JP2549470B2 - Oscillation compensation antenna device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an oscillation compensation type antenna device provided with an antenna having a beam wide around the azimuth and narrow around the elevation angle, that is, a so-called fan beam directivity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art (1) Technical Background Conventionally, directional antennas have been used for satellite communication in ships and the like. Ship satellite communication has historically been one
It was started by the Marisat satellite of the United States in 976, and since 1982 it has been carried over to the international organization Inmarsat. In order to perform such ship satellite communication, an antenna having a predetermined directivity is required.

[0003] For example, according to the technical standards of the Inmarsat Standard A ship earth station as of June 1987, the G / T of the ship earth station is specified to be -4 dBK or more, and an antenna meeting this standard is used as a parabolic antenna. When it is to be constructed, a size of about 80 cm in diameter is required.

(2) Tracking and oscillation compensation An oscillation compensation type antenna device is mainly used for ship satellite communication. This oscillation compensation type antenna apparatus is an apparatus having an oscillation compensation function in addition to a satellite tracking function.

That is, in order for the antenna mounted on the moving body of the ship to continue to receive the radio waves from the satellite satisfactorily,
It is necessary to drive the antenna to track the satellite.
Further, such an antenna drive and its control function can be configured to perform swing compensation. For example, a ship rocks due to waves on the sea, and good satellite tracking can be realized by compensating for the rocking component. The rocking of the ship includes, for example, a roll and a pitch. The roll corresponds to the roll, and the pitch corresponds to the pitch. To compensate for the both, it is necessary to drive the antenna mechanically or electronically horizontally and vertically. For this reason, various techniques for driving an antenna for the purpose of, for example, compensating for fluctuation have been developed.

(3) First Conventional Example FIG. 20 shows the configuration of an oscillation compensation antenna device according to the first conventional example. The conventional example shown in this figure is an apparatus described in JP-A-51-115757. This apparatus includes a parabolic antenna 10 having so-called pencil beam directivity, and this parabolic antenna 1.
A first shaft 12 for rotatably supporting 0 in a predetermined direction, a second shaft 14 for rotatably supporting the first shaft 12, and a second
Third shaft 16 that supports the shaft 14 of the rotatably in the azimuth direction
And a posture sensor 18 arranged and mounted on the third axis 16.
And That is, in this conventional example,
The rotation of the shaft 16 causes the shafts 14 and 12 and the parabolic antenna 10 to rotate in the azimuth direction, and the rotation of the shaft 14 causes the shaft 1 to rotate.
2 and the parabolic antenna are rotated in a predetermined direction, and the shaft 12
The parabola antenna 10 is rotated in a direction perpendicular to the rotating direction of the shaft 14 by rotating the.

Further, the posture sensor 18 includes the shafts 14 and 12
Is a sensor that detects a swing component in each rotation direction of the. Since the device according to this conventional example is used for ship satellite communication or the like as described above, the attitude changes due to the swing of the ship. Since the attitude sensor 18 rotates with the rotation of the shaft 16, the attitude sensor 18 can detect a component excluding the component in the azimuth direction among the swing components of the ship. More specifically, the rocking component around each of the axes 14 and 12 can be detected. The result of this detection is used to control the shafts 12 and 14, and the satellite tracking by the parabolic antenna 10 is executed while compensating for the swing of the ship.

(4) Biaxial mechanical axis device As described above, when the parabolic antenna or the like is used as the antenna, it is possible to provide three axes for driving the parabolic antenna and to configure all of them as mechanical axes. However, with such a configuration, the mechanical design becomes complicated and the device tends to be expensive. In order to solve such problems is to improve the axial configuration, have good if so suffice two machine axes.

Examples of such a device, that is, a device having a two-axis mechanical axis are, for example, "About miniaturization and weight reduction of antenna system for maritime satellite communication digital ship station" (Shiokawa et al., IEICE, SANE84-19, pp17-24). ) And the like. The device disclosed in this document is a so-called 40 cmφ short backfire (SBF) antenna with a beam width of ± 15 °.

With such a structure, the oscillation compensation type antenna device can be realized with a relatively simple mechanical structure.

However, in such a structure, there arises a problem that a singular point occurs. The singular point is, for example, a point that appears in the zenith direction and causes a tracking error when the antenna faces this direction under swinging conditions. In order to deal with this singularity, a lightweight and robust material is used for the antenna and the frame that supports it, and means for reducing the load on the motor that drives the antenna, and relatively high performance as a motor. There is a means of adopting the AC servo motor of (1) and correspondingly adopting a high performance AC servo control circuit to drive the antenna by a high performance servo system.
Furthermore, there is also a means of reducing the tracking error near the singular point by improving the control software.

However, such a measure requires a special material,
Since it is required to adopt a high-priced circuit, it is inevitable that the price of the device will be high. Also, even when these measures are taken, there is data in which the tracking error near the singular point is about 10 °.

(5) Device Having Electronic Axis As a means for solving such a problem, it is effective to use one of the plurality of axes as an electronic axis. The electronic axis can be realized by a so-called phased array antenna.

The phased array antenna is constructed as a flat plate antenna by forming a plurality of antenna elements on the antenna substrate as electrodes while arranging them in a square lattice to form an electrode. For example, by providing a phase shifter for each antenna element and controlling the amount of phase shift of the signal relating to each antenna element, the beam directivity characteristic of the antenna can be switched to a predetermined characteristic. Also,
Japanese Patent Application No. 2-339317 previously proposed by the applicant of the present application
If a phase shifter is provided for each row of the antenna elements arranged in a matrix, as in the device described in No. 3, the electronic axis can be realized with a relatively simple configuration.

