WO2025039544A1 - Over-the-air testing apparatus and over-the-air testing method - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of communications. Disclosed are an over-the-air testing apparatus and an over-the-air testing method. The over-the-air testing apparatus comprises: a test module, which comprises an anechoic chamber used for providing a test environment for a device under test; an integrated thermal insulation and turntable module, which is disposed inside the anechoic chamber and comprises an adjustable cover structure, the adjustable cover structure being used for maintaining the environmental state of said device; and an environmental control module, which is disposed outside the anechoic chamber, is connected to the integrated thermal insulation and turntable module by means of a thermal insulation pipe to form a triaxial structure, and is used for working in conjunction with the integrated thermal insulation and turntable module to adjust the test environment of said device.

Description

Air interface test device and air interface test method

Related Applications

This application claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202311055927.0 filed on August 21, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application.

Technical Field

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of electronic technology, and in particular to an air interface testing device and an air interface testing method.

Background Art

Environmental adaptability testing is an important part of the entire R&D and production process of communication electronic products. It simulates various extreme working environments and tests the performance of products under extreme environmental conditions, which is of great significance to improving product quality. The introduction of OTA (Over The Air) testing method has brought new challenges to the environmental adaptability testing of 5G base station equipment.

Therefore, how to control the working environment conditions of the device under test in a microwave darkroom has become an urgent problem to be solved in related technologies. In order to solve this problem, various system solutions have been proposed in related technologies, but these solutions all have technical defects such as limited test scenarios.

Summary of the invention

The main purpose of the embodiments of the present application is to provide an air interface testing device and an air interface testing method, aiming to improve the testing freedom, expand the testing scenarios, and thus realize the testing of the device to be tested under multiple environmental conditions.

To achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present application provides an air interface test device, the air interface test device comprising:

The test module includes a microwave darkroom, which is used to provide a test environment for the device under test;

An integrated heat preservation turntable module is arranged inside the microwave darkroom and includes an adjustable cover structure, wherein the cover structure is used to maintain the environmental state of the device under test;

The environment control module is arranged outside the microwave darkroom and is connected with the integrated insulation turntable module through an insulation pipe to form a three-axis structure, and is used to cooperate with the integrated insulation turntable module to adjust the test environment of the device under test.

In addition, to achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present application further provides an air interface test method, which is applied to the air interface test device as described above, including:

Initialize the configuration of the test environment;

Generate a data correction model based on preset standard data and theoretical models;

Perform air interface testing on the device to be tested based on the air interface testing device to obtain test data;

The test data is corrected based on the data correction model and a test result is output.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the related technologies, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the related technical descriptions will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without paying any creative work.

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an OTA test system in the related art;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another OTA test system in the related art;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an air interface test device provided in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a detailed structure of an air interface test device provided in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of a transfer station in an air interface test device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG6 is a schematic structural diagram of a cover structure in an air interface testing device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG7 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of left and right panels in an air interface testing device provided in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG8 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of front and rear panels in an air interface test device provided in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG9 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of upper and lower panels in an air interface testing device provided in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG10 is a flow chart of an air interface testing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG11 is a flow chart of an application example of an air interface test method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a spherical coordinate system involved in an application example of an air interface testing method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

The realization of the purpose, functional features and advantages of the embodiments of the present application will be further explained in conjunction with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application.

All directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.) in the embodiments of the present application are only used to explain the The relative position relationship, movement status, etc. between the components in the specific posture (as shown in the accompanying figure), if the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "first", "second", etc. are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the meaning of "multiple" is at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined. In addition, the meaning of "and/or" appearing in the full text is to include three parallel schemes, taking "A and/or B" as an example, including scheme A, or scheme B, or a scheme that satisfies both A and B.

In the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "connection", "fixation", etc. should be understood in a broad sense. For example, "fixation" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, it can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements, unless otherwise clearly defined. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the embodiments of the present application can be understood according to specific circumstances.

It should also be understood that the references to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" described in the specification of the embodiments of the present application mean that one or more embodiments of the embodiments of the present application include specific features, structures or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment. Therefore, the statements "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in some other embodiments", "in some other embodiments", etc. that appear in different places in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but mean "one or more but not all embodiments", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways. The terms "including", "comprising", "having" and their variations all mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways.

Environmental adaptability testing is an important part of the entire R&D and production process of communication electronic products. It simulates various extreme working environments and tests the performance of products under extreme environmental conditions, which is of great significance to improving product quality.

In traditional 2G, 3G and 4G base station equipment, the base station's transceiver (RRU, Remote Radio Unit) and antenna are separate; when conducting environmental adaptability tests on such base station equipment, the RRU and antenna are tested and evaluated separately. The environmental adaptability test of the RRU is to place the RRU in an environmental test incubator and lead the RF signal out of the incubator through the RF line to monitor the RF performance indicators of the RRU under different temperature and humidity environments; the environmental adaptability test of the antenna is to place the antenna in an environmental test incubator, place it under various environmental stress conditions for a period of time, then take it out, and then test the electrical performance of the antenna to evaluate the impact of environmental factors on the antenna performance. This form of environmental adaptability testing is currently the most commonly used test method, but it cannot evaluate the overall system performance of the base station equipment, and for passive devices such as antennas, it is impossible to monitor their electrical performance during the experiment, which has certain defects.

