Active electrical tilt antenna apparatus with distributed amplifier

1. An apparatus for wirelessly transmitting or receiving communication signals, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of active elements configured to transmit or receive communication signals in a wireless communications network;

a plurality of active modules correspondingly coupled to the plurality of active elements and configured to cooperate with respective ones of the plurality of active elements;

wherein respective ones of the plurality of active modules include:

a power amplifier configured to amplify communication signals to be transmitted,

a low noise amplifier configured to amplify communication signals received,

a first phase shifter configured to shift phases of the communication signals to be transmitted,

a second phase shifter configured to shift phases of the communication signals received,

a first bypass configured to route the communication signals to be transmitted to the corresponding ones of the plurality of active elements in response to a failure of the respective ones of the plurality of active modules or an electrical outage, and

a second bypass configured to route the communication signals received to a processing unit in response to the failure of the respective ones of the plurality of active modules or an electrical outage; and

a control unit configured to adjust one or more of the plurality of the active elements and enable one or more of the first and second bypasses.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a multi-path power divider coupled to the plurality of active modules configured to divide the communication signals to be transmitted among the plurality of active modules.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a control unit configured to adjust the first phase shift and second phase shift of the respective ones of the plurality of active modules to effectively achieve a desired tilt angle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the respective ones of the plurality of active modules further comprise a first duplexer configured to enable the communication signals to be transmitted and the communication signals received to share a first communication path between the respective ones of the plurality of active modules and corresponding active elements.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the respective ones of the plurality of active modules further comprise a second duplexer configured to enable the communication signals to be transmitted and the communication signals received to share a second communication path between the respective ones of the plurality of active modules and a multi-path power divider.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of active elements and the plurality of active modules are integrated as a single unit.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is an antenna assembly configured for a GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, WiMAX or LTE base station.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a base station configured for GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, WiMax or LTE networks.

9. A method for wirelessly transmitting a signal by an antenna assembly comprising a plurality of active modules, the method comprising:

receiving, by the antenna assembly, a combined signal including a control signal and a signal for transmission;

dividing, by a multi-path power divider, the signal for transmission to produce a plurality of divided signals for provision to the plurality of active modules respectively;

extracting, by the antenna assembly, the control signal from the combined signal;

amplifying, by respective ones of the plurality of active modules, the plurality of divided signals respectively to produce a plurality of amplified signals;

in response to the extracted control signal, adjusting, by a control unit, an amount of phase shift to be applied to the plurality of active modules; and

transmitting, by a plurality of active elements, respective ones of the plurality of amplified and phase shifted signals.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the amount of phase shift is determined by the control unit to effectively achieve a desired tilt angle.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

monitoring by the control unit, a status of the plurality of active modules and providing the status of the plurality of active modules to a processing unit.

12. A system for wirelessly transmitting or receiving radio frequency signals, the system comprising:

a processing unit configured to generate radio frequency signals to be transmitted and to process radio frequency signals received;

a multi-path power divider coupled to the processing unit via a feedline;

a plurality of active modules coupled to the multi-path power divider, wherein respective ones of the plurality of active modules include:

a transmission module comprising a power amplifier and a first phase shifter to amplify and phase shift the radio frequency signals to be transmitted,

a reception module comprising a low noise amplifier and a second phase shifter, respectively configured to amplify and phase shift the radio frequency signals received, and

a first duplexer configured to facilitate shared use of a first communication path between the respective ones of the plurality of active modules and the multi-path power divider such that the radio frequency signals to be transmitted or the received radio frequency signals can be sent over the first communication path;

a control unit coupled to the plurality of active modules to control the phase shifting applied by the active modules to achieve a desired tilt angle; and

a plurality of active elements correspondingly coupled to the respective ones of the plurality of active modules to transmit the radio frequency signals to be transmitted and to receive the radio frequency signals received.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the multi-path power divider, the control unit, the plurality of active modules and the plurality of active elements are integrated into a single unit.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the respective ones of the plurality of active modules further comprise a first bypass configured to route the radio frequency signals to be transmitted to corresponding ones of the plurality of active elements, and a second bypass to route the radio frequency signals received to the processing unit.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the respective ones of the plurality of active modules further comprise a second duplexer configured to allow shared use of a second communication path between the respective ones of the plurality of active modules and corresponding ones of the plurality of active elements such that the radio frequency signals to be transmitted or the received radio frequency signals can be sent over the second communication path.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control unit is operatively coupled to the processing unit and further configured to monitor an operation status of the plurality of active modules and to provide the status to the processing unit.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to provide the control unit with the desired tilt angle.