RELATED SYSTEMS, METHODS AND DEVICES

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit of the filing date of United States Provisional

Patent Application Serial No. 62/796,885 filed January 25, 2019, for“SIGNAL BOOSTER FOR 5G COMMUNICATION, AND RELATED SYSTEMS, METHODS AND

DEVICES,” the entire contents and disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the disclosure relate, generally to electronic systems and, in particular, to radio frequency (RF) communication systems, and related systems, methods, and devices.

BACKGROUND

The 5G era is coming. The communication frequency used by 5G is relatively high, generally around 3.5G (G refers to gigahertz), and some operators (such as Verizon) use the 28G frequency band or even higher frequency band. The higher the radio frequency, the worse the penetration characteristics and the faster the attenuation, therefore, the coverage of the 5G base station with the same transmit power is much smaller than that of the 4G base station or the 3G base station, which means that the area that the original 3G base station can cover now needs multiple 5G base station to cover. The inventors of this disclosure appreciate that this will bring a big impact on network construction; the operators will need to invest huge resources to build the 5G network.

In the 5G era, the inventors of this disclosure appreciate that the micro base station radio unit (radio unit) becomes a very important network device. In order to achieve the high bandwidth and low latency service standard of 5G, a micro base station radio unit may be needed every few tens of meters, each radio unit is connected to the macro base station via an optical fiber. However, the cost of using a large number of micro base stations radio unit is high, and the optical fiber installation also requires high cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure may be understood more fully by reference to the following detailed description of example embodiments and accompanying figures, which include::

FIG. 1 is one embodiment of a 5G network device arrangement;

FIG. 2 is another embodiment of a 5G network devices arrangement;

FIG. 3 is another embodiment of a 5G network devices arrangement;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a 5G Signal booster working in a network;

FIG. 5A illustrates one implementation of an array antenna of mobile station Antenna in FIG. 4;

FIG. 5B illustrates another implementation of an array antenna of mobile station Antenna in FIG. 4;

FIG. 5C illustrates another implementation of an array antenna of mobile station Antenna in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of the 5G signal booster powered by solar panels FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of the 5G signal booster system;

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the 5 G signal booster system;

FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of the 5 G signal booster system;

FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of the 5G signal booster system;

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of the 5G signal booster system;

FIG. 12 illustrates another embodiment of the 5G signal booster system;

FIG. 13 illustrates a 5G network device signal coverage map; and

FIG. 14 is another 5G network devices arrangement network embodiment.

MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION One or more embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a signal booster that is simple to install and relatively low in cost to assist the arrangement of the 5G network. Using the signal booster can expand the signal coverage of the micro base station radio unit, reduce the number of radio units per unit area.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific examples of embodiments in which the present disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to practice the present disclosure. However, other embodiments enabled herein may be utilized, and structural, material, and process changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

The illustrations presented herein are not meant to be actual views of any particular method, system, device, or structure, but are merely idealized representations that are employed to describe the embodiments of the present disclosure. In some instances similar structures or components in the various drawings may retain the same or similar numbering for the convenience of the reader; however, the similarity in numbering does not necessarily mean that the structures or components are identical in size, composition, configuration, or any other property.

The following description may include examples to help enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the disclosed embodiments. The use of the terms“exemplary,”“by example,” and“for example,” means that the related description is explanatory, and though the scope of the disclosure is intended to encompass the examples and legal equivalents, the use of such terms is not intended to limit the scope of an embodiment or this disclosure to the specified components, steps, features, functions, or the like.

It will be readily understood that the components of the embodiments as generally described herein and illustrated in the drawings could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following description of various embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure, but is merely representative of various embodiments. While the various aspects of the embodiments may be presented in the drawings, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale unless specifically indicated.

Furthermore, specific implementations shown and described are only examples and should not be construed as the only way to implement the present disclosure unless specified otherwise herein. Elements, circuits, and functions may be shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present disclosure in unnecessary detail. Conversely, specific implementations shown and described are exemplary only and should not be construed as the only way to implement the present disclosure unless specified otherwise herein. Additionally, block definitions and partitioning of logic between various blocks is exemplary of a specific implementation. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced by numerous other partitioning solutions. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted where such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present disclosure and are within the abilities of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. Those of ordinary skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. Some drawings may illustrate signals as a single signal for clarity of presentation and description. It will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the signal may represent a bus of signals, wherein the bus may have a variety of bit widths and the present disclosure may be implemented on any number of data signals including a single data signal.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an Integrated Circuit (IC), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor (may also be referred to herein as a host processor or simply a host) may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller (also referred to as an MCU), or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. A general-purpose computer including a processor is considered a special-purpose computer while the general-purpose computer is configured to execute computing instructions (e.g., software code) related to embodiments of the present disclosure.