With the development of communication technology, 5G base stations were born. Compared with traditional 2G, 3G, and 4G base station equipment, the transceiver and antenna of the 5G base station adopt an integrated design, presenting a new physical form, called AAU (active antenna processing unit). As the operating frequency band of 5G base station equipment has gradually extended to the millimeter wave band, it is becoming increasingly difficult to use traditional conduction methods to test the port RF performance. Therefore, the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) protocol introduced the OTA test method into the RF performance test of 5G base stations.

The introduction of OTA testing has brought new challenges to the environmental adaptability testing of 5G base station equipment. How to control the working environment conditions of the equipment under test in a microwave darkroom has become a new topic in the industry. In order to solve this problem, the industry has proposed several system solutions.

One type of scheme is shown in Figure 1. The test system of this scheme consists of an incubator 11, a shielding box 12 and a wave-transmitting window 13. The incubator 11 and the shielding box 12 are covered with absorbing materials on all sides to simulate a microwave darkroom. The incubator 11 is used to place the device under test and has the function of simulating various extreme working environments. The shielding box 12 is used to place test auxiliary equipment. Both the incubator 11 and the shielding box 12 have a window on one side of the box. When the two boxes are combined, a wave-transmitting window 13 is used to connect the two boxes. The function of the wave-transmitting window 13 is to ensure the airtightness and temperature of the incubator 11, and at the same time transmit the radio frequency signal of the equipment to the shielding box 12. Both the device under test and the detection equipment can be moved horizontally to meet the far-field test conditions. As can be seen from Figure 1, this scheme has obvious defects. The first is that the device under test is limited, and for far-field conditions (where L is the distance between the device under test and the receiving horn, D is the equivalent aperture of the object under test, and λ is the corresponding frequency wavelength) is met. When testing low-frequency devices, the box size will be abnormally large due to the need to meet the far-field test conditions. The increase in the box will make the temperature control of the incubator more difficult, and the energy consumption to reach the preset temperature will be higher; secondly, the accuracy of the test results is limited. Controlling the temperature and humidity of the entire box where the device under test is placed will seriously affect the performance of the surrounding absorbing materials, thereby affecting the accuracy of the test results; thirdly, the test indicators are limited. Since there is no turntable system, this solution can only perform normal full-temperature EIRP (Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power) indicator tests on the device under test, and cannot perform more directional EIRP, TRP (Total Radiate Power) and directivity tests.

Another solution is shown in Figure 2. This solution is based on the modification of a microwave darkroom with OTA test conditions. The system includes a microwave darkroom 21, a detection antenna 22, a detection instrument 23, a wave-transmitting heat preservation box 24, and a temperature control device 25. The device to be tested is placed in the wave-transmitting heat preservation box 24, in which the wave-transmitting heat preservation box 24 only requires the side of the base station device facing the detection antenna 22 to be a wave-transmitting shell. The incubator 24 is connected to the temperature control device 25 outside the microwave darkroom 21 through the air duct, and the temperature and humidity environment inside the wave-transmitting incubator 24 is controlled by the temperature control device 25; the detection antenna 22 is connected to the detection instrument 23 outside the microwave darkroom 21 through the RF cable, and the received air interface signal is transmitted to the instrument. To use this system for OTA testing, you only need to follow the normal temperature OTA test steps, replace the device under test with a standard gain antenna, determine the corresponding field insertion loss, and then you can perform the test.

This solution can better meet the environmental adaptability OTA test, but it also has some shortcomings. First, the wave-transmitting incubator of this solution only requires the side facing the base station transceiver path to be a wave-transmitting shell. This design method makes the detection antenna only receive the signal from the front of the base station, and the signal radiated by the base station to the surrounding is shielded by the shell of the incubator, which will affect the active pattern index test of the base station; second, the wave-transmitting incubator of this system solution is fixed and cannot meet the test in multiple scenarios; third, the temperature control system of this solution is independently designed from the turntable system of the darkroom, and the temperature control of the incubator is controlled by the temperature control device leading two ventilation ducts into the incubator. The existence of the two ventilation ducts will greatly affect the rotational freedom of the turntable, thereby limiting the items that the system can test; fourth, the system of this solution is used for testing, only considering the influence of the wave-transmitting shell of the incubator on the radiation energy intensity of the base station, and not considering the comprehensive influence of the incubator on the radiation field of the base station. The results failed to exclude the influence of the incubator.

