Related Application

[0001] The present application claims priority from and the benefit of Chinese Application No. 202211061219.3, filed September 1, 2022, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in full.

Technical Field

[0002] The present invention generally relates to radio communications and more particularly, to a base station antenna.

Background Art

[0003] Cellular communications systems are well known in the art. In a cellular communications system, a geographic area is divided into a series of sections that are referred to as “cells” which are served by respective base stations. The base station may include one or more base station antennas that are configured to provide two-way radio frequency (“RF”) communications with mobile subscribers that are within the cell served by the base station.

[0004] In many cases, each base station is divided into “sectors”. In perhaps the most common configuration, a small hexagonally shaped cell is divided into three 120° sectors, and each sector is served by one or more base station antennas that produce a radiation pattern or an “antenna beam” with an azimuth half power beam width (HPBW) of approximately 65°. Typically, the base station antennas are mounted on a tower structure, with the antenna beams that are generated by the base station antennas directed outwardly. Base station antennas are often realized as linear or planar phased arrays of radiating elements.

[0005] To improve communication quality, Massive Multiple In Multiple Out (MIMO) antennas and/or beamforming base station antennas are currently being deployed that use multiple arrays for transmission and/or reception. In order to achieve such base station antennas in a commercially acceptable manner, the size and/or weight of the antennas may be limited due to local zoning ordinances and/or weights of antenna towers and wind loading constraints, etc. Typically, a compact antenna size is desirable.

[0006] However, the compact antenna size may make wiring more difficult, which is undesirable. Furthermore, as arrays are arranged closer to each other, interference between feeding networks of adjacent arrays may also increase, which is also undesirable.

Summary of the Invention

[0007] Therefore, the objective of the present disclosure is to provide a base station antenna capable of overcoming at least one drawback in the prior art.

[0008] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a base station antenna is provided, including: a first feed board arranged with a first column of first frequency band radiating elements, and a first phase shifter for the first column of first frequency band radiating elements, wherein the first phase shifter is configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization to the first column of first frequency band radiating elements; and a printed circuit board separate from the first feed board, on which a second phase shifter for the first column of first frequency band radiating elements is arranged, wherein the second phase shifter is configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization to the first column of first frequency band radiating elements.

[0009] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a base station antenna is provided, comprising: a first feed board, wherein the first feed board is arranged with: a first column of first frequency band radiating elements; a second column of first frequency band radiating elements; and a first phase shifter and a second phase shifter for the first column of first frequency band radiating elements, wherein the first phase shifter is configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization to the first column of first frequency band radiating elements, and the second phase shifter is configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization to the first column of first frequency band radiating elements; and a printed circuit board separate from the first feed board, on which a third phase shifter and a fourth phase shifter for a second column of first frequency band radiating elements are arranged, wherein the second phase shifter is configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization to the second column of first frequency band radiating elements, and the fourth phase shifter is configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization to the second column of first frequency band radiating elements.

Brief Description of the Attached Drawings

[00010] The present disclosure will be explained in greater detail by means of specific embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. The schematic drawings are briefly described as follows:

[00011] Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a feed board of a base station antenna according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein a radome and a sliding piece assembly of a phase shifter are removed.

[00012] Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a calibration board in the base station antenna of Fig. 1.

[00013] Fig. 3 is a partial perspective view of the base station antenna of Fig. 1 when viewed with the calibration board facing forward.

[00014] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a feed board of a base station antenna according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein a radome and a sliding piece assembly of a phase shifter are removed.

[00015] Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a feed board of a base station antenna according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein a radome and a sliding piece assembly of a phase shifter are removed.

[00016] Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a feed board set of the base station antenna of Fig. 5, wherein a radome and a sliding piece assembly of a phase shifter are removed.

[00017] Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a calibration board of a base station antenna according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00018] Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a printed circuit board of a base station antenna according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00019] Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a feed board of a base station antenna according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein a radome and a sliding piece assembly of a phase shifter are removed.

