Wireless telecommunication antenna mount and control system

Abstract

A remotely controllable antenna mount (100) for use with a wireless telecommunication antenna (102) provides mechanical azimuth and tilt adjustment using AISG compatible motor control units (171/192) and AISG control and monitoring systems to remotely adjust the physical orientation of the antenna. The mount control units are serially interconnected with AISG antenna control units (ACUs) (104) which adjust electronic tilt mechanisms within the antenna itself. An AISG compatible mount azimuth control unit (MACU) (171) drives rotatable movement of the antenna through a range of azimuth angle positions. The antenna mount further includes a mechanical downtilt assembly interconnected between the antenna interface and the antenna. An AISG compatible mount tilt control unit (MTCU) (192) drives a linear actuator for physical downtilt of the antenna through a range of tilt angle positions.

Claims

1. An antenna mount for use with a telecommunication antenna having at least one AISG antenna control unit (ACU), said antenna mount comprising: an antenna interface mounted to said antenna, said antenna interface comprising, an antenna mast having an upper mast pivot and a lower mast pivot, and a mechanical downtilt assembly including a lower hinge assembly connected between said antenna mast and a lower portion of said antenna, and an extensible upper hinge assembly connected between said antenna mast and an upper portion of said antenna; and a structure interface mounted to a mounting pole of an installation structure, said structure interface comprising, an upper mount body secured to said mounting pole and having a pivot rotatably receiving said upper mast pivot, a lower mount body secured to said mounting pole and having a pivot rotatably receiving said lower mast pivot, and a mount azimuth control unit (MACU) having a motor, a drive gear interconnected between said motor and said antenna interface, and an AISG compatible motor controller, said motor being controllable to drive rotatable movement of said antenna interface about a vertical axis through a range of azimuth angle positions, wherein the ACU and the MACU are serially interconnected through respective AISG communication ports to an AISG control interface for serial remote control thereof.

2. The antenna mount of claim 1 further comprising a gear reduction unit coupled between said drive gear and said antenna interface.

3. The antenna mount of claim 1 wherein said MACU is integrated with said upper mount body.

4. The antenna mount of claim 1 wherein said MACU is integrated with said lower mount body.

5. The antenna mount of claim 2 wherein said MACU is integrated with said upper mount body.

6. The antenna mount of claim 2 wherein said MACU is integrated with said lower mount body.

7. The antenna mount of claim 1 wherein said extensible upper hinge assembly comprises: a linear drive assembly having a body portion secured to said antenna mast; a threaded drive rod rotatable within said body portion; an arm portion driven by said threaded drive rod, said tilt arm hinged at a terminal end to said upper portion of said antenna; and a mount tilt control unit (MTCU) comprising a motor interconnected with said threaded drive rod, and an AISG compatible motor controller, wherein the ACU, the MACU and the MTCU are serially interconnected through respective AISG communication ports to an AISG control interface for serial remote control thereof.

8. The antenna mount of claim 1 wherein said mechanical downtilt assembly is removably secured to said antenna mast whereby a vertical position of the downtilt assembly can be adjusted vertically on the antenna mast.

9. The antenna mount of claim 1 wherein the lower hinge assembly is removably secured to the antenna mast and vertically adjustable in location.

10. The antenna mount of claim 1 wherein the upper extensible hinge assembly is removably secured to the antenna mast and vertically adjustable in location.

11. The antenna mount of claim 9 wherein the upper extensible hinge assembly is removably secured to the antenna mast and vertically adjustable in location.

12. The antenna mount of claim 7 wherein the lower hinge assembly is removably secured to the antenna mast and vertically adjustable in location.

13. The antenna mount of claim 7 wherein the upper extensible hinge assembly is removably secured to the antenna mast and vertically adjustable in location.

14. The antenna mount of claim 12 wherein the upper extensible hinge assembly is removably secured to the antenna mast and vertically adjustable in location.

15. An antenna mount for use with a telecommunication antenna, said antenna mount comprising: an antenna interface mounted to said antenna, said antenna interface comprising, an antenna mast having an upper mast pivot and a lower mast pivot, and a mechanical assembly connected between said antenna mast and upper and lower portions of said antenna; and a structure interface comprising, an upper mount body securable to a mounting structure and having a pivot rotatably receiving said upper mast pivot, a lower mount body securable to a mounting structure and having a pivot rotatably receiving said lower mast pivot, and a mount azimuth control unit (MACU) having a motor, a drive gear interconnected between said motor and said antenna interface, and an AISG compatible motor controller, said MACU being integrated with said upper mount body, said motor being controllable to drive rotatable movement of said antenna interface about a vertical axis through a range of azimuth angle positions, wherein the MACU is serially interconnected to an AISG control interface for serial remote control thereof.