Based on this, the embodiment of the present application provides an air interface test device and an air interface test method, which overcome the defects in the related art. The air interface test device reduces the volume and complexity of the air interface test device by highly integrating the environmental control module with the integrated insulation turntable module while ensuring the functions of each module. The cover structure is designed as a flat shell that can be disassembled and adjusted, which can fully ensure the flexibility of the cover structure, can adapt to devices under test of different sizes, improve the degree of freedom of testing, and expand the use scenarios of the air interface test device; the air interface test method is implemented based on the air interface test device, and by constructing a test data correction model, it can realize multi-dimensional and all-round correction of the test data such as power and angle, so that the test results can reflect the real air interface performance of the device under test under multiple environmental conditions.

The air interface testing device and air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of the present application are specifically described through the following embodiments. First, the air interface testing device in the embodiments of the present application is described.

The present application provides an air interface test device. Referring to FIG. 3 , FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an air interface test device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The air interface test device includes:

The test module 100 includes a microwave darkroom 31, which is used to provide a test environment for the device under test;

The integrated heat preservation turntable module 200 is arranged inside the microwave darkroom 31, and includes an adjustable cover structure 35, wherein the cover structure 35 is used to maintain the environmental state of the device under test;

The environment control module 300 is arranged outside the microwave darkroom 31 and is connected to the integrated insulation turntable module 200 through the insulation pipe 38 to form a three-axis structure for cooperating with the integrated insulation turntable module 200 to adjust the test environment of the device under test.

The air interface test device provided in this embodiment is mainly used to solve the OTA test problem under multiple environmental conditions. Using the air interface test device in this embodiment, not only can OTA testing be realized under normal temperature and pressure conditions, but also OTA testing can be realized under high temperature, low temperature, high and low temperature cycle, high temperature and high humidity, low pressure and other environmental conditions.

In this embodiment, the test environment of the device under test is a microwave darkroom environment. The so-called microwave darkroom is to lay radio wave absorbing materials on the inner wall of the shielded room intended to be a darkroom to reduce the wall reflection to a minimum, so that an area with almost no echo and close to "free space" appears inside the shielded room. In this embodiment, the integrated insulation turntable module 200 and the environmental control module 300 are highly integrated, and the environmental control module 300 is connected to the integrated insulation turntable module 200 through the insulation pipe 38 to form a three-axis structure together, and the environmental control module 300 is arranged outside the microwave darkroom 31 to avoid the restrictive effect of the environmental control module 300 on the integrated insulation turntable module 200; in this embodiment, the adjustable cover structure 35 is made of wave-transmitting material, and the cover design uses a slot installation structure, so that the cover can be flexibly adjusted to form an insulation cover that can adapt to devices of different sizes under test, thereby realizing air interface testing in multiple environmental scenarios.

4 , in some feasible embodiments, the test module 100 further includes:

A reflecting surface 32 is arranged on the inner wall of the microwave darkroom 31;

A feed antenna 33 is arranged at the focal position of the reflecting surface 32;

The measuring instrument 37 is arranged inside or outside the microwave darkroom 31 and connected to the feed antenna 33 through a radio frequency cable.

In this embodiment, the test module 100 is composed of a microwave darkroom 31, a reflective surface 32, a feed antenna 33, and a measuring instrument 37. Among them, there are various types of compact fields composed of the microwave darkroom 31, the reflective surface 32, and the feed antenna 33. The compact field listed in this embodiment belongs to a bias-fed single-reflective-surface compact field, but it is also applicable to other types of compact fields; the measuring instrument 37 can be placed in the microwave darkroom 31 or outside the darkroom. FIG4 corresponds to an implementation method of placing it outside the microwave darkroom 31, which is connected to the feed antenna 33 via a radio frequency cable. Based on the above components, the test module 100 can provide a test environment for the device under test to realize OTA testing of the device under test.

4 , in some feasible embodiments, the environment control module 300 further includes:

An environment control unit 36 is arranged outside the microwave darkroom 31;

The environment detection sensor is arranged on the turntable rolling axis of the integrated heat preservation turntable module 200, and is used to obtain the environmental parameters of the area where the device to be tested is located.

In this embodiment, the environment control module 300 and the integrated heat preservation turntable module 200 cooperate with each other to achieve the surrounding environment of the device to be tested. Control and maintain, wherein the environment control module 300 is mainly composed of an environment control unit 36, an insulation pipe 38 and an environment detection sensor; the environment control unit 36 is installed outside the microwave darkroom 31 to reduce its impact on the darkroom environment; the insulation pipe 38 is composed of an air inlet pipe and an air outlet pipe, which is introduced into the microwave darkroom 31 through a cutoff waveguide, and connects the environment control unit 36 with the U-shaped turntable 34. In particular, the insulation pipe 38 must be made of a flexible material with low thermal conductivity and high and low temperature resistance, and it must extend to the center of the central axis of the turntable 34 and be connected to the turntable 34 through an airtight rotary joint; the environment detection sensor is distributed on the turntable roll axis to realize the environmental detection of the area of the device to be tested. The main function of the environment control module 300 is to control the temperature, humidity, air pressure and other environmental factors in the cover structure 35 according to the situation monitored by the environment detection sensor in the cover structure 35, so that the temperature, humidity and air pressure environment in the cover structure 35 reach the set state of the tester.

