Antenna Node Amplitude Weighting for Beam Width Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Reconfigurable antennas in wireless communication systems face challenges in maintaining consistent beam width across different frequency bands when aggregating fragmented frequency bands, leading to varying coverage areas due to spatial separation of antenna elements by wavelength.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves an antenna array node with multiple radio chains, each comprising an oscillator, splitter, and multiplexer, where the splitter weights signal division based on unique frequency bands to maintain consistent beam width, using fixed amplitude tapers to balance beam widths across different frequency bands, eliminating the need for variable phase shifters and control signaling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If reconfigurable antennas use phase shifters to steer beams in different directions, then beam direction control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the operating parameters of antenna elements by adjusting amplitude weights assigned to different frequency bands. Instead of using phase shifters to control beam direction, the invention modifies the amplitude parameters of signal components at different frequencies to achieve beam shaping and direction control, thereby simplifying the device architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and removes the complex phase shifter control mechanism from the system. By eliminating phase shifters and replacing them with amplitude weighting through signal combining, the patent simplifies the device complexity while maintaining beam steering capability through frequency-based amplitude modulation.
2Quantity of substance
If antennas aggregate fragmented frequency bands, then bandwidth is improved, but beam width consistency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different amplitude weights to different frequency bands based on their specific characteristics. Each frequency band component is processed with tailored amplitude weighting to compensate for wavelength differences, ensuring that all bands contribute equally to the overall beam width despite their different physical properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the amplitude parameters of signal components across different frequency bands to maintain consistent beam width. By adjusting the amplitude weights of individual frequency band contributions, the system compensates for the spatial separation effects caused by different wavelengths, thereby maintaining beam width stability while aggregating fragmented bands.
3Productivity
If different frequency bands are used to increase capacity, then productivity is improved, but coverage area uniformity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the amplitude parameters of different frequency band signals to ensure uniform coverage area. By carefully controlling the amplitude weights of each frequency band contribution, the system maintains consistent spatial coverage across all aggregated bands, allowing capacity increase through frequency aggregation without sacrificing coverage uniformity.
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 2~3
AI summary
The present invention relates to a node (10) in a wireless communication system, the node (10) comprising an antenna array with at least first (11a) and second antenna elements (11b). First (12a-16a) and a second radio chains (12b-16b) connect the antenna elements (11a, 11b) to a base band (17). Oscillators (16a, 16b) feed a signal with a unique frequency band (f1, f2) to the splitter (14a, 14b) in the same radio chain. The splitters (14a, 14b) divides the signals into at least two signal parts and feed each part to the multiplexers (13a, 13b). Each multiplexer (13a, 13b) in the node (10) receives signal parts from each splitter (14a, 14b) in the node. The splitters (14a, 14b) weight the division of the signal into the signal parts in dependence of the frequency bands, such that a certain beam width is maintained in all frequency bands. Accordingly, the node provides the same coverage area over different fragmented bands in a reconfigurable antenna.