Patent Description:
In traditional phased-array antennas, a set of radiating elements (known as sub- arrays) are combined in the vertical plane to boost more gain. Also, a cavity backed component such as filter, phase shifter, amplifier or attenuator is generally used at the back of the whole antenna with number of outputs same as the number of sub-array ports with additional connectors. And the inputs of the cavity -backed component are connected to a number of Transmitting/Receiving circuits (from RRU); which heavily increase antenna dimension and complexity of feed line since the multiple sub-arrays impose to have additional power splitters to be with feed lines. Also, it can be noted extra weight and cost with multiple cavities and additional connectors and wasted space between radiating surface and antenna reflector due to the fact that existing design is having balun being supported by a fixture structure. In addition, this imposes costly development and implementation resources as multiple soldering points between radiating elements, power splitters and feeding network.

<CIT> describes a multi-frequency communications antenna and a base station.

<CIT> discloses an antenna unit with a radiating element above an electrically conductive ground plane, the radiating element comprising a board with a dipole on its top or bottom layer and a grounded conductive area on its bottom or top layer, the radiating element supported by a dielectric filling or coaxial cable.

A main object of the present invention is to provide an antenna unit, which can simplify the antenna-array structure, improve the antenna capacity and exploitation with good radiating performance.

A secondary object of the present invention is to provide a multi-array antenna, which can obtain a Massive MIMO antenna.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an antenna-RF component integrated transmission method.

A final object of the present invention is to provide an antenna-RF component integrated receiving method.

To obtain the above object, an integrated antenna unit provided in the present invention comprising: an integrated radiating element; a reflect board beneath the integrated radiating element without a direct contact therebetween; and an RF component device for processing signal of interest for a radio unit. The RF component device is placed beneath the integrated radiating element and on the reflecting board, and serves a support of a fixture structure of the radiating element to the reflecting board; whereby a space between the radiating element and the reflecting board can be efficiently used for the RF component device.

In some embodiments, the RF component device can be one of a phase shifter, a filter, an amplifier, and an attenuator; the radiating element is dual-polarization, single- polarization, or circular polarization.

In some embodiments, the integrated radiating element comprises a balun and a radiating surface separately coupled to each other; the integrated antenna unit further comprises a compact board to hold the balun.

In some embodiments, the same baluns are set in the same plane; the radiating surface is integrated with the compact board.

In some embodiments, a transmission line is attached on the compact board serving the balun.

In some embodiments, the transmission lines on the compact board topology and its length are tuned to match <NUM> or <NUM> Ohm impedance of each radiating element.

In some embodiments, the compact board is made from any type PCB materials, and its length and thickness are tuned to match a desired band range of interest signal.

In some embodiments, the compact board has one or two substrates.

In some embodiments, the balun comprises two parts: a first part where the transmission line attached on the compact board serves a primary balun for one polarization; a second part where the transmission line is attached on the compact board serving a secondary balun for the other polarization.

In some embodiments, the primary balun is printed on a primary substrate located on top of the radiating surface; the secondary balun is printed on a secondary substrate located at a bottom of the radiating surface; the primary substrate and the secondary substrate construct the compact board; and the radiating surface is placed between the primary substrate and the secondary substrate.

In some embodiments, the primary balun and the secondary baluns are overlapped with a fly-over structure and attached on the same plane of the compact board; two baluns are not intersect with each other; and one of the baluns is broken, and reconnect with a <NUM>-Ohm resistor, patch or wire.

In some embodiments, the overlapped baluns and the radiating surface are located at opposite surface of the compact board.

In some embodiments, the transmission line is attached on a top surface of the compact board serves the balun for a single polarization; the radiating surface is attached on a bottom surface of the compact board.

In some embodiments, the RF component device at least has one input and one output; the output of the RF component device directly connected with the balun.

In some embodiments, the RF component device comprise a primary RF component and a secondary RF component each with one output directly connected with the primary balun and the secondary balun; the connection can be made of any transmission mean traversing the primary and secondary substrates via hole.

In some embodiments, the primary and secondary RF components can be housed in same box sharing same cavity or housed in separate boxes with different cavity; the parameter adaptation is adapted for a size and processing performances requested by the base station radio module.

