Direction finding for omni-directional antenna systems
AssigneeDISH Wireless L.L.C.
InventorIn-Kyung Kim
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Various arrangements of an omni-directional antenna system and related methods are presented herein. Multiple antennas are used create an omni-directional antenna beam pattern in the azimuthal plane. The system can include multiple attenuators connected with some of the antennas. A signal processing system can be electrically connected with the antennas and attenuators to perform signal strength measurements with and without the attenuators enabled. Based on the measurements, a direction to UE can be determined.
Claims20
An omni-directional antenna system, comprising:
- a first plurality of antennas and a second plurality of antennas, wherein the first plurality of antennas and the second plurality of antennas are arranged to create an omni-directional antenna beam pattern in the azimuthal plane;
- a plurality of attenuators, wherein:
- only a first subset of the first plurality of antennas is electrically connected with the plurality of attenuators;
- and
- only a second subset of the second plurality of antennas is electrically connected with the plurality of attenuators;
- and
- a signal processing system electrically connected with the first plurality of antennas, the second plurality of antennas, and the plurality of attenuators, wherein the signal processing system is configured to:
- perform a first set of signal strength measurements with the plurality of attenuators disabled;
- perform a second set of signal strength measurements with one or more of the attenuators enabled;
- and
- determine a direction to a user equipment (UE) based on the first set of signal strength measurements and the second set of signal strength measurements.
A method for direction finding using an omni-directional antenna system, the method comprising:
- performing a first set of signal strength measurements with a plurality of attenuators disabled, wherein:
- the omni-directional antenna system comprises a first plurality of antennas and a second plurality of antennas;
- the first plurality of antennas and the second plurality of antennas are arranged to create an omni-directional antenna beam pattern in the azimuthal plane;
- only a first subset of the first plurality of antennas is electrically connected with the plurality of attenuators;
- and
- only a second subset of the second plurality of antennas is electrically connected with the plurality of attenuators;
- performing a second set of signal strength measurements with one or more of the attenuators enabled;
- and
- determining, based on the first set of signal strength measurements and the second set of signal strength measurements, a direction to a user equipment (UE).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.