DECOUPLING APPARATUS, A RADIATION UNIT AND ANTENNA

Abstract

In one embodiment, the decoupling apparatus includes a conductive body adapted to be arranged in the antenna to act as a radiation part of the antenna for transmission of electromagnetic waves with a frequency; and at least one slot formed on the conductive body, wherein the at least one slot comprises a dividing part extending to an edge of the conductive body to divide the edge and an intersecting part intersecting with the dividing part. With the radiation part including the decoupling apparatus, the different band radiation units do not need to be far away from each other to obtain good performance.

Description

FIELD

Example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to an antenna, and specifically to a decoupling apparatus and a radiation unit for an antenna.

BACKGROUND

Wireless mobile communication is one of the most rapidly growing industries. The capacity of wireless mobile communication systems is closely related to frequency usage. The frequency spectrum on which wireless communication equipment depends is a limited natural resource. A major problem of the radio communication system is the limited availability of radio-frequency spectrum due to high demand. Therefore, the ideal mobile system can be defined by a system operating within a limited assigned frequency band and serving an almost unlimited number of users.

This inevitably involves the provision of radio coverage in a number of frequency bands and complicates the design of the network base transceiver stations. With respect to antennas, the expense of multiple base-station antenna installations and public resistance to unsightly antenna placements has motivated the installation of multiband antennas at base-stations and thus avoids an increase of antenna masts and payloads. The multiband antenna is an antenna designed to operate in multiple bands of frequencies. Multiband antennas use a design in which one part of the antenna is active for one band, while another part is active for a different band. Multiband antennas are usually expected to demonstrate comparable performance measures (especially input impedance, radiation pattern, and polarization) in each of their operating bands and have been the subject of vigorous research over the past two decades.

SUMMARY

Multiband antennas usually encounter problems such as electromagnetic coupling, which degrade the efficiency, correlation and eventually deteriorate the communication quality of the entire antenna system. In order to at least partially address the above and other potential problems, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a decoupling apparatus and a radiation unit for an antenna as well as an associated antenna.

In a first aspect, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a decoupling apparatus for an antenna. The decoupling apparatus comprises a conductive body adapted to be arranged in the antenna to act as a radiation part of the antenna for transmission of electromagnetic waves with a predetermined frequency; and at least one slot formed on the conductive body, wherein the at least one slot comprises a dividing part extending to an edge of the conductive body to divide the edge and an intersecting part intersecting with the dividing part.

With the radiation part comprising the decoupling apparatus, the different band radiation units do not need to be far away from each other to obtain good performance. In this case, the antenna can be made more compact, thereby further saving, for example, limited space in a base station, and thereby increasing the radiation range of the base station in a cost-effective manner.

In some example embodiments, the at least one slot comprises at least one pair of slots with the dividing parts extending in different directions. This arrangement can further facilitate the improvement of the decoupling effect.

In some example embodiments, the at least one pair of slots are arranged symmetrically.

In some example embodiments, the at least one slot comprises a plurality of slots formed along a length direction of the conductive body with a predetermined distance apart.

In some example embodiments, the dividing parts of the plurality of slots extend in a same direction.

In some example embodiments, the dividing parts of adjacent two slots of the plurality of slots extend in opposite directions.

In some example embodiments, the slot comprises a transverse part acting as the intersecting part and a longitudinal part acting as the dividing part that are perpendicular to each other, and the longitudinal part extends from a middle of the transverse part to one side of the transverse part.

In some example embodiments, the transverse part extends along a length direction of the conductive body, and a length of the transverse part is within a range of one-eighth to one-fourth of a wavelength of the electromagnetic waves transmitted by the radiation part.

In some example embodiments, the slot comprises a first part and a second part separated along a center line of the longitudinal part.

In some example embodiments, one or more of the plurality of slots are formed so that the first part and the second part thereof are independently formed on the conductive body.

In some example embodiments, the independently formed first and second parts are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the adjacent slot. This arrangement can further optimize the decoupling effect of the decoupling apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the conductive body comprises a copper sheet formed in a printed circuit board.

