Abstract:
This invention relates to improved antenna techniques particularly for orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) communications systems.  
     A signal processing system ( 800 ) for determining weights for an adaptive antenna, the antenna having a plurality of antenna elements ( 802   a - d ) each for receiving a signal comprising a plurality of subcarriers, the system comprising, a plurality of inputs for receiving signals from said plurality of antenna elements, a time-to-frequency domain transformer ( 806 ) for each input for transforming the signal from each input to a plurality of subcarrier signals, a first weight determiner ( 802 ) coupled to said inputs, before the time-to-frequency domain transformer in the signal path, and configured to determine a first set of weights, one for each input, and a second weight determiner ( 838 ) coupled to said first weight determiner and configured to determine, from the determination of said first set of weights, at least one second set of weights comprising a frequency-domain weight for a subcarrier signal derived from each of said inputs.  
     By calculating a first set of weights in the time-domain and then modifying these for each subcarrier for application in the frequency domain the weight calculation process is simplified and can be performed faster.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to improved antenna techniques, particularly for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) communication systems.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is a well-known technique for transmitting high bit rate digital data signals. Rather than modulate a single carrier with the high speed data, the data is divided into a number of lower data rate channels each of which is transmitted on a separate subcarrier. In this way the effect of multipath fading is mitigated. In an OFDM signal the separate subcarriers are spaced so that they overlap, as shown for subcarriers  12  in spectrum  10  of FIG. 1 a . The subcarrier frequencies are chosen that so that the subcarriers are mutually orthogonal, so that the separate signals modulated onto the subcarriers can be recovered at the receiver. One OFDM symbol is defined by a set of symbols, one modulated onto each subcarrier (and therefore corresponds to a plurality of data bits). The subcarriers are orthogonal if they are spaced apart in frequency by an interval of 1/T, where T is the OFDM symbol period.  
           [0003]    An OFDM symbol can be obtained by performing an inverse fourier transform, preferably an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT), on a set of input symbols. The input symbols can be recovered by performing a fourier transform, preferably a fast fourier transform (FFT), on the OFDM symbol. The FFT effectively multiplies the OFDM symbol by each subcarrier and integrates over the symbol period T. It can be seen that for a given subcarrier only one subcarrier from the OFDM symbol is extracted by this procedure, as the overlap with the other subcarriers of the OFDM symbol will average to zero over the integration period T.  
           [0004]    Often the subcarriers are modulated by QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) symbols, but other forms of modulation such as Phase Shift Keying (PSK) or Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) can also be used. To reduce the effects of multipath OFDM symbols are normally extended by a guard period at the start of each symbol. Provided that the relatively delay of two multipath components is smaller than this guard time interval there is no inter-symbol interference (ISI), at least to a first approximation.  
           [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 b  shows an exemplary OFDM transmitter  100  (here in a mobile terminal, MT) and an exemplary OFDM receiver  150  (here in an access point, AP). In the transmitter  100  a source  102  provides data to a baseband mapping unit  104 , which optionally provides forward error correction coding and interleaving, and which outputs modulated symbols such as QAM symbols. The modulated symbols are provided to a multiplexer  108  which combines them with pilot symbols from a pilot symbol generator  106 , which provides reference amplitudes and phases for frequency synchronisation and coherent detection in the receiver (in other arrangements differential detection may be employed). The combination of blocks  110  converts the serial data stream from multiplexer  108  to a plurality of parallel, reduced data rate streams, performs an IFFT on these data streams to provide an OFDM symbol, and then converts the multiple subcarriers of this OFDM symbol to a single serial data stream. This serial (digital) data stream is then converted to an analogue time-domain signal by digital-to-analogue converter  112 , up-converted by up-converter  114 , and after filtering and amplification (not shown) output from an antenna  116 . Antenna  116  may comprise an omni-directional antenna, a sectorised antenna or an array antenna with beamforming.  
           [0006]    The signal from antenna  116  of transmitter  100  is received by an antenna  152  of receiver  150  via a “channel”  118 . Typically the signal arrives at antenna  152  as a plurality of multipath components, with a plurality of different amplitudes and phases, which have propagated via a plurality of different channels or paths. These multipath components combine at the receiver and interfere with one another to provide an overall channel characteristic typically having a number of deep nulls, rather like a comb, which generally change with time (particularly where the transmitter or receiver is moving). Often there will be a number of transmitters in the same general location, for example an office, and this gives rise to co-channel interference, which can be more problematic than multipath.  
           [0007]    The antenna  152  of receiver  150  is coupled to a down-converter  154  and to an analogue-to-digital converter  156 . Blocks  158  then perform a serial-to-parallel conversion, FFT, and parallel-to-serial re-conversion, providing an output to demultiplexer  160 , which separates the pilot symbol signal  162  from the data symbols. The data symbols then demodulated and de-mapped by base-band de-mapping unit  164  to provide a detected data output  166 . Broadly speaking the receiver  150  is a mirror image of the transmitter  100 . The transmitter and receiver may be combined to form an OFDM transceiver.  
           [0008]    OFDM techniques may be employed in a variety of applications and are used, for example, for military communication systems and high definition tv. Here, applications of the invention will be discussed with particular reference to the HIPERLAN (High Performance Radio Local Area Network) Type 2 standard ( www.etsi.org/technicalactiv/hiperlan2.htm , and DTS/BRAN-0023003 v 0.k). Although applications of the invention are not limited to this environment HIPERLAN 2 wireless local area network communications are managed by a common node, the access point.  
           [0009]    The receiver of FIG. 1 b  is somewhat simplified as, in practice, there is a need to synchronise the FFT window to each OFDM symbol in turn, to avoid introducing non-orthogonality and hence Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI). This may be done by auto-correlating an OFDM symbol with the cyclic extension of the symbol in the guard period but it is generally preferable, particularly for packet data transmission, to use known OFDM (training) symbols which the receiver can accurately identify and locate, for example using a matched filter. It will be appreciated that this matched filter operates in the time domain, that is before the FFT is carried out (as opposed to the post-FFT frequency domain). In a packet data system data packets may be provided with a preamble including one or more of these training symbols.  
