Radio communication system, transmission device, and communication signal transmission method

A radio communication system, comprising:

• a reception device provided with a plurality of reception antennas and a plurality of radio reception units respectively connected to the plurality of reception antennas;
• and
• a transmission device provided with a plurality of transmission antennas and a plurality of radio transmission units respectively connected to the plurality of transmission antennas, the reception device being configured to acquire a plurality of communication signals transmitted respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas based on a propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the transmission device toward the reception device,
• wherein:
• the reception device comprises reception-side calibration information notifying means for notifying the transmission device of reception-side calibration information regarding the plurality of radio reception units;
• and
• the transmission device comprises:
• inverse-direction propagation path characteristic calculating means for calculating, as an inverse-direction propagation path characteristic, a propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the reception device toward the transmission device;
• forward-direction propagation path characteristic calculating means for calculating a forward-direction propagation path characteristic corresponding to the propagation path characteristic exhibited in the direction from the transmission device toward the reception device, based on the inverse-direction propagation path characteristic, the reception-side calibration information notified from the reception device, and transmission-side calibration information regarding the plurality of radio transmission units;
• and
• communication signal transmitting means for transmitting the plurality of communication signals weighted based on the forward-direction propagation path characteristic respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas, and
• wherein:
• the reception-side calibration information is determined based on variation amounts of reference signals that respectively pass through the plurality of radio reception units after being input to the plurality of reception antennas and variation amounts of reference signals that are respectively output from the plurality of reception antennas after passing through the plurality of radio reception units;
• and
• the transmission-side calibration information is determined based on variation amounts of reference signals that respectively pass through the plurality of radio transmission units after being input to the plurality of transmission antennas and variation amounts of reference signals that are respectively output from the plurality of transmission antennas after passing through the plurality of radio transmission units.

A radio communication system, comprising:

• a reception device provided with a plurality of reception antennas and a plurality of radio reception units respectively connected to the plurality of reception antennas;
• and
• a transmission device provided with a plurality of transmission antennas and a plurality of radio transmission units respectively connected to the plurality of transmission antennas, the reception device being configured to acquire a plurality of communication signals transmitted respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas based on a propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the transmission device toward the reception device,
• wherein:
• the reception device comprises reception-side calibration information notifying means for notifying the transmission device of reception-side calibration information regarding the plurality of radio reception units;
• and
• the transmission device comprises:
• inverse-direction propagation path characteristic calculating means for calculating, as an inverse-direction propagation path characteristic, a propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the reception device toward the transmission device;
• forward-direction propagation path characteristic calculating means for calculating a forward-direction propagation path characteristic corresponding to the propagation path characteristic exhibited in the direction from the transmission device toward the reception device, based on the inverse-direction propagation path characteristic, the reception-side calibration information notified from the reception device, and transmission-side calibration information regarding the plurality of radio transmission units;
• and
• communication signal transmitting means for transmitting the plurality of communication signals weighted based on the forward-direction propagation path characteristic respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas, and
• wherein:
• the radio communication system is an MIMO system comprising the transmission device provided with M transmission antennas and the reception device provided with N reception antennas;
• the propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the plurality of transmission antennas toward the plurality of reception antennas is a radio channel matrix of N rows and M columns;
• the propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the plurality of reception antennas toward the plurality of transmission antennas is a radio channel matrix of M rows and N columns;
• the reception-side calibration information is a calibration value vector formed of N elements;
• and
• the transmission-side calibration information is a calibration value vector formed of M elements.

A transmission device, which is configured to transmit a plurality of communication signals to a reception device that is provided with a plurality of reception antennas and a plurality of radio reception units respectively connected to the plurality of reception antennas and is configured to acquire the plurality of communication signals transmitted respectively from a plurality of transmission antennas based on a propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the transmission device toward the reception device, the transmission device comprising:

• the plurality of transmission antennas;
• a plurality of radio transmission units respectively connected to the plurality of transmission antennas;
• inverse-direction propagation path characteristic calculating means for calculating, as an inverse-direction propagation path characteristic, a propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the reception device toward the transmission device;
• forward-direction propagation path characteristic calculating means for calculating a forward-direction propagation path characteristic corresponding to the propagation path characteristic exhibited in the direction from the transmission device toward the reception device, based on the inverse-direction propagation path characteristic, reception-side calibration information regarding the plurality of radio reception units notified from the reception device, and transmission-side calibration information regarding the plurality of radio transmission units;
• and
• communication signal transmitting means for transmitting the plurality of communication signals weighted based on the forward-direction propagation path characteristic respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas,
• wherein the propagation path characteristic exhibited in the direction from the transmission device toward the reception device is calculated based on a plurality of transmission-side known signals transmitted respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas and a plurality of superposed signals that are formed of the plurality of transmission-side known signals superposed one on another and are received respectively by the plurality of reception antennas;
• and
• the propagation path characteristic exhibited in the direction from the reception device toward the transmission device is calculated based on a plurality of reception-side known signals transmitted respectively from the plurality of reception antennas and a plurality of superposed signals that are formed of the plurality of reception-side known signals superposed one on another and are received respectively by the plurality of transmission antennas.

A communication signal transmitting method, which is used in a radio communication system comprising:

• a reception device provided with a plurality of reception antennas and a plurality of radio reception units respectively connected to the plurality of reception antennas;
• and
• a transmission device provided with a plurality of transmission antennas and a plurality of radio transmission units respectively connected to the plurality of transmission antennas, the reception device being configured to acquire a plurality of communication signals transmitted respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas based on a propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the transmission device toward the reception device, the communication signal transmitting method comprising the steps of:
• calculating an inverse-direction propagation path characteristic being a propagation path characteristic exhibited in a direction from the reception device toward the transmission device;
• calculating a forward-direction propagation path characteristic corresponding to the propagation path characteristic exhibited in the direction from the transmission device toward the reception device, based on the inverse-direction propagation path characteristic, reception-side calibration information regarding the plurality of radio reception units, and transmission-side calibration information regarding the plurality of radio transmission units;
• and
• transmitting the plurality of communication signals weighted based on the forward-direction propagation path characteristic respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas,
• wherein the propagation path characteristic exhibited in the direction from the transmission device toward the reception device is calculated based on a plurality of transmission-side known signals transmitted respectively from the plurality of transmission antennas and a plurality of superposed signals that are formed of the plurality of transmission-side known signals superposed one on another and are received respectively by the plurality of reception antennas;
• and
• the propagation path characteristic exhibited in the direction from the reception device toward the transmission device is calculated based on a plurality of reception-side known signals transmitted respectively from the plurality of reception antennas and a plurality of superposed signals that are formed of the plurality of reception-side known signals superposed one on another and are received respectively by the plurality of transmission antennas.