In a second aspect, a radiation unit is provided. The radiation unit comprises a supporting part made of a conductive material; at least one feeding part electrically coupled to the supporting apparatus; and at least one decoupling apparatus according to the first aspect as mentioned above electrically coupled to the supporting apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the radiation unit is a dipole.

In a third aspect, an antenna is provided. The antenna comprises at least one radiation unit as mentioned in the second aspect as mentioned above.

It is to be understood that the Summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of example embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the description below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objectives, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent through more detailed depiction of example embodiments of the present disclosure in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein in the example embodiments of the present disclosure, the same reference numerals usually represent the same components.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a portion of array antennas acting as a multiband antenna according to example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a top view of a portion of array antennas acting as a multiband antenna as shown in FIG. 1 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a radiation unit according to example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a top view of a radiation unit according to example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5-11 show several example arrangements of a decoupling apparatus according to example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 12 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference symbols are used to indicate the same or similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and to help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure, belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to apply such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

• • (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and
  • (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):
    • (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) with software/firmware and
    • (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and
  • (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example, and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future types of communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. The scope of the present disclosure should not be seen as limited to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

In communication networks where a number of network devices are jointly deployed in a geographical area to serve respective cells, a terminal device may have an active connection with a network device when being located within the corresponding cell. In the active connection, the terminal device may communicate with that network device on the frequency band in both an uplink (UL) and a downlink (DL). The terminal device may need to switch a link in one direction such as the UL to a further network device due to various reasons such as quality degradation in the UL.

Now communication technologies have evolved to the fifth generation new radio, which is also referred to as 5G NR, and the antenna device is typically comprised of a larger antenna array including massive antenna elements (AEs) to form a multiband antenna, for example. By way of example, the antenna device used in a radio cellular network often includes an antenna array that contains 192 AEs (96 dual polarized patches) to synthesize a desired beam pattern.

In a multiband antenna, the electromagnetic (EM) characteristics of a particular antenna element influence the other elements and are themselves influenced by the elements in their proximity. This inter-element influence or mutual coupling between the antenna elements is dependent on various factors, namely, number and type of antenna elements, inter-element spacing, relative orientation of elements, radiation characteristics of the radiators, scan angle, bandwidth, direction of arrival of the incident signals, and the components of the feed network.

The presence of coupling in a multiband antenna changes the terminal impedances of the antenna elements, reflection coefficients, and the antenna gain. These fundamental properties of the multiband antenna have a greater influence on their radiation characteristics and output signal-to-interference plus noise ratio. Furthermore, it affects the steady state response, transient response, speed of response, resolution capability, and interference rejection ability. To solve the problems caused by the above-mentioned coupling phenomena, there are conventional solutions to increase the distance between a low band dipole and a high band dipole. These solutions are bound to increase the size of the antenna, which runs counter to today's increasing pursuit of miniaturized or compact antennas.

In order to at least partially address the above and other potential problems, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a decoupling apparatus and a radiation unit for an antenna. Now some example embodiments will be described with reference to FIGS. 1-11.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a perspective view and a top view of a portion of array antennas 300 acting as a multiband antenna 300 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure. The multiband antenna 300 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises at, least two radiation units 200 for transmitting radiation with different frequency bands, i.e., a high band radiation unit and a low band radiation unit 200. “Transmitting” mentioned herein means receiving and/or emitting.

In addition, it is to be understood that the “high band” and “low band” as mentioned herein are not absolute concepts, but relative concepts. In other words, both “high band” and “low band” may belong to any one of high-frequency band frequency, mid-frequency band frequency or low-frequency band frequency well-known in the art. In other words, regarding two different frequency bands, no matter whether the two frequency bands belong to the high-frequency band, mid-frequency band or low-frequency band known in the art, “high band” refers to the relatively higher frequency band of the two frequency bands, whereas “low band” refers to the relatively lower frequency band.

The array antennas 300 as shown FIGS. 1 and 2 belong to an antenna arrangement with two low band radiation units 200 and three high band radiation units. In the array arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to the low band radiation units 200 to obtain a better decoupling effect.

