1-1hit |
Precise and quick multi-beam forming including null control will be one of the key technologies for the future satellite communication systems utilizing SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access) and DOA (Direction of Arrival) estimation. In order to realize the precise multi-beam forming, calibration procedure is indispensable since there are several unavoidable factors that degrade the multi-beam patterns of the array. Particularly amplitude and phase imbalance between RF circuits needs to be calibrated frequently and quickly when the array system exists in changeable environment since the imbalance easily occurs due to thermal characteristics of each RF circuit. This paper proposes a simple and high-speed remote calibration scheme compensating for amplitude and phase imbalance among RF circuits of a transmitting adaptive array antenna onboard satellite. This calibration is conducted at a remote station such as a gateway station on the ground in the satellite communication system, by utilizing the received signal including the temporally multiplexed orthogonal codes transmitted from the array antenna onboard satellite. Since the calibration factors for all the antenna elements can be simultaneously obtained by the parallel digital signal processing, calibration time can be drastically reduced. The accuracy of this calibration is estimated by simulation. Simulation results show that the amplitude imbalance among RF circuits can be suppressed within the range from -0.5 dB to +0.25 dB for the initial imbalance ranging from -2 dB to +3.5 dB, phase imbalance can be suppressed within the range of -3 deg. to +3 deg. for the initial imbalance ranging from -120 or +180 deg. by this method. The amplitude and phase deviations among the elements can be suppressed within 0.36 dB and 2.5 degrees, respectively, in 80% of probability. Simulation results also show that this calibration method is valid under the relatively bad carrier-to-noise conditions such as -10 dB at the receiver. Good improvement of the multi-beam patterns by this calibration is shown under the low carrier-to-noise ratio condition.