Beamforming antenna device and method for operating a beamforming antenna device

A method for operating a beamforming antenna device, wherein the beamforming antenna device comprises a plurality of antenna elements and a plurality of sub-arrays coupled to the plurality of antenna elements, each of the plurality of sub-arrays comprising a plurality of frontend circuits, a plurality of first data conversion circuits of a main path coupled to the plurality of frontend circuits, a plurality of second data conversion circuits of a calibration path coupled to the plurality of frontend circuits, and a plurality of data process units coupled to the plurality of first data conversion circuits and plurality of second data conversion circuits, the method comprises:

• propagating a clock signal originated from a master sub-array of the plurality of sub-array sequentially through the rest of the plurality of sub-arrays in a manner of node-to-node transmission;
• receiving a plurality of antenna signals by the plurality of antenna elements;
• deriving in-phase signals by utilizing at least a portion of the plurality of sub-arrays in a sub-array chain to perform phase align operations according to antenna signals received by antenna elements that are coupled to the sub-arrays in the sub-array chain;
• aggregating the in-phase signals along the sub-array chain to generate a beamformed signal;
• in a transmitting mode, the plurality of data process units generating a plurality of digital transmitting signals to the plurality of first data conversion circuits, the plurality of first data conversion circuits converting the plurality of digital transmitting signals to a plurality of analog transmitting signals, and the plurality of frontend circuits transmitting the plurality of analog transmitting signals to antenna elements coupled to each of the plurality of sub-arrays;
• in a receiving mode, the plurality of frontend circuits receiving a plurality of analog receiving signals from the antenna elements coupled to each of the plurality of sub-arrays, the plurality of first data conversion circuits converting the plurality of analog receiving signals to a plurality of digital receiving signals, and the plurality of data process units perform phase align operations to the plurality of digital receiving signals;
• and
• performing an intra-node calibration to estimate internal delays among the plurality of frontend circuits within each of the sub-arrays with the plurality of data process units, the plurality of first data conversion circuits of the main path, the plurality of second data conversion circuits of the calibration path, and the plurality of frontend circuits.

A beamforming antenna device, comprising:

• a plurality of antenna elements;
• and
• a plurality of sub-arrays, coupled to the plurality of antenna elements, wherein each of the sub-arrays is coupled to its adjacent sub-arrays of the plurality of sub-arrays, and at least a portion of the plurality of sub-arrays form a sub-array chain;
• wherein each of the plurality of sub-arrays comprises:
• a plurality of frontend circuits, wherein each of the plurality of frontend circuits is configured to receive signals from an antenna element or to transmit signals to the antenna element;
• a main path comprising:
• a plurality of data conversion circuits, each configured to convert an analog receiving signal to a digital received signal for processing and convert a digital transmitting signal to an analog transmitting signal for transmission;
• and
• a switch unit;
• and
• a plurality of data process units, each coupled to a corresponding data conversion circuit of the plurality of data conversion circuits through the switch unit, and configured to perform a phase align operation to the digital received signal and generate the digital transmitting signal;
• wherein:
• the sub-arrays in the sub-array chain comprise a first sub-array, and a second sub-array adjacent to the first sub-array;
• and
• in a transmitting calibration mode, the first sub-array is configured to send a first test signal to a frontend circuit of the second sub-array, and the second sub-array is configured to send a second test signal to the frontend circuit of the second sub-array so as to estimate a transmitting delay between the first sub-array and the second sub-array.

A method for operating a beamforming antenna device, wherein the beamforming antenna device comprises a plurality of antenna elements and a plurality of sub-arrays coupled to the plurality of antenna elements, the method comprises:

• propagating a clock signal originated from a master sub-array of the plurality of sub-array sequentially through the rest of the plurality of sub-arrays in a manner of node-to-node transmission;
• receiving a plurality of antenna signals by the plurality of antenna elements;
• deriving in-phase signals by utilizing at least a portion of the plurality of sub-arrays in a sub-array chain to perform phase align operations according to antenna signals received by antenna elements that are coupled to the sub-arrays in the sub-array chain, wherein the sub-arrays in the sub-array chain comprises a first sub-array and a second sub-array adjacent to the first sub-array, the first sub array comprises a plurality of frontend circuits, a plurality of data conversion circuits, and a plurality of data process units;
• aggregating the in-phase signals along the sub-array chain to generate a beamformed signal;
• in a transmitting mode:
• a first data process unit of the first sub-array transmitting a digital transmitting signal to a first data conversion circuit of the first sub-array;
• the first data conversion circuit converting the digital transmitting signal to an analog transmitting signal;
• and
• a first frontend circuit of the first sub-array transmitting the analog transmitting signal to a corresponding antenna element;
• and
• in a transmitting calibration mode:
• the first sub-array sending a first test signal to a frontend circuit of the second sub-array;
• the second sub-array sending a second test signal to the frontend circuit of the second sub-array;
• and
• estimating a transmitting delay between the first sub-array and the second sub-array according to signals received by the frontend circuit of the second sub-array.