimension of the antenna array, M is equal to the product of M1 and M2, each delay line of the M delay lines of the first phase shifting module is composed of a first delay line and a second delay line corresponding to each delay line, wherein the lengths of the first delay lines corresponding to the M2 delay lines in each delay line set are the same, and the lengths of the corresponding second delay lines differ by a first value in sequence, and the lengths of the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line sets of the first phase shifting module differ in sequence. a second value; the M delay lines of the second phase shifting device are included in M1 delay line sets, each delay line set includes M2 delay lines, and each delay line of the M delay lines of the second phase shifting module is composed of a first delay line and a second delay line corresponding to each delay line, wherein the lengths of the first delay lines corresponding to the M2 delay lines in each delay line set in the second phase shifting module are the same, and the lengths of the corresponding second delay lines differ by a third value in sequence, and the lengths of the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line sets in the second phase shifting module differ by a fourth value in sequence, wherein the first difference and the second difference are both not 0, and the first difference and the second difference are not equal, wherein the first difference is the absolute value of the difference between the first value and the third value, and the second difference is the absolute value of the difference between the second value and the fourth value.

[0011] For the convenience of description, for example, the length characteristics of the M delay lines in this implementation can be referred to as optical path grading characteristics.

[0012] In the above technical solution, based on the optical path grading characteristics, the phase of the signal can be adjusted separately in the horizontal and vertical dimensions (dimensionality). At the same time, the first difference and the second difference can be used to characterize the dispersion intensity in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. There must be a certain gap between the two so that the central wavelength of the microwave photon signal based on the first signal can obtain phase differences with different change trends in the horizontal and vertical directions, thereby realizing 2D beamforming.

[0013] In some implementations, the lengths of the M delay lines of the first phase shifting device sequentially differ by a first value, and the lengths of the M delay lines of the second phase shifting device sequentially differ by a second value.

[0014] In a second aspect, a phase shifting device is provided, the phase shifting device comprising: a first phase shifting module, the first phase shifting module comprising M delay lines, the first end and the second end of one of the M delay lines being connected to an input interface of the first phase shifting module and one of the M output interfaces of the first phase shifting module, respectively, the M output interfaces of the first phase shifting module being connected to M antenna elements in an antenna array, M being an integer greater than 1, the M delay lines being included in M1 delay line sets, each delay line set comprising M2 delay lines, M1 being the number of antenna elements in the horizontal dimension of the antenna array, and M2 being the number of antenna elements in the vertical dimension of the antenna array, or M 1 is the number of antenna units in the vertical dimension of the antenna array, and M2 is the number of antenna units in the horizontal dimension of the antenna array, M is equal to the product of M1 and M2, each delay line of the M delay lines of the first phase shift module is composed of a first delay line and a second delay line corresponding to each delay line, wherein the lengths of the first delay lines corresponding to the M2 delay lines in each delay line set are the same, and the lengths of the corresponding second delay lines differ by a first value in sequence, and the lengths of the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line set of the first phase shift module differ by a second value in sequence, wherein both the first value and the second value are not 0, and the first value is not equal to the second value.

[0015] In the above technical solution, based on the optical path grading characteristics, the phase of the signal can be adjusted separately in the horizontal and vertical dimensions (dimensionality). At the same time, the first value and the second value can be used to characterize the dispersion intensity of the horizontal and vertical dimensions. There must be a certain gap between the two so that the central wavelength of the microwave photon signal based on the first signal can obtain phase differences with different change trends in the horizontal and vertical directions, thereby realizing 2D beamforming.

[0016] In some implementations, the phase shifting device further includes: a second phase shifting module, the input interface of the second phase shifting module being used to receive the sideband component of the first signal, and the input interface of the first phase shifting module being used to receive the carrier component of the first signal, wherein the second phase shifting module includes M delay lines, the first end and the second end of one of the M delay lines being respectively connected to the input interface of the second phase shifting module and one of the M output interfaces of the second phase shifting module, the M delay lines being included in M1 delay line sets, each delay line set including M2 delay lines, each delay line of the M delay lines of the second phase shifting module being composed of a first delay line and a second delay line corresponding to each delay line, wherein the first delay lines corresponding to the M2 delay lines in each delay line set in the second phase shifting module are of the same length, and The lengths of the corresponding second delay lines differ by a third value in sequence, and the lengths of the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line set in the second phase shift module differ by a fourth value in sequence, wherein the first difference and the second difference are both not 0, and the first difference and the second difference are not equal, the first difference is the absolute value of the difference between the first value and the third value, and the second difference is the absolute value of the difference between the second value and the fourth value; M combiners, wherein one of the M output interfaces of the first phase shift module is connected to the input interface of one of the M combiners, one of the M output interfaces of the second phase shift module is connected to the input interface of one of the M combiners, and the output interface of one of the M combiners is used to be connected to the input interface of one of the M antenna units.

[0017] In the above technical solution, the carrier component and sideband component of the first signal are respectively input into the device from the input interfaces of the two phase shifting modules of the phase shifting device. Compared with the traditional phase shifting device, the CS separation dispersion mechanism can improve the dispersion efficiency of the phase shifting device by an order of magnitude, thereby enabling the phase shifting device to be small in size or integrated on a single chip.

[0018] In some implementations, the first value and the third value have opposite signs, and / or the second value and the fourth value have opposite signs.

[0019] In the above technical solution, the dispersion efficiency can be doubled compared with the dispersion phase shift of a single component of the carrier or sideband.

[0020] In some implementations, the first delay line corresponding to each delay line set in the M1 delay line sets in the third phase shift module is a common delay line of the corresponding delay line set, and the third phase shift module is the first phase shift module or the second phase shift module.

[0021] For example, the topology corresponding to the M delay lines in this implementation can be called a pure parallel-feed topology. Based on this topology, the number of splitters connected to each delay line in the phase shifting device can be equal, simplifying the network design.

[0022] In certain implementations, the first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the third phase-shifting module is composed of the third delay line and the fourth delay line included in each delay line, wherein the third delay line in the first delay line of at least two delay line sets in the M1 delay line sets in the third phase-shifting module is a common delay line of the at least two delay line sets, and / or, the second delay line of each of the M delay lines of the third phase-shifting module is composed of the fifth delay line and the sixth delay line included in each delay line, wherein the fifth delay line in the second delay line of at least two delay line sets in the M1 delay line sets in the third phase-shifting module is a common delay line of the at least two delay line sets.

[0023] For example, the topology corresponding to the M delay lines in this implementation can be called a hierarchical parallel-feed topology. It can be understood that this topology reuses some of the delay lines adjacent to the delay lines in the pure parallel-feed structure, which can significantly reduce the chip size.

[0024] In some implementations, the phase shifting device further includes: a first chip and M1 second chips, wherein the first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the first phase shifting module and the first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the second phase shifting module are both located in the first chip, and the second delay line of the M2 delay lines of a delay line set in the M1 delay line set of the first phase shifting module and the second delay line of the M2 delay lines of a delay line set in the M1 delay line set of the second phase shifting module are both located in one chip of the M1 second chips.