[00020] Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a printed circuit board of a base station antenna according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments

[00021] The present disclosure will be described below with reference to the attached drawings, wherein the attached drawings illustrate certain embodiments of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be presented in many different ways and is not limited to the embodiments described below; in fact, the embodiments described below are intended to make the disclosure of the present disclosure more complete and to fully explain the protection scope of the present disclosure to those of ordinary skill in the art. It should also be understood that the embodiments disclosed in the present disclosure may be combined in various ways so as to provide more additional embodiments. [00022] It should be understood that the terms used herein are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. All terms used herein (including technical terms and scientific terms) have meanings normally understood by those skilled in the art unless otherwise defined. For brevity and/or clarity, well-known functions or structures may not be further described in detail.

[00023] As used herein, spatial relationship terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, “front”, “back”, “high”, and “low” can explain the relationship between one feature and another in the attached drawings. It should be understood that, in addition to the orientations shown in the attached drawings, the terms expressing spatial relations also comprise different orientations of a device in use or operation. For example, when a device in the attached drawings rotates reversely, the features originally described as being “below” other features now can be described as being “above” the other features. The device may also be oriented by other means (rotated by 90 degrees or at other locations), and at this time, a relative spatial relation will be explained accordingly.

[00024] As used herein, the term “A or B” comprises “A and B” and “A or B”, not exclusively “A” or “B”, unless otherwise specified.

[00025] As used herein, the term “schematic” or “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance or explanation”, not as a “model” to be accurately copied. Any realization method described exemplarily herein may not be necessarily interpreted as being preferable or advantageous over other realization methods. Furthermore, the present disclosure is not limited by any expressed or implied theory given in the above technical field, background art, summary of the invention or embodiments.

[00026] As used herein, the word “basically” means including any minor changes caused by design or manufacturing defects, device or component tolerances, environmental influences, and/or other factors.

[00027] As used herein, the term “partially” may be a part of any proportion. For example, it may be greater than 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or may even be 100%, i.e. all.

[00028] In addition, for reference purposes only, “first”, “second” and similar terms may also be used herein, and thus are not intended to be limitative. For example, unless the context clearly indicates, the words “first”, “second” and other such numerical words involving structures or elements do not imply a sequence or order.

[00029] Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[00030] Referring to Figs. 1-3, Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a feed board 2 of a base station antenna according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein a radome and a sliding piece assembly or wiper assembly 18 of a phase shifter are removed. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a calibration board 4 in the base station antenna of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a partial perspective view of the base station antenna of Fig. 1 when viewed from the calibration board 4 facing forward, wherein a reflecting plate is omitted.

[00031] The base station antenna may be mounted on an elevated structure, for example, an antenna tower, a telephone pole, a building, or a water tower, such that the longitudinal axis thereof extends substantially perpendicular to the ground.

[00032] The base station antenna is usually mounted in a radome (not shown) that provides environmental protection. The base station antenna may include a reflecting plate (not shown), which may include a metal surface that provides a ground plane and reflects electromagnetic waves reaching the reflecting plate, for example, electromagnetic waves are redirected to propagate forwardly.

[00033] As shown in Fig. 1, the base station antenna may include a feed board 2 arranged on a front side of the reflecting plate (not shown), on which two columns of first frequency band radiating elements 6 arranged along a longitudinal V may be mounted. The longitudinal direction V may be the direction of the longitudinal axis of the base station antenna or may be parallel to the longitudinal axis. The longitudinal direction V is perpendicular to a horizontal direction H and a forward direction F (i.e., the direction towards the reader). Each first frequency band radiating element 6 is mounted to extend forwardly from the reflecting plate. It should be understood that the base station antenna may include a plurality of such feed boards 2.

[00034] In some embodiments, an operating frequency band of the first frequency band radiating element 6 may be, for example, 617 to 960 MHz or a sub-band thereof. In some embodiments, an operating frequency band of the first frequency band radiating element 6 may be, for example, 1427 to 2690 MHz or a sub-band thereof. In some embodiments, an operating frequency band of the first frequency band radiating element 6 may be, for example, 3. 1 to 4.2 GHz or a sub-band thereof. It should be understood that the base station antenna 100 may also include radiating elements in other operating frequency bands. In order to simplify the view and description, it will not be repeated herein.

[00035] As shown in Fig. 2, the base station antenna may include a calibration board 4 arranged on a rear side of the reflecting plate. The calibration board 4 is widely used in a Massive MIMO antenna or beamforming antenna, and may be used to identify any undesirable change in the amplitude and/or phase of an RF signal input to different radio frequency ports of the antenna to transmit an identified result (i.e., a calibration signal) to a remote radio frequency unit (RRU). The remote radio frequency unit can adjust the amplitude and/or phase of the RF signals to be input on the radio frequency port according to the calibration signals so as to provide optimized antenna beams.

