Patent ID: 11902005
Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 2:
3. A relay method using an array antenna in which a spacing between adjacent ones of antenna elements is constant, each of combinations of two of the antenna elements in positions symmetrical relative to a center of an array is connected by wire connections in two paths, and a path length between the antenna elements in the combination of two antenna elements is the same in all of the combinations, the method comprising:
a phase adjustment amount calculation step of, when any one of the wire connections is predefined as a reference wire connection serving as a reference, calculating a phase adjustment amount for each of the wire connections aside from the reference wire connection on the basis of an arrival direction of a wireless signal received by one of the antenna elements in the combination of two antenna elements and a re-radiation direction of a wireless signal transmitted as a re-radiated wave by another of the antenna elements corresponding to the one of the antenna elements, taking into account a phase difference between a signal transmitted by the wire connections connected to the one of the antenna elements and a signal transmitted by the reference wire connection; and
a phase adjustment step of, for each of the wire connections aside from the reference wire connection, applying phase rotation to the signal transmitted by the wire connection in accordance with the phase adjustment amount calculated in the phase adjustment amount calculation step;
wherein the wireless signal is transmitted at a plurality of wavelengths,
the phase adjustment amount calculation step calculates, for each of the wire connections aside from the reference wire connection, the phase adjustment amount for each of different wavelengths received by the one of the antenna elements on the basis of an arrival direction of the wireless signal of the wavelength and a re-radiation direction of a wireless signal of the wavelength transmitted as a re-radiated wave by the other of the antenna elements, taking into account a phase difference between signals of the wavelength transmitted by the wire connections connected to the one of the antenna elements and a signal of the wavelength transmitted by the reference wire connection, and
the phase adjustment step separates the signals transmitted by the wire connections into each of the wavelengths, and applies phase rotation to the phase of the signal of each of the wavelength obtained by the separating, in accordance with the phase adjustment amount corresponding to each of the wavelengths.