[0025] The above technical solution has the advantages of significantly reducing the requirements for optical chip specifications and flexible output port positions. For example, when the M paths in the first phase-shifting module and the second phase-shifting module are purely parallel-fed, the following beneficial effects can be achieved. First, the positions of the M1 second chips can be flexibly adjusted to match large-sized post-stage modules such as antennas. Second, the structures of the M1 second chips are exactly the same, and the phase-shifting device only requires two types of optical chips to be implemented. Third, the channel scale of each optical chip is on the order of M1 or M2. Compared with the M1*M2 scale required for a single chip, the specification requirements for a single chip are significantly reduced, it is easier to implement, and the yield is better controlled. Fourth, the minimum number of connections required between the first chip and the M1 second chips is only 2*M1, the packaging difficulty and cost are low, and if an optical amplifier is required between the first chip and the second chip, the number of optical amplifiers required is also relatively small.

[0026] In some implementations, the first phase shift module includes a first splitter, which includes M1 power splitting paths, wherein the first end of the M1 power splitting paths in the first splitter is connected to the input interface of the first phase shift module, the second end of a power splitting path in the M1 power splitting paths in the first splitter is respectively connected to the first end of a first delay line in the M1 common first delay lines of the first phase shift module, the first end of a first delay line in the first phase shift module is the same as the first end of any delay line in the M2 delay lines in the delay line set corresponding to the first delay line, and the first end of the M1 power splitting paths in the second splitter is connected to the input interface of the second phase shift module.

[0027] In some implementations, the second phase shifting module includes a second splitter, which includes M1 power splitting paths, wherein the first end of the M1 power splitting paths in the second splitter is connected to the input interface of the second phase shifting module, the second end of one of the M1 power splitting paths in the second splitter is respectively connected to the first end of one of the M1 common first delay lines of the second phase shifting module, and the first end of one of the first delay lines in the second phase shifting module is the same as the first end of any one of the M2 delay lines in the delay line set corresponding to the one first delay line.

[0028] In some implementations, the lengths of the M1 power splitting paths of the first phase-shifting module and the M1 power splitting paths of the second phase-shifting module both deviate from the first length by less than a first threshold.

[0029] In the above technical solution, it can be regarded as that the M power division paths in the first splitter and the second splitter are wired with equal length.

[0030] In some implementations, the deviation between the lengths of the M1 power splitting paths of the first phase shift module and the second length is smaller than a second threshold, and the deviation between the lengths of the M1 delay lines of the second phase shift module and the third length is smaller than a third threshold.

[0031] In the above technical solution, it can be considered that the M power splitting paths in the first splitter are wired with equal lengths, and the M power splitting paths in the second splitter are wired with equal lengths. For example, the lengths of the first splitter and the second splitter can be the same or different.

[0032] In certain implementations, the deviation between the distance at N% of the path length of the first power splitting path and the distance at N% of the path length of the second power splitting path and a fourth length is less than a fourth threshold, N is greater than 0, the first power splitting path is a power splitting path for transmitting the second signal among the M power splitting paths of the first phase shift module, the second power splitting path is a power splitting path for transmitting the third signal among the M power splitting paths of the second phase shift module, and the second signal and the third signal are respectively the sideband component and the carrier component of the first signal output to the same combiner among the M combiners.

[0033] Based on the above technical solution, the first power division path and the second power division path in the first splitter and the second splitter are made as close as possible in physical position, which can reduce the initial phase error of signals transmitted on different delay lines.

[0034] In a third aspect, an antenna device is provided, comprising: the phase shifting device described in the first aspect or the second aspect or any implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0035] For example, the antenna device is an active antenna unit AAU or a radio remote unit RRU.

[0036] In a fourth aspect, a method for phase shifting is provided. The method includes: separating a first signal to generate a carrier component of the first signal and a sideband component of the first signal; inputting the carrier component of the first signal to an input interface of a first phase shift module of a phase shift device; and inputting the sideband component and carrier component of the first signal to an input interface of a second phase shift module of the phase shift device, wherein the phase shift device is the phase shift device described in the first aspect or the second aspect or any implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a fully connected HBF antenna system.

[0038] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional optical domain dispersion phase shifting device.

[0039] FIG3 is a schematic structural diagram of a phase shifting device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0040] FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of another phase shifting device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0041] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of another phase shifting device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0042] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a pure parallel-feed topology structure of M delay lines provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0043] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a hierarchical parallel-feed topology structure of M delay lines provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0044] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a series-and-parallel-fed topology structure of M delay lines provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0045] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a pure series-fed topology structure of M delay lines provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0046] FIG10 is a schematic structural diagram of a specific phase shifting device proposed in this application.

[0047] FIG11 is a schematic structural diagram of the phase shifting device shown in FIG10 after being sliced.

[0048] FIG12 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of the first power splitting path and the second power splitting path in a possible first splitter and a second splitter proposed in an embodiment of the present application.

[0049] FIG13 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of the first power splitting path and the second power splitting path in another possible first splitter and second splitter proposed in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0050] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0051] It should be noted that, in the description of the embodiments of this application, "plurality" refers to two or more than two, and "at least one" and "one or more" refer to one, two, or more than two. The singular expressions "a," "an," "the," "the," and "the" are intended to also include expressions such as "one or more," unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0052] References to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" in this specification mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with that embodiment is included in one or more embodiments of the present application. Thus, phrases such as "in one embodiment," "in some embodiments," "in other embodiments," and "in yet other embodiments" appearing in various places in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but rather mean "one or more but not all embodiments," unless otherwise specifically emphasized. The terms "including," "comprising," "having," and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to," unless otherwise specifically emphasized.

[0053] The terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof in the embodiments of the present application shown below are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not explicitly listed or are inherent to these processes, methods, products or apparatus.

[0054] In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. An embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. The use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete manner to facilitate understanding.

[0055] The various components in the drawings in the embodiments of the present application are not drawn to scale, and the sizes and dimensions of the components shown in the drawings are only exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present application.

[0056] In the embodiments of the present application, “corresponding” and “relevant” may sometimes be used interchangeably. It should be noted that when the distinction between them is not emphasized, the meanings they intend to express are consistent.

[0057] The technical solution of the present application can be applied in a variety of scenarios, for example, it can be used in hybrid beamforming (HBF) networks in wireless base station communication systems, phased array radars, satellite networks, etc.

[0058] The architecture and scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that, with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are equally applicable to similar technical problems.

[0059] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the concepts and related processes involved in the present application are first introduced.

[0060] 1. HBF: In a base station antenna system, phase shifters are inserted between some transceiver modules and antenna units to implement analog domain beamforming. This phase shifter is combined with the existing digital domain beamforming, which is called HBF.

[0061] 2. Microwave signals: Microwave signals refer to electromagnetic wave signals with frequencies ranging from 300MHz to 300GHz. They are the cornerstone for the development and growth of many fields such as telecommunications, national defense, sensing, medical care, aerospace, etc.

[0062] 3. Microwave photonics (MWP): Microwave photonics is an important research field. Its core concept is to load microwave signals into the optical frequency band to generate microwave photon signals, and transfer the processing of microwave signals (electrical signals) to the processing of optical signals. The vast majority of devices in microwave photonic systems are composed of optical devices, which can enjoy the huge advantages of optical devices such as ultra-small size, low power consumption, ultra-low insertion loss, ultra-large bandwidth, flexible and adjustable microwave signal frequency bands, anti-electromagnetic interference, simple process, and low cost.