[00036] As shown in Fig. 1, first and second phase shifters 11, 12 for a first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 and third and fourth phase shifters 13, 14 for a second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 are all integrated into the feed board 2. The first phase shifter 11 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, and the second phase shifter 12 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The third phase shifter 13 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, and the fourth phase shifter 14 is configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6.

[00037] In order to achieve a phase shift operation, as shown in Fig. 3, a connecting rod 16 may be mounted on a rear surface of the calibration board 4, and may be configured to be able to synchronously drive motion of various sliding piece assemblies 18 of the first to fourth phase shifters 14.

[00038] In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 3, although integrating each phase shifter 11-14 on the feed board 2 can improve integration of the base station antenna, reduce cable wiring and thereby reduce the space occupied by cable routing, it can make traces on the feed board 2 too dense, thereby introducing undesired coupling between traces. In addition, in order to integrate each phase shifter 11-14 onto the feed board 2, sufficient array spacing must also be guaranteed, which in turn contradicts the desired compact size and/or light weight. For example, in some cases, the weight of the base station antenna may have higher requirements, such as below specific mass (such as below 8 kg, 7 kg, etc.). In order to reduce the weight of the base station antenna, the array space may be reduced, thereby reducing the size of the feed board 2, reflecting plate and calibration board 4. However, reduction of the array space makes integration of the phase shifters 11-14 more difficult.

[00039] In order to further overcome at least one of the aforementioned defects of the base station antenna, the present disclosure also relates to a new compact base station antenna in which phase shifters for at least some radiating element arrays are distributed on the feed board and the printed circuit board behind the feed board. In some embodiments, the printed circuit board located behind the feed board may be, for example, a calibration board. Phase shifters for first portions of at least some of radiating element arrays may be mounted on the feed board, while phase shifters for second portions of at least some of the radiating element arrays may be mounted on the calibration board. Such a distributed arrangement structure of the phase shifters may effectively reduce a particular size (e.g., width) and/or weight of the base station antenna. In addition, because only some of the phase shifters are mounted on the feed board, sufficient wiring space can be retained, effectively reducing the problems caused by dense wiring.

[00040] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a feed board of a base station antenna according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein a radome and a sliding piece assembly of a phase shifter are removed. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a calibration board of a base station antenna according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00041] As shown in Fig. 4, the base station antenna may include a first feed board 21 on which a first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 and a first phase shifter 11 for the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 and a second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 and a third phase shifter 13 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 may be arranged. The first phase shifter 11 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization (for example, +45°) or a second polarization (for example, -45°) to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The third phase shifter 13 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization or a second polarization to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6.

[00042] It should be understood that the base station antenna may include a plurality of first feed boards 21 arranged side by side, and the plurality of first feed boards 21 may be mounted in front of the calibration board 40 and the reflecting plate. In some embodiments, only these two columns of first frequency band radiating elements may be arranged on the first feed board 21 without having a third column of first frequency band radiating elements. In other embodiments, a third column of first frequency band radiating elements and a fourth column of first frequency band radiating elements may also be arranged on the first feed board 21. In other embodiments, radiating elements having other operating frequency bands may also be arranged on each feed board.

[00043] As shown in Fig. 7, the base station antenna may include a calibration board 40 on which a second phase shifter 12 for the first column of first frequency band radiating elements and a fourth phase shifter 14 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 may be arranged. The second phase shifter 12 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization or a first polarization to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The fourth phase shifter 14 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization or a first polarization to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6.

[00044] With continued reference to Fig. 4, a first feeding network 31 and a second feeding network 32 for the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, and a third feeding network 33 and a fourth feeding network 34 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 may be printed on the first feed board 21. In the current embodiment, the first phase shifter 11, the third phase shifter 13 and the various feeding networks 31-34 may be collectively arranged on a front surface of the first feed board 21. It should be understood that in other embodiments, especially when the first feed board 21 is configured as a multi-layer printed circuit board, the first phase shifter 11, the third phase shifter 13 and the various feeding networks 31-34 may be collectively arranged at different layers (front surface, middle layer and/or rear surface) of the first feed board 21.

