Patent Publication Number: US-11652288-B2

Title: Antenna

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010417635.7, filed May 18, 2020, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth fully herein. 
     FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a communication system, and more particularly, to an antenna suitable for use in a communication system. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Cellular communications systems are well known in the art. In a cellular communications system, a geographic area is divided into a series of regions that are referred to as “cells” which are served by respective base stations. The base station may include one or more base station antennas that are configured to provide two-way radio frequency (“RF”) communications with mobile subscribers that are within the cell served by the base station. 
     In many cases, each base station is divided into “sectors.” In perhaps the most common configuration, a hexagonally shaped cell is divided into three 120° sectors, and each sector is served by one or more base station antennas that have an azimuth Half Power Beam width (HPBW) of approximately 65°. Typically, the base station antennas are mounted on a tower, with the radiation patterns (also referred to herein as “antenna beams”) that are generated by the base station antennas directed outwardly. Base station antennas are often implemented as linear or planar phased arrays of radiating elements. 
     Parasitic elements are typically used in the base station antennas to tune the radiation pattern of the arrays of radiating elements to thereby improve the shape of the antenna beams that are formed by the arrays. A proper arrangement of the parasitic elements may enhance radiation in a desired direction and attenuate radiation in undesired directions. Further, as the number of the arrays of radiating elements mounted on the reflector of an antenna increases, the spacings between adjacent arrays are typically decreased, which results in increased coupling interference between the arrays. The increased coupling interference degrades the isolation performance of the radiating elements, which may negatively affect the performance the antenna. In order to improve the isolation performance, parasitic elements may be provided between adjacent radiating elements to improve the degree of isolation therebetween to thereby improve the radiation patterns of the base station antenna. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to a first aspect of the present invention, antennas are provided that comprises a reflector, first and second arrays of first radiating elements mounted on the reflector, and a parasitic element that includes a metal ring. The metal ring of the parasitic element is arranged between a first radiating element of the first array and a first radiating element of the second array. 
     The antennas according to the embodiments of the present invention may effectively improve the isolation between the first and second arrays, thereby improving the radiation patterns generated by the first and second arrays. 
     In some embodiments, arrays of first radiating elements are configured to generate first antenna beams in a first frequency band that includes at least a portion of a 1695-2690 MHz frequency band or a portion of a 3.1-4.2 GHz frequency band. 
     In some embodiments, a perimeter of the metal ring is between 80% and 120% of a reference wavelength, where the reference wavelength is equal to the wavelength corresponding to a reference frequency point in the first frequency band. 
     In some embodiments, the perimeter of the metal ring is an outer perimeter, an inner perimeter or an equivalent perimeter of the metal ring. 
     In some embodiments, the reference frequency point is a frequency point of an array of first radiating elements within the first frequency band with the worst degree of isolation, or the reference frequency point is set to be an average value of a plurality of frequency points of an array of first radiating elements within the first frequency band with worst degrees of isolation. 
     In some embodiments, the antenna array further comprises an array of second radiating elements, where the array of second radiating elements is configured to generate a second antenna beam in a second frequency band that includes at least a portion of the 694-960 MHz frequency band. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring has an outer perimeter with at least 60%, or at least 80%, of the interior of the outer perimeter is free of metal. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring is configured as a circular ring, a polygonal ring or an elliptical ring. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring is configured as a closed ring. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring is configured as an open ring with at least one slot. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring is configured as a trace printed on a PCB board. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring is constructed based on a magnetic dipole model, and the first radiating element is constructed based on an electric dipole model, such that the metal ring and the first radiating element have complementary characteristics in terms of radiation pattern, so as to at least partially compensate for the distortion of the radiation patterns of arrays of first radiating elements. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring and the first radiating elements have complementary characteristics in terms of far field radiation pattern. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring of the parasitic element extends farther from the reflector than the first radiating elements. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring is configured to at least partially reduce the coupling interference to the first radiating element caused by reflections from a radome of the antenna. 
     According to a second aspect of the present invention, an antenna provided that comprises a reflector and first and second arrays of radiating elements mounted on the reflector, where each first radiating element is constructed based on an electric dipole model. The antenna further comprises a parasitic element, which is constructed based on a magnetic dipole model, so as to at least partially compensate for the distortion of the radiation pattern of the first array of first radiating elements. 