[0063] 4. Steering vector beam: The beam is formed by weighting the radiation energy of a group of linear phase oscillators. The beam pointing can be achieved by adjusting the linear phase slope, that is, the phase difference between adjacent oscillators.

[0064] 5. Optical domain dispersion effect: The phenomenon that the phase change of an optical signal after it is transmitted through a medium is related to the wavelength of the signal.

[0065] In wireless communications, beamforming is a signal processing technique that enables directional signal transmission or reception using an antenna array. Beamforming imparts spatial selectivity to the antenna system, enabling it to achieve directivity gain compared to omnidirectional antennas and mitigate spatial interference.

[0066] The principle of beamforming is to weight the signals transmitted to or from the antenna array elements (i.e., adjust the signal amplitude and phase) so that these signals interfere constructively in certain spatial directions and destructively in other directions, achieving spatial selectivity. If the weighting process is implemented in the digital domain, it is called digital-domain beamforming. If it is implemented in the analog domain, it is called analog-domain beamforming. Analog-domain beamforming involves inserting phase shifters between the transceiver and the antenna elements, using these phase shifters to achieve analog-domain beamforming. If the weighting process is implemented in both the digital and analog domains, it is called hybrid beamforming. The advantage of digital-domain beamforming is that it can carry multiple data streams, which is key to implementing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). However, its disadvantage is that it requires the number of transceivers to match the number of antenna array elements. In scenarios with many antenna elements (such as high frequencies), the excessive number of transceivers leads to high system cost and complexity. Analog-domain beamforming, in contrast, has the advantage that a single transceiver can drive and control multiple antenna array elements using analog weighting mechanisms. However, it cannot carry multiple data streams. Hybrid beamforming combines the advantages of both. Therefore, in an HBF antenna system, the number of transceiver modules and antenna elements can be unequal.

[0067] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a fully connected HBF antenna system. The system consists of M antenna elements and N transceiver elements. The radio frequency (RF) module in Figure 1 can be considered a transceiver element, with M greater than N. A fully connected HBF antenna system implements analog beamforming by inserting a phase shifter between any transceiver element and any antenna element. Each phase shifter can independently weight the signal, resulting in a total of N*M weights, where * represents multiplication. For large-scale antenna systems, traditional fully connected HBF antenna systems require N times M phase shifters. This excessive number of phase shifters leads to excessive hardware complexity and weighting algorithm complexity. One simplification is to implement only steerable vector beams in the fully connected HBF antenna system, with each beam controlling both horizontal and vertical directions. Theoretically, the minimum number of weights required is 2N. However, how can the number of phase shifters be reduced to the minimum of 2N? Specifically, how can the number of phase shifters be decoupled from the size of the antenna elements in the HBF antenna system? The field of microwave photonics offers a promising approach to achieving this goal.

[0068] To simplify the steered vector HBF antenna system, the optical domain dispersion effect can be exploited. The basic idea is to use a hardware-fixed (purely passive) dispersion phase-shifting network, whose output signal phase changes with the wavelength of the input light source. After changing the wavelength of the light source, the phase of the output signal of all channels of the entire dispersion phase-shifting network is synchronously refreshed, thereby decoupling the phase shifter and the antenna unit scale of the HBF antenna system.

[0069] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional optical domain dispersion phase shifter. The input light is a microwave photon signal, which contains two signal components, namely the carrier component (wavelength is λ c ) and sideband components (wavelength λ s =λ c +Δλ cs , Δλ cs Determines the antenna output RF frequency), the microwave photon signal is input into a passive dispersion phase shifter, the splitter divides the microwave photon signal into M signals, the M signals are transmitted on M delay lines respectively. The length of the two adjacent delay lines in the figure differs by ΔL. After that, the M signals are converted to the electrical domain and transmitted through the antenna. Among them, the phase difference of the signal output by the antenna unit connected by any delay line with a transmission distance difference of ΔL is The following relations are satisfied:

[0070] Where λ=(λ C +λ S ) / 2, that is, λ represents the central wavelength of the input microwave photon signal.

[0071] Based on the above formula, it can be seen that due to Δλ cs Too small (for example, 0.224nm), resulting in a very weak dispersion effect of the traditional dispersion phase shift device during transmission. The weak dispersion effect can be understood as the Δλ cs Too small, if you need to get a definite Then the required length ΔL is too large (for example, the order of ΔL may be 200m multiplied by the square of M), which makes it impossible to integrate the dispersion phase shifter into a small volume or a single chip. The manufacturing cost and scale become bottlenecks limiting the further application of traditional dispersion phase shifters.

[0072] Furthermore, as can be seen from the above formula, conventional dispersion phase shifting devices can only cover one-dimensional dispersion tuning, that is, they can only adjust the phase of the signal in one direction, and cannot adjust the phase of the signal in both horizontal and vertical dimensions (dimensionality), that is, they cannot achieve 2D beamforming.

[0073] In view of this, the present application proposes a phase shifting device that can effectively solve the above technical problems. The phase shifting device proposed in the present application is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0074] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a phase shifting device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 3, the phase shifting device includes a first phase shifting module, a second phase shifting module, and M combiners, where M is an integer greater than 1, wherein the input interface of the first phase shifting module is used to receive the carrier component of the first signal, and one of the M output interfaces of the first phase shifting module is connected to the first input interface of one of the M combiners; the input interface of the second phase shifting module is used to receive the sideband component of the first signal, and one of the M output interfaces of the second phase shifting module is connected to the second input interface of one of the M combiners; the output interface of one of the M combiners is used to connect to the input interface of one of the M antenna units of the antenna array.

[0075] For example, the phase shifting device is a dispersion phase shifting device, which is not limited in this application.

[0076] For example, the first signal can be a microwave photon signal. The carrier component is typically a continuous wavelength (CW) optical signal component in the microwave photon signal that does not carry a data signal, and can also be called a (optical) local oscillator component. The sideband component is typically an optical signal component in the microwave photon signal that carries a signal of a certain bandwidth, and can also be called a signal component. If the microwave photon signal is composed of two CW optical signal components of different frequencies, and neither component carries a signal of a certain bandwidth, then either component can be called a carrier component or a sideband component, and the other component can be called a sideband component or a carrier component. There are various ways to obtain microwave photon signals. For example, the carrier component can be obtained directly from the output signal of a light source or by frequency shift modulation of the output signal of the light source. The sideband component can be obtained directly from the output signal of the light source or by frequency shift modulation of the output signal of the light source. When the center frequency difference between the carrier component and the sideband component is within the microwave frequency band, a microwave photon signal is obtained.

[0077] In one possible implementation, one element A among the M elements A (for example, a combiner) described in the embodiment of the present application is connected to one element B among the M elements B (for example, an antenna unit). It can also be understood that one element A among the M elements A is connected to one element B among the M elements B in a one-to-one correspondence, which means that the M elements A are all connected to one element B, and the elements B connected to the M elements A are different from each other.

[0078] In Figure 3 , the carrier component and sideband components of the first signal are input into the phase shifter through the input interfaces of its two phase shifter modules. This CS (C stands for carrier, S for sideband) separation dispersion mechanism significantly improves the dispersion efficiency of the phase shifter compared to traditional phase shifters, enabling the phase shifter to be compact or integrated on a single chip. The specific reasons for this are explained below in conjunction with Figure 10 and are not detailed here.