[00045] With continued reference to Fig. 7, the calibration board 40 may include a calibration network 42, and a corresponding radio frequency port 44 in the calibration network 42 may be configured to be electrically connected to the second and fourth phase shifters 12, 14 on the calibration board 40, and configured to be electrically connected to the first and third phase shifters 11, 13 on the first feed board 21 via a corresponding transmission device (such as a coaxial cable, a coaxial connector or another conductive structure). In the current embodiment, the calibration network 42, the second phase shifter 12, and the fourth phase shifter 14 may be collectively arranged at least partially (e.g., its phase shift circuit) on a rear surface of the calibration board 40. It should be understood that in other embodiments, particularly when the calibration board 40 is configured as a multi-layer printed circuit board, the calibration network 42, the second phase shifter 12, and the fourth phase shifter 14 may be collectively arranged at different layers (front surface, middle layer, and/or rear surface) of the calibration board 40.

[00046] As shown in Fig. 7, corresponding radio frequency ports 44 in the calibration network 42 may be electrically connected to input ends of the first and third phase shifters 11, 13 on the first feed board 21 via corresponding transmission devices (such as coaxial cables, coaxial connectors and/or other conductive structures), and corresponding output ends of the first and third phase shifters 11, 13 may be electrically connected to input ends of the first and third feeding networks 31, 33 on the first feed board 21, respectively.

[00047] Corresponding radio frequency ports 44 in the calibration network 42 may be connected to corresponding input ends of the second and fourth phase shifters 12, 14 via corresponding transmission lines, and corresponding output ends of the second and fourth phase shifters 12, 14 may be electrically connected to input ends of the second and fourth feeding networks 32, 34 on the first feed board 21 via corresponding transmission devices (such as coaxial cables, coaxial connectors, and/or other conductive structures).

[00048] In the current embodiment, only phase shifters for first portions (e.g., half) of the two columns of first frequency band radiating elements 6 are mounted on the first feed board 21, while phase shifters for second portions (e.g., the other half) of the two columns of first frequency band radiating elements 6 are transferred to the calibration board 40. As such, the layout on the feed boards 21, 22, for example, the layout of the feeding networks 31-34, and/or the layout of receiving slots for receiving sliding piece assemblies of the phase shifters may be further optimized, thereby effectively reducing the problems caused by dense wiring.

[00049] Furthermore, to achieve a phase shift operation of the array, a connecting rod may be mounted on the rear surface of the calibration board 40, and the connecting rod 16 is configured to be capable of synchronously driving motion of the first, second, third and fourth sliding piece assemblies.

[00050] As shown in Fig. 4, a first receiving slot 51 may be provided in the area between the two columns 61 and 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, so as to at least partially receive a first sliding piece assembly of the first phase shifter 11 and a third sliding piece assembly of the third phase shifter 13. Because only a receiving slot for a first portion of the phase shifter is required to be provided on the first feed board 21, the first feed board 21 can be implemented more compactly. For example, in some cases, the width of the first feed board 21 may be less than or equal to 130 mm, 120 mm, 115 mm, 110 mm, or even 100 mm.

[00051] As shown in Fig. 7, a second receiving slot 52 corresponding to the first receiving slot 51 may be provided in the area between two branches of the calibration network 42 so as to at least partially receive a second sliding piece assembly of the second phase shifter 12 and a fourth sliding piece assembly of the fourth phase shifter 14. Because only a receiving slot for only a portion of the phase shifter is required to be provided on the calibration board 40, the calibration board 40 can be implemented more compactly. As such, the size of the calibration board 40 can be effectively reduced, thus reducing the weight of the calibration board 40 and the base station antenna.

[00052] In some embodiments, referring to Fig. 3, each sliding piece assembly 18 may include a tooth section 19, a tooth section of the first sliding piece assembly and a tooth section of the third sliding piece assembly may face each other, and a tooth section of the second sliding piece assembly and a tooth section of the fourth sliding piece assembly may face each other. A rack 17 may be mounted on the connecting rod 16, and the rack 17 is configured to drive a corresponding sliding piece assembly 18 to slide on a phase shift circuit by means of engagement between the rack 17 and a tooth section 19 of the sliding piece assembly 18.

