Flexible reconfiguration of an antenna arrangement

An antenna arrangement for selectively serving either one sector in an N sector system or two sectors in a 2·N sector system, where N≥1, the antenna arrangement comprising an antenna array, the antenna array comprising at least 4 antenna columns, each antenna column comprising physical antenna elements, the antenna arrangement further comprising a processing unit, the processing unit being configured to cause the antenna arrangement to:

• generate at least one virtual antenna port pair per sector using the physical antenna elements,
• wherein each virtual antenna port in said at least one virtual antenna port pair is obtained by combining physical antenna elements having orthogonal polarization such that two virtual antenna ports in each virtual antenna port pair have identical power radiation patterns and orthogonal polarizations, and wherein at least one antenna element per polarization has a non-zero weight;
• and
• transmit signals using said at least one virtual antenna port pair per sector in said one sector in the N sector system or in said two sectors in the 2·N sector system.

An antenna arrangement for selectively serving either one sector in an N sector system or two sectors in a 2·N sector system, where N≥1, the antenna arrangement comprising an antenna array, the antenna array comprising at least 4 antenna columns, each antenna column comprising physical antenna elements, the antenna arrangement further comprising:

• a processing unit;
• and
• a computer program product storing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, causes the antenna arrangement to:
• generate at least one virtual antenna port pair per sector using the physical antenna elements,
• wherein each virtual antenna port in said at least one virtual antenna port pair is obtained by combining physical antenna elements having orthogonal polarization such that two virtual antenna ports in each virtual antenna port pair have identical power radiation patterns and orthogonal polarizations, and wherein at least one antenna element per polarization has a non-zero weight;
• and
• transmit signals using said at least one virtual antenna port pair per sector in said one sector in the N sector system or in said two sectors in the 2·N sector system.

An antenna arrangement for selectively serving either one sector in an N sector system or two sectors in a 2·N sector system, where N≥1, the antenna arrangement comprising an antenna array, the antenna array comprising at least 4 antenna columns, each antenna column comprising physical antenna elements, the antenna arrangement further comprising:

• a generate module configured to generate at least one virtual antenna port pair per sector using the physical antenna elements,
• wherein each virtual antenna port in said at least one virtual antenna port pair is obtained by combining physical antenna elements having orthogonal polarization such that two virtual antenna ports in each virtual antenna port pair have identical power radiation patterns and orthogonal polarizations, and wherein at least one antenna element per polarization has a non-zero weight;
• and
• a transmit module configured to transmit signals using said at least one virtual antenna port pair per sector in said one sector in the N sector system or in said two sectors in the 2·N sector system.

A computer program for selectively serving either one sector in an N sector system or two sectors in a 2·N sector system, where N≥1, the computer program comprising computer code which, when run on a processing unit of an antenna arrangement comprising an antenna array, the antenna array comprising at least 4 antenna columns, each antenna column comprising physical antenna elements, causes the antenna arrangement to:

• generate at least one virtual antenna port pair per sector using the physical antenna elements,
• wherein each virtual antenna port in said at least one virtual antenna port pair is obtained by combining physical antenna elements having orthogonal polarization such that two virtual antenna ports in each virtual antenna port pair have identical power radiation patterns and orthogonal polarizations, and wherein at least one antenna element per polarization has a non-zero weight;
• and
• transmit signals using said at least one virtual antenna port pair per sector in said one sector in the N sector system or in said two sectors in the 2·N sector system.