[0079] Optionally, as shown in FIG4 , the first phase-shifting module and the second phase-shifting module each include M delay lines, wherein the first and second ends of one of the M delay lines of the first phase-shifting module (i.e., the two ends of one delay line) are respectively connected to the input interface of the first phase-shifting module and one of the M output interfaces of the first phase-shifting module. Similarly, the first and second ends of one of the M delay lines of the second phase-shifting module are respectively connected to the input interface of the second phase-shifting module and one of the M output interfaces of the second phase-shifting module. Optionally, as shown in FIG5 , the first phase-shifting module may further include a first splitter, and the second phase-shifting module may further include a second splitter, wherein the input interface of the first splitter is connected to the input interface of the first phase-shifting module, and the first splitter includes M output interfaces, each of which is respectively connected to the first ends of the M delay lines. Similarly, the input interface of the second splitter is connected to the input interface of the second phase-shifting module, and the second splitter includes M output interfaces, each of which is respectively connected to the first ends of the M delay lines. Taking the first splitter as an example, the connection relationship of the first splitter can be understood as the first splitter is used to divide the carrier component of the first signal received from the input interface of the first phase shift module into M parts, and output them to the first ends of M delay lines through M output interfaces respectively.

[0080] It should be noted that the first splitter and the second splitter actually include M output interfaces. FIG5 schematically shows only one output interface, which should not be construed as a limitation on the present application.

[0081] The following describes in detail the length relationship of the M delay lines used for dispersion in the first phase shifting module and the second direction shifting module. For example, this application provides two possible length relationships of the M delay lines.

[0082] Implementation method 1

[0083] The lengths of the M delay lines of the first phase-shifting module sequentially differ by a first value. The lengths of the M delay lines of the second phase-shifting module sequentially differ by a second value.

[0084] It should be noted that in this implementation, the first phase-shifting module only needs to include M delay lines whose lengths sequentially differ by a first value, and the second phase-shifting module only needs to include M delay lines whose lengths sequentially differ by a second value. The present embodiment does not limit the specific arrangement order of the M delay lines in the two phase-shifting modules. For example, the arrangement order of the M delay lines in the first phase-shifting module or the second phase-shifting module is the same as the arrangement order of the M extension lines in FIG. 2 .

[0085] Implementation method 2

[0086] The M delay lines of the first phase shift module are included in M1 delay line sets, each delay line set includes M2 delay lines, and each delay line in the M delay lines consists of a first delay line and a second delay line corresponding to each delay line, wherein the lengths of the first delay lines corresponding to the M2 delay lines in each delay line set are the same, and the lengths of the corresponding second delay lines differ by a first value (L2 is taken as an example hereinafter), and the lengths of the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line sets differ by a second value (L1 is taken as an example hereinafter), wherein M1 is the number of antenna units in the horizontal dimension of the antenna array, and M2 is the number of antenna units in the vertical dimension of the antenna array unit, or, M1 is the number of antenna units in the vertical dimension of the antenna array unit, and M2 is the number of antenna units in the horizontal dimension of the antenna array unit, and M is equal to the product of M1 and M2. Similarly, the M delay lines of the second phase-shifting module are included in M1 delay line sets, each delay line set includes M2 delay lines, and each delay line of the M delay lines of the second phase-shifting module is composed of a first delay line and a second delay line corresponding to each delay line, wherein the lengths of the first delay lines corresponding to the M2 delay lines in each delay line set in the second phase-shifting module are the same, and the lengths of the corresponding second delay lines differ by a third value (hereinafter referred to as L3 as an example), and the lengths of the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line sets in the second phase-shifting module differ by a fourth value (hereinafter referred to as L4 as an example). For ease of description, in the embodiment of the present application, the length characteristics of the M delay lines in the second implementation method can be referred to as optical path grading characteristics.

[0087] It should be noted that in this implementation, |L1-L4| (i.e., the absolute value of the difference between the second and fourth values) and |L2-L3| (i.e., the absolute value of the difference between the first and third values) are both non-zero, and |L1-L4| and |L2-L3| are not equal. For ease of description, this feature may be referred to as a dispersion intensity graded feature in the embodiments of this application.

[0088] It should also be noted that in the second implementation, as long as there are M extension lines that meet the above-mentioned length characteristics in the first phase shift module and the second phase shift module, the embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific arrangement order of the M delay lines in the two phase shift modules.

[0089] Based on the optical path classification characteristics and dispersion intensity classification characteristics of implementation method 2, two-dimensional dispersion tuning can be achieved, that is, 2D beamforming can be achieved. The specific reasons will be explained below with reference to Figure 10 and will not be described in detail here.

[0090] It should be understood that the CS dispersion separation mechanism and the optical path grading feature are two independent features. The two features can be used alone or in combination with each other. This application does not limit this. Implementation method two can be regarded as the combination of the two features. When the optical path grading feature is applied alone, it can be considered that the dispersion phase shifting module includes the first phase shifting module or the second phase shifting module in implementation method two. The input interface of the first phase shifting module or the second phase shifting module is used to receive the first signal, that is, the first signal will not be CS separated, but only input from the input interface of one phase shifting module. For example, when the optical path grading feature is applied alone, the dispersion phase shifting module can be as shown in Figure 2, and the lengths of the M extension lines in Figure 2 can meet the optical path grading feature given in Example 2.

[0091] Implementation 2 only describes the optical path hierarchy of the M delay lines in the first and second phase-shifting modules. This optical path hierarchy can be implemented using different logical topologies for the M delay lines. Several possible logical topologies for the M delay lines are described below. For ease of description, the M delay lines in the first phase-shifting module are used as an example.

[0092] Logical topology 1: pure parallel feed

[0093] In this topological structure, the first delay line corresponding to each delay line set in the M1 delay line sets in the first phase-shifting module is a common delay line of the corresponding delay line set.

[0094] For example, as shown in Figure 6, the first phase-shifting module includes M delay lines, which are included in delay line set #1 through delay line set #M1. S1, S1+L1, ..., and S1+(M1-1)*L1 are the common first delay lines corresponding to the M2 extension lines in delay line set #1 through delay line set #M1 corresponding to the first phase-shifting module, and S2, S2+L2, ..., and S2+(M2-1)*L2 are the second delay lines of the M2 delay lines in any of the M delay line sets in the first phase-shifting module.

[0095] In this topology, the number of splitters connected to each delay line is equal, the network design is simple, and the splitters also tend to have equal power distribution, which is easy to design.

[0096] It should be understood that the number of output interfaces of the splitters connected to the delay lines in different topologies of the embodiments of the present application may vary. In actual manufacturing, the matching splitters can be selected based on the number of parts into which the signal is actually divided, and this application does not impose any restrictions on this. For example, as shown in Figure 6, the output interface of the splitter connected to the first delay line can be greater than or equal to M1, and the output interface of the splitter connected to the second delay line can be greater than or equal to M2.