16. The antenna mount of claim 15 wherein the mechanical assembly is removably secured to the antenna mast and vertically adjustable in location along the mast.

17. The antenna mount claim 16 wherein the mechanical assembly includes a lower downtilt fixed hinge and an upper downtilt extensible hinge.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming particular embodiments of the instant invention, various embodiments of the invention can be more readily understood and appreciated from the following descriptions of various embodiments of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a telecommunication tower installation;

(3) FIG. 2A is an illustration of a prior art antenna and mount including a manual downtilt bracket installed on a mount post;

(4) FIG. 2B is a similar illustration thereof with the downtilt bracket extended;

(5) FIG. 2C is a top illustration thereof showing the mount bracket and antenna clamped at a 0° azimuth position;

(6) FIG. 2D is another top illustration thereof showing the mount brackets and antenna clamped at a 30° azimuth position;

(7) FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a prior art AISG compatible tower installation;

(8) FIG. 4A is a side view of a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

(9) FIG. 4B is another side view thereof with the downtilt assembly extended;

(10) FIG. 5A is a top view of the structure side interface and azimuth adjustment mechanism on the top mount bracket;

(11) FIG. 5B is a side view thereof;

(12) FIG. 6A is a top view of the structure side interface and azimuth adjustment mechanism on the bottom mount bracket;

(13) FIG. 6B is a side view thereof;

(14) FIG. 7A is an enlarged side view of the downtilt assembly;

(15) FIG. 7B is a front view thereof;

(16) FIGS. 8A-8C are illustrations of an AISG antenna control unit (ACU);

(17) FIG. 8D is a schematic illustration of an ACU;

(18) FIG. 9 is a schematic view of an AISG tower installation including 3 antennas and antenna mounts according to the present invention;

(19) FIG. 10 is a side view of a second exemplary embodiment of an antenna mount including a remotely controlled azimuth adjustment assembly and a manual downtilt bracket;

(20) FIG. 11 is a side view of a third exemplary embodiment of an antenna mount including a remotely controlled downtilt adjustment assembly.

(21) FIG. 12 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment including a gear reduction unit;

(22) FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of the lower mount assembly;

(23) FIG. 14 is another enlarged side view of the lower mount assembly;

(24) FIG. 15 is an enlarged view of the upper mount assembly;

(25) FIG. 16 is an exploded view of yet another exemplary embodiment with an improved back frame;

(26) FIG. 17 is a side view thereof; and

(27) FIG. 18 is an enlarged view of the linear tilt drive sub-assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(28) Referring now to the drawings, an exemplary embodiment of the invention is generally indicated at 100 in FIGS. 4-9. Generally, the remotely controllable antenna mount 100 is particularly useful with a wireless telecommunication antenna 102 to provide mechanical azimuth and/or tilt adjustment using AISG compatible motor control units and AISG control and monitoring systems to remotely adjust the physical orientation of the antenna 102.

(29) Antenna 102 may comprise any commercially available telecommunication antenna from any carrier, operating over any communication bandwidth. The antenna generally comprises a housing 102A and rearwardly facing upper and lower connection brackets 102B, which have a horizontal hinge connection 102C. The antenna connection brackets 102B generally have a standard spacing, but there is significant variation from each manufacturer depending on the antenna size and configuration. For ease of description, the exemplary antenna 102 comprises a single band antenna having a single Antenna Control Unit (ACU) 104 controllable from the local base station 12 and/or carrier NOC 16.

(30) As will be described further hereinbelow, the mount AISG control units are serially interconnected with AISG antenna control units (ACU's) 104 which adjust internal electronic tilt of the antenna 102. The present invention therefore provides the ability to both physically arm the antenna to adjust coverage area and also adjust the signal phase to fine tune the quality of the signal.