     In some embodiments, the parasitic element comprises a metal ring. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring of the parasitic element acts an isolator arranged between a first radiating element of the first array and a first radiating element of the second array. 
     In some embodiments, the parasitic element and the array of first radiating elements have complementary characteristics in terms of far-field radiation pattern. 
     In some embodiments, the array of first radiating elements is configured to generate a first antenna beam in a first frequency band that includes at least a portion of a 1695-2690 MHz frequency band or a portion of a 3.1-4.2 GHz frequency band. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring of the parasitic element extends farther from the reflector than the first radiating elements. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring has an outer perimeter, and at least 80% of the interior of the outer perimeter is free of metal. 
     According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is an antenna provided. The antenna comprises a reflector, first and second arrays of radiating elements mounted on the reflector, and a parasitic element including a metal ring, where the metal ring has an outer perimeter with at least 50% of the interior of the outer perimeter free of metal. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring of the parasitic element is arranged between a first radiating element of the first array and a first radiating element of the second array. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring of the parasitic element extends farther from the reflector than the first radiating element of the first array and the first radiating element of the second array. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic perspective view of a portion of an antenna according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic front view showing the portion of the antenna in FIG. 
         FIG.  3    is a schematic end view showing the portion of the antenna in  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  4    is an enlarged schematic view of a parasitic element mounted within the antenna in  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  5    is shows a comparison diagram of the inter-band isolation of the antenna of  FIG.  1    with and without the parasitic element of  FIG.  4   . 
     
    
    
     In some cases the same elements or elements having similar functions are denoted by the same reference numerals in different drawings, and description of such elements is not repeated. In some cases, similar reference numerals and letters are used to refer to similar elements, and thus once an element is defined in one figure, it need not be further discussed for following figures. 
     In order to facilitate understanding, the position, size, range, or the like of each structure illustrated in the drawings may not be drawn to scale. Thus, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the position, size, range, or the like as disclosed in the drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, in which several embodiments of the present invention are shown. It should be understood, however, that the present invention may be implemented in many different ways, and is not limited to the example embodiments described below. In fact, the embodiments described hereinafter are intended to make a more complete disclosure of the present invention and to adequately explain the scope of the present invention to a person skilled in the art. The embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in various ways to provide many additional embodiments. 
     The wording in the specification is only used for describing particular embodiments and is not intended to limit the present invention. All the terms used in the specification (including technical and scientific terms) have the meanings as normally understood by a person skilled in the art, unless otherwise defined. For the sake of conciseness and/or clarity, well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail. 
     Herein, the foregoing description may refer to elements being “coupled” together. Unless expressly stated otherwise, “coupled” means that one element may be mechanically, electrically, logically or otherwise joined to another element in either a direct or indirect manner to permit interaction even though the two features may not be directly connected. That is, “coupled” is intended to encompass both direct and indirect joining of elements or other features, including connection with one or more intervening elements. 
     In the specification, words describing spatial relationships such as “up”, “down”, “left”, “right”, “forth”, “back”, “high”, “low” and the like may describe a relation of one feature to another feature in the drawings. It should be understood that these terms also encompass different orientations of the apparatus in use or operation, in addition to encompassing the orientations shown in the drawings. For example, when the apparatus in the drawings is turned over, the features previously described as being “below” other features may be described to be “above” other features at this time. The apparatus may also be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the relative spatial relationships will be correspondingly altered. 
     The term “A or B” used through the specification refers to “A and B” and “A or B” rather than meaning that A and B are exclusive, unless otherwise specified. 
     The term “schematically” or “exemplary”, as used herein, means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration”, rather than as a “model” that would be exactly duplicated. Any implementation described herein as exemplary is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. 
     Herein, the term “substantially” is intended to encompass any slight variations due to design or manufacturing imperfections, device or component tolerances, environmental effects and/or other factors. The term “substantially” also allows for variation from a perfect or ideal case due to parasitic effects, noise, and other practical considerations that may be present in an actual implementation. 