[00053] Next, referring to Fig. 8, a schematic diagram of a printed circuit board 50 of a base station antenna according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure is introduced. In the embodiment of Fig. 8, the base station antenna may include a printed circuit board 50 separate from the first feed board 21. In the current embodiment, because the printed circuit board 50 is no longer configured as a calibration board 40, it no longer has the calibration network 42. This allows for a more compact design. It should be understood that the printed circuit board 50 may include a plurality of phase shift units as shown in Fig. 8 for a plurality of first feed boards 21.

[00054] As shown in Fig. 8, the printed circuit board 50 may be arranged with a second phase shifter 12 for the first column of first frequency band radiating elements and a fourth phase shifter 14 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The second phase shifter 12 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization or a first polarization to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The fourth phase shifter 14 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization or a first polarization to the second column of first frequency band radiating elements.

[00055] In order to achieve a phase shift operation, a connecting rod 16 (as shown in Fig. 3) may be mounted on the rear surface of the printed circuit board 50, and the connecting rod 16 may be configured to be able to synchronously drive motion of the various sliding piece assemblies of the first to fourth phase shifters 14.

[00056] The above-described description with respect to the calibration board 40, unless otherwise stated or contradictory to each other, can be transferred to the current embodiment, and will not be repeated herein. [00057] Next, referring to Figs. 5 and 6, a schematic diagram of a feed board of a base station antenna according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure is introduced, where a radome and a sliding piece assembly of a phase shifter are removed.

[00058] As shown in Fig. 5, the base station antenna may include a first feed board 21 and a second feed board 22. The second feed board 22 may be arranged side by side with the first feed board 21 as a pair of feed boards.

[00059] The first feed board 21 is arranged with a first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, a first phase shifter 11 for the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, and a first feeding network 31 and a second feeding network 32 for the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The first phase shifter 11 may, for example, be configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization (for example, +45°) or a second polarization (for example, -45°) to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 via the first feeding network 31.

[00060] The second feed board 22 is arranged with a second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, a third phase shifter 13 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, and a third feeding network 33 and a fourth feeding network 34 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The third phase shifter 13 may, for example, be configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization or a second polarization to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6.

[00061] The second phase shifter 12 for the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 and/or the fourth phase shifter 14 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 may be integrated on a printed circuit board 50 separate from each feed board, for example, at the rear. In some embodiments, the printed circuit board 50 may, for example, be configured as a calibration board 40 as described in Fig. 7. In some embodiments, the printed circuit board 50 may, for example, be configured as the printed circuit board 50 as described in Fig. 8.

[00062] The printed circuit board 50 such as the calibration board 40 may be arranged with a second phase shifter 12 for the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 and a fourth phase shifter 14 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The second phase shifter 12 may be configured to be electrically connected to the second feeding network 32 on the first feed board 21 via a transmission device and thereby to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 via the second feeding network 32. As such, the second phase shifter 12 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization or a first polarization to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. The fourth phase shifter 14 may be configured to be electrically connected to the fourth feeding network 34 on the second feed board 22 via a transmission device and thereby to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 via the fourth feeding network 34. As such, the fourth phase shifter 14 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization or a first polarization to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6.

[00063] As shown in Fig. 6, the base station antenna may include a plurality of pairs of feed boards consisting of a first feed board 21 and a second feed board 22. The plurality of pairs of feed boards may be mounted in front of the printed circuit board 50, such as the calibration board 40, so as to mount the entire array of first radiating elements on the plurality of pairs of feed boards.

[00064] In some embodiments, only one column of first frequency band radiating elements may be arranged on each feed board. Thus, each feed board can be implemented more compactly. For example, in some cases, the width of the first feed board 21 may be less than or equal to 65 mm, 60 mm, 55 mm, or 50 mm. It should be understood that in other embodiments, radiating elements having other operating frequency bands may also be arranged on each feed board.

[00065] In addition, in the illustrated embodiments, only a phase shifter for a first portion (e.g., a half) of a column of first frequency band radiating elements is mounted on each feed board 21, 22, and a phase shifter for a second portion (e.g., the other half) of the column of first frequency band radiating elements are transferred to the further printed circuit board 50, such as the calibration board 40. As such, the layout on the feed boards 21, 22, for example, the layout of the feeding networks 31-34, and/or the layout of receiving slots for receiving sliding piece assemblies of the phase shifters may be further optimized, thereby effectively reducing the problems caused by dense wiring.