It is to be understood that the antenna arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, on which the decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is applied, is merely for illustrative purposes, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure. The radiation unit using the decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to any suitable multiband antenna arrangements which have high band radiation unit(s) and low band radiation unit(s) 200 to obtain a certain decoupling effect. For example, in some alternative example embodiments, the decoupling apparatus 100 may also be applied to the antenna arrangement with two low band radiation units 200 and four high band radiation units. In the following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussed in detail by taking the antenna arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 as an example. Other antenna arrangements with the decoupling apparatus 100 are similar, which will not be repeated respectively.

The radiation unit 200 to which the decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure is applied may have any suitable structure. FIGS. 3 and 4 show in detail a structure of the radiation unit 200 used in the antenna arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in some example embodiments, the radiation unit 200 may be a dipole comprising a supporting part 201, at least one feeding part 202 and at least one decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure acting as radiation part(s).

The feeding part 202 and the decoupling apparatus 100 are respectively electrically connected to different positions of the supporting part 201. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the radiation unit comprises four decoupling apparatuses 100 acting as radiation parts and arranged perpendicular to each other. The feeding parts 202 are arranged on lower portions of the supporting part 201. In the case where the antenna 300 belongs to an emitting antenna system, the feeding part 202 can convey radio frequency (RF) electrical current into the radiation part of the antenna 300, where the current is converted to radiation. In the case where the antenna 300 belongs to a receiving antenna system, the feeding part 202 can convert the electric currents already collected from incoming radio waves into a specific voltage to current ratio (impedance) needed at the receiver.

Furthermore, in the radiation unit 200 using the decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure, the feeding part 202 can excite the radiation parts in any suitable methods comprising direct feeding and parasitically coupled feeding. In direct feeding, the decoupling apparatus 100 is fed directly through a corporate feed network using T-junction and quarter wave transformers. In parasitically coupled feeding, the decoupling apparatus 100 is excited through a capacitive gap. The parasitically coupled feeding reduces the size further compared to the direct feeding.

It is to be understood that the above example embodiments where the decoupling apparatus 100 is applied to the radiation unit 200 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are merely for illustrative purposes, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure. The decoupling apparatus 100 may be applied to any suitable radiation unit 200 comprising at least one radiation part. For example, in some alternative example embodiments, the decoupling apparatus 100 may also be applied to the radiation unit 200 comprising two, three, five, six or more radiation parts with any suitable arrangement.

Furthermore, FIGS. 3 and 4 show that all of the radiation parts, i.e., four radiation parts of the radiation unit employ the decoupling apparatus 100 to obtain a better decoupling effect. It is to be understood that this is merely for illustrative purposes, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure. In some alternative example embodiments, the decoupling apparatus 100 may only be used to replace some, for example, one, two or three, of the four radiation parts. For example, in some example embodiments, the decoupling apparatus 100 may replace two of radiation parts adjacent to high band radiation units. In the following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussed in detail by taking the radiation unit 200 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 as an example. Other radiation units 200 with the decoupling apparatus 100 or other arrangements of the decoupling apparatus 100 on the radiation unit 200 are similar, which will not be repeated respectively.

The above describes several example embodiments of the radiation unit 200 and the antenna 300 to which the decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied. In the following, several example embodiments of the decoupling apparatus 100 will be described in conjunction with FIGS. 5 to 11.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 11, generally, the decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure comprises a conductive body 101 and at least one slot 102 formed on the conductive body 101. The conductive body 101 is used as a radiation part of an antenna 300 to emit and/or receive electromagnetic waves with a predetermined frequency. The conductive body 101 may be made of any suitable electrically conductive material. For example, in some example embodiments, the conductive body 101 may be a copper sheet arranged on a printed circuit board acting as a substrate. In this way, the decoupling apparatus 100 can be manufactured and assembled in a cost effective way.

It is to be understood that the above example embodiments where the conductive body 101 is a copper sheet are merely for illustrative purposes, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure. The conductive body 101 may be manufactured in any suitable way. For example, in some alternative example embodiments, the conductive body 101 may be directly formed from metal sheets or metal plates made of metals such as copper, aluminum or iron or alloys thereof without a printed circuit board acting as a substrate.