In some embodiments, the reflecting board is placed below the integrated radiating element with two side walls running parallel; a height of the side walls can be tuned to control desired 3dB azimuth beam of the radiating elements.

To obtain the above object, a multi-array antenna provided in the present invention comprising: multiple antenna units, the multiple antenna units are supported on the reflecting board, and two running side wall enclose the antenna units therebetween.

In some embodiments, the multi-array antenna has multiple band-pass filters as the RF component, the multiple band-pass filters are connected to a radio unit thus to form a multi- array active antenna.

To obtain the above object, an antenna-RF component integrated transmission method comprises: proceeding signal of interest from a base station antenna transmitting path by a primary RF component; sending an output of the primary RF component to a primary balun; coupling an input signal by the primary balun into through a primary substrate and exciting a corresponding radiating surface through coupling mechanism; and radiating a first polarized wave throughout the space.

To obtain the above object, an antenna-RF component integrated transmission method comprises: proceeding signal of interest from a base station antenna transmitting path by a secondary RF component; sending an output of the secondary RF component to a secondary balun; coupling an input signal of the secondary balun into through the primary substrate and exciting a corresponding radiating surface through coupling mechanism; and radiating a second polarized wave throughout the space.

To obtain the above object, an antenna-RF component integrated receiving method provided in the present invention comprising: sending received polarized wave to a primary balun by an integrated radiating element; forwarding output of the primary balun to a primary RF component which proceeds signal of interest; and sending signal of interest to a base station antenna receiving path.

To obtain the above object, an antenna-RF component integrated receiving method,
provided in the present invention comprising: sending received polarized wave to a secondary balun by a radiating element; forwarding the output of the secondary balun to a secondary RF component which proceeds signal of interest; and sending signal of interest to a base station antenna receiving path.

In accordance with the embodiments, the present invention has advantages that: a compact antenna element unit can be obtained since the radiating elements are integrated with a compact printed board; further, the baluns of two polarizations respectively set on a separated board contributes much in terms of inter-port isolation, ease of antenna feeding drawing, a stable pattern beam width and high-gain. And a compact sized of the antenna can be obtained.

Further, the antenna unit has a simple structure and high capacity because of the compact antenna element, and the space between the radiating elements and the reflecting board can be used efficiently by adding a compact band-pass filter therebetween, and cost effective compact integrated antenna unit can be obtained which is also easy to manufacture especially.

A large scale MIMO antenna is to be produced as there are less soldering parts and reduced connectors.

The above-mentioned features, as well as other features, aspects, and advantages of the present technology will now be described in connection with various embodiments of the invention, in reference to the accompanying drawings. The illustrated embodiments, however, are merely examples and are not intended to limit the invention.

The provided figures and the following description of certain embodiments of the invention are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments, but rather, are provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use this invention.

Referring to <FIG>, an integrated antenna unit <NUM> is proposed in accordance with one embodiment of this invention, comprise an integrated radiating element <NUM> integrated with a compact board <NUM>, a reflect board <NUM> beneath the integrated radiating element <NUM>, and an RF component device <NUM> fixed on the reflecting board <NUM> and beneath the radiating element <NUM>. The RF component device <NUM> is accommodated in a space <NUM> between the radiating element <NUM> and the reflecting board <NUM>, and supports the radiating element <NUM> without extra fixture structure. The RF component device <NUM> can be phase shifter, filter, amplifier, attenuators, or others. The RF component device <NUM> is used to process signals from a base station antenna transmitting path or from the radiating element <NUM>.

The integrated radiating element <NUM> comprises a balun <NUM> and a radiating surface <NUM> integrated on the compact board <NUM>. The compact board <NUM> can be manufactured from any type existing PCB materials and its length and thickness can be tuned to match the desired range of interest, and at least has one substrate. Other substrate materials adapted for the radiating element can also be used. The compact board <NUM> has a top surface <NUM> and an opposite bottom surface <NUM>, and can be one-layer structure (as shown in <FIG>); or can be two-layer structure(as shown in <FIG>), denoted as a primary substrate <NUM> and a secondary substrate <NUM> each with an inner surface <NUM> opposite. The integrated radiating element <NUM> as shown in <FIG> has the compact board <NUM> composed of two layers of PCB <NUM>, <NUM>, also denoted as a top PCB <NUM> and a bottom PCB <NUM> using the same reference number of the substrate, each with the inner surface <NUM> overlapped. While in <FIG>, the integrated radiating element <NUM> has one-layer PCB <NUM>.