4 , in some feasible embodiments, the integrated heat preservation turntable module 200 further includes:

The turntable 34 has a bottom connected to the environment control module 300 via a heat-insulating pipe 38 , and a support arm of the turntable 34 is connected to the adjustable cover structure 35 .

It can be understood that the integrated heat preservation turntable module 200 is mainly composed of a turntable 34 and an adjustable cover structure 35 .

As an example, in this embodiment, the turntable 34 is a three-axis U-shaped turntable, and its specific structure is shown in FIG5 . As can be seen from FIG5 , the turntable 34 includes:

A turntable electric control unit 341, which serves as a base of the turntable 34 and is used to realize the rotation control of each movable axis of the turntable 34;

A turntable bracket 342, the bottom of which is connected to the turntable electric control unit 341 and the insulation pipe 38 of the environment control module 300 to form a three-axis structure;

A turntable rolling shaft 343, wherein the turntable rolling shaft 343 is connected to the support arm of the turntable bracket 342 via a rotating motor;

An airtight rotary joint 344, the airtight rotary joint 344 is mounted on the inner side of the top end of the arm of the turntable bracket 342;

A retractable heat-insulating short tube 345 , one end of which is connected to the arm of the turntable bracket 342 via the airtight rotary joint 344 , and the other end of which is connected to the cover structure 35 via a sealing ring.

In this embodiment, the turntable 34 is composed of a turntable electronic control unit 341 , a turntable bracket 342 , a turntable rolling shaft 343 , an airtight rotary joint 344 and a retractable heat-insulating short tube 345 . The turntable electric control unit 341 is located at the bottom of the turntable, and is mainly used to realize the rotation control of each movable axis of the turntable; the turntable bracket 342 is a U-shaped bracket. In order to realize the functions of ventilation, heat preservation and load-bearing, its manufacturing material must be selected from low thermal conductivity and high strength materials, and in terms of design, it adopts a hollow pipe structure design. In particular, the U-shaped bracket is divided into two parts by a partition at the center axis position, and the two parts of the divided U-shaped bracket are respectively connected to the insulation pipe 38 at the center axis position; the turntable roll axis 343 is connected to the two arms of the turntable bracket 342 through a rotating motor; the airtight rotary joint 344 is installed on the inner side of the top of the two arms of the U-shaped bracket; one end of the retractable insulation short tube 345 is connected to the U-shaped bracket arm through an airtight rotary joint, and the other end is connected to the insulation cover 35 through a sealing ring; the three-axis U-shaped turntable formed by this design, while ensuring the rotational freedom of each axis of the turntable, also constructs a complete air duct circulation path for the entire air interface test device, which is the core design of the entire air interface test device to achieve environmental control.

6 , in some feasible embodiments, the cover structure 35 is a closed cubic heat-insulating cover formed by fixing left and right panels 351 , front and rear panels 352 , and upper and lower panels 353 through mounting grooves.

In this embodiment, the cover structure 35 is a cubic structure, which is mainly composed of six panel components, namely, left and right panels 351, front and rear panels 352, and upper and lower panels 353. The left and right panels 351, the front and rear panels 352, and the upper and lower panels 353 are installed and fixed through mounting grooves to form a closed cubic thermal insulation cover; in particular, the materials for making each panel of the thermal insulation cover must be low dielectric constant, low loss tangent, and wave-transmitting materials with wide temperature characteristics, such as glass fiber materials, fluoropolyurethane, etc.

As can be seen from Figure 6, in some feasible embodiments, the left and right panels 351 are provided with circular holes and square holes, the circular holes are used to plug in the retractable insulation short tube 345 of the turntable 34, the size of the square hole is larger than the size of the turntable rolling shaft 343 of the turntable, and the square hole is used to ensure that the turntable rolling shaft can smoothly pass through the left and right panels 351.

Referring to Figure 7, in some feasible embodiments, the left and right panels 351 are provided with long side mounting grooves 3513 and wide side mounting grooves 3514, the front and rear panels 352 are fixed to the left and right panels 351 through the wide side mounting grooves 3514, the upper and lower panels 353 are fixed to the left and right panels 351 through the long side mounting grooves 3513, and the size of the closed cubic insulation cover is determined according to the sizes of the front and rear panels 352 and the upper and lower panels 353.

