Patent ID: 7965234
Filing Date: 2011-06-21
Classification: H01Q

Abstract:
1. A beamforming apparatus for a multi-antenna system, comprising: a phase control unit comprising a plurality of phase shifters configured to control, according to a preset phase weight vector, the phases of signals from a plurality of antennas, respectively; a signal combination unit configured to combine signals outputted from the plurality of phase shifters into a combined signal; a frequency down converter configured to down-convert the combined signal outputted from the signal combination unit into a baseband signal; an analog/digital (A/D) converter configured to convert the baseband signal outputted from the frequency down converter into a digital signal; and a radio frequency (RF) beamforming control unit configured to provide a plurality of preset phase weight vectors to the phase control unit according to a preset application sequence, configured to decide a maximum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) among a plurality of SNRs corresponding to the phase weight vectors applied to the phase control unit, by using digital signals outputted from the A/D converter, and configured to control the beamforming of the phase control unit by using the maximum SNR, wherein the RF beamforming control unit comprises: a phase weight vector codebook comprising the plurality of phase weight vectors, which are divided into a plurality of first to m-th arrangement ranges in consideration of phase correlations; a phase control section configured to apply the plurality of phase weight vectors of the phase weight vector codebook according to the preset application sequence, configured to decide the maximum SNR by using a comparison result of the plurality of SNRs corresponding to the applied phase weight vectors, and configured to control the respective phases of the plurality of phase shifters by using the maximum SNR; an SNR detection unit configured to detect the plurality of SNRs for the applied phase weight vector, by using the digital signal outputted from the A/D converter; and an SNR comparison unit configured to compare the detected SNRs for the applied phase weight vectors, which are outputted from the SNR detection unit, and configured to provide the comparison result to the phase control section.