           [0010]    [0010]FIGS. 2 a  and  2   b  show, respectively, a receiver front end  200  and receiver signal processing blocks  250  of a HIPERLAN 2 mobile terminal (MT) OFDM receiver. The receiver  250  shows some details of the analogue-to-digital conversion circuitry  252 , the synchronisation, channel estimation and control circuitry  254  and the de-packetising, de-interleaving and error correcting circuitry  256 .  
           [0011]    The front end  200  comprises a receive antenna  202  coupled to an input amplifier  204  and a mixer  206 , which has a second input from an IF oscillator  208  to mix the RF signal to IF. The IF signal is then provided to an automatic Automatic Gain Control (AGC) amplifier  212  via a band pass filter  210 , the AGC stage being controlled by a line  226  from control circuitry  254 , to optimise later signal quantisation. The output of AGC  212  provides an input to two mixers  214 ,  216 , which are also provided with quadrature signals from an oscillator  220  and splitter  218  to generate quadrature I and Q signals  222 ,  224 . These I and Q signals are then over-sampled, filtered and decimated by analogue-to-digital circuitry  254 . The over-sampling of the signal aids the digital filtering, after which the signal is rate reduced to the desired sample rate.  
           [0012]    It is desirable (but not absolutely essential) to compensate for the effects of the transmission channel. This can be done using a known symbol, for example in preamble data or one or more pilot signals. In the receiver  250  of FIG. 2 a known preamble symbol, referred to as the “C symbol”, is used to determine a channel estimate. The receiver synchronises to the received signal and switch  258  is operated to pass the received C symbol to channel estimator  260 . This estimates the effect of the channel (rotation of the symbols in the sub-carriers) on the known C symbol so that the effects of the channel can be compensated for, by multiplying by the complex conjugate of the channel response. Alternatively the one or more pilot signals (which also contain known symbols) can be used to determine a channel estimate. Again the phase rotation and amplitude change required to transform the received pilot into the expected symbol can be determined and applied to other received symbols. Where more than one pilot is available at more than one frequency improved channel compensation estimates can be obtained by interpolation/extrapolation to other frequencies using the different frequency pilot signals.  
           [0013]    In FIG. 2 the receiver front end  200  will generally be implemented in hardware whilst the receiver processing section  250  will often be implemented in “software”, as illustrated schematically by Flash RAM  262  using, for example, ASICs, FPGAs or one or more DSP (digital signal processor) chips. A similar division between hardware and software will generally be present in the transmitter. However the skilled person will recognise that all the functions of the receiver of FIG. 2 (or of an equivalent transmitter) could be performed in hardware. Similarly the exact point at which the signal is digitised in a software radio will generally depend upon a cost/complexity/power consumption trade-off, as well as upon the availability of suitable high speed analogue/digital converters and processors, and that the RF signal could be digitised at IF or a higher frequency.  
           [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 shows an example of a Media Access Control (MAC) frame  300  of a packet data communications system including preamble sequences. The MAC frame includes a broadcast channel (BCH) burst  302 , a frame channel (FCH) burst  304 , an access feedback channel (ACH) burst  306 , a down-link (DL) burst  308 , an up-link (UL) burst  310 , a direct link (DiL) burst  312 , and a random access (RCH) burst  314 , all of which contain a preamble sequence.  
           [0015]    [0015]FIGS. 4 a  to  e  show, respectively, a broadcast burst, downlink burst, an uplink burst with a short preamble, uplink burst with a long preamble, and a direct link burst of a HIPERLAN 2 physical layer signal. Each of these bursts comprises a preamble portion  400  and a data payload portion  402 . The preamble portions  400  comprise one or more of three basic OFDM symbols, denoted A, B and C. The values of these symbols are known and A and B (and, if desired, C) can be recovered in the time domain (pre-FFT). These symbols are generally used to establish the frame and frequency synchronisation and to set the FFT window for the data following the symbols; they may also be employed to control AGC stage  212 . In the receiver of FIGS. 2 A and B are recovered in the time domain and C is recovered in the frequency domain, that is post-FFT.  
           [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 illustrates, schematically, the use of these (known) preamble symbols for frame detection  502  based on RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication), automatic gain control  504 , frame synchronisation  506 , and frequency synchronisation  508 ; a schematic illustration of the preamble portion of an MAC frame  500  is also illustrated for comparison.  
           [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 shows a plot  600  in the frequency and time domain illustrating the relative positions of preamble sequences  602 , pilot signals  604 , and data signals  606  for HIPERLAN 2, which has 48 data sub-carriers and 4 pilots (and one unused, central carrier channel  608 ). As can be seen from FIG. 6 the first four OFDM symbols comprise preamble data, and the pilot signals  604  continue to carry their preamble symbols. However on the remaining (data-bearing) sub-carriers OFDM symbols 5 onwards carry data. In other OFDM schemes similar plots can be drawn, although the preamble and pilot positions may vary (for example, the pilots need not necessarily comprise continuous signals).  
           [0018]    It has previously been mentioned that OFDM is a useful technique for alleviating the effects of frequency selective fading caused by multipaths. However with particularly high data rates or in particularly severe multipath environments OFDM communications systems can still suffer from the effects of multipath fading. Moreover in indoor wireless environments, such as small office wireless LANs, there will often be a number of similar systems operating simultaneously in the same frequency band, because of limited spectrum availability. This can result in severe co-channel interference.  