[0097] Logical topology 2: hierarchical and parallel feed

[0098] In this topological structure, each common first delay line in the M1 common first delay lines in the M1 delay line set of the first phase shift module (i.e., the M1 common first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line set in Figure 6) is composed of a third delay line and a fourth delay line, wherein the third delay line in the first delay line of at least two delay line sets in the M1 delay line set in the first phase shift module is a common delay line in the at least two delay line sets, and / or, the second delay line of each delay line in the M delay lines of the first phase shift module is composed of a fifth delay line and a sixth delay line included in each delay line, wherein the fourth delay line in the second delay line of at least two delay line sets in the M1 delay line set in the first phase shift module is a common delay line in the at least two delay line sets.

[0099] For example, as shown in Figure 7, taking the example that the first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the first phase-shifting module is composed of the third delay line and the fourth delay line contained in each delay line, in the delay line set #1 corresponding to delay line #1 to delay line #M2, and the delay line set #2 corresponding to delay line #M2+1 to delay line #2*M2, the common first delay line of the delay line set #1 includes the corresponding third delay line (S1) and the fourth delay line (0), the common first delay line of the delay line set #2 includes the corresponding third delay line (S1) and the fourth delay line (L1), and the third delay line of the delay line set #1 and the delay line set #2 is the common delay line of the two delay line sets.

[0100] It can be understood that this topology multiplexes part of the delay lines of adjacent delay lines in a pure parallel-feed structure, significantly reducing the chip size, and when delay lines are multiplexed in adjacent multiple delay lines, for example, when initial phase errors are adjusted between delay line set #1 and delay line set #2 and other delay line sets (such as delay line set #M), only a single phase shifter is required.

[0101] Logical topology structure three: series plus parallel feed

[0102] As shown in FIG8 , in this topology, the M1 common first delay lines in the M1 delay line set of the first phase shift module adopt a series-fed structure, and the second delay lines of the M2 delay lines in each delay line set in the M1 delay line set in the first phase shift module adopt a parallel-fed structure.

[0103] Logical topology structure 4: pure series feed

[0104] As shown in Figure 9, in this topology, the M1 common first delay lines in the M1 delay line set of the first phase-shifting module, as well as the M2 second delay lines in each delay line set within the M1 delay line set within the first phase-shifting module, all employ a series-fed structure. This topology maximizes transmission delay line multiplexing and is theoretically the most compact and smallest in size.

[0105] It should be understood that the M delay lines in the first phase-shifting module and the second phase-shifting module may adopt any of the above topological structures or other structures, and this application does not limit this.

[0106] The above describes the phase shifting device proposed in this application in detail. The following describes the beneficial effects of CS separation and how to achieve 2D beamforming based on optical path classification in conjunction with a specific phase shifting device.

[0107] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a specific phase shifting device proposed in this application. The M delay lines in the device adopt a pure parallel-feed logic topology, and the antenna array connected to the M combiners in the device includes M antenna units. For example, M1=M H is the number of antenna units in the horizontal dimension, M2=M V is the number of vertical antenna units, M = M H *M V .

[0108] First, the carrier component and the sideband component of N microwave photon signals are separated to generate a first signal and a second signal, where N is a positive integer, the first input signal includes the carrier component (i.e., C component) of the N microwave photon signals, and the second input signal includes the sideband component (i.e., S component) of the N microwave photon signals. Then, the first signal and the second signal are input through the first phase shift module and the input interface of the phase shift module, respectively, wherein the wavelength component of the carrier component of the N microwave photon signals in the first signal is λ C1 ~λ CN The wavelength component of the sideband component of the N-channel microwave photon signal in the second channel is λ S1 ~λ SN ,|λ Cn -λ Sn |=Δλ cs , n∈[1,N].

[0109] Afterwards, the two signals (respectively denoted as c0(t) and s0(t)) are split into M=M by the splitter in the device. H *M V Each copy is transmitted in a delay line of a specific length. These signals are recorded as n∈[1,N],h∈[1,M H ],v∈[1,M V ]. Among them, A Cnhv and A Snhv L represents the amplitude response of the nth wavelength component in each signal after it undergoes branching and transmission through a delay line of a specific length. Chv and L Shv Indicates the delay line length of each signal transmission, Φ(L Chv ,λ Cn ) and Φ(L Shv ,λ sn ) is the corresponding phase response. There are M H *M V Couplers, respectively hv , used to convert the corresponding c hv (t) and s hv (t) After combining, it is input to the antenna unit Ant in the antenna unit array hv , Ant hv represents the antenna element in the hth row and vth column of the antenna array. Then the antenna Ant hv The output signal is recorded as:

[0110] E hv (t)∝Lowpass{Re{c hv (t)}Re{s hv (t)}}=A hv (t)cos(2πΔfc CS t+Φ(L Chv ,λ C )-Φ(L Shv ,λ S ))

[0111] The output signal includes signal components of N microwave photon signals, wherein the nth component of the N microwave photon signals can be expressed as:

[0112] E nhv (t)∝=A nhv (t)cos(2πΔfc CS t+Φ(L Chv ,λ nC )-Φ(L Shv ,λ nS))≈A nhv (t)cos(2πΔfc CS t+Φ(L Chv -L Shv ,λ n ))

[0113] Among them, λ n =(λ nC +λ nS ) / 2, represents the center wavelength of the n-th microwave photon signal.

[0114] Therefore, the phase difference of the transmitted signal corresponding to the n-th microwave photon signal on adjacent horizontal antenna units in the antenna array is:

[0115] Similarly, the phase difference of the transmitted signals corresponding to the n-th microwave photon signal transmitted on adjacent vertical antenna units in the antenna array is:

[0116] Among them, λ ref_nH and λ ref_nV Respectively and The central wavelength of the nth microwave photon signal, n g Represents the refractive index of the delay line that transmits the signal.

[0117] It should be noted that, for the sake of convenience in description, the corresponding c hv (t) and s hv (t) After combining, it is input to the antenna unit Ant in the antenna unit array hv In practice, as long as c hv (t) and s hv (t) One of the M combiners for combining signals may be connected to one of the M antenna units, and this application does not make any specific limitation.

[0118] Below As an example, the beneficial effect of CS separation is illustrated. It can be seen that when L2 or L3 is 0, here we take L3 as 0, then

[0119] The phase difference of the traditional phase shifter in Figure 2 is:

[0120] Comparing the above two phase difference formulas, it can be seen that when the same microwave photon signal is input in Figure 2 and Figure 9, that is, λ n =λ, if you need to get the same Since the traditional dispersion phase shift network has Δλ csIf the ΔL is too small, the required ΔL length is too long. However, the phase shifting device proposed in this application separates the input by CS to determine the Parameters Compared with Δλ cs / λ 2 Much larger, for example, when the wavelength adjustment range of the light source is 1535nm~1565nm and the target RF frequency band is 6GHz, The variation range is 0~1.25×10 -5 nm -1 , and Δλ cs / λ 2 The variation range is 0~7.7×10 -10 nm -1 To achieve the same phase shift, the length of L2 is significantly shortened compared to the length of ΔL, so that the phase shift device can be small in size or integrated into a single chip.

[0121] In addition, the optical path grading feature can make a microwave photon signal produce corresponding phase differences between the antenna units in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. |L1-L4| and |L2-L3| can be used to characterize the dispersion intensity in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. There must be a certain difference between the two so that based on the same λ n Different change trends can be obtained and (This feature can be called a dispersion intensity grading feature.) Therefore, based on this dispersion intensity grading feature and the optical path grading feature, 2D beamforming can be achieved. Two possible methods for achieving the dispersion intensity grading feature are given below.