     In this context, the term “at least a portion” may be a portion of any proportion, for example, may be greater than 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or even 100%. 
     In addition, certain terminology, such as the terms “first”, “second” and the like, may also be used in the following description for the purpose of reference only, and thus are not intended to be limiting. For example, the terms “first”, “second” and other such numerical terms referring to structures or elements do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. 
     Further, it should be noted that, the terms “comprise/include”, as used herein, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
     Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       FIG.  1    is a schematic perspective view showing a portion of an antenna  100  according to some embodiments of the present invention.  FIG.  2    is a schematic front view showing the portion of the antenna  100  in  FIG.  1   .  FIG.  3    is a schematic end view showing the portion of the antenna  100  in  FIG.  1   . 
     The antenna  100  may be mounted on a raised structure, such as antenna towers, utility poles, buildings, water towers and the like, with its longitudinal axis extending substantially perpendicular to the ground for convenient operation. The antenna  100  is usually mounted within a radome  240  (the radome is only shown in  FIG.  3   ) that provides environmental protection. The antenna  100  includes a reflector  210 . The reflector  210  may include a metal surface that provides a ground plane and reflects electromagnetic waves reaching it, for example, the metal surface redirects the electromagnetic waves for forward propagation. The antenna  100  further includes mechanical and electronic components  250 , such as a connector, a cable, a phase shifter, a remote electronic tilt (RET) unit, a duplexer and the like, which are often disposed on a rear side of the reflector  210 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  1   , the antenna  100  may further include an antenna array  200  disposed on a front side of the reflector  210 . The antenna array  200  may include an array or arrays  2001  of first radiating elements  201  and an array or arrays  2002  of second radiating elements  202 . In the current embodiment, the antenna  100  may be a multi-band antenna. The operating frequency band of the first radiating elements  201  may be, for example, V band (1695-2690 MHz) or sub-bands thereof (for example, H band (1695-2200 MHz), T band (2200-2690 MHz), or the like). The arrays  2001  of first radiating elements  201  may be configured to generate first antenna beams in the V band or a portion thereof. The operating frequency band of the second radiating elements  202  may be, for example, R band (694-960 MHz) or sub-bands thereof. The array  2002  of second radiating elements  202  may be configured to generate second antenna beams in the R band or a portion thereof. 
     In some embodiments, the antenna array  200  may further include an array or arrays of third radiating elements (not shown). The operating frequency band of the third radiating elements may be, for example, S band (3.1-4.2 GHz) or sub-bands thereof. The array(s) of third radiating elements may be configured to generate third antenna beams in the S band or a portion thereof. Although not shown in the figures, the antenna  100  may be configured as a so-called RVVSS multi-band antenna. That is, two arrays  2001  of first radiating elements  201 , one array  2002  of second radiating elements  202  and two arrays of third radiating elements are provided. 
     It should be understood that the antenna  100  according to embodiments of the present invention may be any type of antennas (such as beamforming antennas) and is not limited to the current embodiment. For example, in some embodiments, the antenna array  200  may only include an array or arrays of first radiating elements  2001 . 
     As the number of arrays of radiating elements mounted on a reflector  210  of a base station antenna  100  increases, the spacing between radiating elements of different arrays  200  typically decreases, which results in increased coupling interference between the arrays  200 . This increased coupling interference may degrade the isolation (particularly the Co-polarization or “Co-pol” isolation) of the of radiating elements. The coupling interference between the arrays  200  may affect the radiation patterns in both the azimuth and elevation planes. Excessive coupling may affect not only the gain (due to coupling loss), but also may distort the shapes of the radiation patterns, thereby degrading the RF performance, such as the beamforming performance, of the antenna  100 . 