           [0019]    One technique which has been proposed for combatting such multipath and co-channel interference is the use of a sectorised transmit and/or receive antenna. The region to be covered is divided into a number of sectors, typically 3, 4 or 6, and one antenna (or more where diversity is employed) is provided for each sector, the patterns of the antennas being arranged to each cover mainly just one sector. In effect the main beam of each of the sector antennas points in a different direction and by selecting the transmit and/or receive direction the effects of multipath components and/or co-channel interference arriving from unwanted directions can be reduced. HIPERLAN 2, for example, supports the use of up to seven sectors at the Access Point. Some of the benefits of employing a sectorised switching array antenna in a HIPERLAN 2 environment are described in “Performance of HIPERLAN 2 using Sectorised Antennas” A. Dufexi, S. Armour, A. Nix, P. Karlsson and D. Bull, IEE Electronics Letters Feb. 15, 2001, volume 37 no. 4, page 245.  
           [0020]    Another approach employed to mitigate the effects of multipath and co-channel interference uses a beamforming antenna array, such as a linear array of antenna elements in which the inter-antenna spacing is approximately one half a (carrier) wavelength. Signals from the antennas are combined, with appropriate phase and amplitude weightings, to provide a combined response with one or more lobes or beams. An array comprising n elements can be arranged to provide up to n−1 beams.  
           [0021]    There are a number of different beamforming algorithms which may be applied to such an adaptive antenna array and details of these will be well known to the skilled person. One commonly used algorithm is the Constant Modulus Algorithm (CMA), described in J. R. Treichler and B. G. Agee, “A New Approach to Multipath Correction of Constant Modulus Signals”, IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech and Signal Process., vol. ASSP-31, no. 2, page 459, 1983, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Broadly speaking this algorithm iteratively determines the weights for combining the signals from the antenna elements based upon a cost function chosen to make the spectrum of the combined signals approximately flat. The phase angles of the weights are chosen so that the beams point in the direction of maximum signal power, or, alternatively, so that nulls are formed in the directions of the unwanted multipath components or co-channel interference.  
           [0022]    Determining appropriate weights for the antenna array elements is relatively straightforward in a narrow band system but in an OFDM receiver, where the bandwidth occupied by the group of sub-carriers is normally &gt;1 MHz and in many cases &gt;10 MHz, a single set of weights is unlikely to be optimal across the entire bandwidth and may only be valid, for example, at the centre of the frequency band. This can be understood, for example, from the consideration that the antenna element spacing, in terms of fractions of a sub-carrier wavelength, varies across the OFDM frequency band. In the receiver of FIG. 1 adaptive array weights may be applied at points  168 ,  170 , or  172  but applying the array weights at positions  168  or  170  (pre-FFT) will not normally result in a good set of estimated weights across the frequency band.  
           [0023]    One solution to this problem is therefore to apply weightings after the FFT, at point  172 , where different sets of weights can be applied to each sub-carrier. FIG. 7 shows an OFDM receiver  700  in which a separate set of weights is applied to each sub-carrier in this way. However it will be appreciated that with K sub-carriers and L antenna elements a total of K×L weights must be determined, which is a lengthy and processor-intensive task adding considerably to the receiver complexity. EP 0 852 407 describes an arrangement in which an operational band is partitioned into four equal sub-bands, one set of weights being calculated for each sub-band rather than for each sub-carrier, to reduce the number of weights to be calculated. However this is still a relatively complicated procedure and, moreover, produces a sub-optimal result. An alternative approach is described in Fujimoto et al, “A Novel Adaptive Array Utilising Frequency Characteristics”, IEICE Trans. Commun., vol. E 83-B, no. Feb. 2, 2000, page 371, which is hereby incorporated by reference, in which the post-FFT separated sub-carriers are used to determine a single set of pre-FFT time domain weights using CMA. This approach provides a considerable simplification of the weight determining procedure but, again, the weights are sub-optimal.  
           [0024]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,250 describes OFDM adaptive antenna weight determination techniques for use in either the time or frequency domain (but not both simultaneously). Other weight-determination techniques involving sub-carrier clustering are described in Japanese patent application number 2000-391221 filed on Dec. 22, 2000, inventor Hidehiro Matsuoka, and British patent application number 0108026.6 filed on Mar. 30, 2001 entitled “Adaptive Antenna”.  
           [0025]    The above-described weight calculation techniques for array antennas each have pros and cons, some providing relatively accurate weight determination at the expense of complex and time-consuming processing, others having simpler, faster weight determination algorithms but in general providing poorer weight estimates. There is therefore a need for improved array antennas and weight determination techniques which can provide good weight estimates without imposing an excessive signal processing burden.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0026]    According to the present invention there is therefore provided a signal processing system for determining weights for an adaptive antenna, the antenna having a plurality of antenna elements each for receiving a signal comprising a plurality of subcarriers, the system comprising, a plurality of inputs for receiving signals from said plurality of antenna elements, a time-to-frequency domain transformer for each input for transforming the signal from each input to a plurality of subcarrier signals, a first weight determiner coupled to said inputs, before the time-to-frequency domain transformer in the signal path, and configured to determine a first set of weights, one for each input, and a second weight determiner coupled to said first weight determiner and configured to determine, from the determination of said first set of weights, at least one second set of weights comprising a frequency-domain weight for a subcarrier signal derived from each of said inputs.  
           [0027]    The signal processing system greatly simplifies the calculation of weights for each subcarrier (or for a subcarrier group) in the frequency domain as compared with prior art techniques. This in turn allows the power consumption and/or cost of providing an adaptive antenna with digital beamforming in the frequency domain to be significantly reduced. The system is also flexible enough to allow additional adaptive signal processing methods to be applied in the frequency domain to further improve system performance where necessary.  