The at least one slot 102 comprises a dividing part and an intersecting part intersecting with the dividing part. The dividing part extends to an edge 1011 of the conductive body 101 to divide the edge 1011, and the intersecting part extends within the conductive body 101. In other words, the edge 1011 is broken by the dividing part of the slot 102.

As mentioned above, in conventional solutions of the conductive body 101 without the slot 102, the induced current would run substantially in a main direction to cause the extra radiation, which may deteriorate the performance of various characteristics of the antenna system. In this way, under an induction of electromagnetic waves with at least one frequency different from the predetermined frequency as mentioned above, mutually reversed currents 400 can be generated in the conductive body 101. In comparison to the conventional solutions, with the at least one slot 102 formed on the conductive body 101, the electromagnetic field energy generated by the induced currents, i.e., the mutually revised currents are neutralized. In this way, the extra radiation generated by the induced current is removed and thus the performance of characteristics such as the gain and the radiation pattern, etc., of the antenna system is improved.

With the radiation part comprising the decoupling apparatus 100, the different band radiation units 200 do not need to be far away from each other to obtain good performance. In this case, the antenna 300 can be made more compact, thereby further saving, for example, limited space in a network device such as a base station, and thereby increasing the radiation range of the network device in a cost-effective manner. Furthermore, the at least one slot 102 is integrally formed in the conductive body 101 without additional welding and other steps, which improves the decoupling effect and is easier to manufacture.

In some embodiments, each of the two parts, namely, the dividing part or the intersecting part, extends substantially in one direction, and may have any suitable shape, such as a curved shape or a linear shape. In some embodiments, widths of the dividing part and the intersecting part may be substantially the same to obtain a better decoupling effect.

Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, each part of the slot may comprise two or more linear and/or curved sub-slots, which may be parallel to each other or diverge at a predetermined angle. In the following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussed by taking the dividing part or the intersecting part is of a linear shape as an example. Other arrangements are similar and will not be repeated respectively.

Furthermore, the dividing part and the intersecting part may intersect at any appropriate angle. For example, the dividing part and the intersecting part may intersect at an angle larger than 80° but smaller than 100° to obtain a better decoupling effect. In addition, the dividing part may extend to the edge 101 at any suitable angle, such as within a range from 80° to 100° to obtain a better decoupling effect. In the following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussed by taking the dividing part being substantially perpendicular to the intersecting part, and the dividing part extending to the edge at about 90° as an example. Other arrangements are similar and will not be repeated respectively.

In some example embodiments, the dividing part and the intersecting part may intersect with each other at respective ends thereof to substantially form an L-shape or a 7-shape, as shown in FIG. 5. Alternatively and additionally, in some example embodiments, the dividing part and the intersecting part may also intersect with each other at respective positions other than the ends to form a crisscross shape, as shown in FIG. 6.

Alternatively and additionally, in some example embodiments, the slot may also be of a T-shape, which means that the dividing part and the intersecting part are perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to each other, as shown in FIG. 7. That is, one part, namely, a longitudinal part L, of the slot 102 extends from a middle portion of another part, namely, a transverse part T. Here, the “middle portion” means within a certain range with respect to a center. Specifically, when the longitudinal part L extends from the center of the transverse part T, the slot 102 is symmetrical with respect to a center line of the longitudinal part L. When the longitudinal part L extends from the middle portion other than the center of the transverse part T, the slot 102 is asymmetrical.

The aforementioned slots of the L-shape, 7-shape, crisscross shape, or T shape may be formed in the conductive body 101 individually or in a combined form. In addition, some example embodiments also use the L-shaped or 7-shaped slots as a variant of the T-shaped slots, which will be further discussed below. In the following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussed by taking the symmetrical T-shaped slot 102 and its variant as examples. The slots 102 in other forms are similar and will not be repeated respectively.

To obtain a better decoupling effect, as shown in FIG. 7, in some example embodiments, the longitudinal part L of the slot 102 acting as the dividing part extends to the edge 1011 to divide the edge 1011. In this way, under an induction of electromagnetic waves with at least one frequency different from the predetermined frequency as mentioned above, mutually reversed currents 400 can be generated around the transverse part T, namely, the intersecting part, as shown in FIG. 7. It is to be understood that, for the sake of clarity, only the reverse current is shown in FIG. 7.

