A broad band dual polarized azimuth beamwidth adjustable antenna for wireless communications

Dual polarized remote controlled elevation beam down-tilt base station antennas (BSA) have been widely deployed in mobile communication systems. Their use allows mobile network operators to optimize system performance, and improve the network efficiency to some degree. The elevation beam tilt angle of the BSA can also be remotely adjusted without shutting down the network, which is very costly, and avoid tedious and expensive tower climbing work. Recently, some operators have requested more functionality in the BSA, in order to further improve the performance and the efficiency of their networks. The aim of this work is to investigate the feasibility and performance of staggering the crossed dipole elements in order to achieve the required AZB width. A 15 crossed dipole element array antenna with excellent AZB width adjustability was presented. Experimental results for the array in both non-staggered and staggered configurations are presented.