           [0028]    In one embodiment the time domain or pre-FFT processing to determine the first set of weights has the effect of defining a direction, for example a direction with the highest signal-to-interference ratio for the band. One or more directions may alternatively be determined by identifying those directions which are above a threshold of received power level. This direction or directions, or more generally a spatial property or beam pattern defined by the first set of weights, is preferably substantially maintained when calculating the second set of weights. The algorithm used to determine the second set or sets of weights aims to maintain the beam direction or pattern and, in a simple embodiment, comprises a small number of multiply operations, for example one for each array antenna element. Thus the second sets of weights are chosen so that the antenna beam for each subcarrier has the same direction as that determined when calculating the first set of weights. The values of the sets of weights will be different because the subcarriers are at different frequencies.  
           [0029]    The first weight determiner effectively functions as a direction of arrival (DoA) detector, the output of which is used by the second weight determiner. Thus in the invention the function of the first weight determiner may be performed by any form of direction of arrival detector.  
           [0030]    Various measures may be used to determine the initial beam direction (or directions), such as a simple measure of received power, but preferably the system uses the first weight determiner to determine a direction (or directions) based upon signal-to-interference ratio. This helps discriminate against co-channel interference, which can have a relatively large received power level. The first weight determiner may determine a set of weights which aims to null out multipath and/or co-channel interference, that is an antenna response pattern best characterised as having one or more nulls rather than one or more main lobes. However this embodiment is less preferable as, particularly in a wide-band system, there may be a large number of multipath components to attenuate whereas generally speaking, only one or a few lobes will serve to pick out the signals with the best signal-to-interference ratios. The first set of weights may be determined conventionally by minimising a cost function which increases as the signal-to-interference ratio goes down.  
           [0031]    The signal processing system may be applied at an Access Point or base station or at the mobile end, for example in a Mobile Terminal. The system may be implemented in hardware, for example in silicon, or in software, or in a combination of the two. Preferably the subcarriers are substantially mutually orthogonal, although the system may also be employed where the subcarriers do not overlap and thus do not need to be orthogonal. However, the system is particularly suited to processing OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed) signals.  
           [0032]    The second weight determiner preferably calculates the second sets of weights from the first set of weights, but in embodiments it may instead use the results from an intermediate calculation, and in this case it may not be necessary to complete the calculation to determine a usable first set of weights. One second set of weights is preferably provided for each subcarrier signal (a set of weights comprising a weight for each version of a subcarrier, one version derived from the signal from each of the antenna elements) but, where a still further simplified calculation is required, groups of subcarriers may share sets of weights. Thus the subcarriers may be arranged in a number of groups each of which has one of the second sets of weights. Each of the weights in a second set of weights will generally, however, have been derived from the received signals from all the array antenna elements. Preferably the second sets of weights are modified by a channel estimate determined from the signal from each of the antenna elements.  
           [0033]    In embodiments all the signals for each subcarrier are combined after weighting by one of the weights from the second sets of weights. Thus, for example, weighted versions of the first carrier derived from each of the antenna elements are combined to provide a combined first subcarrier output, and the remaining subcarriers are likewise combined. Where one or a group of subcarriers has a quality which is significantly inferior to that of the other subcarriers, for example a significantly worse signal-to-interference ratio, a post-FFT narrowband-type beamforming algorithm may be used separately on the one (or the group of) subcarriers. Techniques for this are further described in the related case, “Adaptive Antenna”, British patent application number 0108026.6, filed by the present applicant on Mar. 30, 2001, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.  
           [0034]    Preferably the first weight determiner implements a direction of arrival detection algorithm which controls a directional response of the antenna, such as a digitial beamforming or beamsteering algorithm. In embodiments where the antenna elements are directional direction of arrival detection may simply comprise selection of one of the elements based upon a power or signal-to-interference ratio threshold.  
           [0035]    A preferred embodiment of the invention incorporates a signal and interference detector, which may provide separate signal and interference outputs or a combined output comprising, for example, a signal-to-interference ratio. Preferably the signal and interference detector operates in the time domain, that is before the received signal has been transformed from the time domain to a frequency domain, typically by a fourier transform for an OFDM signal. One signal and interference detector may be provided for each antenna element or a single signal and interference detector may be shared between the elements, for example on a time-multiplexed basis.  
           [0036]    Preferably the signal and interference detector determines the strength of the wanted signal and unwanted interference using a correlation technique. A known portion of the received signal may be correlated with a reference signal to determine the wanted signal strength, and with a signal orthogonal to the reference signal to determine the interference strength. The known portion of the received signal may comprise, for example, a preamble sequence such as a pseudo-noise sequence. The correlation is performed in the time-domain - that is the correlation is between two OFDM symbols and hence an inverse fourier transform is performed on the known (preamble or pseudo-noise) data prior to the correlation. Preferably, therefore, the antenna element selector includes a signal generator to generate the reference signal and signal orthogonal to the reference signal, although this is not essential as an appropriate reference may be extracted from the received data.  
           [0037]    The signal processing system may incorporate means for angular diversity reception, combining signals with a high signal-to-interference ratio received from different directions. Thus a plurality of post-FFT second sets of weights may be determined for each sub-carrier and for each beam direction and then the corresponding sub-carriers received from each direction may be combined using diversity reception techniques. As previously described the post-FFT subcarrier weights may be derived from the pre-FFT weight determination used for defining the beam directions.  
           [0038]    In some cases it may be preferable to divide the incoming OFDM signal into a plurality of sub-bands, each sub-band preferably including a number of subcarriers. Separate pre-FFT weight calculations may then be made for each sub-band, which allows an improved accuracy in post-FFT weight determination, particularly where the receiver response is not flat across the bandwidth of interest. Thus preferably a number of subcarriers are allocated to each of the sub-bands and the post-FFT weights for the sub-carriers within a sub-band use the pre-FFT weights determined for that sub-band. The signal processing system may include means for sub-dividing the OFDM signal bandwidth into sub-bands, for example based upon the OFDM pilot signals.  