In this embodiment, the left and right panels 351 are rectangular parallelepiped with a length of L, a width of W, and a thickness of H. The size is determined according to the specific needs of the designer. The cross-sectional structure is shown in FIG7. A circular hole 3511 and a square hole 3512 are opened on the front of the panel. The centers of the circular hole 3511 and the square hole 3512 are located on the center line of the front of the panel. The diameter of the circular hole 3511 is d, and the distance from the center of the circular hole to the upper edge of the panel is The size and position of the circular hole 3511 must match the telescopic insulation short pipe 345 connected to the U-shaped frame arm to ensure that the two are closely connected; the length of the square hole 3512 is a, the width is b, and the center of the square hole is 1.5 meters from the bottom edge of the panel. The specific size of the square hole 3512 must be designed according to the size of the turntable rolling shaft 343 to ensure that the turntable rolling shaft can pass through the panel smoothly; The right panel 351 is also designed with a long side mounting groove 3513 and a wide side mounting groove 3514. There are two long side mounting grooves 3513, which are located on both sides of the upper and lower edges of the panel, respectively. The length is L, the width is tg, and the distance from the upper/lower edge of the panel is There are also two wide side mounting grooves 3514, distributed on both sides of the left and right edges of the panel, with a length of W, a width of tg, and a distance from the left/right edge of the panel. The depth of both mounting grooves is hg; the front and rear panels 352 are fixed by the wide side mounting grooves 3514, and the upper and lower panels 353 are fixed by the long side mounting grooves 3513. As can be seen from Figures 6 and 7, the circular hole 3511 and the square hole 3512 are arranged inside the rectangular area formed by the long side mounting grooves 3513 and the wide side mounting grooves 3514.

As an example, the front and rear panels 352 are cross-sectionally shown in FIG8 , where the panel width is W, which is consistent with the width of the left and right panels 351; the panel thickness is tg, which is consistent with the width of the wide side mounting slots 3514 on the left and right panels 351; the panel length is Ls, which is not fixed and must be determined based on the length of the device under test. There are two slots 3521 on the panel, with a length of Ls, which is consistent with the length of the panel, a width of tg, and a distance of 1/4 inch from the upper/lower edge of the panel. The slot 3521 is aligned with the long side mounting grooves 3513 on the left and right panels 351 , and the depth of the slot 3521 is hs. The slot 3521 can provide better support for the installation of the upper and lower panels 353 .

As an example, the structural cross-section of the upper and lower panels 353 is shown in Figure 9. The panel width is Ln+2hs, which matches the slot spacing between the front and rear panels 351; the panel thickness is tg, which is consistent with the width of the long side mounting slot 3513 on the left and right panels 351; the panel length is Ls, which must be consistent with the length of the front and rear panels 352, and must be used together with the matching front and rear panels 352.

When constructing the turntable 34, the left and right panels 351 must be installed synchronously. When the air interface test device is used for subsequent testing, the center of the device to be tested is used as the base point to fix the position of the left and right panels 351, and the front and rear panels 352 are inserted between the two left and right panels 351 along the wide side mounting groove 3514. The upper and lower panels 353 are inserted into the long side mounting groove 3513 on the left and right panels 351 along the grooves 3521 on the two front and rear panels 352. Each panel is tightly combined through the grooves to form a cubic insulation cover. In actual use, in order to adapt to equipment of different sizes, it is necessary to construct insulation covers of different sizes. The front and rear panels 352 and the upper and lower panels 353 need to be customized with multiple length dimensions, but a basic principle must be followed, that is, the maximum size of the insulation cover cannot exceed the size of the darkroom quiet area.

In addition, the air interface test device in this embodiment is implemented in the form of a combination of a compact field and a U-shaped bracket turntable, but the specific implementation method is not limited to this. The test darkroom site is replaced with a far-field darkroom, and the U-shaped bracket turntable is replaced with an upright bracket turntable. According to the design concept provided in this embodiment, the function of the air interface test device in this embodiment can also be realized. Combining the darkroom site (compact field, far field) with the bracket turntable form (U-shaped bracket, upright bracket), according to the design idea provided in this embodiment, the function of the air interface test device in this embodiment can also be realized, thereby realizing OTA testing in multiple environment scenarios.

This embodiment provides an air interface test device. The assembly design provided in the above embodiment can fully guarantee the flexibility of the thermal insulation cover and expand the use scenarios of the entire test system. For example, in actual testing, if only a normal temperature OTA test is performed, the front and rear panels and the upper and lower panels of the thermal insulation cover can be completely removed during the test, and the left and right panels can be moved to the sides of the U-shaped bracket arm respectively; if an environmental adaptability OTA test is performed, the distance between the left and right panels can be determined according to the size of the device to be tested and the center of the device to be tested, and then the fixed position is sealed, and then the upper and lower panels and the front and rear panels of corresponding specifications and sizes are selected according to the distance between the left and right panels for installation, and finally the joints are sealed to form a sealed thermal insulation cover.

This embodiment integrates the environmental control module and the integrated insulation turntable module into a highly integrated design, which effectively integrates the environmental control system and the turntable system, and effectively reduces the size and complexity of the entire system while ensuring the functions of each system; through the flexible insulation cover design, the use scope of the entire system is broadened. When the insulation cover is removed, the system can be used for conventional OTA testing. When the insulation cover is installed, OTA testing under multiple environmental conditions can be achieved.