The balun <NUM> is coupled to the radiating surface <NUM>. In this invention, a transmission line or feed line is printed or attached to the compact board <NUM> serving balun <NUM> for radiating elements.

In some embodiments, referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, the balun <NUM> can be a single balun for a single polarization or a circular polarization to which a dual-feed balun with one feed having <NUM> degree offset phase is applied. In this case, the one-layer compact board <NUM> is applicable.

In other embodiments, the balun <NUM> comprise a primary balun <NUM> and a secondary balun <NUM> each for one radiating element of dual-polarization as shown in <FIG>. In some embodiments, the primary and secondary baluns <NUM> and <NUM> each is separately set at one of the two-layer PCB <NUM>, <NUM> (as shown in <FIG> and <FIG>) for a good isolation of each port.

In other embodiments, the primary and secondary baluns <NUM> and <NUM> can be set on the same plane, such as at the same top surface <NUM> of the compact board <NUM> while the radiating surface <NUM> can be printed on the bottom surface <NUM> or inner surface <NUM> of the compact board <NUM>. Referring to <FIG>, <FIG> and <FIG>. In this case, the one-layer compact board <NUM> can be applicable where the balun <NUM> and the radiating surface <NUM> are each attached to the bottom surface <NUM> and the inner surface <NUM> of the compact board <NUM>. And further in other embodiments, the two-layer compact board <NUM> composed of PCBs <NUM> and <NUM> can also be applicable, where the radiating surface <NUM> can be attached to the bottom surface <NUM> or the inner surface <NUM> while the balun <NUM> is set on the top surface <NUM>.

The radiating surface <NUM> of a radiating element is printed or attached to one surface of the compact board <NUM>, such as the bottom surface <NUM> or the inner surface <NUM>; where the shape and structure of radiating surface is not limited and can be any type such as circular, square, polygon etched shape. The radiating element structure and shape is not limited and half-wave is given as matter of illustration. The radiating surface <NUM> is spaced from the balun <NUM>, and comprises radiating arms (not labeled) adapted for radiating elements of the radiating element. The balun <NUM> is coupled to the radiating surface <NUM> to form the radiating elements.

In some embodiments, the radiating surface <NUM> is printed between two PCBs <NUM> and <NUM> in a sandwich-like scheme, as shown in <FIG>, can be attached such as by printing or etching on any inner surface <NUM> of the two-layer compact board <NUM>. In other embodiments, the radiating surface <NUM> is attached such as by printing or etching on the bottom surface <NUM> of the compact board <NUM> of one-layer structure (as shown in <FIG>) or two-layer structure.

Each balun <NUM>, <NUM> is connected to a transmission line <NUM> traversing the compact board <NUM> through hole <NUM>; where the output of the transmission line is connected to RF component device <NUM> processing signal of interest for a radio unit (not shown). The transmission line <NUM> can be used to support the integrated radiating element <NUM>.

The following illustrates more detail of various embodiments of the integrated radiating element <NUM> of the present invention.

In a first embodiment, an integrated antenna unit <NUM> comprises a dual-polarized radiating element <NUM> with one radiating element for each polarization. Each radiating element is composed of radiating surface <NUM> and a balun <NUM>.

The radiating surface <NUM> of a radiating element is printed between two PCB boards <NUM> and <NUM> (sandwich-like scheme); where the shape and structure of radiating surface is not limited and can be any type such as circular, square, polygon etched shape. The radiating element structure and shape is not limited and half-wave is given as matter of illustration.