           [0039]    In a related aspect the invention provides a method of determining weights for an adaptive antenna, the antenna having a plurality of antenna elements each for receiving a signal comprising a plurality of subcarriers, the method comprising, receiving a plurality of signals from said plurality of antenna elements, transforming each of said plurality of received signals into a plurality of subcarrier signals, determining a first set of weights, one for each received signal, and determining, using the determination of said first set of weights, at least one second set of weights comprising a frequency-domain weight for a subcarrier signal derived from each of said received signal inputs signals.  
           [0040]    The invention also provides a method of adaptive beamforming for an OFDM antenna comprising a plurality of antenna elements, the method comprising, applying a first beamforming algorithm in the time domain to determine at least one antenna beam direction, and calculating a set of weights for application in the frequency domain to versions of at least one subcarrier, each version of the subcarrier being received by a corresponding one of the antenna elements, said set of weights being calculated using said at least one antenna beam direction.  
           [0041]    The invention further provides a method of calculating weights for an array antenna for receiving an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal comprising a plurality of subcarriers, the method comprising, determining, in a time domain, a direction of arrival of the OFDM signal at the array antenna, calculating at least one set of weights for application to the subcarriers of the OFDM signal in a frequency domain using said direction of arrival.  
           [0042]    Here “time domain” is used to refer to a part of the signal path preceding a time-to-frequency or fourier transform and “frequency domain” is used to refer to a part of the signal path following a time-to-frequency or fourier transform of the received OFDM signal.  
           [0043]    In a related aspect the invention provides a carrier carrying processor control code to implement the above-described signal processing systems and methods. This processor control code may comprise computer programme code, for example to control a digital signal processor, or other code such as a plurality of register values to set up a general purpose integrated circuit to implement the selector or method. The carrier may comprise a data carrier or storage medium such as a hard or floppy disk, CD- or DVD-ROM, or a programmed memory such as a read-only memory, or an optical or electrical signal carrier. As the skilled person will appreciate the control code may be also be distributed between a plurality of coupled components, for example on a network. The skilled person will further recognise that the invention may be implemented by a combination of dedicated hardware and functions implemented in software. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0044]    These and other aspects of the invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures in which:  
         [0045]    [0045]FIGS. 1 a  and  1   b  show, respectively, an OFDM symbol and an exemplary OFDM transmitter;  
         [0046]    [0046]FIGS. 2 a  and  2   b  show, respectively, a receiver front end, and signal processing blocks of a HIPERLAN 2 OFDM receiver;  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 3 shows an exemplary Media Access Control frame of a packet data communications system;  
         [0048]    [0048]FIGS. 4 a  to  4   e  show, respectively, a broadcast burst, a downlink burst, an uplink burst with a short preamble, an uplink burst with a long preamble, and a direct link burst of a HIPERLAN 2 physical layer signal;  
         [0049]    [0049]FIG. 5 shows, schematically, uses of the preamble portion of a HIPERLAN 2 broadcast burst in a mobile terminal OFDM receiver;  
         [0050]    [0050]FIG. 6 shows a frequency-time plot of a HIPERLAN 2 OFDM signal including preamble and pilot signals;  
         [0051]    [0051]FIG. 7 shows an OFDM receiver in which a separate set of weights is applied to each sub-carrier in the frequency domain;  
         [0052]    [0052]FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of an antenna signal processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0053]    [0053]FIGS. 9 a  and  9   b  show, respectively, a schematic diagram of a signal and interference detector, and a schematic diagram of a signal generator for the signal and interference detector of FIG. 9 a;    
         [0054]    [0054]FIG. 10 shows an architecture of an OFDM receiver with pre-FFT digital beam-forming and post-FFT diversity; and  
         [0055]    [0055]FIG. 11 shows an OFDM receiver for beam direction diversity reception according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0056]    Referring now to FIG. 8, this shows a schematic diagram of an antenna processing system  800  for calculating weights for an adaptive antenna of an OFDM receiver.  
         [0057]    An array antenna  802  comprises n directional antenna elements of which four  802   a, b, c, d  are shown. To each of the respective antenna elements is coupled a downconverter  804   a - d  and these downconverters in turn provide received signal inputs for a set of fast fourier transform (FFT) blocks  806   a - d.  Thus up to this point in the signal processing architecture there is, in effect, a conventional OFDM receiver front end for each antenna element  802 . Each FFT block  806  provides a plurality of frequency-domain outputs, one for each subcarrier. For simplicity, in FIG. 8 outputs for only four such subcarriers are shown but, in practice, there are typically more than ten such subcarriers often more than one hundred subcarriers and sometimes more than one thousand subcarriers.  
         [0058]    In FIG. 8 lines  808   a - d  carry frequency domain signals for versions of a first subcarrier derived from received signals from antenna elements  802   a - d  respectively. Similarly lines  810   a - b  carry versions of a second subcarrier from respective antenna elements  802   a - d,  lines  812   a - d  carry third subcarrier signals from these antenna elements and lines  814   a - d  carry versions of a fourth subcarrier, one from the signal from each of the antenna elements  802   a - d.  Each set of each subcarrier has an associated set of multipliers for weighting the subcarrier versions prior to their combination. In the case of the first subcarrier, multipliers  816   a - d  are provided to multiply the version of the first subcarrier from each antenna element by an appropriate weight prior to summation of these weighted versions of the first subcarrier in summer  818 . Likewise multipliers  820   a - d  are provided for applying weights to the fourth subcarrier on lines  814   a - d,  the weighted versions of the fourth subcarrier being combined by summer  822 . One set of multipliers and one corresponding summer is provided for each set of versions of each subcarrier of the OFDM signal but, for simplicity, only the summers for the first and fourth subcarriers are shown in FIG. 8.  
         [0059]    The weights multiplying each version of a subcarrier are generally complex numbers, comprising an amplitude and a phase. The values of the weights are selected to provide an antenna response with one or more beams or lobes pointing towards the direction (or directions) having the greatest received signal power or, preferably, the greatest signal-to-interference ratio.  