It is to be understood that the above example embodiments where the longitudinal part L of the slot 102 extends to the edge 1011 to divide the edge 1011 are merely illustrative, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure. In some alternative example embodiments, it may also be the transverse part T of the slot 102 acting as the dividing part to break the edge 1011. In the following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussed by taking the longitudinal part L extending to the edge 1011 as an example. Other arrangements are similar, which will not be repeated below.

Furthermore, in the case where the at least one slot 102 comprises a plurality of slots 102, each of the plurality of the slots 102 may have a dividing part extending to the edge 1011 to break the edge 1011. In some alternative example embodiments, some rather than all of the plurality of the slots 10:2 have the dividing part. Other slots 102 do not have the dividing part but have a part extending to the slots 102 that have the dividing part.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 11, in some example embodiments, the transverse part T of the slot 102 extends along a length direction D of the conductive body 101. This arrangement may further make the antenna 300 more compact. In some example embodiments, the length of the transverse part T is within a range of one-eighth to one-fourth of a wavelength of the electromagnetic waves transmitted by the radiation part, so as to obtain a further improved transmitting performance of the radiation part.

It is to be understood that the transverse part T of the slot 102 extending along a width direction of the conductive body 101 is also possible depending on shapes of the radiation parts, etc. In the following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussed by taking the transverse part T of the slot 102 extending along the length direction D of the conductive body 101 as an example. Other arrangements are similar and will not be repeated respectively.

In some example embodiments, the at least one slot 102 may be arranged in pairs. For example, the slots 102 may comprise at least one pair of slots with the dividing parts extending in different directions. That is, in a pair of slots, the dividing part of one slot and the dividing part of the other slot extend in different directions, which means that they may be at any appropriate angle other than 0°, such as 90°, 180°, 270° or any angle between these angles. For example, in some example embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the longitudinal parts L of the slots 102 acting as the dividing parts extend in opposite directions, which means that they are at about 180°.

In some example embodiments, the at least one pair of slots 102 may be arranged symmetrically, as shown in FIG. 7, to further improve the performances of the antenna system. In some example embodiments, each pair of the slots 102 may be symmetrical, as shown in FIG. 7. In alternative example embodiments, some rather than all of the slots 102 are symmetrical and others are asymmetrical, which makes the arrangement of T-slots 102 more flexible and adaptable to various situations to improve applicability.

In some alternative example embodiments, all pairs of the slots 102 may also be asymmetrical. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the pair of the slots 102 in opposite orientations are asymmetrical. Each pair of slots 102 are offset from each other in the length direction D of the conductive body 101. In the case where the decoupling apparatus 100 is made of sheet metal, compared to the case of a symmetrical arrangement, this arrangement can increase a width or the portion of the conductive body 101 aligned with the longitudinal part L, thereby increasing the strength of the conductive body 101.

FIG. 8 shows that in some example embodiments, the transverse parts T of the slots 102 are not aligned in the length direction D of the conductive body 101. It is to be understood that this is merely for illustrative purposes, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure. Any suitable arrangements are also possible.

For example, in some alternative example embodiments, the transverse parts T of the slots 102 may be aligned in the length direction D of the conductive body 101. Furthermore, the plurality of T-shaped slots may not appear in pairs, but are arranged on the conductive body 101 along the length direction D at a predetermined distance, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

In some example embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9, two adjacent slots of the plurality of slots 102 formed along the length direction D may be formed in opposite orientations. In some alternative example embodiments, as shown in FIG. 10, the dividing parts of the plurality of slots 102 may extend in a same direction. The diversified arrangements of slots 102 enable the decoupling apparatus 100 to adapt to various situations, thereby improving applicability.

The example embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10 show an example of the T-shape where transverse part T and the longitudinal part L are connected to each other to form the T-shape. In some alternative example embodiments, the T-shape may also be presented in other ways. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, two parts of the T-shaped slot that are separated along a center line of the longitudinal part L may be formed in the conductive body 101 in a separated manner.