In some embodiments, referring to <FIG> which illustrates a radiating element <NUM> of dual polarization, the balun <NUM> can be composed of two parts: the first part composed of the compact board <NUM> where a transmission line or feed line is printed serving the primary balun <NUM> for one polarization of dual-polarization, and the second part composed of the compact board <NUM> where a transmission line or feed line is printed serving secondary balun <NUM> for the other polarization. Two baluns <NUM>, <NUM> are placed on same surface of the board <NUM>. In this case, the two balun (feed lines) <NUM>, <NUM> are overlapped with a fly-over structure so as to make sure that the two lines are not intersect. In an embodiment, one of the feed line is broken and re-connected with a <NUM>-Ohm resistor, patch or wire <NUM>; and the compact board <NUM> can only have one substrate as shown in <FIG>, where the baluns <NUM>, <NUM> are attached on a top surface <NUM> and the radiating surface <NUM> is attached on an opposite bottom surface <NUM> of the compact board <NUM>.

In other embodiments, referring to <FIG> together, the balun <NUM> can be composed of two parts: a first part composed of a primary substrate <NUM> located on top of the radiating surface <NUM> where a transmission line is printed serving primary balun <NUM> for one polarization; a second part composed of a secondary substrate <NUM> located at bottom of the radiating surface <NUM> where a transmission line is printed serving secondary balun <NUM> for the other polarization. In this case, both the primary substrate <NUM> and the secondary substrate <NUM> construct the compact board <NUM>. The radiating surface <NUM> is placed between the primary substrate <NUM> and the secondary substrate <NUM>.

The dual-polarized radiating element <NUM> is connected between two PCBs <NUM> and <NUM> serving as balun support of the two polarizations. The first polarization has its balun <NUM> located on top of the upper PCB board <NUM>, denoted as the primary balun <NUM> while the second one has it at the bottom of the lower board <NUM>, denoted as secondary balun <NUM>. And the baluns <NUM>, <NUM> are on same plane as the radiating element. The fact of having the primary and secondary baluns <NUM>, <NUM> printed on a separated board <NUM>, <NUM> contributes much in terms of inter-port isolation.

The transmission lines on top of the primary and secondary substrates topology and its length can be tuned to match <NUM> or <NUM> Ohm impedance of each radiating element. As matter of illustration, particular rectangular line is used to output bandwidth of more than <NUM>% when a return loss less than -14dB is required covering <NUM>~<NUM> with good inter-port isolation, stable pattern beamwidth and high-gain for each polarization, as shown in <FIG>, which represents S-parameter of compact radiating element (radiating surface with layered-balun). Other balun topology can be adopted also with quarter wave transformers to match impedance at desired frequency range.

The primary and secondary substrates <NUM>, <NUM> can be manufactured from any type existing PCB materials and its length and thickness can be tuned to match the desired range of interest. Two substrates layers <NUM>, <NUM> are used to hold the two baluns <NUM>, <NUM>, which leads to a better isolation.

In other embodiments as shown in <FIG>, the two-baluns <NUM>, <NUM> can be printed on same PCB board acting as substrate. The whole integrated radiating element <NUM> will only need one PCB layer. In this case, the two baluns (feed lines) <NUM>, <NUM> are overlapped. And one of the feed line is broken and re-connect the line with a <NUM>-Ohm resistor(low loss line), patch or wire <NUM>. In this embodiment, the two baluns <NUM>, <NUM> are placed on the same PCB board. And the whole antenna structure <NUM> will only need one substrate <NUM>. In this case, the two balun <NUM>, <NUM> (feed lines) are overlapped with the feed line being broken and re-connected with a <NUM>-Ohm resistor, patch or wire.

The integrated radiating element <NUM> as shown in <FIG> is +<NUM>° polarization. The primary and secondary baluns <NUM>, <NUM> can be printed on a separated board <NUM>, <NUM>; where similarly, the first polarization has its balun <NUM> located on top of the upper PCB board <NUM>, while the second one has it at the bottom of the lower board <NUM>. And the baluns <NUM>, <NUM> are on same plane as the radiating element. As another embodiment, two baluns <NUM>, <NUM> can also be placed on the same PCB boardin a fly-over structure, and are overlapped with the feed line being broken and re-connected with a <NUM>-Ohm resistor, patch or wire. The two baluns <NUM>, <NUM> are spaced from the radiating surface <NUM>.

