Techniques to control transmit power for a shared antenna architecture

摘要

Techniques to control shared antenna architectures for multiple co-located radio modules are disclosed. The shared antenna architecture may include a combiner and at least one bypass switch for enabling simultaneous operations or mutually-exclusive operations of multiple transceivers. Dynamic gain control is employed to accommodate different front-end losses associated with a variety of signal paths that are achievable using the switch and combiner. Such dynamic gain control can include selecting from multiple sets of amplifier gain values that are tailored to meet the needs of the particular applications that are active at a particular time. Gain values can be chosen based upon received gain information including characteristics including a desired path loss, an application demand, a radio module type, a path configuration, and a mode of operation. By providing dynamic selection of gain values based on application demands, range and throughput of the transceivers can be attained. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.

主权项

1. An apparatus, comprising:
an antenna; a first radio module having a first communication system to communicate wirelessly across a first link and a first communications controller to control the first communication system, the first communication system including a first power amplifier; a second radio module having a second communication system to communicate wirelessly across a second link and a second communications controller to control the second communication system, the second communication system including a second power amplifier; a shared antenna structure communicatively coupled to the first radio module, the second radio module and the antenna, the shared antenna structure comprising a combiner and at least one switch arranged to allow the first communication system and the second communication system to share the antenna for simultaneous operations or mutually-exclusive operations, wherein the combiner is to be used in a signal path for simultaneous operations and is not to be used in a signal path for mutually exclusive operations; and a host processor communicatively coupled to the first radio module and the second radio module, the host processor to control a first gain value for the first power amplifier and a second gain value for the second power amplifier.