[0122] Optionally, |L1-L4|=K*|L2-L3|, where K is a larger multiple, for example, K=32.

[0123] Optionally, |L1-L4| and |L2-L3| are of comparable magnitude but are prime to each other, for example, |L1-L4|=32, |L2-L3|=31.

[0124] Based on the above description, it can be seen that when the length differences L1, L2, L3 and L4 are determined, the central wavelength λ of the nth microwave photon signal can be adjusted. n To change the phase difference between the antenna units in the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the n-th microwave photon signal (i.e. and ), thereby changing the 2D pointing direction of the beam.

[0125] When the phase shifting device proposed in the embodiment of the present application is integrated into a single chip, |L1-L4| and |L2-L3| can optionally be designed based on one or more of the multiple design rules given below.

[0126] (1) Determine the maximum wavelength tuning range Δλ based on the light source and chip performance n , and, determined according to the phase shift requirements and The adjustment range of |L1-L4| and |L2-L3| are determined.

[0127] (2) Determine the upper limits of |L1-L4| and |L2-L3| based on the tolerable chip phase error performance, because the larger the delay line length difference, the larger the chip area and the greater the phase shift error.

[0128] (3) If the dispersion efficiency needs to be improved as much as possible within a limited chip area, the signs of L1 and L4 can be made opposite, and the signs of L2 and L3 can be made opposite. Compared with the dispersion phase shift of a single component of the carrier or sideband, the dispersion efficiency can be doubled. For example, when L1 = -L4, substitute into the formula Compared with L4 equal to 0 (i.e., a single carrier component undergoes dispersion phase shift), It becomes twice as much as before, that is, the dispersion efficiency is doubled.

[0129] In addition, another advantage of L1 = -L4 and L2 = -L3 is that the designs of the M delay lines in the first phase-shifting module and the second phase-shifting module can be completely symmetrical, which significantly reduces the complexity of chip design.

[0130] However, in some scenarios, such as a base station antenna system, a single chip integrates the phase shifting device proposed in an embodiment of the present application. If the device needs to be docked with an antenna, the antenna is usually much larger than the chip and cannot match the small chip. For another example, the scale of the phase shifting device proposed in an embodiment of the present application exceeds the integration capability of a single chip. In this case, the phase shifting device proposed in an embodiment of the present application needs to be sliced. The core of the slicing process is to encapsulate the components in the phase shifting device proposed in an embodiment of the present application in multiple chips respectively. The following is a detailed description of a slicing scheme proposed in the present application.

[0131] The phase shifting device includes a first chip and M1 second chips, wherein the first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the first phase shifting module and the first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the second phase shifting module are both located in the first chip, and the second delay line of the M2 delay lines of a delay line set in the M1 delay line set of the first phase shifting module and the second delay line of the M2 delay lines of a delay line set in the M1 delay line set of the second phase shifting module are both located in one chip of the M1 second chips.

[0132] For example, the result after slicing the phase shifting device shown in Figure 10 based on the above-mentioned slicing scheme is shown in Figure 11, which will not be described in detail here. Specifically, the slicing scheme proposed in the embodiment of the present application in this implementation method can have the following beneficial effects. First, the positions of the M1 second chips can be flexibly adjusted to match large-sized post-stage modules such as antennas. Second, the structures of the M1 second chips are exactly the same, and the phase shifting device only requires two types of optical chips to be implemented. Third, the channel scale of each optical chip is on the order of M1 or M2. Compared with the M1*M2 scale required for a single chip, the specification requirements for the single chip are significantly reduced, it is easier to implement, and the yield is better controlled. Fourth, as shown in Figure 11, the minimum number of connections required between the first chip and the M1 second chips is only 2*M1, the packaging difficulty and cost are low, and if an optical amplifier is required between the first chip and the second chip, the number of optical amplifiers required is also relatively small.

[0133] As can be seen from the above, the phase shifter provided in the embodiments of this application significantly improves dispersion efficiency through CS dispersion separation. However, the optical phase is highly susceptible to process errors and environmental disturbances, resulting in poor phase stability after CS separation, significantly increasing the requirements for chip design. Therefore, the embodiments of this application propose several possible solutions to suppress the initial phase error introduced by the CS dispersion separation mechanism.

[0134] (1) For given L1, L2, L3, and L4 parameters, the size of the phase shifter is minimized to make the different transmission delay lines more compact and their equivalent refractive indices closer. One approach to this is to have the delay lines in the phase shifter act as both delay line units and routing waveguides.

[0135] (2) If it is not possible to ensure that the initial phase error performance of all delay lines meets the requirements, it is possible to consider only ensuring that the initial phase relationship between multiple adjacent delay lines meets the requirements. By utilizing the hierarchical characteristics of the hierarchical parallel feed, a single phase shifter is added between the multiple delay line sets of the hierarchical parallel feed and one of the delay line sets in the other delay line sets to adjust the initial phase relationship, thereby significantly reducing the initial phase error requirements of the chip without causing excessive complexity in the chip peripheral control. For example, as shown in Figure 7, when the initial phase error is adjusted between delay line set #1 and delay line set #2 and other delay line sets (such as delay line set #M), a single phase shifter is added to adjust the initial phase relationship.

[0136] (3) Ensure that the carrier component and the sideband component are "transmitted along the path" as much as possible. Transmission along the path refers to the carrier component and the sideband component output to the same combiner. Before they are transmitted on the delay line in the corresponding phase shift module, the corresponding transmission paths are as close as possible in physical position, which can significantly reduce the initial phase error between different delay lines. For example, in FIG10 , the path between the carrier component output to combiner #1 transmitted from the input interface of the first splitter to the first end of the extension line (S1+S2) and the path between the sideband component output to combiner #1 transmitted from the input interface of the second splitter to the first end of the extension line (S3+S4) need to be as close as possible in physical position. Two specific implementation methods of transmission along the path are given below based on the phase shift device shown in FIG10 .

[0137] Implementation method 1

[0138] The first phase-shifting module includes a first splitter, which includes M1 power-dividing paths. The second phase-shifting module includes a second splitter, which includes M1 power-dividing paths. The lengths of the M1 power-dividing paths of the first phase-shifting module and the M1 power-dividing paths of the second phase-shifting module both deviate from the first length by less than a first threshold. Among them, the first end of the M1 power division paths in the first splitter is connected to the input interface of the first phase shift module, the second end of a power division path in the M1 power division paths in the first splitter is respectively connected to the first end of a first delay line in the M1 common first delay lines of the first phase shift module, and the first end of a first delay line in the first phase shift module is the same as the first end of any delay line in the M2 delay lines in the delay line set corresponding to a first delay line; the first end of the M1 power division paths in the second splitter is connected to the input interface of the second phase shift module, the second end of a power division path in the M1 power division paths in the second splitter is respectively connected to the first end of a first delay line in the M1 common first delay lines of the second phase shift module, and the first end of a first delay line in the second phase shift module is the same as the first end of any delay line in the M2 delay lines in the delay line set corresponding to a first delay line. Among them, the deviation between the distance at N% of the path length of the first power dividing path and the distance at N% of the path length of the second power dividing path and the fourth length is less than the fourth threshold value, the first power dividing path is the power dividing path used to transmit the first signal among the M power dividing paths of the first phase shift module, the second power dividing path is the power dividing path used to transmit the second signal among the M power dividing paths of the second phase shift module, the first signal and the second signal are respectively the sideband component and the carrier component of the first signal output to the same combiner among the M combiners, and N is greater than 0.

