Structure for multiple antenna configurations
AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorAshok N. Rudrapatna
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An antenna array comprising at least two groups of antennas where each group comprises at least two pairs of antennas. Each of the pairs in a group contains orthogonally polarized antennas and at least one antenna in a pair is similarly polarized to one antenna in at least another pair in the group. The antenna array further comprises circuitry coupled to the antenna groups to select and activate certain antennas in a group to enable the antenna array to operate in either a beam forming/steering mode, a diversity mode or a MIMO mode or any combination thereof. The antennas in the groups are activated based on the characteristics of the signals being transmitted or received by the antenna array.
Claims14
An antenna array comprising:
- at least one group of antennas comprising at least two pairs of antennas where each pair has orthogonally polarized antennas and at least one antenna from one pair is similarly polarized to at least one antenna from another pair;
- and
- switching circuitry coupled to the at least one group for dynamically reconfiguring the antenna array by selecting and activating certain antennas in the group based on characteristics of signals to be transmitted and/or being received by the antenna array or on an external control signal, based on which antennas are selected and activated by the switching circuitry, the antenna array being able to independently and simultaneously operate on different signals in a beam forming/steering mode, a MIMO BLAST mode, and/or a diversity mode, wherein some of the antennas that are selected and activated for one of the modes are also selected and activated for at least another one of the modes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.