(6) Oscillation Compensation Principle In this way, by using the two-axis mechanical axis and one-axis electronic axis,
Oscillation compensation can be performed with a relatively simple and inexpensive configuration while reducing the tracking error at the singular point. But,
There is a problem in that this swing compensation requires control of two or three axes.

Generally, the swing of the ship is expressed as coordinate transformation as shown in FIG. However, it is assumed that the coordinate system when the ship is stationary, that is, when the ship is not swinging is X ⁽⁰⁾ Y ⁽⁰⁾ Z ⁽⁰⁾ . Here, X ⁽⁰⁾ represents the bow direction, and Z ⁽⁰⁾ represents the zenith direction.

Then, when the pitch p which is the pitch of the ship occurs, the coordinate system moves to X ⁽¹⁾ Y ⁽¹⁾ Z ⁽¹⁾ . Of the axes after the movement, the Y ⁽¹⁾ axis is the same as the Y ⁽⁰⁾ axis, and the X ⁽¹⁾ and Z ⁽¹⁾ axes are the X axis around the Y ⁽⁰⁾ axis.
It is in a position where the ⁽⁰⁾ and Z ⁽⁰⁾ axes are rotated by a pitch p.

Further, when the roll r, which is the rolling motion of the ship, occurs, the coordinate system changes to X ⁽²⁾ Y ⁽²⁾ Z ⁽²⁾ . In this case, the X ⁽²⁾ axis is the same as the X ⁽¹⁾ axis, and Y ⁽²⁾
The Z ⁽²⁾ axis and the Z ⁽²⁾ axis move to positions where the Y ⁽¹⁾ and Z ⁽¹⁾ axes are rotated by the roll r around the X ⁽¹⁾ axis, respectively.

Therefore, the swing of the ship including the roll r and the pitch p is the swing angle u which is a combination of the roll r and the pitch p.
Can be expressed as

This swing angle u is used as an antenna with the swing of the ship.
If you grasp it as a change in direction , this swing
The angle u is a component q _{1 in the} direction of elevation (elevation; EL).
And perpendicular to the EL direction (cross elevation; XEL)
Direction component q ₂ . Each component q
₁ and q ₂ can be obtained by matrix calculation based on the roll r and the pitch p.

Therefore, when it is attempted to continue tracking the satellite S by compensating for the change in the antenna orientation due to the swing of the ship, the means for detecting the roll r and the pitch p and the component q ₁ and the component q ₁ based on the detection result. If a means for obtaining q ₂ is provided
Not good. EL axis and XE as mechanical axis or electronic axis
If constituting L axis, based the control of the EL axis component q _1, based control XEL axis component q _2, have good be performed, respectively.

However, such control is complicated in that it involves matrix calculation. Therefore, if the calculation can be omitted or reduced, it is possible to realize an oscillation compensation type antenna device that has a simple device configuration, is easy to control, and is inexpensive. In order to realize such control is not good if using an antenna having a so-called fan beam directional.

(7) Second Conventional Example FIG. 22 shows the actual configuration of the oscillation compensation type antenna device according to the second conventional example using an array antenna having so-called fan beam directivity. FIG. 22 is a schematic cross-sectional view, and is actually drawn as a cross-section in which the thickness of a member having a thickness (such as a radome) is omitted.

The oscillation compensation type antenna device shown in this figure has an array antenna 22 in which four antenna elements 20 are arranged in a row. This array antenna 22
Is an antenna having a fan beam directivity as described later. The array antenna 22 is supported by the elevation axis 24, and the supporting direction is such that the array of the antenna elements 20 is around the elevation axis 24.

The elevation axis 24 is rotatably supported by the azimuth axis frame 26. A gear 28 is provided at one end of the elevation axis 24, and an elevation axis motor 30 is provided at the azimuth axis frame 26.
, And the gear 28 and the elevation angle shaft motor 30 are connected by a belt 32. Therefore, the elevation angle motor 24 is driven to rotate the elevation angle shaft 24, which causes the array antenna 22 to rotate around the elevation angle shaft 24.

The azimuth axis frame 26 is formed integrally with the azimuth axis 34. The azimuth axis 34 is rotatably held by a support leg 36, and a gear 38 is provided at the lower end thereof. On the other hand, the azimuth axis motor 40 is attached to the support leg 36.
Is attached, and the azimuth axis motor 40 and the gear 38 are connected by a belt 42. Therefore, when the azimuth axis motor 40 is driven, this causes the azimuth axis 34 to rotate and the array antenna 22 to rotate around the azimuth axis 34.

The support leg 36 has a function of eccentrically supporting the azimuth axis frame 26, the array antenna 22 and the like. That is, it has a function of supporting the azimuth axis frame 26 and the like at a position slightly displaced from the center of the bottom surface of the radome base 44. As a result, an access hatch 48 of a sufficient size can be provided on the bottom surface of the radome base 44 so that it can be opened and closed by the hinge 46. The access hatch 48 is a hatch through which an operator who carries out maintenance and inspection of the array antenna 22 and its peripheral circuits and the like inserts his or her arm, etc., and thereby maintainability of the device is ensured.

The radome base 44 is a member constituting the bottom surface of the so-called radome 50. The radome 50 is formed of, for example, a member that can transmit radio waves such as FRP, and is a member that protects the configuration of the array antenna 22 and the like from rainfall and the like. Normally, an array antenna 2 for ship satellite communication
Since the radio waves transmitted and received by 2 are in the vicinity of 1.5 GHz, a material that can transmit radio waves in this frequency band is selected as the material forming the radome 50.

23 and 24, the array antenna 2 is shown.
Two antenna patterns are shown respectively. In these figures, the antenna pattern shown in FIG. 23 is an antenna pattern around the virtual XEL axis, and the antenna pattern shown in FIG. 24 is an antenna pattern around the EL axis.