         [0060]    For an ideal narrow band system with only one signal path and one interference path it is straightforward for an adaptive array antenna processing system to maximise the desired signal by nulling the interference in the spatial domain, employing a single set of weights. However where the relevant frequency band is relatively wide the application of only a single set of coefficients across the whole band results in a spatial response for the antenna which varies across the frequency band. A conventional way to deal with this problem is to treat each subcarrier in an OFDM system individually, as a narrow-band signal, and calculate the weights for multipliers  816  and  820  accordingly. However this approach is complex and processor-intensive.  
         [0061]    The applicants have recognised that, in theory, the subcarrier (or subband) weights should be chosen to reproduce the spatial characteristics of the antenna at the frequency of each subcarrier to mitigate the interference. When looked at in this way it can be recognised that calculation of a separate set of weights for each subcarrier or group of subcarriers (i.e. subband) ab initio is unnecessary as the use of spatial information is repeated, that is, the spatial characterisation at each subcarrier frequency should, ideally, be the same. Thus the signal processing system can be simplified if the weights are calculated in stages, a first stage in which the required spatial response of the antenna is determined, and a second stage in which sets of weights for the versions of each subcarrier (or group of subcarriers) are determined making use of the desired spatial response.  
         [0062]    In the arrangement of FIG. 8, as will be described further below, a time-domain process is used to determine an approximate spatial response required for the adaptive antenna, and the set of weights determined by this process is then modified to provide a set of weights appropriate to each subcarrier. This significantly reduces the redundancy present in prior art weight calculation processes.  
         [0063]    Referring again to FIG. 8, the signals input to FFT blocks  806   a - d  are tapped at points  824   a - d  to provide inputs to a further set of multipliers  826   a - d.  The outputs from the multipliers are combined by summer  828  and provide an input  830  to a conventional beamsteering algorithm  832 . The beamsteering algorithm provides a set of outputs  834  comprising weights for input to multipliers  826   a - d,  one for each antenna element  802   a - d.  In this way a conventional beamsteering algorithm is applied to the wideband, time-domain OFDM signals from each antenna elements, prior to the FFT operation.  
         [0064]    The time-domain adaptive antenna process aims to spatially separate the desired signal from any interference by controlling the antenna beam pattern. The signal direction of arrival (DoA) information can be determined by employing the same, conventional algorithms and procedures as are used for DoA determination in narrow-band systems. Such methods include the Fourier Method (FM), Least Means Squares (LMS) method, Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) method, and the ESPRIT (Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques) method.  
         [0065]    The purpose of algorithm  832  is to detect the direction of arrival of one signal or of a group of signals, in the presence of multipath, and to spatially separate the signal from the interference. The assumption is made that the spatial characterisation of the signal and interference is approximately constant across the applicable frequency band. Making this assumption a matrix of weights or coefficients for each subcarrier (or for a group of subcarriers) can be calculated in a frequency domain to substantially maintain the spatial characteristics of the antenna.  
         [0066]    In a preferred embodiment the antenna beamsteering is based upon a determined signal-to-interference ratio rather than an absolute level of received power. Such a signal-to-interference ratio may be calculated by making use of a known transmitted data sequence such as a preamble portion of an OFDM signal, correlating the known and received signals as explained in more detail below. For this reason the signal processing system preferably includes a signal generator  836  to provide a version of the known sequence, as transmitted. The beamsteering algorithm may be chosen to maximise the signal-to-interference ratio (or, alternatively, to minimise the interference-to-signal ratio), as described, for example, in M Fujimoto, N Kikuma and N Inagaki, “Performance of CMA adaptive array optimised by Marquardt method for suppressing multipath waves”, IEICE Trans., vol. J74-B-II, no. 11, 1991, page 599 which is hereby incorporated by reference. Since a measurement of signal-to-interference ratio based upon a preamble at the start of an OFDM data frame is not a continuous measurement, the assumption is made that the channels for the desired signal and interference (that is amplitude and phase) are quasi-static.  
         [0067]    Referring now to FIG. 9 a,  this illustrates an exemplary signal and interference detector  900  for the signal processing system of FIG. 8. The input signal on line  903  is provided to first and second cross-correlators  901 ,  902 , the outputs of which are provided to a signal strength detector  904  and to an interference strength detector  906  respectively to provide signal  908  and interference  910  strength outputs for calculating a signal-to-interference strength ratio. Cross-correlator  901  cross-correlates the input signal with a known reference signal comprising a time-domain OFDM signal generated, for example, from a packet data frame preamble sequence. Cross-correlator  902  cross-correlates the input signal with a signal which is at least partially orthogonal to the known reference signal, and thus extracts an interference component from the input signal, as will be explained in more detail below. Where the reference signal is derived from a preamble data sequence the output of the signal and interference strength detector  900  will only be valid when the preamble sequence is present. In this case the cross-correlators  901 ,  902  may be arranged to operate over a time window during which the preamble sequence is present. The time window may be determined, for example, by a synchronisation process such as an FFT window control process (not shown in FIG. 8). Alternatively one or more pilot signals transmitting a known data sequence substantially continuously may be extracted from the received signal and used in the cross-correlation process.  
         [0068]    [0068]FIG. 9 b  shows an exemplary signal generator  920  for providing the reference and orthogonal reference signals  912 ,  914 . The signal generator  920  comprises, in the illustrated example, a preamble sequence generator  922 , to generate a preamble sequence  924  and a signal  926  orthogonal to the preamble sequence. These two signals are then inverse fast fourier transformed by IFFT  928  to provide reference signals  912  and  914 . In a HIPERLAN 2 system the preamble sequence p may be generated using the polynomial s(x)=x 7 +x 4 +1 with an initial all ones state, replacing all “1”s with −1 and all “0”s with the number 1.  
