Phase-Unconstrained Antenna Beamforming for Reduced Complexity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Beam forming techniques in wireless communications systems, particularly in satellite systems, face challenges in optimizing antenna gain patterns without explicitly specifying phase constraints, which can compromise gain performance and increase computational complexity.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of phase-unconstrained beam forming methods that constrain only the real part of the complex amplitude response at geographic constraint points, allowing the imaginary part and phase to remain unconstrained, using techniques such as Linearly Constrained Minimum Variance (LCMV) and least-squares algorithms to generate complex antenna feed element weights that minimize cost functions related to total received power and desired responses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If phase constraints are explicitly specified in beam forming, then the antenna gain pattern can be controlled, but the computational complexity increases and gain performance may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the phase constraint component from the traditional beam forming formulation, keeping only the amplitude (real part) constraints. This extraction eliminates the computational burden associated with phase optimization while preserving the essential gain pattern control functionality through amplitude-only constraints at geographic points.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the constraint parameters from complex-valued (amplitude and phase) to real-valued (amplitude only). By formulating the optimization problem with real-valued constraints instead of complex-valued constraints, the computational complexity is reduced while maintaining the ability to control antenna gain patterns through amplitude weighting.
2Manufacturing precision
If phase constraints are explicitly specified in beam forming, then the antenna gain pattern can be controlled, but the gain performance may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
By extracting and removing the phase constraint from the optimization problem, the patent eliminates the conflict between phase control requirements and gain performance optimization. The amplitude-only constraints allow the system to achieve both gain pattern control and optimal gain performance without the compromises introduced by arbitrary phase specifications.
3Productivity
If unconstrained phase response is used in beam forming, then the degrees of freedom are reduced by half, but the method must still maintain good gain performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the constraint formulation from complex-valued to real-valued parameters, which automatically reduces the degrees of freedom by half while maintaining gain performance. The real-valued amplitude constraints at geographic points are sufficient to control the gain pattern without requiring explicit phase constraints, thus achieving both computational efficiency and reliable gain performance.
Data Source
AI summary
Beamforming methods for operating a transceiver including an antenna having a plurality of antenna feed elements include defining a plurality of real valued antenna gain constraint values associated with a plurality of geographic constraint points within a geographic region, and generating complex valued antenna feed element weights that result in complex antenna gain values at the geographic constraint points based on the corresponding real valued antenna gain constraint values. An antenna beam is formed from the antenna to the geographic region using the complex valued antenna feed element weights, and information is transmitted over the antenna beam.