The embodiments may be described in terms of a process that is described or depicted as a flow process, flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram.

Although a flowchart may describe operational acts as a sequential process, many of these acts can be performed in another sequence, in parallel, or substantially concurrently. In addition, the order of the acts may be re-arranged. A process may correspond to a method, a thread, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, other structure, or combinations thereof. Furthermore, the methods disclosed herein may be implemented in hardware, software, or both. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on computer-readable media. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Any reference to an element herein using a designation such as“first,”“second,” and so forth does not limit the quantity or order of those elements, unless such limitation is explicitly stated. Rather, these designations may be used herein as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, a reference to first and second elements does not mean that only two elements may be employed there or that the first element must precede the second element in some manner. In addition, unless stated otherwise, a set of elements may comprise one or more elements.

As used herein, the term“substantially” in reference to a given parameter, property, or condition means and includes to a degree that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the given parameter, property, or condition is met with a small degree of variance, such as, for example, within acceptable manufacturing tolerances. By way of example, depending on the particular parameter, property, or condition that is substantially met, the parameter, property, or condition may be at least 90% met, at least 95% met, or even at least 99% met.

The following description may include examples to help enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the disclosed embodiments. The use of the terms“exemplary,”“by example,”“by way of example,”“for example,”“e.g.,” and the like means that the related description is explanatory, and though the scope of the disclosure is intended to encompass the examples and legal equivalents, the use of such terms is not intended to limit the scope of an embodiment or this disclosure to the specified components, steps, features, functions, or the like.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of one embodiment of a 5G network device arrangement. Each micro base station radio unit in the network 10 is connected to the macro base station (BS) 11 via respective optical fibers 12a-12d. The frequency used by the 5G is usually relatively high. To ensure the coverage quality, a large number of radio units (RUs 13a - 13d)) and optical fibers (12a - 12d) are required to be arranged, which is high in cost and difficult in construction. Around the radio units, signal boosters (SBs 14a- 14b) implementing single directional antennas are installed at the weak signal positions, which can expand the coverage of the signal of the radio units, thereby reducing the number of radio units per unit area and reducing the cost of the network arrangement and the difficulty of construction.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of another embodiment of a 5G network devices arrangement. Optical fibers 22a-22f connect respective RUs 23a-23f to micro base station 21 of network 20. Signal boosters (SBs) 24a and 24b are arranged at weak signal positions which can expand the coverage of the signal of the radio units (RUs).

FIG. 3 is a diagram of another embodiment of a 5G network devices arrangement.

FIG. 3 is further optimized on the basis of FIG. 1, a signal booster (SB) is arranged between RU 33a and some of the other radio units, namely, RUs 33b and 33d, thereby extending the distance between the pairs of radio units (e.g., between 33a and 33b, 33a and 33d), reducing the number of radio units per unit area, reducing the cost and construction difficulty.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a 5G Signal booster working in a network 40. The 5G Signal booster can be located at the lamppost, tower top, roof or other locations. On the one hand, the base station antenna 42 receives the downlink signal from the radio unit 43, and then the signal booster 41 amplifies it by the downlink amplification path and finally sends it to the users (45a - 45c) via mobile station antenna 44; on the other hand, the mobile station antenna 44 receives the uplink signal from the users 45a-45c and then the signal booster 41 amplifies it by the uplink amplification path and finally sends it to the radio unit 43 via the base station antenna 42. At present, most of the 5G users are fixed points, and it is specifically contemplated that they may be mobile terminals in the future. In order to adapt to the high frequency characteristics of 5G, the base station antenna 42 used by the signal booster 41 described in this embodiments of this disclosure is a directional antenna with high directivity and high gain, without limitation. Mobile station antenna 44 is a single directional antenna or an array antenna of multiple directional antennas, without limitation.

FIG. 5A illustrates one implementation of an array antenna 44a of mobile station antenna 44 in FIG. 4. Two directional antennas 51a and 51b are used, selected via the radio frequency (RF) switch 52 in the signal booster; the switch 52 is controlled by the control circuit 53 in the signal booster. The control circuit 53 can select the antenna array unit 51a or 51b according to the user usage of the two array units array unitl and array unit2 of mobile station antenna 44a. For the 5G system which adopts the TDD mode, the control circuit 53 can also include a digital synchronization circuit (not shown), or can extract a synchronization signal from a TDD modem (not shown), or can sample the downlink signal from the radio unit 43, and demodulate the synchronization signal by power detection, and thereby synchronize the signal booster system of embodiments of the disclosure with the radio unit system. FIG. 5B illustrates another implementation of an array antenna 44b of mobile station antenna 44 in FIG. 4. Three directional antennas 54a, 54b and 54c are used; selected via the RF switch 55 in the signal booster.