The integrated radiating element <NUM> as shown in <FIG> is a single polarization, where the balun <NUM> is a single balun for a single polarization, and is printed on a top surface of compact board <NUM> while the radiating surface <NUM> is printed on the bottom surface of the compact board <NUM>.

In other embodiment, a circular polarization (not shown) to which a dual-feed balun <NUM> with one feed having <NUM> degree offset phase is applied. In this case, the one-layer compact board <NUM> is applicable.

Referring <FIG> again, in the antenna unit <NUM> of the present invention, the reflecting board <NUM> is placed below the compact radiating unit <NUM> with two side walls <NUM> running parallel enabling to control the 3dB azimuth beam generated by the radiating elements <NUM>.

The RF component device <NUM> at least has one input and one output (not labeled) directed connected with the balun <NUM>. As for a dual-polarized or circular radiating element <NUM>, the RF component device <NUM> comprises a primary and secondary RF components <NUM>, <NUM> each has one input and one output connected with each balun <NUM>, <NUM> for each radiating element.

It is understood, as for a single polarization, the RF component device <NUM> has one RF component with one input and one output directly connected with the single balun <NUM>.

In one embodiment as shown in <FIG>, the RF component device <NUM> comprises a primary RF component <NUM> and secondary RF component <NUM>. The primary RF component <NUM> has one input (not shown) and one output <NUM> is placed beneath the integrated radiating element <NUM>. The primary RF component <NUM> serves support of the fixture structure of the radiating element <NUM> to the reflecting board <NUM>. And its output <NUM> is connected directly to the primary balun <NUM>. The connection can be made of cable or any transmission mean <NUM> traversing the primary and secondary substrates <NUM> and <NUM> via hole <NUM>.

The secondary RF component <NUM> has one input (not shown) and one output <NUM> is placed beneath the radiating element <NUM>. The secondary RF component <NUM> also serves support of the fixture structure of the radiating element <NUM> to the reflecting board <NUM>. And its output <NUM> is connected directly to the secondary balun <NUM>. The connection can be made of cable or any transmission mean <NUM> traversing the primary and secondary substrates <NUM> and <NUM> via hole <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the RF component device <NUM> is a filtering device which keeps filtered signal of interest which is received from a base station antenna transmitting path or can be forwarded to a base station antenna receiving path. The RF component can be band-pass filter in accordance with some embodiments. <FIG> illustrates integrated antenna return loss where a <NUM> band-pass filter with insertion loss less than ldBis used as RF component device.

The primary and secondary RF components <NUM> can be housed in same box sharing same cavity or housed in separate boxes with different cavity. The parameter adaptation depends on the size and processing performances requested by the base station radio module.

The integrated antenna unit <NUM> is proposed in accordance with one embodiment of this invention, where a radiating element <NUM> is connected between two PCB boards <NUM>, <NUM> or is attached to a single PCB serving as balun support of the two polarizations. And the baluns <NUM>, <NUM> are on same plane as the radiating element.

There is no direct contact between the radiating element <NUM> and its grounding plane (reflecting board) <NUM>. So, the space <NUM> between the radiating element <NUM> and the reflecting board <NUM> can be used for RF component device <NUM> such as phase shifter, filter, amplifier, attenuators. Each balun <NUM>, <NUM> is connected to a transmission line <NUM> traversing the PCB boards <NUM>, <NUM> through hole <NUM>; where the output of the transmission line is connected to RF component device <NUM> processing signal of interest for a radio unit (not shown). The RF component device <NUM> is placed beneath the radiating element <NUM>. A reflecting board <NUM> is placed around ¼ wavelength of the radiating element <NUM> where also the RF component device <NUM> can be fixed. Interestingly, the space <NUM> between the radiating elements <NUM> and the reflecting board <NUM> can be used efficiently and the back <NUM> of the reflecting board can be used as support of other components for an active antenna array. So cost effective integrated unit <NUM> is obtained which is also easy to manufacture especially when large scale active antenna array is to be produced as there are less soldering parts and reduced number of connectors. <FIG> shows an S-parameter of compact radiating element <NUM> (radiating surface with layered-balun) in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention. <FIG> shows a return loss of the compact radiating element with filter integrated for one polarization. Both charts show a good radiating performance of the radiating element of the present invention.

