Patent ID: 11888237
Assignee: AIRSPAN IP HOLDCO LLC
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. An antenna apparatus comprising:
a strip of antenna elements extending in a first dimension;
a signal processing interface for connection to signal processing circuitry;
a plurality of beamforming networks, wherein each beamforming network is arranged, when coupled to the strip of antenna elements, to cause an associated beam pattern of the beamforming network to be generated by the strip of antenna elements;
switching circuitry to enable any one of the plurality of beamforming networks to be inserted between the strip of antenna elements and the signal processing interface;
each beamforming network coupling a first node of the beamforming network with multiple second nodes of the beamforming network in accordance with a coupling pattern of that beamforming network;
wherein when the switching circuitry causes a given beamforming network of the plurality of beamforming networks to be inserted between the strip of antenna elements and the signal processing interface, the signal processing interface is coupled to the first node, each antenna element is coupled to an associated one of the multiple second nodes, and the coupling pattern of the given beamforming network causes the associated beam pattern to be generated by the strip of antenna elements;
wherein, for each beamforming network, the coupling pattern of that beamforming network defines a connection between each second node and the first node that introduces at least one of phase and amplitude differences between two or more of the multiple second nodes, so as to implement analog beamforming via differential coupling of the multiple second nodes to the first node in accordance with the coupling pattern; and
wherein each beamforming network is provided within a corresponding layer of a multi-layered structure, with the switching circuitry enabling connection to be switched between different layers of the multi-layered structure in order to switch operation of the antenna apparatus between different beamforming networks.