FIG. 5C illustrates another implementation of an array antenna 44c of mobile station antenna 44 in FIG. 4. Four directional antennas 56a, 56b, 56c and 56d are used, selected via the RF switch in the signal booster.

The above embodiments are just a few non-limiting implementation examples of mobile station antenna. The mobile station antenna used in this disclosure is not limited to the several implementations mentioned, and more antennas (e.g., more than four directional antennas, without limitation) can be used to form the antenna array. In various embodiments, the antennas used to form an antenna array be directional antennas or digital phased array antennas, without limitation. Mobile station antenna array units can also be connected to a signal booster via other devices than those shown, such as splitters.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a 5G signal booster powered by solar panels. The solar panel converts light energy into electrical energy and charges the signal booster’s battery, which supplies DC power to the signal booster. The signal booster can also be powered by, for example, a power source of a street light or a building depending on the installation location.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a 5G signal booster system. In the non-limiting example embodiment depicted by FIG. 7, the 5G signal booster system is used for outdoor coverage, wherein the directional antenna base station antenna and the directional antenna mobile station antenna are respectively located on both sides of the signal booster, a back-to- back structure. The two antennas maintain a certain distance D. The magnitude of the D value is related to the following factors: the antenna front-to-back ratio, the gain of the antenna, and the gain of the signal booster. In order to facilitate installation, the system of this invention can minimize the D value. To reduce the D value, it is necessary to improve the isolation between the two antennas. FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 illustrate two embodiments that may further improve the isolation.

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of a 5G signal booster system. The directional antenna base station Antenna and the directional antenna mobile station antenna may have a vertical distance H in addition to the horizontal distance D as in FIG. 7. The larger the H distance, the better the isolation between the two antennas. The 5G signal booster system takes into account the antenna horizontal distance D, the vertical distance H, the antenna gain, the antenna front-to-back ratio and the signal booster gain, to obtain the best coverage effect in the case of facilitate installation.

FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of a 5G signal booster system. The 5G signal booster system can include one or more isolation boards to improve the isolation between the two antennas to prevent system oscillation. The isolation board can be integrated with the signal booster housing or integrated with the antenna. The isolation board can be either planar or curved. The isolation board is usually metallic and/or may also contain absorbing materials. The signal booster can also include an analog or a digital ICS (Interference Cancellation System) circuit to improve system isolation and reduce D values.

FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of a 5G signal booster system. The frequency used by 5G is usually relatively high (such as 28 GHz), high-power power amplifiers (Pas) for high-frequency are relatively rare, and/or the volume is large and/or the cost is high. Some embodiments use multiple low power PAs in parallel to realize high power output level. The uplink and downlink outputs select an appropriate number of low power PAs (PAs 101 and PAs 102, respectively) according to the coverage requirements. The heat dissipation of the device can be achieved by physical heat dissipation, air cooling, water cooling, and oil cooling, etc.

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a 5G signal booster system. The system includes a control circuit 111. For the 5G system which adopts the time division duplex (TDD) mode, the control circuit 111 can also include a digital synchronization circuit (not shown), or can extract a synchronization signal from the TDD modem, or can sample the downlink signal from the radio unit, and demodulate the synchronization signal by power detection. The uplink and downlink amplification paths can be switched by a RF switch, and the control circuit controls the RF switch according to the TDD synchronization signal.

FIG. 12 illustrates another embodiment of a 5G signal booster system. The system downlink amplification path 121 and the uplink amplification 123 path are separated into a DL unit 122 and an UL unit 124, and each unit has a separate base station antenna and mobile station antenna. The DL unit 122 receives the downlink signal from the radio unit 125 via the base station antenna base station ANTI, and transmits it to the users 126 via the mobile station antenna mobile station ANTI after being amplified. The UL unitl24 receives the uplink signal from the users 126 via the mobile station antenna mobile station ANT2, and then transmits it to the radio unit 125 via the base station antenna base station ANT2 after being amplified, thereby implementing bi-directional communication. There is a certain distance L between the DL unit and the UL unit.

FIG. 13 illustrates a 5G network device signal coverage map. The SB (signal booster) adopts mobile station antenna of FIG. 5C, which adopts an antenna array composed of multiple directional antennas; its network coverage area is larger than that mobile station antenna with a single directional antenna (coverage depicted by FIG. 1).