     In order to improve the RF performance of the antenna  100 , parasitic elements  230  for the antenna array  200  may be mounted on the reflector  210 . The parasitic elements  230  may comprise, for example, conductive elements that are mounted forwardly of the reflector  210  and are adjacent to one or more of the radiating elements. The parasitic elements  230  may be configured to shape the radiation pattern of the one or more adjacent radiating elements. For example, parasitic elements  230  may be designed to narrow or widen the beamwidth of the radiation pattern(s) of the one or more adjacent radiating elements in the azimuth plane. The parasitic elements  230  may include fences  2301  that are placed around the antenna array  200  or between adjacent radiating elements. Some of the parasitic elements  230  may be positioned to act as isolators between adjacent radiating elements to increase the isolation and thereby reduce the coupling interference between the adjacent radiating elements. Other parasitic elements  230  may be placed around the antenna array  200  and may interact with the respective radiating elements. For example, in operation, the parasitic elements  230  may receive radio waves emitted by the respective radiating elements and then radiate the radio waves outward in different phases so as to adjust characteristics of the antenna beam of the antenna array  200 , such as the beam width. 
     Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, in order to improve the isolation between radiating elements in adjacent arrays and thereby improve the radiation patterns of the antenna array  200 , a parasitic element  230  based on a magnetic dipole model is provided. Further, the parasitic element  230  based on the magnetic dipole model may interact with the radiating elements based on an electric dipole model to at least partially compensate for distortion of the radiation pattern of the antenna array  200  caused, for example, by radiating elements of another nearby array. 
     A magnetic dipole refers to a physical model established by analogy to the electric dipole. A system composed of two points of magnetic charges of equal magnitude and opposite polarity is called a magnetic dipole. At present, there is no single magnetic monopole, because the physical model of the magnetic dipole is a closed loop current, rather than two magnetic monopoles. A commonly used magnetic dipole model may be equivalent to a current loop. The electromagnetic properties of the current loop may be represented by an equivalent magnetic current and an equivalent magnetic charge similar to the current element. The direction of the equivalent magnetic current and the current direction of the current loop conform to the right-hand screw rule. 
     The electric dipole and the magnetic dipole may have good complementary characteristics in the radiation pattern, such as the far-field radiation pattern. For a horizontally arranged electric dipole, the far-field radiation pattern in the elevation plane may be approximately circular, and the far-field radiation pattern in the azimuth plane may be approximated to the shape of “8”. For a vertically arranged magnetic dipole (in this case, the current loop is horizontally arranged), the far-field radiation pattern in the elevation plane may be approximated to the shape of “8”, and the far-field radiation pattern in the azimuth plane may be approximately circular. Therefore, the selective combination of the electric dipole and the magnetic dipole may improve the symmetry and balance of the radiation pattern in the azimuth plane. 
     Based on the working principle of the magnetic dipole, the parasitic element  230  mounted on the reflector  210  may include a metal ring  231 , thereby forming an equivalent current loop. As shown in  FIGS.  1  to  3   , the metal ring  231  of the parasitic element  230  may be arranged between adjacent radiating elements (for example, adjacent first radiating elements  201 ) to function as an isolator for reducing the coupling interference between the adjacent radiating elements. 
       FIG.  4    is an enlarged schematic view of a parasitic element  230  according to embodiments of the present invention that functions as an isolator. The parasitic element  230  may include a support leg  232  and a metal ring  231  mounted on the support leg  232 . The support leg  232  is mounted on the reflector  210 . The metal ring  231  may be a metal structure or a sheet metal part, such as a copper ring, an aluminum ring or an alloy ring. In some embodiments, the support leg  232  may be made of a non-conductive material, such as plastic, so that the metal ring  231  may be electrically floating. In some embodiments, the support leg  232  may be made of metal material, so that the metal ring  231  may be galvanically (or alternatively, capacitively) coupled to the reflector  210 . Further, the parasitic element  230  may be mounted on the reflector  210  by means of bayonet connection, screw connection, rivet connection, welding, and/or bonding, for example. 
     The parasitic element  230  with a metal ring  231  may be cost-effective; second, may be of any desired thickness; and may have a low level of surface roughness and exhibit improved passive intermodulation (“PIM”) distortion performance. 
     However, the metal ring  231  may also be configured as a trace ring printed on a printed circuit board. The parasitic element  230  with a PCB-based metal ring  231  may also be advantageous, because it is easy to print various conductive sections on a printed circuit board, and the implementation of the conductive sections is flexible and diverse so that the conductive sections can be better adapted to the actual application situation. 