Here, the virtual XEL axis means an axis virtual as an axis in a direction perpendicular to the EL axis, and does not actually exist in FIG. More specifically, it is a direction perpendicular to the array direction of the antenna elements 20. The EL axis corresponds to the elevation axis 24.

As can be clearly understood from these figures,
The directivity of the array antenna 22 is a characteristic having a wide beam width around the virtual XEL axis and a narrow beam width around the EL axis. Such a characteristic is generally called fan beam directivity.
With such characteristics, the component q ₁ shown in FIG.
Of q ₂ and q ₂ , it is not necessary to perform fluctuation compensation for q ₂ . This is because the component q ₂ is a component around the virtual XEL axis, and the antenna pattern around the virtual XEL axis of the array antenna 22 is a pattern with a wide wide-angle beam width.

Therefore, according to the conventional example shown in FIG. 22, it is only necessary to perform the calculation, control, etc. for the component q _1, and it is possible to relatively easily perform the swing compensation.

[0033]

However, even in the case of using the array antenna having the fan beam directivity as described above, there is a problem that the component q ₁ around the EL axis needs to be obtained by matrix calculation. That is, there is a problem that the calculation related to the control is complicated. The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and a member corresponding to the attitude sensor 18 in the first conventional example is combined with an antenna having a fan beam directivity, and oscillation about the EL axis is performed. An object is to simplify the calculation related to the compensation of the dynamic component and to simplify the configuration of the member corresponding to the attitude sensor 18.

[0034]

In order to achieve such an object, the oscillation compensating antenna device according to claim 1 of the present invention is installed so as to rotate together with the azimuth axis frame, and is movable. Among the swings of (1), a swing detecting means for detecting a swing component around the elevation angle axis is provided, and the swing component around the elevation angle axis is adjusted to the elevation angle of the antenna, and the elevation angle axis is driven with this as a target. To do.

Further, the oscillation compensating type antenna device according to a second aspect is provided with an auxiliary rotary base which is rotated by the same angle in synchronization with the rotation of the azimuth axis, and is the same as the oscillation detecting means according to the first aspect. The rocking detecting means is fixed to the auxiliary rotary table.

Further, in the oscillation compensating antenna device according to a third aspect of the present invention, the antenna is an array antenna in which N (N: a natural number of 2 or more) antenna elements are arranged in series so that the antenna elements are arranged around the elevation axis. Is characterized in that.

In the oscillation compensation type antenna device according to the fourth aspect, the antenna has N rows and M rows with the direction around the elevation angle axis as a column.
A receiver front end, which is an array antenna in which antenna elements are arranged in columns (N, M: natural numbers of 2 or more), and which outputs a combined output of the antenna elements provided in each column of the array antenna and belonging to the corresponding column. And an in-phase synthesizing circuit for in-phase synthesizing the signals output from the respective receiver front ends, and continuously changing the directivity of the antenna around an axis perpendicular to the elevation angle axis.

Further, the swing compensation type antenna apparatus according to claim 5 and 7, wherein is fixed to the azimuth axis frame, and includes a shaking motion detecting section for detecting a component about the elevation axis of the swing of the movable body The beam tilt of the antenna is adjusted so as to compensate for the fluctuation component around the elevation axis.

Further, the oscillation compensating type antenna device according to claim 6 is provided with an auxiliary rotary base which is rotated by the same angle in synchronization with the rotation of the azimuth axis, and is the same as the oscillation detecting means according to claim 5. a swing detection means, characterized in that fixed to the auxiliary rotary table.

Furthermore, in the oscillation compensation type antenna device according to the eighth aspect , the antenna is an array antenna similar to the antenna according to the third aspect, and N or N-1 of the N antenna elements. N or N-1 phase shifters for shifting the transmission and / or reception signals related to the antenna element of (1), and the phase shifters according to the phase shifter drive signal indicating the beam inclination around the elevation angle to be realized. And a phase shifter drive circuit for controlling the amount of phase shift, and a phase shifter drive signal is supplied to the phase shifter drive circuit according to the value of the swing component around the elevation angle axis.

In the oscillation compensation type antenna device according to a ninth aspect , the oscillation detection means includes an inclinometer for detecting an inclination angle of the moving body in an elevation angle direction, and an angular velocity for detecting an angular velocity around the elevation angle of the moving body. A first filter for filtering the output of the inclinometer, and a detector and a synthetic filter for synthesizing the output of the inclinometer and the output of the angular velocity detector to output as a swing component around the elevation angle axis. A second filter having a transfer function complementary to the first filter to filter the output of the angular velocity detector
And the adder for adding the output of the first filter and the output of the second filter.

[0042]

In the first aspect of the present invention, the directivity of the antenna is so-called fan beam directivity. Therefore, as described above with reference to FIG. 21, it is sufficient to perform the swing compensation only for the component q ₂ around the elevation angle in the swing of the moving body,
Virtual XE with wide-angle beamwidth as shown in FIG.
It is not necessary to perform the calculation related to the fluctuation compensation around the L axis.

Further, in addition to this, according to claim 1,
Minute q₁Is the swing detection meansByDetected directly. Sanawa
The swing detection means is used for swinging the moving body around the elevation axis.
Fluctuation component q₁Is to detect. Therefore, its detection
The results can be used directly for drive control of the elevation axis.
For example, the elevation angle of the satellite, which is the tracking target of the antenna, when there is no oscillation.
Let be expressed as el with respect to the horizontal plane.
The control amount θ about the reference elevation angle axis is θ = 90−el + q₁  Is expressed as Therefore, in claim 1, around the elevation axis
Oscillating component, that is, the component of only one axis is detected
Oscillation compensation is possible by adjusting the elevation angle of the result.
Becomes

In claim 2, unlike claim 1,
The rocking | fluctuation detection means is fixed to an auxiliary turntable, rather than rotating with an azimuth axis | shaft frame. Since this auxiliary rotary base rotates by the same angle in synchronization with the rotation of the azimuth axis, the detection operation of the swing detection means is the same as that of claim 1. As a result, the same effect as that of the first aspect can be obtained, and the swing detecting means can be separately configured.

