Reconfigurable beam-forming-network architecture
US8451172B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 10, 2010 |
| Grant date | May 28, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 13, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04B7/2041
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A beam-forming network having: a plurality (NI) of input signal ports (IP); a plurality (NO) of output signal ports (OP); a weighting and interconnecting network (WIN) comprising a plurality of signal dividers (SD), phase and amplitude weighting elements (WE), switches (SW1, SW2) and signal combiners (SC), for associating each input port to output ports through respective weighting units; wherein either input (IP) or output (OP) ports, or both, are partitioned into disjoint equivalence classes (IEC, OEC), at least a majority of said equivalence classes having more than one port; and in that the network is either configured in order to associate each input port to at most one output port for each output equivalence class, or to associate each output port to at most one input port for each input equivalence class, or both. Also provide is a multibeam antenna comprising having such a beam-forming network, and an electronic circuit for implementing such a beam-forming network.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.