FIG. 14 is another 5G network devices arrangement network embodiment. Near the signal booster 142a- 14c, another signal booster 143 a- 143 c is installed at the weak signal position, which receives the downlink signal from the previous signal booster 142a- 142c wirelessly, amplifies it and sends it to the users (not shown), and receives the uplink signal from the users, amplifies it and sends it to the previous signal booster 142a - 142c. This arrangement can continue expanding the radio unit 141a - 141 d signal coverage area and achieve wireless relay coverage, which will further reduce the number of radio units per unit area, reducing costs and installation difficulty.

A Signal booster for 5G communication. In 5G network, around the radio unit, signal boosters are installed at the weak signal positions, which can expand the coverage of the signal of the radio unit, thereby reducing the number of radio units per unit area.

The 5G Signal booster can be located at the lamppost, tower top, roof or other locations. On the one hand, the base station Antenna receives the downlink signal from the radio unit, and then the signal booster amplifies it by the downlink amplification path and finally sends it to the users via mobile station Antenna; on the other hand, the mobile station Antenna receives the uplink signal from the users and then the signal booster amplifies it by the uplink amplification path and finally sends it to the radio unit via the base station Antenna.

The base station Antenna is a directional antenna.

The mobile station Antenna is a directional antenna or an array antenna of multiple directional antennas. The array units can be selected via the RF switch in the signal booster; the switch is controlled by the control circuit in the signal booster, thereby covering users in different directions.

The control circuit can select the antenna array unit according to the user usage of the array units.

The mobile station Antenna array units can also be connected to the signal booster via other devices, such as splitters.

The mobile station Antenna can also be a digital phased array antenna. The control circuit can also include a digital synchronization circuit, or can extract the synchronization signal from the time-division duplex (TDD) modem, or can sample the downlink signal from the radio unit, and demodulate the synchronization signal by power detection, thereby synchronize the signal booster system of embodiments of the disclosure with the radio unit system.

The uplink and downlink amplification paths can be switched by a RF switch, and the control circuit controls the RF switch according to the TDD synchronization signal.

The 5G signal booster system can also include a solar panel, a battery which is powered by the solar panel. The battery supplies direct current (DC) power to the signal booster.

The signal booster can also be powered by, for example, a power source of a street light or a building depending on the installation location.

The directional antenna base station Antenna and the directional antenna mobile station Antenna are respectively located on both sides of the signal booster, back-to-back structure. The two antennas maintain a certain distance D. The magnitude of the D value is related to the following factors: the antenna front-to-back ratio, the gain of the antenna, and the gain of the signal booster.

The directional antenna base station Antenna and the directional antenna mobile station Antenna may have a vertical distance H in addition to the horizontal distance D. The larger the H distance, the better the isolation between the two antennas. The 5G signal booster system takes into account the antenna horizontal distance D, the vertical distance H, the antenna gain, the antenna front-to-back ratio and the signal booster gain, to obtain the best coverage effect in the case of facilitate installation.

The 5G signal booster system can include one or more isolation boards to improve the isolation between the two antennas. The isolation board can be integrated with the signal booster housing or integrated with the antenna.

The isolation board can be either planar or curved.

The isolation board is usually metallic and/or may also contain RF absorbing materials.

The signal booster can also include an analog or a digital ICS (Interference

Cancellation System) circuit. The 5G signal booster uses multiple low power power-amplifiers (PAs) in parallel to realize high power output level. The uplink and downlink outputs select an appropriate number of low power PAs according to the coverage requirements.

The heat dissipation of the 5G signal booster can be achieved by physical heat dissipation, air cooling, water cooling, and oil cooling, etc.

The downlink amplification path and the uplink amplification path of the 5G signal booster system are separated into a DL unit and an UL unit, and each unit has a separate base station antenna and mobile station antenna. The DL unit receives the downlink signal from the radio unit via the base station antenna base station ANTI, and transmits it to the users via the mobile station antenna mobile station ANTI after being amplified. The UL unit receives the uplink signal from the users via the mobile station antenna mobile station ANT2, and then transmits it to the radio unit via the base station antenna base station ANT2 after being amplified, thereby implementing bi-directional communication. There is a certain distance L between the DL unit and the UL unit.

Near the signal booster, another signal booster is installed at the weak signal position, which receives the downlink signal from the previous signal booster wirelessly, amplifies it and sends it to the users, and receives the uplink signal from the users, amplifies it and sends it to the previous signal booster. This arrangement can achieve wireless relay coverage.

While the present disclosure has been described herein with respect to certain illustrated embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize and appreciate that the present invention is not so limited. Rather, many additions, deletions, and modifications to the illustrated and described embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed along with their legal equivalents. In addition, features from one embodiment may be combined with features of another embodiment while still being encompassed within the scope of the invention as contemplated by the inventor.