         [0069]    The operation of the signal and interference detector may be understood by considering a signal (R+I) where R is a known reference symbol and I is an interference contribution. The correlation of (R+I) with R is R 2 , that is the result is a measure of the desired signal strength, assuming that the cross-correlation between the reference signal and the interference is low. The cross-correlation between (R+I) and R*, where R* is a signal orthogonal to R, is equal to the cross-correlation of R* with I as the cross-correlation of R* with R is by definition zero. The cross-correlation of R* with I is a measure of the interference strength. Thus the outputs from the signal and interference strength detector  900  can be used to calculate a form of signal-to-interference ratio, which can then be used by the beamsteering algorithm  832  to direct one or more antenna beams towards received signals with the least interference to the desired signal.  
         [0070]    The correlation of two orthogonal sequences may be referred to as a zero-value-correlation, in mathematical terms,  
                   ∑     i   =   1     N                       a   i     *     b   i         =   0     ;           (     Equation                 1     )                               
 
         [0071]    where, a i  is the first correlation sequence and b i  is the second correlation sequence (both of length N). When the second correlation sequence is correlated with noise or co-channel or multipath interference the result is non-zero. The sequence a i  is inserted into the data frame, for example, in the preamble. One way to format a zero-value-correlated sequence is from a pair of highly correlated sequences. A highly correlated sequence has the property:  
                 R   xx          (   n   )       =     {           1   ,     n   =   0                 0   ,     n   =             ±   1     ,     ±     2   ,       ±     3   ,       ±     4   ,              …                           (     Equation                 2     )                               
 
         [0072]    By combining a pair of this kind, zero-value-correlation sequences can be defined. Total received signal energy can be found by calculating the received power, and one measure of the level of unwanted interference energy is indicated by the peak level of the zero-value-correlated signal.  
         [0073]    The signal and interference detection operation may be carried out at the beginning of data reception and/or every successive packet, or frame-by-frame. The beamforming approach allows the formation of flexible beam patterns and, where signals from three or more elements are combined, multiple directional lobes. Suitable beamforming methods are described in more detail in J. E. Hudson, “Adaptive Array Principles”, Peter Peregrinus Limited, 1981, which is hereby incorporated by reference.  
         [0074]    Referring again to FIG. 8, the weights on line  834  from beamsteering algorithm  832  are provided to a frequency domain (i.e. post-FFT) weight calculation procedure  838 . Also input to procedure  838  is channel information from a channel information calculation block  840 . Channel information block  840  has inputs from FFT procedures  806   a - d  and provides an amplitude and phase value for each subcarrier. As the skilled person will be aware, a number of conventional channel estimation techniques exist for OFDM based upon, for example, the use of a preamble comprising one or more known OFDM training symbols and/or pilot subcarriers.  
         [0075]    The weight for co-efficient calculation procedure  838  determines weights to be applied to each version of each subcarrier, in FIG. 8 by means of exemplary multipliers  816   a - d  and  820   a - d.  However there is no need to apply an iterative process such as algorithm  832  again as since the frequency domain weights are chosen to reproduce the same physical direction (or directions) as determined in the time domain a simple matrix multiplication will suffice. Thus with, for example, an array antenna with eight elements only eight multiplies are required.  
         [0076]    The pre-FFT direction of arrival (DoA) calculation determines a set of weights on the assumption that the distance between each array antenna element is approximately half a wavelength. This assumption is correct at one frequency, typically the centre frequency, but to either side of this frequency the element spacing is no longer half a wavelength. Thus the weights may be adjusted by recalculation based upon an antenna array element spacing (in wavelengths) at the wavelength for which the set of weights is required. In one embodiment this calculation is performed by procedure  838 . The skilled person will understand that the determination of a set of weights for each subcarrier does not need to make use of any one specific matrix equation.  
         [0077]    Sets of weights for each subcarrier are extracted by demultiplexer  840  and provide (complex) inputs to, in FIG. 8, multipliers  816   a - d  and  820   a - d.  It will be appreciated that the functional elements of FIG. 8 may be implemented either in hardware or in software. Generally the downconverters  804  will be implemented in hardware, following which the received signals are digitised by analogue-to-digital converters (not shown), the remainder of the signal processing preferably taking place in the digital domain. Thus the functions of elements  806 - 840  will generally be implemented by software running on a digital signal processing integrated circuit, often a DSP tailored to radio applications.  
         [0078]    The above-described method for extrapolating from pre-FFT weights to post-FFT weights assumes an approximately linear receiver response across the wideband OFDM signal. However in practice this assumption is not necessarily completely true as the frequency response of amplifiers and other signal processing elements in the receive chain is typically not completely flat. For example an amplifier may provide 10 dB of gain at 5 GHz but only 7 dB gain at 4.5 GHz and 5.5 GHz. It is therefore preferable to provide means for compensating for such gain and other variations in response across the wideband channel. This can be done by dividing the wideband OFDM channel into a plurality of sub-bands and determining, in the pre-FFT domain, a set of weights for each sub-band, based upon direction of arrival techniques as previously described. Each of these sets of weights can then be used to derive weights for use in the post-FFT domain, by allocating each subcarrier to one of the sub-bands. It will be appreciated that each of these sub-bands will generally comprise a plurality of subcarriers, for example 100 subcarriers, so that, in effect, the wideband OFDM signal is being sub-divided and the above-described technique applied within each sub-band. Thus, for example, the wideband OFDM signal may be sub-divided into between 4 and 10 sub-bands so that different sets of pre-FFT weights can be calculated for each of these sub-bands. In this way the burden of post-FFT weight calculation is still significantly reduced since each sub-band will typically contain many tens of subcarriers, without the rigid assumption of the applicability of a single set of weights across the wideband bandwidth. The sub-bands may be statically or dynamically allocated and may, for example, be based upon pilot frequencies within the OFDM signal.  
         [0079]    Equation 3, below, shows the format of a weight vector V weights  for one beam direction, direction i. A first beam direction is labelled by i=1; i=2 for a second beam direction and so on. The application of the above-described techniques where more than one direction of arrival is defined is discussed in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.  
