On the design of switched-beam wideband base stations

摘要

A switch beam base-station antenna is presented. The antenna is an improvement on the Butler matrix. The input ports of the antenna are excited with equal or unequal amplitudes. The feed network is analyzed and presented in a simple manner. The antenna comprises the main part of a base station, and is useful for broadband communications. The architecture of the base station is described, and the services that can be provided are given. Finally, comments are made about the tradeoffs and benefits of the antenna in comparison to the classical Butler-matrix switched-beam and adaptive arrays.