Switched-beam communication node
US10530448B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 28, 2018 |
| Grant date | Jan 7, 2020 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 28, 2038 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04B7/0617
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A switched-beam communication node (e.g., transmitter, receiver, or transceiver) has an antenna array, an (N×N) passive multibeamformer (e.g., Butler matrix (BM)), a phase network, a switch network, and a controller. The phase network has N phase shifters, one for each different beam port of the Butler matrix. The controller configures the node to support either (i) any one of N main beampatterns supported by the Butler matrix by controlling the switch network to select one of the phase shifters and its corresponding BM beam port or (ii) any one of up to at least (N−1) combined beampatterns by controlling the switch network to select two of the phase shifters and their two corresponding BM beam ports. Each combined beampattern is a combination of two phase-shifted main beampatterns. In some embodiments, the node can be configured to provide two concurrent beampatterns for transmit and/or receive operations, thereby supporting space-division multiple-access systems.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.