         [0080]    In equation 3 the superscript f denotes the frequency of one of the sub-bands, so that f 1  denotes the frequency of the first sub-band and f m  denotes the frequency of the mth sub-band. The subscripts 1 to n label the antenna array elements. Thus, for example, XXX denotes the pre-FFT weight for the first antenna element at the centre frequency of the first sub-band, for the ith formed beam.  
               V   weights     =     [           w     i   ,   1       f   1             w     i   ,   2       f   1           ⋯         w     i   ,     n   -   1         f   1             w     i   ,   n       f   1                 w     i   ,   1       f   2             w     i   ,   2       f   2           ⋯         w     i   ,     n   -   1         f   2             w     i   ,   n       f   2               ⋮                   ⋰                   ⋮             w     i   ,   1       f     m   -   1               w     i   ,   2       f     m   -   1             ⋯         w     i   ,     n   -   1         f     m   -   1               w     i   ,   n       f     m   -   1                   w     i   ,   1       f   m             w     i   ,   2       f   m           ⋯         w     i   ,     n   -   1         f   m             w     i   ,   n       f   m             ]             (     Equation                 3     )                               
 
         [0081]    Referring to FIG. 10, this shows the architecture of an OFDM receiver  1000  with pre-FFT digital beam forming (DBF) and post-FFT diversity, helpful for understanding the operation of the receiver of FIG. 11. The hybrid architecture of FIG. 10 includes time-domain DoA  1002  and DBF  1004  processing for forming two beams, each in a direction with a high signal-to-interference ratio. As in the arrangement of FIG. 8, an array antenna with n elements is employed so that up to n−1 directions may be defined although, in the arrangement of FIG. 10, only two directions are defined. The DoA process  1002  is based upon a Fourier method and operates in a corresponding manner to that for a narrow band system.  
         [0082]    In the arrangement of FIG. 10 the DoA  1002  and DBF  1004  processing operates in the pre-FFT domain to generate two sets of weights  1006 ,  1008 , each set multiplying  1010 ,  1012  signals from each of the antenna elements so that after summation  1014 ,  1016  of the signals two separate beam directions are defined. The signals  1018 ,  1020  from each of these beam directions are then FFT processed  1022 ,  1024  in a conventional manner to provide two pluralities of sub-carrier signals  1026 ,  1028 , one set of subcarriers from each beam direction. The subcarriers are weighted  1030 ,  1032  according to an angular diversity process  1034  and then diversity combined by summing  1036  a version of each sub-carrier from each beam direction. The subcarriers are then processed  1038  in a conventional manner. It will be understood that the sub-carrier weightings  1030 ,  1032  will, in general, be complex, that is comprise both amplitude and phase values.  
         [0083]    Referring now to FIG. 11, this shows a receiver architecture  1100  broadly similar to that of FIG. 8 but incorporating angular diversity along the lines illustrated in the receiver of FIG. 10. The portion of the receiver  1100  above dashed line  1102  broadly corresponds to the receiver  800  of FIG. 8. Thus like elements have been given like reference numerals and, in particular, the DoA and DFB processing blocks correspond to the beam steering process  832  of FIG. 8. However by contrast with FIG. 8, and similarly to FIG. 10, these processing blocks calculate two sets of weights vectors  1104 ,  1106 , defining first and second beams. The weights vector  1104  is calculated in a corresponding manner to the FIG. 8 arrangement, to define a first beam but, in addition, a second weights vector  1106  is also determined to define a second beam direction of arrival. This is schematically illustrated by weights  1108 , although a single input into DoA processing  832  is sufficient to determine more than one beam direction so that the conceptually illustrated signals from array antenna elements  802 , as weighted by second weights vector  1106 , are not needed by the DoA and DBF processing. As before, the beam directions are determined to maximise the signal-to-interference ratio and thus the two weights vectors  1104 ,  1106  preferably each define a beam direction with a high signal-to-interference ratio, for example the directions with the highest and next highest signal-to-interference ratio. It will be appreciated that although the arrangement of FIG. 11 only determines two different beam directions diversity reception may employ a plurality of such beam directions, up to n−1 directions, where n is the number of antenna elements.  
         [0084]    As previously described the two weights vectors  1104  and  1106  are each used to generate a set of post-FFT weights, for each subcarrier within each beam direction processed. Thus below dashed line  1102  the receiver is provided with corresponding elements  816 ′,  818 ′,  840 ′ to the receiver of FIG. 8 which, for conciseness, will not be described again. A set of subcarrier signals  1109 ,  1110  is thus obtained for each beam direction (for simplicity only three subcarrier signals are shown in FIG. 11). These are weighted using respective multipliers  1112 ,  1114  by applying (complex) weights determined by diversity processing unit  1116 , which operates in a broadly similar manner to diversity processing unit  1034  of FIG. 10. Each weighted subcarrier from one beam direction is then combined with its counterpart from one or more other defined beam directions, in summers  1118 , before further processing in a conventional manner, beginning with parallel to serial conversion  1120  to provide a data output  1122  for decoding. It will be appreciated that although, for simplicity, FIG. 11 shows the processing required for two beam directions, subcarriers from more than two beam directions may be combined for greater diversity gain.  
         [0085]    The invention has been described with reference to a receiver but the skilled person will appreciate that once a set (or sets) of weights has been determined in the frequency domain, this same set (or sets) of weights may be applied when transmitting signals. In other words the weights may be employed to provide a spatial pattern for a transmit antenna which mitigates co-channel interference since, so far as concerns the radio channel, transmission and reception are symmetrical. This is particularly the case where transmission and reception are at the same frequency, for example in a time division duplex (TDD) system.  
         [0086]    No doubt many effective alternatives will occur to the skilled person and the invention is not limited to the described embodiments but encompasses modifications within the spirit and scope of the attached claims.