     It should be understood that the metal ring  231  may be configured as a ring structure of various shapes, such as a circular ring, a polygonal ring, an elliptical ring, or the like. The ring may also include both curved and straight segments. The specific shape of the metal ring  231  is not limited in this application. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring  231  may be configured as a closed ring. In other words, the metal ring  231  has a continuous conductive path. In other embodiments, the metal ring  231  may also be configured as an open ring with a slot. In other words, the metal ring  231  has an intermittent conductive path. For example, when the metal ring  231  is configured as a trace ring printed on a printed circuit board, it is relatively easy and efficient to provide a slot on the metal ring  231 . 
     It should be understood that the metal ring  231  may be understood as a metal structure having a metal-free region inside. In some embodiments, the metal ring  231  may have an outer perimeter  233  with at least 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or 95% of the interior of the outer perimeter free of metal. The RF performance of the metal ring  231  may be related to the perimeter (outer perimeter, inner perimeter or equivalent perimeter) of the metal ring  231 , particularly to the inner perimeter of metal ring  231 . When designing the perimeter of the metal ring  231 , a reference frequency point may be selected so that the perimeter of the metal ring  231  is substantially equal to the reference wavelength corresponding to the reference frequency point. For example, the perimeter of the metal ring  231  of the parasitic element  230  may be between 80% and 120% of the reference wavelength. 
     Further, when designing the metal ring  231 , the RF performance, such as the degree of isolation (inter-band isolation and/or intra-band isolation) at some frequency points, of the radiating element (such as the first radiating element  201 ) within its operating frequency band may be firstly considered. Then, a frequency point with the worst isolation or several frequency points with poor isolation is/are selected. The selected frequency point itself or a frequency point obtained by numerically processing (such as filtering and/or averaging) of the selected several frequency points may be selected as the final reference frequency point. With the parasitic element  230  according to some embodiments of the present invention, the isolation degree (such as the inter-band isolation) of the radiating element within its operating frequency band may be advantageously kept at a good level, for example, below −28 dB. As shown in  FIG.  5   , the dotted line exemplarily shows a characteristic curve of an inter-band isolation of an antenna without a parasitic element according to some embodiments of the present invention, while the solid line exemplarily shows a characteristic curve of an inter-band isolation of an antenna with a parasitic element according to some embodiments of the present invention. It can be seen that the operating frequency band of the array of radiating elements includes 1695 MHz to 2690 MHz. Within this operating frequency band, the worst inter-band isolation degree of the antenna is located at the frequency point of 1915.8 MHz, and by means of the parasitic element of present invention can effectively improve the inter-band isolation in this worst case from −26.79 to −29.5 dB. It should be understood that in order to obtain a higher isolation, more parasitic elements can be installed appropriately. 
     In some embodiments, the metal ring  231  of the parasitic element  230  can not only effectively reduce the coupling interference between adjacent radiating elements, but also effectively reduce the coupling interference caused by the reflection of the radome  240 . The coupling interference caused by the reflection of the radome  240  is related to the arched configuration of the radome  240  itself, the short distance between the radiating element and the radome  240 , and/or the operating frequency band of the radiating element. In order to at least partially reduce the coupling interference caused by the reflection of the radome  240 , the metal ring  231  of the parasitic element  230  may extend further from the reflector  210  than the first radiating element  201  (refer to  FIG.  3   ). In other words, the metal ring  231  may be located forwardly of the adjacent first radiating elements  201 , so that the RF signal reflected by the radome  240  may be first absorbed by the metal ring  231 , and then re-radiated outwards with different phases and some extent of attenuation, thereby reducing coupling interference to the radiating element caused by the reflection of the radome  240 . 
     It should be understood that the specific arrangement of the parasitic element  230  is not limited in this application. In some embodiments, the parasitic element  230  with the metal ring  231  may also be arranged at other positions, for example, around the antenna array  200 . In some embodiments, the first radiating element  201  may extend farther to the front of the reflector  210  than the metal ring  231  of the parasitic element  230 . 
     Although some specific embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with examples, it should be understood by a person skilled in the art that the above examples are only intended to be illustrative but not to limit the scope of the present invention. The embodiments disclosed herein can be combined arbitrarily with each other, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. It should be understood by a person skilled in the art that the above embodiments can be modified without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is defined by the attached claims.