Methods for determining the gains of different carriers, radio transmission units and modules for such units

Method for determining the separate radio frequency gains for different carriers in a multi-carrier transmitter of a radio transmission unit of a radio communications system, the multi-carrier transmitter comprising means (12,13) for modulating at least two different carriers with modulation signals in the digital domain, digital-to-analogue converters (14) for converting each of the digital modulated carriers into analogue modulated carriers, means (10) for summing the analogue modulated carriers output by the digital-to-analogue converters (14), and a multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for amplifying the summed carriers for transmission, wherein

• the power of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) is determined for at least as many different sets of powers of signals input to the digital-to-analogue converters (14) as there are carriers;
• and wherein
• the radio frequency gain between the input of the digital-to-analogue converter (14) and the output of the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) is determined for each carrier by evaluating the sets of powers of the signals input to the digital-to-analogue converters (14) and the corresponding powers of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) mathematically.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the powers used for determining the radio frequency gain (G1-GN) of the carriers correspond to the power of signals averaged over one measurement time slot.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the signals of regular traffic with the powers of the signals varied according to the requirements of transmission are used for obtaining the powers of signals evaluated for determining the radio frequency gain (G1-GN) of the carriers.

Method according to one of claims the preceding claims, wherein dedicated signals with intentionally varied powers are used for obtaining the powers of signals evaluated for determining the radio frequency gain (G1-GN) of the carriers.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein more sets of powers (REF1-REFN) and the corresponding powers of the summed carriers are determined than carriers are provided by the means for modulating, wherein for the mathematical evaluation a linear equation is set up for each set of powers (REF1-REFN) and the corresponding power of the summed carriers with the gains (G1-GN) as unknown values, and wherein a maximum likelihood method is used to find the gains that give the best fit to the equations.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the characteristic of a detector (20) used for determining the output power of the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) is linearised around some operating point.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the output power of the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) is determined by downconverting the radio frequency signal output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) and by converting it to the digital domain, in which the power is determined.

Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein means for downconversion and an analogue-to-digital conversion block integrated in the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for monitoring and controlling linearisation performance is used for detection of the power of the signal output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15).

Method for determining the separate radio frequency gains for different carriers in a multi-carrier transmitter of a radio transmission unit of a radio communications system, the multi-carrier transmitter comprising means (7,12-14) for modulating at least two different carriers with modulation signals, means (17) for summing the modulated carriers output by the means (7,12-14) for modulating, and a multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for amplifying the summed carriers for transmission, wherein the power (P1-PN) of the modulated carriers input to the means (17) for summing is determined separately for each carrier, and wherein the distribution of the determined powers (P1-PN) of the modulated carriers is evaluated in order to determine the contribution of the different carriers to the total power (P0) of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for determining the radio frequency gains (G1G01-GNG0N) for the different carriers.

Radio transmission unit for a radio communications network with

• a multi-carrier transmitter comprising means (3-7;12-14) for modulating at least two different carriers with modulation signals, means (10) for summing the modulated carriers output by the means for modulating, and a multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for amplifying the summed carriers for transmission;
• and with
• power detection and control means (16) receiving as input at least as many sets of powers (REF1-REFN) of signals used for modulating the carriers as there are carriers provided by the means (3-7;12-14) for modulating, and for each set the corresponding power of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15), the power detection and control means (16) being suited to determine out of the received powers the radio frequency gain in the multi-carrier transmitter for each carrier mathematically.

Radio transmission unit for a radio communications network with

• a multi-carrier transmitter comprising means (12,13) for modulating at least two different carriers with modulation signals in the digital domain, digital-to-analogue converters (14) for converting each of the digital modulated carriers into analogue modulated carriers, means (10) for summing the analogue modulated carriers output by the digital-to-analogue converters (14), and a multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for amplifying the summed carriers for transmission;
• and with
• power detection and control means (16) receiving as input at least as many sets of powers of the signals input to the digital-to-analogue converters (14) as there are carriers, and for each set the corresponding power of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15), the power detection and control means (16) being suited to determine out of the received powers the radio frequency gain in the multi-carrier transmitter for each carrier mathematically.

Radio transmission unit for a radio communications network with

• a multi-carrier transmitter comprising means (7,12-14) for modulating at least two different carriers with modulation signals, means (17) for summing the modulated carriers output by the means (7,12-14) for modulating, and a multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for amplifying the summed carriers for transmission, and with
• gain computation and control means (18) receiving as input values the power (P0) of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15), for each carrier separately the power (P1-PN) of the modulated carriers fed by the means (7,12-14) for modulating to the means (17) for summing, and the powers (REF1-REFN) of the signals used for modulating the carriers, the gain computation and control means (18) being suited to evaluate the distribution of the powers of the signals input to the means (17) for summing over the different carriers for determining the contribution of the different carriers to the power (P0) of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for determining the radio frequency gains (G1G01-GNG0N) for the different carriers.

Radio transmission unit for a radio communications network with

• a multi-carrier transmitter comprising means (12,13) for modulating at least two different carriers with modulation signals in the digital domain, digital-to-analogue converters (14) for converting each of the digital modulated carriers into analogue modulated carriers, means (10) for summing the analogue modulated carriers output by the digital-to-analogue converters (14), and a multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for amplifying the summed carriers for transmission;
• and with
• gain computation and control means (18) receiving as input values the power (P0) of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15), for each carrier separately the power (P1-PN) of the modulated carriers fed by the digital-to-analogue converters (14) to the means (17) for summing, and the powers of the signals input to the digital-to-analogue converters (14), the gain computation and control means (18) being suited to evaluate the distribution of the powers of the signals input to the means (17) for summing over the different carriers for determining the contribution of the different carriers to the power (P0) of the summed carriers output by the multi-carrier power amplifier (15) for determining the radio frequency gains (G1G01-GNG0N) for the different carriers.