In addition, an embodiment of the present application further provides an air interface testing method, which can be applied to the air interface testing device in the above embodiment. Referring to FIG. 10 , the air interface testing method includes steps S10 to S40.

Step S10, initializing the configuration of the test environment;

Step S20, generating a data correction model according to preset standard data and a theoretical model;

Step S30, performing an air interface test on the device to be tested based on the air interface test device to obtain test data;

Step S40, correcting the test data based on the data correction model and outputting the test result.

The air interface test method provided in this embodiment can only be implemented based on the air interface test device provided in the above embodiment. Before performing OTA testing, it is necessary to first initialize the test environment, such as adjusting the position of the feed antenna in the above air interface test device, and completing the signal link calibration of the test site; then, a test data correction model is constructed based on the preset standard data measured in advance by the above air interface test device, and the theoretical model constructed according to electromagnetic theory; after completing these preparatory works, the OTA test can be performed on the device to be tested through the configured air interface test device, and the test data can be read through the instrument; finally, the read test data is corrected through the data correction model constructed before the test, and the final test result report is output as the test result.

In some feasible embodiments, the above step S10 may include:

Step S11, adjusting the position of the feed antenna according to the frequency range to be tested;

Step S12: Calibrate the link loss of the receiving and transmitting signals at the test site based on the calibration speaker.

Since the air interface test device in the above embodiment uses a compact field, the focus of the reflecting surface is slightly different for different test frequency bands, so it is necessary to first set the position of the feed antenna according to the frequency range to be tested so that the feed antenna is at the focus of the reflecting surface; then, the calibration horn antenna is installed at the center of the turntable roll axis, and the transmit and receive signal link loss of the test site is calibrated, and the signal link loss of the compact field at the frequency to be tested is calculated according to the transmit and receive signal strength and the calibration horn gain table.

In some feasible embodiments, the preset standard data includes: the directional pattern data of a standard antenna without a cover structure, and the directional pattern data of a standard antenna with a cover structure; the above step S20 may include:

Step S21, substituting the directional pattern data of the standard antenna without the cover structure into the theoretical model to obtain standard output data;

Step S22, comparing the standard output data with the standard antenna pattern data of the cover structure to obtain a comparison result;

Step S23: correcting the theoretical model based on the comparison result to obtain a data correction model.

Before executing the air interface test method in this embodiment, some preset standard data will be obtained based on the air interface test device, including standard antenna pattern data without a cover structure and standard antenna pattern data with a cover structure, that is, the pattern data of the standard antenna at the frequency to be tested are tested without installing the cover structure and with installing the cover structure, respectively; after obtaining this part of the preset standard data, the standard antenna pattern data without the thermal insulation cover can be used as input data to input the theoretical model to obtain standard output data, and the standard antenna pattern data with the thermal insulation cover can be used as output. The theoretical model is corrected by comparing and iterating the standard output data and the output, and finally a mathematical model for error correction introduced by the thermal insulation cover factor is obtained.

In some feasible embodiments, the above step S30 may include:

Step S31, assembling an adjustable cover structure based on the size of the device under test to form a closed cubic heat-insulating cover, so that the device under test is placed inside the closed cubic heat-insulating cover;

Step S32, powering on the environmental control module, and when the environmental conditions inside the closed cubic thermal insulation cover reach a preset state, performing an air interface test on the device under test to obtain test data.

In this embodiment, the device to be tested is installed and fixed at the center of the turntable's roll axis, and the installation position of the left and right panels of the thermal insulation cover is determined according to the size of the device to be tested. Then, the front and rear panels and the upper and lower panels of the thermal insulation cover are assembled along the grooves in sequence to form a closed thermal insulation cover, and the joints of each panel are sealed to ensure the overall air tightness of the integrated thermal insulation turntable system. After that, the environmental control system outside the darkroom is powered on, the target parameters of the environment are set, and the system is started; the environmental control unit obtains the current environmental parameters in the thermal insulation cover through sensors. When the environmental conditions in the thermal insulation cover have not reached the preset environmental conditions, the environmental control unit adjusts the air intake and exhaust rates and continues to monitor the environment inside the thermal insulation cover; when the environmental conditions in the thermal insulation cover have reached the preset state and are maintained stably, OTA testing can be started.

As an example, this embodiment can test the RF indicators at a fixed-point pointing position, such as EIRP, EIS (Equivalent Isotropically Sensitivity), etc., and can also perform scanning tests on the radiation sphere of the device under test, such as TRP, radiation beam pattern, etc.; if a fixed-point pointing test is performed, it is only necessary to use the turntable control software to rotate the device under test to the corresponding pointing position. Just read the instrument test data; if a scanning test is performed, the OTA test software must be used to jointly control the turntable and the instrument according to the test case settings to complete the scanning test of the radiation sphere of the device under test.