(31) An exemplary embodiment of the present antenna mount 100 includes an azimuth adjustment assembly generally 106 having a structure side interface 108 which is configured to be mounted to a mounting pole 110 or other structure, and an antenna side interface 112 which is configured to be mounted to the antenna 102. As indicated above, many antennas 102 are mounted on towers and monopole structures which provide a vertical pole 110 for mounting of the antenna 102. While the exemplary embodiments described herein are intended for mounting on a pole structure 110, the scope of the invention should not be limited by these illustrations. The structure side interface 108 can be adapted and modified as needed to be secured to many different types of structures, and could include brackets, connectors, magnets, etc. as needed for flat surfaces, curved surfaces, etc.

(32) The structure side interface 108 and the antenna side interface 112 are rotatable relative to each other through upper and lower swivel connections aligned along a vertical axis A (see FIGS. 4A and 4B). The upper and lower portions of the mount 100 are generally separated into two discreet upper and lower units 114 and 116 to provide the ability to adjust the location of the mount portions relative to the back of the antenna 102. As described above, while most antennas 102 have a standard connection spacing, there is a significant amount of variability and thus a need to have the two portions of the mount separate. However, if designed for a single standard size spacing which is known, the upper and lower portions of the structure side interface 108 could be connected by an elongate body to provide a single unit. The same is true for the antenna side interface 112. Turning first to FIGS. 6A and 6B, the structure side interface 108 of lower portion 116 of the azimuth adjustment assembly 106 includes a body 118 having a clamp portion 120 facing the pole 110 and a complementary opposing clamp 122. These elements 120, 122 are clamped and secured around the pole 110 with bolts 124 as is known in the art. Extending from the opposite side of the main body 118 are opposing swivel flanges 126 with a pivot hole 128 which is aligned with the vertical swivel axis A. The antenna side interface 112 comprises a body 130 having a swivel plate 132 extending between the swivel flanges 126. The swivel plate 132 also includes a pivot hole 134 aligned with the pivot hole 128 in the flanges. A pivot pin 136 extends through the pivot holes 128 and 134 and secures the plate 132 and flanges 126 together for rotation. In order to facilitate rotation about the pivot 136, the assembly is provided with a swivel bearing 138 surrounding the pivot holes 128, 134. In this exemplary embodiment, the swivel bearing 138 comprises a plurality of bearings 140 received in facing channels 144 on the flanges 126 and plate 132. However, other closed bearing configurations are contemplated. Extending from the opposite side of body 130 are a pair of connector arms 144 having horizontally extending through holes 146 which define a hinge that is connected to a corresponding hinge connector 102C on the bottom end of the antenna 102. This connector arms 144 thus define the fixed horizontal downtilt axis B (FIG. 6B) for the downtilt assembly.

(33) Turning to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the structure side interface 108 of the upper portion 116 of the azimuth adjustment assembly 106 also includes a body 148 having a clamp portion 150 facing the pole 110 and a complementary clamp 152. These elements are clamped and secured around the pole 110 with bolts 154 as is known in the art. Extending from the opposite side of the main body 150 are opposing swivel flanges 156 with a pivot hole 158 which is aligned with the vertical swivel axis A. The antenna side interface 112 comprises a body 160 having a swivel plate 162 extending between the swivel flanges 156. The swivel plate 162 also includes a pivot hole 164 aligned with the pivot hole 158 in the flanges 156. A pivot pin 166 extends through the pivot holes 158, 164 and secures the parts together for rotation. In order to facilitate rotation about the pivot, the upper assembly is also provided with a swivel bearing 168 surrounding the pivot holes 158, 164. The aligned swivel bearings 138, 168 provide rotatable movement about the vertical axis A through a range of azimuth angle positions. Extending from the opposite side of body 160 are a pair of connector arms 169 having horizontally extending through holes 170 which define a hinge that will be coupled to a corresponding hinge connector 102C on the top end of the antenna 102. These connector arms 169 thus define an upper fixed horizontal axis C (FIG. 6B) for the downtilt assembly.

(34) An AISG compatible mount azimuth control unit (MACU) 170 is mechanically interconnected with the structure interface (body 148) and the antenna interface (body 160) to drive rotatable movement of the antenna 102 through a range of azimuth angle positions.

(35) In this exemplary embodiment, the upper portion 114 is provided with the drive mechanism for driving rotation of the assembly. In this regard, the AISG compatible motor control unit (MACU) 171 is secured to a lower side of the lower flange 156.

(36) Referring briefly to FIGS. 8A-8D, the exemplary motor control unit 171 is illustrated. The preferred unit is an ACU-A20N control unit manufactured by RFS. This is a standard control unit that comprises a motor 172, an AISG motor control processor 174, and male 176 and female 178 AISG bidirectional ports. The bidirectional ports allow these control units to be serially interconnected and monitored and controlled as a single system. These are the same ACU units 104 which are installed on the antenna 102 to control the internal antenna signal phase. They are operated and controlled with the same software and interfaces already in place at the local Node 14 and/or the carrier NOC 16.