In the third aspect, the antenna according to the first or second aspect is configured as an array antenna in which antenna elements are arranged in tandem. In the array antenna having such a configuration, an antenna pattern having a narrow beam width is obtained as a whole because the characteristics of each antenna element are combined around the elevation angle at which a plurality of antenna elements are arranged in series. On the contrary, the direction perpendicular to the elevation axis, that is, the virtual XE
Around the L-axis, since the antenna elements are arranged in a line, an antenna pattern having a wide-angle beam width can be obtained. That is, according to claim 3, an antenna having a fan beam directivity can be realized with a simple configuration.

In the fourth aspect, the antenna according to the first or second aspect is configured as an array antenna in which antenna elements are arranged in N rows and M columns. In the antenna having such a configuration, the same directivity as that of the antenna according to claim 3 is realized, but the beam width around the virtual XEL axis is narrower than in claim 3 because the antenna is arranged in M rows. In the fourth aspect, the fan beam directivity equivalent to that of the third aspect is realized by continuously changing such a beam around the virtual XEL axis. That is, the reception signals generated for each column are combined in phase, and the virtual XEL axis is electronically realized.

According to the fifth and seventh aspects, the fluctuation component q ₁ about the elevation axis is compensated not by driving the elevation axis but by adjusting the beam tilt of the antenna. That is, the antenna used in claims 5 and 7 is an antenna in which the beam inclination around the elevation angle can be switched, and by switching this, the oscillation compensation is executed without changing the attitude of the antenna.

In the sixth aspect, the swing detecting means in the fifth aspect is fixed to the auxiliary turntable. Thereby, the same effect as that of the second aspect can be obtained.

In the eighth aspect , the antenna capable of beam switching around the elevation axis is realized as an array antenna having a phase shifter. That is, a phase shifter is provided for all or one of the N antenna elements forming the array antenna, and the beam tilt is switched by controlling the phase shift amount of this phase shifter. As a result, an antenna whose beam tilt can be switched around the elevation axis is easily realized.

In the ninth aspect , the swing detecting means is composed of an inclinometer, an angular velocity sensor and a synthesis filter. Among these, the tilt angle of the moving body in the elevation angle direction is measured by the inclinometer, and the angular velocity around the elevation angle of the moving body is measured by the angular velocity sensor.
Each is detected. Therefore, in terms of the tilt angle of the moving body in the elevation direction, the inclinometer has the transfer function 1 and the angular velocity sensor has the transfer function s. Here, s is a Laplace operator. The output of the inclinometer and the output of the angular velocity sensor are
It is input to the first or second filter that constitutes the synthesis filter, respectively. Here, the second filter has a transfer function complementary to that of the first filter. That is, the transfer functions of the first and second filters are set so that the sum of the transfer functions of the inclinometer and the first filter and the transfer functions of the angular velocity sensor and the second filter becomes one. Therefore, by adding the output of the first filter and the output of the second filter, the swing component q ₁ having a flat frequency characteristic is detected. As a result, more accurate detection of the swing component q ₁ around the elevation angle axis is performed while using both the inclinometer and the angular velocity sensor.

[0051]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same components as those in the conventional example shown in FIGS. 18 to 24 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

(1) Substantial Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 1 shows the substantive configuration of an oscillation compensation antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This figure is a schematic cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 22, and has a configuration in which a uniaxial oscillation detector 52 is added to the configuration of the second conventional example.

The uniaxial rocking detector 52 is mounted on the azimuth axis frame 26 in this embodiment. Therefore,
The rotation of the azimuth axis 34 causes the azimuth axis frame 26 to rotate. Further, as will be described later, the uniaxial swing detector 52 is arranged in the direction in which the swing component around the elevation axis 24 is detected, and the elevation axis motor 30 is controlled based on the output thereof.

(2) Circuit Configuration of First Embodiment FIG. 2 shows the overall circuit configuration of the oscillation compensation antenna device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This circuit can be realized by the actual configuration shown in FIG. 1, and is composed of an array antenna 22, a drive control unit 54, an azimuth / elevation angle input unit 56, and an antenna output processing unit 58.
The array antenna 22 has a configuration in which four antenna elements 20 are arranged in a row as shown in FIG. 1, and realizes an antenna pattern as shown in FIGS. 23 and 24. The drive control unit 54 is a circuit for tracking the satellite by driving the array antenna 22 based on the satellite elevation angle and the satellite azimuth, and also has a swing compensation function.
The azimuth / elevation angle input unit 56 is a circuit that takes in the azimuth of a moving body (the azimuth of a moving body such as a ship on which the device is mounted) from a gyro compass or the like and supplies the elevation angle and the relative azimuth of the satellite to the drive control unit 54. is there. Antenna output processing unit 58
Is a circuit that takes in the output of the array antenna 22 and performs a predetermined process to generate a step track angle.

The configuration and operation of each part will be described below.

(2.1) Array Antenna FIG. 3 shows the circuit configuration of the array antenna 22 in this embodiment. As shown in this figure, the array antenna 22 has a configuration in which four antenna elements 20 are arranged in a row.

Generally, an array antenna has an antenna substrate on which an antenna element is arranged and a power feeding substrate laminated with this antenna substrate via a dielectric. The antenna element 20 in FIG. 3 is actually an array antenna 22.
Is formed as an electrode on the antenna substrate of
The connection of each antenna element 20 is performed on the power supply board. The array antenna 22 in this embodiment has four antennas.
In addition to the individual antenna elements 22, it has a combiner 60.

