PHASE CONTROL FOR ANTENNA ARRAY

摘要

Phase control apparatus and methods for antenna arrays are disclosed. Phase shifting for antenna beam steering or beamforming is broken into a fixed phase shift stage and a variable phase shift stage. The fixed phase shift stage includes one or more fixed phase shift elements with fixed phase shifts. The fixed phase shift stage provides coarse phase control. The variable phase shift stage provides fine phase control with a resolution or granularity that is finer than the fixed phase shifts of the fixed phase shift elements. Amplitude control could also be provided for beam steering, to compensate for amplitude effects of the phase shifting, or both.

主权项

1. An apparatus to control signal phase for an antenna array, the apparatus comprising:
a phase shifter to apply a phase shift to a signal received at an input of the phase shifter, the phase shifter comprising:
a fixed phase shift element controllable to apply one of no phase shift and a fixed phase shift;a variable phase shift element, coupled to the fixed phase shift element, controllable to apply a variable phase shift, a resolution of the variable phase shift being finer than the fixed phase shift.