Title :
Calibration of smart antennas in a GSM network
Author :
Pensel, Karlheinz ; Aroudaki, Hicham ; Nossek, Josef A.
Author_Institution :
Inst. for Network Theory & Circuit Design, Tech. Univ. Munchen, Germany
Abstract :
Smart antennas can achieve a considerable gain in spectral efficiency provided that errors due to mutual coupling and amplitude or phase errors of the antenna elements are negligible. Calibration by the knowledge of the directions of the wavefronts transmitted by a second base station lessens the influence of these imperfections. This study describes the calibration results of general planar antenna arrays in the existing GSM network of the German network operator Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH. The presented direction based calibration algorithm does not only take into account the multipath propagation of discrete wavefronts, but also the considerable angular spread. Such a procedure is possible when the base station is carrying operational traffic and is not limited to offline or even preinstallation calibration. A discussion gives some insights on how to obtain best calibration results
Keywords :
adaptive antenna arrays; calibration; cellular radio; multipath channels; planar antenna arrays; radio networks; telecommunication traffic; GSM network; German network operator; Mannesmann Mobilfunk; amplitude errors; angular spread; antenna elements; base station; calibration results; direction based calibration algorithm; discrete wavefronts; multipath propagation; mutual coupling errors; phase errors; planar antenna arrays; smart antennas calibration; spectral efficiency; traffic; wavefront direction; Antenna arrays; Antenna theory; Base stations; Calibration; GSM; Intelligent networks; Mutual coupling; Phased arrays; Planar arrays; Transmission line matrix methods;
Conference_Titel :
Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications, 1999. SPAWC '99. 1999 2nd IEEE Workshop on
Conference_Location :
Annapolis, MD
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5599-7
DOI :
10.1109/SPAWC.1999.783091