That is, in this embodiment, the outputs of the antenna elements 20 are combined by the combiner 60 and output to the antenna output processing section 58. Therefore, in this embodiment, a single antenna pattern is obtained around the elevation axis 24, for example, the antenna pattern shown in FIG.

(2.2) Drive Control Section FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the drive control section 54 in this embodiment.

The drive control section 54 includes an elevation angle (EL) axis 24 and an EL axis motor 30 shown in FIG. Similarly, the azimuth (AZ) axis 34 and A for driving the same
A Z-axis motor 40 is provided. In other words, the drive controller 54 is a circuit having a function of mechanically driving the array antenna 22.

Further, the drive control section 54 is provided with EL axis angle detecting means 62 for detecting the angle of the EL axis 24. The EL axis angle detecting means 62 is a member configured by, for example, a rotary encoder or the like. Similarly,
AZ-axis angle detection means 64 for detecting the angle of the AZ-axis 34
Is provided.

The detection results of the EL-axis angle detecting means 62 and the AZ-axis angle detecting means 64 are respectively the EL-axis control circuit 66.
And AZ axis control circuit 68. The EL-axis control circuit 66 is preceded by an EL-axis control calculating means 70. The EL axis control calculation means 70 includes an azimuth / elevation angle input unit 5
This is a means for taking in the elevation angle of the satellite to be tracked from 6, that is, the satellite elevation angle, and calculating the EL axis control amount to control the EL axis motor 30. The calculation result of the EL axis control amount calculation means 70 is given to the EL axis control circuit 66, and the EL axis control circuit 66 controls the EL axis motor 30 based on this.
The EL axis motor 30 accordingly rotates the EL axis 24, and the angle is detected by the EL axis angle detection means 62 and is given to the EL axis control circuit 66 as a feedback amount. That is, a servo loop related to the EL axis is formed.

On the other hand, the AZ axis control circuit 68 takes in the relative azimuth of the satellite from the azimuth / elevation angle input section 56. The AZ-axis control circuit 68 controls the AZ-axis motor 40 based on this azimuth, and the AZ-axis motor 40 rotates the AZ-axis 34 accordingly. The angle of the AZ axis 34 is determined by the AZ axis angle detecting means 64.
Is detected by and is given to the AZ axis control circuit 68 as a feedback amount. That is, a servo loop is also formed for the AZ axis 34. The reason why the array antenna 22 has the pattern shown in FIG. 23 is that only the relative azimuth of the satellite is taken in and the member corresponding to the EL axis control amount calculation means 70 is not required.

Further, the drive controller 54 of this embodiment is
A uniaxial rocking detector 52 is provided. Uniaxial swing detector 52
Is a sensor that is mounted on the azimuth axis frame 26 as described above and detects a swing component around the elevation axis 24. The output of the uniaxial oscillation detector 52 is given to the EL axis control amount computing means 70, and the EL axis control amount computing means 70 uses the output of the uniaxial oscillation detector 52 together with the satellite elevation angle described above.
Calculate the axis control amount. Here, the arithmetic expression of the EL axis control amount is θ = 90 ° −el + q ₁ , as described above. Where θ is the EL axis control amount, el is the satellite elevation angle, and q
Reference numeral ₁ denotes a swing component around the elevation axis 24 which is the detection result of the uniaxial swing detector 52.

(2.3) Uniaxial Oscillation Detector FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the uniaxial oscillation detector 52, and FIG. 6 shows its transfer function model.

The uniaxial rocking detector 52 in this embodiment is
It is composed of an inclinometer 72, an angular velocity detector 74, and a synthesis filter 76. The inclinometer 72 is a sensor that measures the inclination of the moving body and outputs it as an inclination signal to the synthesis filter 76. For example, a level sensor, a pendulum type inclinometer, etc. can be used.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a so-called pendulum type inclinometer. As shown in this figure, in the pendulum inclinometer, two resistors R and a magnetoresistive element R are used.
_X and R _Y are bridge-connected, and a magnet 80 supported like a pendulum by a fulcrum 78 is a magnetoresistive element R.
It is located close to _X and R _Y. When the hull swings in this state, the magnet 80 swings accordingly,
The resistance values of the magnetoresistive elements R _X and R _Y change. Therefore, the equilibrium state of the bridge is broken, and the output potential e is generated between the terminals A and B. This output potential e represents the swing of the ship and corresponds to the tilt signal in FIG.

On the other hand, the angular velocity detector 74 is a sensor for detecting the angular velocity of the moving body. As the angular velocity detector 74, for example, a solid state type can be used,
The angular velocity signal output from the angular velocity detector 74 is given to the synthesis filter 76.

Here, the transfer functions of the angular velocity detector 74 of the inclinometer 72 and the synthesis filter 76 are expressed as shown in FIG. That is, if the input to the inclinometer 72 and the angular velocity detector 74 is the swing component of the moving body in the predetermined direction, the transfer function of the inclinometer 72 is 1 and the transfer function of the angular velocity detector 74 is s. . Therefore, when both are used together to detect the swing component of the moving body, it is not possible to obtain the swing component (swing detection angle) of the moving body by simply adding them. Therefore, in order to deal with this, the synthesis filter 76
Filter A82 having transfer function ω _a / (s + ω _a ).
And a filter B84 having _a transfer function 1 / (s + ω _a ).
And an adder 86 that adds the outputs of both filters A82 and B84. However, ω _a is the cutoff angular frequency.

Therefore, the total transfer function of the inclinometer 72 and the filter A82 is ω _a / (s + ω _a ), and the total transfer function of the angular velocity detector 74 and the filter B84 is s / (s +
ω _a ). As a result, the transfer function seen from the output stage of the adder 86 is ω _a / (s + ω _a ) + s / (s + ω _a ).
= 1. In other words, the inclinometer 72 and the filter A8
2, the transfer function relating to 2, the angular velocity detector 74 and the filter B
And the transfer function according to 84 are complementary to each other.