In some feasible embodiments, the above step S40 may include:

Step S41, correcting the test data based on the data correction model;

Step S42: Generate and output a report as a test result based on the corrected test data.

It is understandable that after completing the OTA test, the test results obtained are the overall test results including the thermal insulation cover. Therefore, it is necessary to use the data correction model constructed in the previous steps to make corresponding corrections to the OTA test data. The corrected data is the actual performance reflection of the device under test under the preset environmental conditions.

As an example, referring to FIG. 11 , the steps of performing an OTA test application example in combination with the air interface test device and the air interface test method provided in the above embodiment are as follows:

1) Adjust the position of the feed antenna; Since a compact field is used, the focus of the reflector is slightly different for different test frequency bands, so first you need to set the position of the feed antenna according to the frequency range to be tested so that the feed antenna is at the focus of the reflector;

2) Test site signal link calibration: install the calibration horn antenna at the center of the turntable roll axis, calibrate the transmit and receive signal link loss of the test site, and calculate the signal link loss Lspace of the test site at the frequency to be tested based on the transmit and receive signal strength and the calibration horn gain table;

3) Obtaining standard antenna pattern data: Replace the calibration horn with a standard antenna, and use the OTA test subsystem to obtain the standard antenna's pattern data at the frequency to be tested. Where _P0 is the received signal power, f is the test frequency, is the azimuth angle in the spherical coordinate system, θ is the elevation angle in the spherical coordinate system, and the spherical coordinate system is shown in Figure 12;

4) Obtaining the data of the standard antenna pattern with the thermal insulation cover: Assemble the thermal insulation cover and place the standard antenna in the center of the thermal insulation cover. Repeat step 3 to obtain the directional pattern data of the standard antenna with thermal insulation cover at the frequency to be tested.

5) Construct a test data correction model; construct a theoretical model based on electromagnetic theory, and convert the standard antenna pattern data without the insulation cover into As input data, Input theoretical model to get The standard antenna pattern data with thermal cover As output, through The data is compared and iterated, and the theoretical model is corrected, and finally the error correction mathematical model introduced by the insulation cover factor is obtained.

6) Install the equipment to be tested and assemble the sealed insulation cover; install and fix the equipment to be tested at the center of the turntable's rolling axis, determine the installation position of the left and right panels of the insulation cover according to the size of the equipment to be tested, and then assemble the front and rear panels and the upper and lower panels of the insulation cover along the slots to form a closed insulation cover, and seal the joints of each panel to ensure the overall airtightness of the integrated insulation turntable system;

7) Turn on the environmental control system; power on the environmental control system outside the darkroom, set the target parameters of the environment, and start the system;

8) Monitor the environmental parameters in the heat preservation cover; the environmental control system obtains the current environmental parameters in the heat preservation cover through sensors. When the environmental conditions in the heat preservation cover have not reached the preset environmental conditions, the environmental control system adjusts the air intake and air outlet rates and continues to monitor the environment in the heat preservation cover; when the environmental conditions in the heat preservation cover have reached the preset state and remain stable, the OTA test can be started;

9) Start OTA test; the system of the present invention can test the RF indicators at the fixed-point pointing position, such as EIRP, EIS, etc., and can also perform scanning tests on the radiation sphere of the device under test, such as TRP, radiation beam pattern, etc.; if a fixed-point pointing test is performed, only the turntable control software needs to be used to rotate the device under test to the corresponding pointing position Just read the instrument test data; if a scanning test is performed, the OTA test software must be used to jointly control the turntable and the instrument according to the test case settings to complete the scanning test of the radiation sphere of the device to be tested;

10) Test data correction: After the OTA test is completed, the test result obtained is the overall test result including the thermal insulation cover. The data correction model constructed in step 5 is used to correct the OTA test data accordingly. The corrected data is the actual performance reflection of the device under test under the preset environmental conditions.

11) Output the test results; after the data is corrected, output the final test result report;

12) Restore the environmental conditions in the heat preservation cover to the initial state; after the test is completed, set the environmental control parameters of the environmental control system, restore the environmental conditions in the heat preservation cover to the initial state, and end the test;

The above is a complete step-by-step description of completing the entire environmental adaptability OTA test. If a test data correction model has been stored before conducting the environmental adaptability OTA test, steps 3 to 5 can be omitted.

This embodiment provides an air interface testing method, which constructs a test data correction model and performs testing based on the air interface testing device provided in the above embodiment. It can realize all-round correction of test data in multiple dimensions such as power and angle, so that the test results can reflect the actual air interface performance of the device to be tested under multiple environmental conditions.

The technical solutions of the various embodiments of the embodiments of the present application can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the fact that it can be implemented by technical personnel in this field. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be implemented, it should be considered that such combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by the embodiments of the present application.