[0139] The M1 common first delay lines of the first phase shift module can be understood as the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line set of the first phase shift module. Similarly, the M1 common first delay lines of the second phase shift module can be understood as the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line set of the second phase shift module.

[0140] Taking the M1 power splitting paths in the first splitter as an example, the first end of the M1 power splitting paths in the first splitter can be understood as the input interface of the first splitter, and the second end of the M1 power splitting paths in the first splitter can be understood as the M1 output interfaces of the first splitter. Therefore, the above description of the first end of the M1 power splitting paths in the first splitter being connected to the input interface of the first phase-shifting module, and the second end of one of the M1 power splitting paths in the first splitter being connected to the first end of one of the M1 common first delay lines of the first phase-shifting module, can be understood as the first splitter being used to split the carrier component of the first signal received from the input interface of the first phase-shifting module into M1 parts, transmit the parts on the M1 power splitting paths, and output the parts to the first ends of the M1 common first delay lines.

[0141] The connection between the first splitter and the input interface of the first phase shift module and the M1 common first delay lines can be seen in the connection of the first splitter in Figure 5. Similarly, the connection relationship of the second splitter can be seen in the connection of the second splitter in Figure 5, which will not be repeated here.

[0142] It should also be understood that the deviation of the length of the M1 power splitting paths from the first length being less than the first threshold value means that the manufacturing rules expect the M1 power splitting paths to be identical in length, but in actual manufacturing, the M1 power splitting paths may not be identical due to manufacturing precision. In this case, the M1 paths only need to have a difference from the first length that is less than the first threshold value. Similar descriptions involved in the embodiments of this application are not repeated here one by one.

[0143] The characteristic of the first implementation method is that all power division paths (all first power division paths and all second power division paths) can be wired with theoretically equal lengths, thus avoiding additional initial phase errors introduced due to unequal lengths of delay lines.

[0144] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the arrangement of the first power division path and the second power division path in a possible first splitter and second splitter proposed in an embodiment of the present application based on implementation method one. Among them, the path with lighter color is the first power division path, and the path with darker color is the second power division path. The two paths corresponding to any dotted circle are a set of first power division paths and second power division paths that meet the requirements of implementation method one. In addition, the cross junction with lighter color in the figure is optional, and the cross junction with darker color is required. The introduction of optional waveguide crossover can further ensure that all power division paths in the figure are theoretically consistent. It should be understood that the cross junction is used to prevent interference caused by the crossover between two different paths.

[0145] Optionally, the first splitter further includes one or more power splitters. For example, the eight first power splitting paths of the first splitter in the dotted box in FIG12 have common paths of different lengths, and a power splitter is present at the bifurcation point of any Y-shaped path in the eight first power splitting paths. The power splitter is configured to split a signal received on one path into two and transmit the signal on the two paths respectively.

[0146] Implementation method 2

[0147] The first phase-shifting module includes a first splitter, which includes M1 power-dividing paths. The second phase-shifting module includes a second splitter, which includes M1 power-dividing paths. The deviation between the length of the M1 power-dividing paths of the first phase-shifting module and the second length is less than the second threshold, and the deviation between the length of the M1 delay lines of the second phase-shifting module and the third length is less than the third threshold. Among them, the first end of the M1 power division paths in the first splitter is connected to the input interface of the first phase shift module, the second end of a power division path in the M1 power division paths in the first splitter is respectively connected to the first end of a first delay line in the M1 common first delay lines of the first phase shift module, and the first end of a first delay line in the first phase shift module is the same as the first end of any delay line in the M2 delay lines in the delay line set corresponding to a first delay line; the first end of the M1 power division paths in the second splitter is connected to the input interface of the second phase shift module, the second end of a power division path in the M1 power division paths in the second splitter is respectively connected to the first end of a first delay line in the M1 common first delay lines of the second phase shift module, and the first end of a first delay line in the second phase shift module is the same as the first end of any delay line in the M2 delay lines in the delay line set corresponding to a first delay line. Among them, the deviation between the distance at N% of the path length of the first power dividing path and the distance at N% of the path length of the second power dividing path and the fourth length is less than the fourth threshold value, the first power dividing path is the power dividing path used to transmit the first signal among the M power dividing paths of the first phase shift module, the second power dividing path is the power dividing path used to transmit the second signal among the M power dividing paths of the second phase shift module, the first signal and the second signal are respectively the sideband component and the carrier component of the first signal output to the same combiner among the M combiners, and N is greater than 0.

[0148] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the arrangement of the first power division path and the second power division path in a possible first splitter and a second splitter proposed in an embodiment of the present application based on implementation method 2. Among them, the path with lighter color is the first power division path, and the path with darker color is the second power division path, wherein the two paths corresponding to any dotted circle are a group of first power division paths and second power division paths that meet the requirements of implementation method 2. The characteristic of this implementation method 2 is that all first power division paths can achieve theoretical equal length wiring, and all second power division paths can achieve theoretical equal length wiring, but the first power division paths and the second power division paths are not necessarily equal in length. In addition, the cross junctions with lighter colors in the figure are optional, and the cross junctions with darker colors are required. The advantage of this implementation method 2 is that when the responses of each power division path are required to be consistent, the number of optional waveguide cross junctions required is significantly reduced compared to Figure 12.

[0149] For example, in the above two implementations, the specific implementation of the two power splitting paths being as close as possible in physical location may also be limited to an average value of the corresponding distances between the first power splitting path and the second power splitting path at 1%, 2%, 3%, ..., 100% of their respective distances not exceeding a fifth threshold. This application does not impose any limitation on this.

[0150] Optionally, the first threshold, second threshold, third threshold, fourth threshold and fifth threshold involved in implementation method one and implementation method two can be determined based on the RF link phase error index or the pointing accuracy and sidelobe suppression ratio index of the beam pattern after air interface beamforming or the communication network capacity and coverage performance index, and this application does not limit this.

[0151] For example, the sub-devices of the phase shifter provided in the embodiment of the present application after removing some components are also within the scope of protection of the present application as long as they can solve the technical problems raised in the present application. For example, the phase shifter in Figure 3 can remove one or more combiners, for example, the combiner #M in Figure 3 can be removed. For example, one or more delay lines can be removed from the phase shifter corresponding to Figure 4. Taking the M paths in Figure 4 as the M paths in Figure 6 as an example, for example, the delay line (S1+S2+L2) in the delay line set #1 and the delay line (S1+L1+S2+(M2-1)*L2) in the delay line set #2 can be removed. For example, the phase shifter corresponding to Figure 11 can remove one or more second chips, and the combiners corresponding to these chips, for example, the second chips corresponding to the delay line S2 and the delay line S3, and the combiners connected to the delay lines contained in the second chip can be removed. Examples will not be given one by one here.

[0152] An embodiment of the present application further provides an antenna device, which may include a phase shifting device as described in each embodiment of the present application.

