Method and transmitter for analog beam steering

A transmitter configured for analog beam steering, the transmitter comprising a plurality of antenna branches, each antenna branch comprising an antenna, the transmitter comprising, at each of the antenna branches:

• a signal splitter for receiving an analog radio signal, the analog radio signal being the same at each of the antenna branches, the signal splitter further being arranged for splitting the analog radio signal into a number of beam signals, the number of beam signals equals a number of desired beams to be transmitted, the number of beams being at least two;
• for each of the beam signals, a phase shifter for phase shifting the beam signal according to a phase shift setting for that beam and for that antenna branch, the phase shift settings being taken from a single look-up table;
• a signal combiner for combining the phase shifted beam signals into one combined signal, and
• wherein the transmitter is arranged for transmitting the combined signal from the antenna of that antenna branch towards a receiver.

A transmitter operable in a wireless communication system configured for analog beam steering, the transmitter comprising a processing circuitry and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processing circuitry, whereby the transmitter is operative for:

• receiving an analog radio signal, the analog radio signal being the same at each of the antenna branches;
• splitting the analog radio signal into a number of beam signals, the number of beam signals equals a number of desired beams to be transmitted, the number of beams being at least two;
• for each of the beam signals, phase shifting the beam signal according to a phase shift setting for that beam and for that antenna branch, the phase shift settings being taken from a single look-up table that is common for the number of beams;
• and
• combining the phase shifted beam signals into one combined signal, and transmitting the combined signal from the antenna of that antenna branch towards a receiver.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by processing circuitry of a transmitter of a wireless communication network, configured for analog beam steering, causes the transmitter to perform the following steps:

• receiving an analog radio signal, the analog radio signal being the same at each of the antenna branches;
• splitting the analog radio signal into a number of beam signals, the number of beam signals equals a number of desired beams to be transmitted, the number of beams being at least two;
• for each of the number of beam signals, phase shifting the beam signal according to a phase shift setting for that beam and for that antenna branch, the phase shift settings being taken from a single look-up table that is common for the number of beams;
• combining the phase shifted beam signals into one combined signal, and
• transmitting the combined signal from the antenna of that antenna branch towards a receiver.