In FIG. 6, the transfer function is displayed in analog, but this may be realized digitally. That is, the filter A 82 and the filter B
84 may be a digital filter. However, in this case, the outputs from the inclinometer 72 and the angular velocity detector 74 need to be input to the synthesis filter 76 as a digital signal or converted into a digital signal.

(2.4) Azimuth / elevation Angle Input Unit FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the azimuth / elevation angle input unit 56 in this embodiment.

As shown in this figure, the azimuth / elevation angle input section 56 includes a satellite azimuth / elevation angle input means 88. The satellite azimuth / elevation angle input means 88 is means for inputting information relating to the azimuth and elevation angle of the satellite from a navigation device such as a GPS. The satellite azimuth captured by the satellite azimuth and elevation angle input means 88 is a so-called absolute azimuth, that is, an azimuth with respect to the meridian of the earth. On the other hand, since the azimuth to be supplied to the drive control unit 54 is the relative azimuth of the satellite, the azimuth / elevation angle input unit 56 of this embodiment executes the operation of adding the absolute azimuth to the relative azimuth.

In order to carry out such an operation, the azimuth / elevation angle input unit 56 takes in a mobile body azimuth input from a device such as a gyrocompass. This mobile body azimuth input is information indicating the azimuth change of a mobile body such as a ship mounted with the apparatus, and the current mobile body azimuth can be obtained by sequentially cumulatively adding this to the meridian as a reference. In order to perform such an addition, the moving body direction register 9 for storing the current moving body direction
0 and an adder 92 arranged in the preceding stage of the moving body direction register 90 to add the output of the moving body direction register 90 to the moving body direction input sequentially.

The mobile azimuth stored in the mobile azimuth register 90 is subtracted from the satellite absolute azimuth input by the satellite azimuth / elevation angle input means 88. An adder 94 is provided at the subsequent stage of the moving body direction register 90 to execute this subtraction process. A satellite elevation angle register 96 is provided to temporarily store the satellite elevation angle input by the satellite azimuth elevation angle input means 88, and a satellite azimuth register 98 is provided to temporarily store the satellite relative angle obtained by the adder 94. There is.

The satellite elevation angle and the relative azimuth of the satellite stored in the satellite elevation angle register 96 and the satellite azimuth register 98, respectively, are supplied to the drive control unit 54, and the satellite tracking by the array antenna 22 is executed in response thereto.

Incidentally, so-called step track control is executed for the satellite elevation angle register 96 and the moving body direction register 92. The step track control is performed by the step track angle from the antenna output processing unit 58 described later.

(2.5) Antenna Output Processing Unit FIG. 9 shows the configuration of the antenna output processing unit 58 for executing the step track control in the azimuth / elevation angle input unit 56. The antenna output processing unit 58 is a circuit forming a part of the radio device related to the array antenna 22. That is, the oscillation compensation antenna device according to the present embodiment is used for transmitting and receiving radio waves related to satellite communication or receiving radio waves related to satellite broadcasting in a ship such as a mobile body.
For this reason, the swing compensation type antenna device is connected to or integrated with a circuit related to reception and, if necessary, transmission. The circuit shown in FIG. 9 shows only a part of a transmitting / receiving device for satellite communication or a receiving device for satellite broadcasting, particularly a configuration related to detection of an azimuth error.

Antenna output processing unit 58 shown in FIG.
Is composed of a receiver 100, a reception level signal generating means 102 and a step track control circuit 104.
The receiver 100 is a device that captures the output from the array antenna 22. The receiver 100 includes, for example, a structure such as an LNA, and at least a part of the structure is arranged on the rear surface of the antenna substrate of the array antenna 22. Normal,
Since the antenna output is a very small level signal, it is necessary to amplify it to a predetermined level in order to extract it. For this reason, the receiver front end including at least the LNA is arranged in a position close to the array antenna 22. The present embodiment is applicable to both so-called RF transmission and IF transmission.

The reception level signal generating means 102 is means for generating a reception level signal according to the output of the receiver 100. The output of the receiver 100 is an output representing a so-called carrier-to-noise power ratio C / N0. The receiver 100 converts the antenna output to a lower frequency and supplies it to the reception signal level signal generating means 102 as a so-called IF signal,
The reception level signal generation means 102 takes in this IF signal and estimates the carrier-to-noise power ratio C / N0 from the level of the carrier included in the IF signal. The reception level signal generating means 102 generates a reception level signal having a value that monotonically increases with respect to the estimated C / N0. The generated reception level signal is input to the step track control circuit 104.

The step track control circuit 104 generates the step track angle relating to the elevation angle and the azimuth based on the reception level signal generated by the reception level signal generating means 102. That is, the step track control circuit 10
The step track angle output from No. 4 is supplied to each of the satellite elevation angle register 96 and the moving body orientation register 90 described above. The step track angle is these register 9
Given to 6 and 90, its contents are fine-tuned.

In other words, the step track angle finely adjusts the contents of the satellite elevation angle register 96 and the moving body direction register 90 according to the value of the reception level signal. Therefore, the size of the step track angle is a predetermined minute angle, and its code is set to a code with which the value of the reception level signal becomes larger. Since the specific configuration of the step track control circuit 104 has been basically disclosed in the applicant's prior proposals such as Japanese Patent Application No. 2-175014 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2-240413, Will be omitted.

