Apparatus and methods for radio frequency signal boosters
Provided herein are apparatus and methods for radio frequency (RF) signal boosters. In certain implementations, a multi-band signal booster is provided for boosting the uplink and downlink channels of at least a first frequency band and a second frequency band. In certain configurations, the downlink channels of the first and second channels are adjacent, and the signal booster includes a first amplification path for boosting the uplink channel of the first frequency band, a second amplification path for boosting the uplink channel of the second frequency band, and a third amplification path for boosting both downlink channels of the first and second frequency bands.
1. A radio frequency signal booster comprising:
a first multiplexer;
a second multiplexer;
a Band XII uplink amplification circuit configured to receive a Band XII uplink signal from a first terminal of the second multiplexer, and to provide an amplified Band XII uplink signal to a first terminal of the first multiplexer;
a Band XIII uplink amplification circuit configured to receive a Band XIII uplink signal from a second terminal of the second multiplexer and to provide an amplified Band XIII uplink signal to a second terminal of the first multiplexer; and
a shared downlink amplification circuit configured to receive a combined downlink signal from a third terminal of the first multiplexer and to provide an amplified combined downlink signal to a third terminal of the second multiplexer, wherein the combined downlink signal includes a Band XII downlink signal and a Band XIII downlink signal,
wherein the shared downlink amplification circuit comprises a plurality of components in a cascade, the plurality of components including at least one amplifier configured to simultaneously boost both the Band XII downlink signal and the Band XIII downlink signal, and at least one bandpass filter configured to pass both the Band XII downlink signal and the Band XIII downlink signal.
2. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , further comprising:
a Band V uplink amplification circuit configured to provide amplification to a Band V uplink channel, wherein an output of the Band V uplink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a fourth terminal of the first multiplexer, wherein an input of the Band V uplink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a fourth terminal of the second multiplexer; and
a Band V downlink amplification circuit configured to provide amplification to a Band V downlink channel, wherein an input of the Band V downlink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a fifth terminal of the first multiplexer, wherein an output of the Band V downlink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a fifth terminal of the second multiplexer.
3. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first antenna port;
a second antenna port;
a first diplexer including an antenna terminal electrically connected to the first antenna port, a first terminal electrically connected to the first multiplexer, and a second terminal;
a second diplexer including an antenna terminal electrically connected to the second antenna port, a first terminal electrically connected to the second multiplexer, and a second terminal.
4. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 3 , further comprising:
a third multiplexer electrically connected to the second terminal of the first diplexer; and
a fourth multiplexer electrically connected to the second terminal of the second diplexer.
5. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 4 , further comprising:
a Band IV downlink amplification circuit configured to provide amplification to a Band IV downlink channel, wherein an input of the Band IV downlink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a first terminal of the third multiplexer, wherein an output of the Band IV downlink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a first terminal of the fourth multiplexer; and
a Band IV uplink amplification circuit configured to provide amplification to a Band IV uplink channel, wherein an output of the Band IV uplink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a second terminal of the third multiplexer, wherein an input of the Band IV uplink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a second terminal of the fourth multiplexer.
6. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 5 , further comprising:
a Band II downlink amplification circuit configured to provide amplification to a Band II downlink channel, wherein an input of the Band II downlink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a third terminal of the third multiplexer, wherein an output of the Band II downlink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a third terminal of the fourth multiplexer; and
a Band II uplink amplification circuit configured to provide amplification to a Band II uplink channel, wherein an output of the Band II uplink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a fourth terminal of the third multiplexer, wherein an input of the Band II uplink amplification circuit is electrically connected to a fourth terminal of the fourth multiplexer.
7. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 3 , further comprising:
a first antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more base stations of a cellular network;
a first cable configured to connect between the first antenna and the first antenna port;
a second antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more mobile devices of the cellular network; and
a second cable configured to connect between the second antenna and the second antenna port.
8. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the first multiplexer is implemented with a first plurality of multiplexer stages, and wherein the second multiplexer is implemented with a second plurality of multiplexer stages.
9. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the first multiplexer and the second multiplexer are configured to multiplex a first plurality of radio frequency bands each having a frequency less than 1 GHz, wherein the radio frequency signal booster further comprises a third multiplexer and a fourth multiplexer configured to multiplex a second plurality of radio frequency bands each having a frequency greater than 1 GHz.
10. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the first multiplexer comprises a combiner electrically connected to an antenna terminal of the first multiplexer, a first bandpass filter electrically connected between the combiner and the first terminal of the first multiplexer, a second bandpass filter electrically connected between the combiner and the second terminal of the first multiplexer, and a third bandpass filter electrically connected between the combiner and the third terminal of the first multiplexer.
11. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , further comprising a housing that houses the first multiplexer, the second multiplexer, the Band XII uplink amplification circuit, the Band XIII uplink amplification circuit, and the shared downlink amplification circuit.
12. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 11 , wherein the housing has a height in the range of about 1 cm to about 10 cm, a width in the range of about 10 cm to about 30 cm, and a length in the range of about 10 cm to about 80 cm.
13. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 11 , wherein the housing includes one or more heat fins configured to dissipate heat.
14. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 11 , further comprising a circuit board within the housing, wherein the Band XII uplink amplification circuit, the Band XIII uplink amplification circuit, and the shared downlink amplification circuit are implemented on the circuit board.
15. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the at least one bandpass filter passes a frequency range of about 728 MHz to about 757 MHz, and wherein the at least one bandpass filter provides attenuation to a frequency range of about 698 MHz to about 716 MHz and to a frequency range of about 776 MHz to about 787 MHz.
16. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , further comprising a control circuit configured to control an output power level of the Band XII uplink amplification circuit, an output power level of the Band XIII uplink amplification circuit, and an output power level of the shared downlink amplification circuit.
17. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , implemented to boost network signal strength for a plurality of mobile devices operating with different wireless carriers.
18. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the Band XII downlink channel and the Band XIII downlink channel are separated in frequency by less than about 10 MHz.
19. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the shared downlink amplification circuit further comprises one or more digital attenuators.
20. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the shared downlink amplification circuit further comprises one or more analog attenuators.
21. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the at least one bandpass filter comprises one or more surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters.
22. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the at least one bandpass filter comprises one or more ceramic filters.
23. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the at least one amplifier comprises one or more power amplifiers.
24. The radio frequency signal booster of claim 1 , wherein the at least one amplifier comprises one or more low noise amplifiers.