Power control device and method for calibrating the power of a transmitter or receiver in a mobile communication network

A method, comprising:

• calibrating the power of a transmitter or receiver in a mobile communication network comprising an antenna array;
• transmitting burst signals to, or receiving by, the antenna array, wherein the burst signals comprise a fixed training sequence, and the transmitter or receiver comprising a power amplifier;
• calibrating the transmission or receiving power of the transmitter or receiver, wherein the calibrating comprises summing transmission or reception signals of the antenna array, and commonly calibrating the summed signals;
• and
• controlling the output power of the power amplifier by a power control loop, wherein controlling includes detecting the output of the power amplifier in a controlled manner so as to detect the output of the power amplifier only during the time of output of the training sequence using a time-window to activate the detector only during the training sequence and to stop the detection function of the detector during the other times, and controlling the power based on the detected output power;
• issuing a control signal which is applied to a control input of the detector, wherein the issuing comprises generating the control signal with a timing so as to operate the detector only when the power amplifier outputs the training sequence, wherein the timing is configured to provide a time delay between start of a burst signal and start of the control signal sufficient so as to open the detection function of the detector only when the first bits of the training sequence are occurring at the input of the detector, and to close the time window for detecting the power amplifier output signal at or before the occurrence of the last bits of the training sequence.

An apparatus, comprising:

• calibration means for calibrating the transmission or receiving power of a transmitter or receiver in a mobile communication network, the calibration means including a summing means, connected to an antenna array of the transmitted or receiver, for summing transmission or reception signals, and a common calibrating means for calibrating the summed signals, wherein the apparatus is configured to transmit or receive burst signals for the antenna array and the burst signals include a training sequence;
• power control loop means for controlling the output power of the power amplifier, the power control loop containing a detector means for detecting the output of the power amplifier, and a control means for controlling the detector means so as to detect the output of the power amplifier only during a time of output of the training sequence using a time-window means for activating the detector means only during the training sequence and for stopping the detection function of the detector means during the other times, wherein the apparatus is configured to control the power based on the detected output power;
• and
• power detection means for issuing a control signal which is applied to a control input of the detector means, wherein the issuing comprises generating the control signal with a timing so as to operate the detector only when the power amplifier outputs the training sequence, wherein the timing is configured to provide a time delay between start of a burst signal and start of the control signal sufficient so as to open the detection function of the detector only when the first bits of the training sequence are occurring at the input of the detector, and to close the time window for detecting the power amplifier output signal at or before the occurrence of the last bits of the training sequence.