That is, in some example embodiments, the two parts of the slot 102, which may be symmetrical or asymmetrical as mentioned above, are separated along the center line of the longitudinal part L. For ease of discussion, the two parts will be referred to as a first part 1021 and a second part 1022 in the following, respectively. As shown in FIG. 11, in some example embodiments, the first part 1021 and the second part 1022, each is 7-shaped or L-shaped as mentioned above, may be formed independently in the conductive body 101. For example, the first part 1021 and second part 1022 may be symmetrically arranged on both sides of the adjacent slot 102 which has the first and second parts 1021, 1022 integrally formed. This arrangement can further optimize the decoupling effect of the decoupling apparatus 100.

Several possible arrangements of the slots 102 in the decoupling apparatus 100 are described above with reference to FIGS. 5 to 11. It should be understood that the arrangements shown in FIGS. 5 to 11 are not exhaustive, and there are many other suitable arrangements as long as the slot 102 comprising a dividing part extending to an edge 1011 of the conductive body 101 to divide or break the edge 1011 and an intersecting part intersecting with the dividing part. Through these arrangements, the performance of various characteristics such as the gain and the radiation pattern of the antenna 300 can be optimized without increasing the size thereof, so that the antenna 300 can be kept compact.

FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processor 610.

The communication module 640 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 640 has at least one antenna such as the array antennas and/or the multiband antenna as mentioned above to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 624, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. The program 630 may be stored in the memory, e.g., ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

It should be appreciated that the above detailed example embodiments of the present disclosure are only to exemplify or explain principles of the present disclosure and not to limit the present disclosure. Therefore, any modifications, equivalent alternatives and improvement, etc. without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure shall be comprised in the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Meanwhile, appended claims of the present disclosure aim to cover all the variations and modifications falling under the scope and boundary of the claims or equivalents of the scope and boundary.

Claims

1. A decoupling apparatus for an antenna comprising:

a conductive body adapted to be arranged in the antenna to act as a radiation part of the antenna for transmission of electromagnetic waves with a frequency; and

at least one slot formed in the conductive body, wherein the at least one slot comprises a dividing part extending to an edge of the conductive body to divide the edge and an intersecting part intersecting with the dividing part.

2. The decoupling apparatus claim 1, wherein the at least one slot comprises at least one pair of slots with the dividing parts extending in different directions.

3. The decoupling apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one pair of slots are arranged symmetrically.

4. The decoupling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one slot comprises a plurality of slots formed along a length direction (D) of the conductive body with a distance apart.

5. The decoupling apparatus of claim 4, wherein the diving parts of the plurality of slots extend in a same direction.

6. The decoupling apparatus of claim 4, wherein the dividing parts of adjacent two slots of the plurality of slots extend in opposite directions.

7. The decoupling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the slot comprises a transverse part (T) acting as the intersecting part and a longitudinal part (L) acting as the dividing part that are perpendicular to each other, and the longitudinal part (L) extends from a middle of the transverse part (T) to one side of the transverse part (T).

8. The decoupling apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transverse part (T) extends along a length direction (D) of the conductive body, and

a length of the transverse part (T) is within a range of one-eighth to one-fourth of a wavelength of the electromagnetic waves transmitted by the radiation part.

9. The decoupling apparatus of claim 7, wherein the slot comprises a first part and a second part separated along a center line of the longitudinal part (L).

10. The decoupling apparatus of claim 9, wherein one or more of the plurality of slots are formed so that the first part and the second part thereof are independently formed on the conductive body.

11. The decoupling apparatus of claim 10, wherein the independently formed first and second parts are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the adjacent slot.

12. The decoupling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conductive body comprises a copper sheet formed in a printed circuit board.

13. A radiation unit for an antenna, comprising:

a supporting part made of a conductive material;

at least one feeding part electrically coupled to the supporting apparatus; and

at least one decoupling apparatus according to claim 1 electrically coupled to the supporting apparatus.

14. The radiation unit of claim 13, wherein the radiation unit is a dipole.

15. An antenna comprising at least one radiation unit of claim 13.