(37) Referring back to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the drive shaft 180 of the MACU 171 extends up through the lower flange 156 and includes a small drive gear 182. This drive gear 182 is meshed with a larger gear segment 184 provided on the peripheral edge of the swivel plate 162 of the antenna side interface. The drive gears 182, 184 are configured and arranged to provide a neutral 0 position (as shown) and to provide at least a 30° range of movement to either side a 0 (as previously illustrated in FIG. 2D). The gearing to drive rotation may be accomplished by many configurations, and the invention should not be limited by the illustrated configuration.

(38) The exemplary embodiment of the antenna mount 100 further includes a mechanical downtilt assembly 186 mechanically interconnected between the antenna interface 112 and the antenna 102. The mechanical downtilt assembly 186 includes a lower hinge connector 144,146 which was already described as part of the body 130 of the lower mount unit 116. The lower hinge 144, 146 to the lower hinge connector 102C on the lower portion of the antenna 102 where the lower hinge connector 102C is pivotable about horizontal pivot axis B (See FIGS. 6A and 6B). The mechanical downtilt assembly 186 further includes an upper expandable bracket 188 connected between an upper portion 114 of the antenna interface and an upper hinge connector 102C of the antenna 102 where the upper expandable bracket 118 is linearly expandable to pivot the antenna 102 about the lower hinge connector 144 through a range of tilt angle positions (as previously described in FIG. 2B). In the exemplary embodiments, the upper expandable bracket 188 comprises a screw-operated scissor assembly 190 and an AISG compatible mount tilt control unit (MTCU) 192 mechanically interconnected with a turning element of the crew-operated scissor assembly 190. Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, the screw operated scissor assembly 190 comprises upper and lower trunnion pivots 194, 196 and opposing side pivots 198, 200. The pivots 194, 196, 198, 200 are connected with scissor arms 202. Lower trunnion 196 is through bored while upper trunnion 194 is threaded. A threaded rod 204 extends through the lower bored trunnion 196 into the upper threaded trunnion 194. A U-shaped motor bracket 206 is secured to the lower trunnion pivot 196 and provides a mounting point for the MTCU 192 which is secured to the lower side thereof. The drive shaft 208 of the MTCU 192 extends through the bracket 206 and engages with the lower end of the threaded rod 204 to provide rotation of the threaded rod 204 and responsive expansion and/or contraction, and resulting linear movement of the side pivots 198, 200. In this regard, the left pivot 198 is an anchor pivot connected to the hinge connector arms 169 on the antenna side interface of the upper swivel assembly 114. The right pivot 200 is connected to the hinge connector 102C on the upper end of the antenna 102.

(39) The MTCU 192 is controllable to drive linear expansion of the scissor assembly 190 and corresponding pivoting of the antenna 102 through a range of tilt angle positions. The MTCU 192 is also serially interconnected through bidirectional AISG ports to an AISG control interface for serial remote control of the ACU, the MACU and the MTCU.

(40) Referring to FIGS. 4A, 4B and 9, an exemplary T/C system is illustrated. Similar to FIG. 3, the system includes a plurality of antennas 102, each having an on-board ACU 104. The ACU's 104 are connected to, and can be controlled from, the local CNI 28 and the NOC 16 as previously described. According to the present invention, the MACU 171 and the MTCU 192 are serially connected to the ACU 104 with AISG serial cables 210 to provide serial control of all of the control units 104, 171, 192 through the existing AISG infrastructure.

(41) Referring to FIG. 10, another exemplary embodiment is shown comprising a mount 300 that provides only the azimuth adjustment assembly 106 combined with a manual downtilt bracket of the prior art.

(42) Referring to FIG. 11, yet another exemplary embodiment is shown comprising a mount 400 that provides only the downtilt adjustment assembly 186 using standard clamping brackets for attachment to the pole 110.