The above are only some embodiments of the embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the patent scope of the embodiments of the present application. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made using the contents of the description and drawings of the embodiments of the present application, or directly or indirectly applied in other related technical fields, are also included in the patent protection scope of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims (14)

An air interface test device, wherein the air interface test device comprises: The test module includes a microwave darkroom, which is used to provide a test environment for the device under test; An integrated heat preservation turntable module is arranged inside the microwave darkroom and includes an adjustable cover structure, wherein the cover structure is used to maintain the environmental state of the device under test; The environment control module is arranged outside the microwave darkroom and is connected with the integrated insulation turntable module through an insulation pipe to form a three-axis structure, and is used to cooperate with the integrated insulation turntable module to adjust the test environment of the device under test. The air interface test device according to claim 1, wherein the test module further comprises: A reflecting surface is arranged on the inner wall of the microwave darkroom; A feed antenna is arranged at a focal position of the reflecting surface; The measuring instrument is arranged inside or outside the microwave darkroom and connected to the feed antenna through a radio frequency cable. The air interface test device according to claim 1, wherein the environment control module comprises: An environmental control unit is arranged outside the microwave darkroom; The environment detection sensor is arranged on the turntable rolling axis of the integrated heat preservation turntable module, and is used to obtain the environmental parameters of the area where the device to be tested is located. The air interface test device according to claim 1, wherein the integrated heat preservation turntable module further comprises: A turntable, the bottom of which is connected to the environmental control module via a heat-insulating pipe, and the support arm of the turntable is connected to the adjustable cover structure. The air interface test device according to claim 4, wherein the turntable comprises: A turntable electronic control unit, which serves as the base of the turntable and is used to realize the rotation control of each movable axis of the turntable; A turntable bracket, the bottom of which is connected to the turntable electronic control unit and the insulation pipe of the environmental control module to form a three-axis structure; A turntable rolling shaft, the turntable rolling shaft is connected to the support arm of the turntable bracket through a rotating motor; An airtight rotary joint, the airtight rotary joint being mounted on the inner side of the top end of the support arm of the turntable support; A retractable thermal insulation short tube, one end of which is connected to the support arm of the turntable bracket through the airtight rotary joint, and the other end of which is connected to the cover structure through a sealing ring. The air interface testing device as described in claim 4, wherein the cover structure is a closed cubic insulation cover formed by installing and fixing the left and right panels, the front and rear panels, and the upper and lower panels through the installation grooves. The air interface testing device as described in claim 6, wherein a circular hole and a square hole are provided on the left and right panels, the circular hole is used to plug in the retractable insulation short tube of the turntable, the size of the square hole is larger than the size of the turntable roll axis of the turntable, and the square hole is used to ensure that the turntable roll axis can smoothly pass through the left and right panels. The air interface testing device as described in claim 7, wherein the left and right panels are provided with long side mounting grooves and wide side mounting grooves, the front and rear panels are fixed to the left and right panels through the wide side mounting grooves, the upper and lower panels are fixed to the left and right panels through the long side mounting grooves, and the size of the closed cubic insulation cover is determined according to the size of the front and rear panels and the upper and lower panels. The air interface testing device according to claim 8, wherein the circular hole and the square hole are arranged inside a rectangular area formed by the long side mounting groove and the wide side mounting groove. An air interface testing method, wherein the air interface testing method is applied to the air interface testing device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, comprising: Initialize the configuration of the test environment; Generate a data correction model based on preset standard data and theoretical models; Perform air interface testing on the device to be tested based on the air interface testing device to obtain test data; The test data is corrected based on the data correction model and a test result is output. The air interface testing method according to claim 10, wherein the step of initializing the configuration of the test environment comprises: Adjust the position of the feed antenna according to the frequency range to be tested; The link loss of the transmit and receive signals at the test site is calibrated based on the calibration speaker. The air interface test method according to claim 10, wherein the preset standard data includes: directional pattern data of a standard antenna without a cover structure, and directional pattern data of a standard antenna with a cover structure; The step of generating a data correction model according to preset standard data and a theoretical model comprises: Substituting the directional pattern data of the standard antenna without the cover structure into the theoretical model to obtain standard output data; Comparing the standard output data with the standard antenna pattern data of the cover structure to obtain a comparison result; The theoretical model is corrected based on the comparison result to obtain a data correction model. The air interface test method according to claim 10, wherein the step of performing an air interface test on the device to be tested based on the air interface test device to obtain test data comprises: Assembling an adjustable cover structure based on the size of the device under test to form a closed cubic heat-insulating cover, so that the device under test is placed inside the closed cubic heat-insulating cover; The environment control module is powered on, and when the environmental conditions inside the closed cubic thermal insulation cover reach a preset state, an air interface test is performed on the device to be tested to obtain test data. The air interface test method according to claim 10, wherein the step of correcting the test data based on the data correction model and outputting the test result comprises: Correcting the test data based on the data correction model; A report is generated and output as a test result based on the corrected test data.