(2.6) Operation of First Embodiment Next, the overall operation of the oscillation compensation antenna device according to this embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, first, the satellite azimuth and elevation means 88 captures the elevation angle and absolute azimuth of the satellite. The captured satellite elevation angle is captured by the satellite elevation angle register 96, and is further supplied to the EL axis control amount calculation means 70 of the drive control unit 54 while undergoing step track control as necessary. On the other hand, the absolute azimuth of the satellite is supplied to the adder 94 arranged in the subsequent stage of the mobile azimuth register 90. The adder 94 is supplied with a value obtained by integrating the moving body azimuth input obtained by a gyro compass, that is, the moving body azimuth, and the moving azimuth is subtracted from the absolute azimuth of the satellite to obtain the relative azimuth of the satellite. This azimuth is stored in the satellite azimuth register 98, and the drive controller 54
Is supplied to the AZ axis control circuit 68. Note that the moving body azimuth register 90 is also step-tracked as necessary.

Further, in the drive control section 54, the EL axis motor 30 and the AZ axis motor 40 are controlled according to the satellite elevation angle and the relative azimuth supplied from the azimuth / elevation angle input section 56, and the EL axis 24 and the AZ axis 34 are controlled. Is rotated. That is, the mechanical axis related to the array antenna 22 is driven. By this drive, the attitude of the array antenna 22 becomes such that the satellite, which is the tracking target, can be captured. The output of the array antenna 22 generates a step track angle in the step track control circuit 104 of the antenna output processing section 58 and supplies it to the azimuth / elevation angle input section 56.

In the case where the ship on which the ship is mounted rocks during such tracking control, in the present embodiment,
The component around the EL axis 24 in the swing is detected by the uniaxial swing detector 52. This detection result is obtained by the synthesis filter that realizes the complementary transfer function as described above, and a certain degree of accuracy is ensured. The output of the uniaxial oscillation detector 52 is given to the EL axis control amount calculation means 70, and EL is calculated by subtracting the satellite elevation angle.
The axis control amount will be calculated. In other words, only by subtracting the output of the uniaxial swing detector 52, the EL 24 is rotated so as to compensate for the swing component.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is possible to execute the motion compensation of the moving body by a very simple calculation algorithm as compared with the conventional one. This is because so-called fan beam directivity is realized by the array antenna 22, and the uniaxial oscillation detector 52 is EL on the azimuth axis frame 26.
It is mounted so as to detect the swinging means around the shaft 24. Further, since the swing detecting means in this embodiment is configured as the uniaxial swing detector 52, that is, configured to detect only the swing component around the EL axis 24, the posture sensor 18 shown in FIG. It is not necessary to detect the drive component in two or more directions like
The above-mentioned effect is realized by the inexpensive swing detecting means realized by the cost of. Further, the influence of sea surface reflection can be reduced by appropriately setting the number of antenna elements 20 to, for example, 4 to 5.

(3) Second Embodiment FIG. 10 shows the configuration of an oscillation compensation antenna device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The circuit shown in this figure is different from the circuit configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, for example, in that the drive control unit 54 outputs a phase shifter control signal to the array antenna 22. The phase shifter control signal is a signal that controls the amount of phase shift in the array antenna 22.

FIG. 11 shows the configuration of the array antenna 22 in this embodiment. The array antenna 22 shown in this figure has a configuration in which three antenna elements 20 are arranged in tandem, and phase shifters 106-1 and 106-3 are provided for the upper and lower antenna elements 20. Is.

That is, in this embodiment, the antenna pattern of the array antenna 22 can be switched around the EL axis 24 by controlling the amount of phase shift of the phase shifters 106-1 and 106-3. A phase shifter drive circuit 108 for driving the phase shifters 106-1 and 106-3 is provided to enable such beam switching.

The phase shifter driving circuit 108 controls the phase shifters 106-1 and 106-3 according to the phase shifter control signal supplied from the drive control unit 54 as described later. Specifically, a digital signal is supplied according to the number of bits of the phase shifters 106-1 and 106-3. Phase shifter 106-1
And 106-3 are combined with the output of the central antenna element 20 in the combiner 60 and the antenna output processing unit 5
When the phase shifter drive circuit 108 controls the phase shifters 106-1 and 106-3 at this time, the EL of the array antenna 22 is output as shown in FIG. 12, for example.
The antenna pattern around the axis 24 is switched. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the phase shifters 106-1 and 10
It is assumed that the number of bits according to 6-3 is 2 and that three types of antenna patterns can be switched. Since such switching is performed around the EL axis 24,
It can be called the auxiliary EL axis. That is, the actual EL
The shaft 24 is a mechanical one that is rotationally driven by the EL shaft motor 30, and it can be said that the switching of the beams by the control of the phase shifters 106-1 and 106-3 assists this. In this embodiment, the swing compensation is executed exclusively by this auxiliary EL axis.

FIG. 13 shows the configuration of the drive control section 54 which supplies a phase shifter control signal to the phase shifter drive circuit 108 of the array antenna 22.

The drive control section 54 according to this embodiment is different from the drive control section 54 in the above-described first embodiment in that the output of the uniaxial rocking detector 52 is not given to the EL axis control circuit 66, but moved. It is given to the phaser control amount calculation means 110. The phase shifter control amount calculation means 110 is the uniaxial rocking detector 5
According to the output of 2, the phase shifter control signal is generated and supplied to the phase shifter drive circuit 108 in order to compensate the component around the EL axis 24 in the swing of the moving body. That is, in this embodiment, the AZ axis 34 and the EL axis 24 are connected to the array antenna 24.
Is driven only for tracking, and the fluctuation compensation is performed exclusively by the phase shifter control signal output from the phase shifter control amount calculation means 110.

Therefore, also in this embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment described above can be obtained. In addition, since the oscillation compensation of the moving body can be realized only by the phase shift control, the servo loop for controlling the AZ axis 34 and the EL axis 24 can be made relatively slow. this is,
This is because changes in the satellite elevation angle and changes in the satellite's relative azimuth are caused by changes in the ship's azimuth (moving body azimuth), movement, etc., and are slower than rocking. As a result, the structure of the drive control unit 54 can be made inexpensive, and the response to the swing can be maintained at a relatively high speed.