(43) Referring to FIGS. 12-15 another exemplary embodiment 500 is shown comprising both an upper mount 502 with downtilt adjustment and a lower mount 504 with azimuth rotation. The lower mount 504 assembly includes a mount body 506 secured to the pole 110, and a swivel body 508 secured to the lower pivot of the antenna 102. A follower gear 510 is secured to the swivel body 508, and the follower gear 510 is driven by a drive gear 512 having a drive shaft passing through the mount body 506. In contrast to the previous embodiments having a swivel plate which pushed the pivot point of the antenna forwardly of the mount body, the present swivel body 508 provides an antenna pivot point directly over the axis of azimuth rotation of the antenna 102. This arrangement eliminates the significant moment arm from the weight of the antenna extending forwardly from the mount body.

(44) The drive shaft 512 is the output shaft of a gear reduction unit 514 which is secured below the mount body 506. The MACU 171 is coupled to the input end of the gear reduction unit 514 to drive rotation. During prototyping it was found that the standard rotation speed and torque of the MACU unit was not ideal for controlled rotation of the antenna. The speed of rotation was too fast and the torque was lower than desired. The exemplary embodiment utilizes a 9 to 1 gear reduction 514 which provides a sufficient reduction in speed of rotation of the output drive shaft to more precisely control small incremental movements of the antenna without altering the MACU unit 171 or the standard software in place to control the MACU 171. The gear reduction also increases torque which will provide superior power to drive movement of the mount if snow or ice are accumulated on the mount. Further prototyping with different gear assemblies revealed that a direct reduction of about 60-90 to 1 of MACU spindle rotation to swivel body rotation is desirable.

(45) The upper mount 502 and downtilt assembly are generally as previously described above, except that the swivel plate is replaced by a similar swivel body 516.

(46) Referring now to FIGS. 16-18, yet another exemplary embodiment 600 includes a rectangular antenna mounting frame 602 having pivot pins 604 and 606 on the top and bottom of the frame 602 respectively received with the upper mount 502 and lower mount 504 pivots. The antenna 102 is mounted to the frame 602 and rotation of the frame 602 is driven and controlled in the same manner. The lower pivot pin 606 includes a follower gear (not shown) which is driven by the same drive gear 512 and drive mechanism shown in FIGS. 12-15. The frame 602 provides a rigid stable platform to secure the antenna 102 and reduces upper end wobble associated with using two separate upper and lower swivel bodies. The frame 602 is adaptable in size for different size antennas and can be universally adapted for connection to different antennas using different adapter connections.

(47) The scissor drive 22 is replaced with a linear drive system 610 which resides in a sub-frame 612 received within the upper portion of the antenna frame 602. The frame 602 includes a fixed pivot hinge 614 on the lower portion of the frame 602. The fixed pivot hinge 614 is adjustable in location along the length of the frame 602 to accommodate different size antennas 102.

(48) The linear drive system 610 includes a linear drive block 616 which rides on two spaced guide rods 618. The MTCU 192 is mounted to the lower portion of the sub-frame 612 and drives a threaded drive rod 620 received through the drive block 616 to drive linear up and down motion of the linear drive block 616. The top of the antenna 102 is secured to a pivot hinge 622 on the drive block 616 through a tilt arm 624. It can therefore be seen that linear upward movement of the drive block 616 extends the tilt arm 624 and pushes the top end of the antenna 102 outwardly to provide a controlled downtilt of the antenna 102. The linear sub-frame 612 is adjustable in location within the main frame 602 for different size antennas and different mounting needs. The upper and lower mount bodies 502 and 506 are still independent adjustable in location on the pole.

(49) The rigid antenna frame 602 improves rotational stability to the system while the linear tilt drive also improves stability of the system. The frame 602 further provides a platform for the installation of other antenna accessories, or more importantly RF shielding material (not shown). It is becoming more evident that RF back lobe emissions are becoming an issue on overcrowded tower structures and carriers are seeking ways to absorb RF emitted from the rear side of their antennas. The frame 602 provides an ideal location for the installation of RF shielding or RF absorbing materials.

(50) Alternative, the frame can be replaced with a linear mast on which the sub-frame can be mounted.

(51) It can therefore be seen that the exemplary embodiments provide a remotely controllable antenna mount 100 is particularly useful with a wireless telecommunication antenna 102 to provide mechanical azimuth and/or tilt adjustment using AISG compatible motor control units and AISG control and monitoring systems to remotely adjust the physical orientation of the antenna 102.

(52) While there is shown and described herein certain specific structures embodying various embodiments of the invention, it will be manifest to those skilled in the art that various modifications and rearrangements of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the underlying inventive concept and that the same is not limited to the particular forms herein shown and described except insofar as indicated by the scope of the appended claims