This paper presents fibre-to-air, a new system for feeding radio frequency (RF) signals from either the base station controller (BSC) or base transceiver station (BTS) directly to the antenna element at the air interface. The proposed system has lower transmission losses and greater power efficiency than current state-of-the-art implementations. Other advantages include fast antenna main beam steering, reduced antenna weight, and reduced susceptibility to RF interference on the feeder network. Results are presented showing measured radiation patterns for a prototype fibre-to-air antenna and those of an electronically controllable optical phase shifter.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.