Referring to <FIG>, a large-scale array antenna <NUM> proposed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is obtained by collocating several above integrated radiating elements <NUM>, each radiating elements <NUM> forms a sub-array. Multi- array integrated radiating element <NUM> is supported on the extended reflecting board <NUM> each by one RF component device <NUM>. Thus the MIMO antenna <NUM> has multiple RF component device <NUM> each processing signal of interest for a radio unit. The extended reflecting board <NUM> has two parallel side walls <NUM> running upwards to enclose all the integrated radiating element <NUM> therebetween.

Further, the inputs of the multiple band-pass filters <NUM> can be connected to a radio unit; so that multi-array active antennas can be obtained.

An antenna-RF component integrated transmission method, where a primary RF component <NUM> proceeds signal of interest from a base station antenna transmitting path. The output <NUM> of the primary RF component <NUM> is sent to the primary balun <NUM>. And the primary balun <NUM> couples its input signal into through the primary substrate <NUM> and excites the corresponding radiating surface <NUM> through coupling mechanism. A first polarized wave is radiated throughout the space.

An antenna-RF component integrated transmission method, where a secondary RF component <NUM> proceeds signal of interest from a base station antenna transmitting path. The output <NUM> of the secondary RF component <NUM> is sent to the secondary balun <NUM>. And the secondary balun <NUM> couples its input signal into through the primary substrate <NUM> and excites the corresponding radiating surface <NUM> through coupling mechanism. A second polarized wave is radiated throughout the space.

An antenna-RF component integrated receiving method, where a radiating element <NUM> sends its received polarized wave to the primary balun <NUM>. The output of the primary balun <NUM> is forwarded to the primary RF component <NUM> which proceeds signal of interest that can be sent to a base station antenna receiving path.

An antenna-RF component integrated receiving method, where a radiating element sends its received polarized wave to the secondary balun <NUM>. The output of the secondary balun <NUM> is forwarded to the secondary RF component <NUM> which proceeds signal of interest that can be sent to a base station antenna receiving path.

As used in the description and claims, the singular form "a", "an" and "the" include both singular and plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. At times, the claims and disclosure may include terms such as "a plurality," "one or more," or "at least one;" however, the absence of such terms is not intended to mean, and should not be interpreted to mean, that a plurality is not conceived.

As used herein, the term "comprising", "comprises" or "composed of" is intended to mean that the devices, systems, and methods include the recited elements, and may additionally include any other elements. "Consisting essentially of" shall mean that the devices, systems, and methods include the recited elements and exclude other elements of essential significance to the combination for the stated purpose. Thus, a system or method consisting essentially of the elements as defined herein would not exclude other materials, features, or steps that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristic(s) of the claimed invention. "Consisting of" shall mean that the devices, systems, and methods include the recited elements and exclude anything more than a trivial or inconsequential element or step. Embodiments defined by each of these transitional terms are within the scope of this disclosure.

Claim 1:
An antenna unit (<NUM>) comprising:
a radiating element (<NUM>) comprising a board (<NUM>) defining a first radiating surface (<NUM>) and an opposing second surface;
a reflect board (<NUM>) having a first support surface and an opposing second surface, the radiating element and the reflect board are arranged such that the first support surface of the reflect board faces the first radiating surface of the radiating element (<NUM>) forming a space therebetween; and
an RF device (<NUM>) for processing signal of interest for a radio unit;
wherein the RF device (<NUM>) is placed on the first support surface of the reflect board (<NUM>) and is arranged in the space between the radiating element (<NUM>) and the reflect board (<NUM>), such that the RF device (<NUM>) serves as a support structure for the radiating element (<NUM>) to the reflect board (<NUM>);
wherein the radiating element (<NUM>) further comprises a balun (<NUM>) coupled to the first radiating surface (<NUM>); wherein a transmission line or feed line of the antenna unit (<NUM>) is connected to the balun (<NUM>), the balun (<NUM>) being on the opposing second surface of the board (<NUM>);
wherein the transmission line is attached to the opposing second surface of the board (<NUM>) and serves the balun for a single polarization.