Radio communication using a plurality of selected antennas

An apparatus for radio communication using several antennas in a given frequency band, the apparatus for radio communication comprising:

• N antennas, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 3, each of the N antennas being such that it can operate at any frequency in the given frequency band;
• a processing unit, the processing unit delivering a configuration instruction and a tuning instruction, the tuning instruction being determined as a function of the configuration instruction;
• a switching unit comprising N input ports and n output ports, where n is an integer greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N minus 1, each of the N input ports being coupled, directly or indirectly, to one of the N antennas, the switching unit operating in an active configuration determined by the configuration instruction, the active configuration being one of a plurality of allowed configurations, the switching unit providing, in any one of the allowed configurations, for signals in the given frequency band and for any one of the n output ports, a path between said any one of the n output ports and one of the input ports;
• an antenna tuning apparatus comprising n antenna ports, m radio ports and p adjustable impedance devices, where m is an integer greater than or equal to 2 and where p is an integer greater than or equal to 2m, the p adjustable impedance devices being referred to as the adjustable impedance devices of the antenna tuning apparatus and being such that, at a frequency in the given frequency band, each of the adjustable impedance devices of the antenna tuning apparatus has a reactance, the reactance of any one of the adjustable impedance devices of the antenna tuning apparatus being adjustable by electrical means, the n output ports being coupled, directly or indirectly, to the n antenna ports;
• and
• a tuning control unit, the tuning control unit receiving the tuning instruction, the tuning control unit delivering a plurality of tuning control signals, the tuning control signals being determined as a function of the tuning instruction, the reactance of each of the adjustable impedance devices of the antenna tuning apparatus being mainly determined by one or more of the tuning control signals.