[00066] Furthermore, to achieve a phase shift operation of the array, a connecting rod 16 (see Fig. 3) may be mounted on the rear surface of the printed circuit board 50, and is configured to be able to simultaneously drive motion of the first, second, third and fourth sliding piece assemblies. [00067] As shown in Fig. 6, a first receiving slot 51 may be provided between the first and second feed boards 21, 22. In other words, the outer contour of the first feed board 21 and the outer contour of the second feed board 22 may form the first receiving slot 51 for at least partially receiving the first sliding piece assembly of the first phase shifter 11 and the third sliding piece assembly of the third phase shifter 13.

[00068] As shown in Fig. 7 or 8, a second receiving slot 52 corresponding to the first receiving slot 51 may be provided on the printed circuit board 50, and the second sliding piece assembly of the second phase shifter 12 and the fourth sliding piece assembly of the fourth phase shifter 14 may be at least partially received within the second receiving slot 52. For example, the second receiving slot 52 corresponding to the first receiving slot 51 may be provided in the area between two branches of the calibration network 42 so as to at least partially receive the second sliding piece assembly of the second phase shifter 12 and the fourth sliding piece assembly of the fourth phase shifter 14. Because only a receiving slot for only a portion of the phase shifter is required to be provided on the calibration board 40, the calibration board 40 can be implemented more compactly. As such, the size of the calibration board 40 can be effectively reduced, thus reducing the weight of the calibration board 40 and the base station antenna.

[00069] Next, referring to Figs. 9 and 10, a schematic diagram of a feed board and a printed circuit board of a base station antenna according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure is introduced, wherein a radome and a sliding piece assembly of a phase shifter are removed. Below, only differences between the present embodiment and the embodiments described above are described in detail, and other details may be transferred to the current embodiment unless otherwise stated.

[00070] As shown in Fig. 9, the base station antenna may include a first feed board 21, and a first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, a second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, and a first phase shifter 11 and a second phase shifter 12 for the first column

61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 are arranged on the first feed board 21. A first feeding network 31 and a second feeding network 32 for the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6, and a third feeding network 33 and a fourth feeding network 34 for the second column

62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 may be printed on the first feed board 21.

[00071] In the current embodiment, the first phase shifter 11 , the second phase shifter 12, the first feeding network 31, the second feeding network 32, the third feeding network 33, and the fourth feeding network 34 are collectively arranged on a front surface of the first feed board 21. It should be understood that in other embodiments, especially when the first feed board 21 is configured as a multi-layer printed circuit board 50, the first phase shifter 11, the second phase shifter 12 and each feeding network may be collectively arranged at different layers (front surface, middle layer and/or rear surface) of the first feed board 21.

[00072] The first phase shifter 11 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a first polarization to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 via the first feeding network 31 , and the second phase shifter 12 may be configured to feed an RF signal having a second polarization to the first column 61 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 via the second feeding network 32.

[00073] As shown in Fig. 10, the base station antenna may include a printed circuit board 50 separate from the first feed board 21, and the printed circuit board 50 is arranged with a third phase shifter 13 and a fourth phase shifter 14 for the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6. In the illustrated embodiment, the printed circuit board 50 may, for example, be configured to be similar to the printed circuit board 50 described in Fig. 8. It should be understood that in other embodiments, the printed circuit board 50 may, for example, be configured to be similar to the calibration board 40 described in Fig. 7. The third phase shifter 13 distributed on the printed circuit board 50 may be configured to be electrically connected to the third feeding network 33 via a transmission device and thereby feed an RF signal having a second polarization to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 via the third feeding network 33, and the fourth phase shifter 14 is configured to be electrically connected to the fourth feeding network 34 via a transmission device and thereby feed an RF signal having a second polarization to the second column 62 of first frequency band radiating elements 6 via the fourth feeding network 34.

[00074] Although exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, those skilled in the art should understand that many variations and modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, all variations and changes are included in the protection scope of the present disclosure defined by the claims. The present disclosure is defined by the attached claims, and equivalents of these claims are also included.