[0153] Optionally, the antenna device may be an active antenna unit (AAU). For example, the active antenna unit may include a baseband processing unit, an intermediate frequency processing unit, any phase shifting device described in the embodiments of the present application, a radio frequency processing unit, an antenna, and other modules.

[0154] Optionally, the antenna device may be a radio remote unit (RRU). For example, the radio remote unit may include a baseband processing unit, an intermediate frequency processing unit, any phase shifting device described in the embodiments of the present application, a radio frequency processing unit, and an antenna.

[0155] For example, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described devices and modules can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0156] The present application also provides a method for phase shifting. The method includes: separating a first signal to generate a carrier component of the first signal and a sideband component of the first signal; inputting the carrier component of the first signal to an input interface of a first phase shift module of phase shift device #1; and inputting the sideband component of the first signal to an input interface of a second phase shift module of phase shift device #1, wherein phase shift device #1 is any of the phase shift devices described in the various embodiments of the present application.

[0157] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic, and the division of the units is merely a division of logical functions. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, 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 an indirect coupling or communication connection of some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0158] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application. Any modifications or substitutions that can be readily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A phase shifting device, characterized in that: include: A first phase shift module, a second phase shift module and M combiners, where M is an integer greater than 1, wherein: The input interface of the first phase shift module is used to receive the carrier component of the first signal, and one of the M output interfaces of the first phase shift module is connected to the first input interface of one of the M combiners; The input interface of the second phase shift module is used to receive the sideband component of the first signal, and one of the M output interfaces of the second phase shift module is connected to the second input interface of one of the M combiners; The output interface of one of the M combiners is used to connect to the input interface of one of the M antenna units in the antenna array.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The first phase shift module comprises M delay lines, and the first end and the second end of one of the M delay lines of the first phase shift module are respectively connected to the input interface of the first phase shift module and one of the M output interfaces of the first phase shift module; The second phase shift module includes M delay lines, and the first end and the second end of one of the M delay lines of the second phase shift module are respectively connected to the input interface of the second phase shift module and one of the M output interfaces of the second phase shift module.

3. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that The lengths of the M delay lines of the first phase shifting device sequentially differ by a first value, The lengths of the M delay lines of the second phase shifting device differ in sequence by a second value.

4. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that The M delay lines of the first phase shifting device are included in M1 delay line sets, each delay line set includes M2 delay lines, the M1 is the number of antenna units in the horizontal dimension of the antenna array, and the M2 is the number of antenna units in the vertical dimension of the antenna array, or the M1 is the number of antenna units in the vertical dimension of the antenna array, and the M2 is the number of antenna units in the horizontal dimension of the antenna array, and the M is equal to the product of M1 and M2, and each of the M delay lines of the first phase shifting module is composed of a first delay line and a second delay line corresponding to each delay line, wherein the lengths of the first delay lines corresponding to the M2 delay lines in each delay line set are the same, and the lengths of the corresponding second delay lines differ by a first value in sequence, and the lengths of the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line sets of the first phase shifting module differ by a second value in sequence; The M delay lines of the second phase shifting device are included in M1 delay line sets, each delay line set includes M2 delay lines, each delay line of the M delay lines of the second phase shifting module is composed of a first delay line and a second delay line corresponding to each delay line, wherein the lengths of the first delay lines corresponding to the M2 delay lines in each delay line set in the second phase shifting module are the same, and the lengths of the corresponding second delay lines differ by a third value in sequence, and the lengths of the M1 first delay lines corresponding to the M1 delay line sets in the second phase shifting module differ by a fourth value in sequence, Among them, the first difference and the second difference are both not 0, and the first difference and the second difference are not equal, wherein the first difference is the absolute value of the difference between the first value and the third value, and the second difference is the absolute value of the difference between the second value and the four values.

5. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that The first value and the third value have opposite signs, and / or the second value and the fourth value have opposite signs.

6. The device according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that The first delay line corresponding to each delay line set in the M1 delay line sets in the third phase shift module is a common delay line of the corresponding delay line set, and the third phase shift module is the first phase shift module or the second phase shift module.

7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that The first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the third phase shift module is composed of the third delay line and the fourth delay line contained in each delay line, wherein the third delay line of the first delay line of at least two delay line sets in the M1 delay line sets in the third phase shift module is a common delay line of the at least two delay line sets, and / or, The second delay line of each of the M delay lines of the third phase-shifting module is composed of the fifth delay line and the sixth delay line included in each delay line, wherein the fifth delay line in the second delay line of at least two delay line sets in the M1 delay line sets in the third phase-shifting module is a common delay line in the at least two delay line sets.

8. The device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that The device also includes: A first chip and M1 second chips, wherein, The first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the first phase-shifting module and the first delay line of each of the M delay lines of the second phase-shifting module are both located in the first chip, The second delay line of the M2 delay lines of one delay line set in the M1 delay line sets of the first phase shift module and the second delay line of the M2 delay lines of one delay line set in the M1 delay line sets of the second phase shift module are both located in one of the M1 second chips.

9. The device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that The first phase shifting module includes a first splitter, which includes M1 power division paths, wherein the first ends of the M1 power division paths in the first splitter are connected to the input interface of the first phase shifting module, the second end of one of the M1 power division paths in the first splitter is respectively connected to the first end of one of the M1 common first delay lines of the first phase shifting module, and the first end of one of the first delay lines in the first phase shifting module is the same as the first end of any one of the M2 delay lines in the delay line set corresponding to the one first delay line.

10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that The second phase-shifting module includes a second splitter, which includes M1 power-dividing paths, wherein the first ends of the M1 power-dividing paths in the second splitter are connected to the input interface of the second phase-shifting module, the second end of one of the M1 power-dividing paths in the second splitter is respectively connected to the first end of one of the M1 common first delay lines of the second phase-shifting module, and the first end of one of the first delay lines in the second phase-shifting module is the same as the first end of any one of the M2 delay lines in the delay line set corresponding to the one first delay line.

11. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that The deviations of the lengths of the M1 power division paths of the first phase-shifting module and the M1 power division paths of the second phase-shifting module from the first length are less than a first threshold.

12. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that The deviation between the lengths of the M1 power division paths of the first phase shift module and the second length is smaller than a second threshold, and the deviation between the lengths of the M1 delay lines of the second phase shift module and the third length is smaller than a third threshold.

13. The device according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that The deviation between the distance at N% of the path length of the first power division path and the distance at N% of the path length of the second power division path and a fourth length is less than a fourth threshold, and N is greater than 0. The first power division path is a power division path for transmitting a second signal among the M power division paths of the first phase shift module, and the second power division path is a power division path for transmitting a third signal among the M power division paths of the second phase shift module. The second signal and the third signal are respectively the sideband component and the carrier component of the first signal output to the same combiner among the M combiners.

14. An antenna device, characterized in that: include: A phase shifting device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. The device according to claim 14, characterized in that The antenna device is an active antenna unit AAU, or the antenna device is a radio remote unit RRU.

16. A method for phase shifting, characterized in that include: Separating the first signal to generate a carrier component of the first signal and a sideband component of the first signal; Inputting the carrier component of the first signal to an input interface of a first phase shift module of a phase shift device, wherein the phase shift device is the phase shift device according to any one of claims 1 to 13; The sideband component of the first signal is input to an input interface of the second phase shift module of the phase shift device.

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