(4) Third Embodiment FIG. 14 shows the structure of an oscillation compensation antenna device according to the third embodiment of the present invention, particularly the structure of an auxiliary turntable.

The actual structure and the entire circuit structure of this embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG.
Any of the configurations of the second embodiment shown in FIG. The feature of this embodiment is that the uniaxial rocking detector 52 is used.
Is not placed on the azimuth axis frame 26, but is placed on the auxiliary turntable.

The auxiliary turntable shown in FIG.
12 and a turntable 114. The motor 112 is
It is a motor that rotates the turntable 114 at the same angle in synchronization with the azimuth axis 34. The uniaxial rocking | fluctuation detector 52 is the turntable 11.
It is fixed on 4.

In this way, it is not necessary to dispose the uniaxial swing detector 52 inside the radome 50. For example, it is possible to dispose it separately in the cabin. This way,
The uniaxial oscillation detector 52 can be installed under milder environmental conditions (temperature, vibration conditions, etc.), and the radome 50 can be downsized.

(5) Fourth Embodiment FIG. 15 shows the configuration of an oscillation compensation antenna device according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, particularly the configuration of the azimuth / elevation angle input section 56 thereof. The actual configuration of this embodiment is such that the uniaxial rocking detector 52 is installed in the azimuth axis frame 2 as shown in FIG.
6 may be mounted on the rotating body 114, or may be mounted on the rotating body 114 as shown in FIG. Further, the swing compensation may be performed on the EL shaft 24 or the auxiliary EL shaft. The feature of this embodiment is that the azimuth / elevation angle input unit 56 has a so-called relative azimuth configuration.

That is, as shown in FIG. 15, in the present embodiment, the search control means 1 is used in place of the satellite azimuth / elevation angle input means 88.
It has 16. The search control means 116 is powered on,
A so-called search operation is executed according to a search command or the like. The configuration of the search control means 116 is an application of the configuration of the azimuth search control circuit disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-240413 proposed by the applicant of the present application. In this embodiment, the output of the search control means 116 is input to the satellite elevation angle register 96 and the satellite azimuth register 98, and the search control is executed for both the satellite elevation angle and the satellite relative azimuth. By executing the search control for the relative azimuth of the satellite, it is not necessary to subtract the mobile azimuth from the absolute azimuth of the satellite to obtain the relative azimuth of the satellite as in the first embodiment. The body orientation register 90 and the adder 94 are eliminated, and the adder 9
2 is provided so as to successively add and update the contents of the moving body direction register 98. Step track control is performed on the satellite elevation register 96 and the satellite bearing register 98.

FIG. 16 shows the configuration of the antenna output processing section 58 provided with the function of generating a carrier detection signal (CD) for executing search control in the azimuth / elevation angle input section shown in FIG. . That is, the antenna output processing unit 58 of this embodiment is provided with the demodulator 118 that takes in the IF signal output from the receiver 100, detects the carrier, and outputs the CD. Demodulator 118
The CD output from is a signal indicating whether or not the desired signal can be received at a certain level or higher, and the search control means 116 executes search control in response to this. In addition,
The carrier detecting operation in the demodulator 118 is also one of the basic operations in a general demodulator, and is realized by, for example, a method using PLL.

Therefore, also in this embodiment, the above-mentioned first
It is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the third embodiment.

(6) Fifth Embodiment In the above description, the array antenna 22 has a configuration in which 3 to 4 antenna elements 20 are arranged around the EL axis 24. However, the present invention is not limited to such an arrangement. For example, the antenna elements 20 may be arranged in two rows instead of one row. However, in this case, since the beam width around the virtual XEL axis is narrower than that in the case of one line, the swing easily influences to some extent. However, on the other hand, the array antenna 22 has a lower height than the case where the number of antenna elements 20 is the same and therefore the combined gain is the same. Therefore, it can be said that such a configuration is effective for a ship in which the magnitude of the rocking component to be compensated is small, for example, a ship for an inland waterway or a large ship.

FIG. 17 schematically shows the actual configuration of the oscillation compensation type antenna device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
The array antenna 22 in the device shown in this figure is
The antenna elements 20 are arranged in 4 rows and 2 columns.

18 and 19 show the circuit construction of the fifth embodiment of the present invention having such a substantial construction. In particular, FIG. 18 shows the circuit configuration of the array antenna 22, and FIG. 19 shows an example configuration of the in-phase combining circuit.

This embodiment has substantially the same circuit configuration as that of the first embodiment, except that the array antenna 22 shown in FIG.
Since a configuration of 4-row 2-column element arrangement such as 7 is used, the configuration related to the output processing of the array antenna 22 is different.
Specifically, this is the virtual X as a result of the two-column arrangement.
This is because, even if the beam width around the EL axis is narrowed, regardless of this, the fan beam directivity equivalent to the case of the one-row arrangement is realized.

As shown in FIG. 18, the array antenna 22 of this embodiment has a combiner 60 for each column of the antenna elements 20, and outputs of each combiner 60 (antenna outputs A and B). It has two receiver front ends 120 which take in and perform processing such as amplification and output. The receiver front end 120 includes an LNA and the like, is arranged in the vicinity of the antenna 22, and partially shares some functions of the receiver 100. Further, the array antenna 22 performs in-phase synthesis of a frequency converter 122 that takes in the output of each receiver front end 120 and converts it to a predetermined intermediate frequency (IF), and IF signals A and B output from the frequency converter 122. And a common-mode synthesizing circuit 124 which supplies the same to the receiver 100.

That is, in this embodiment, after the reception output of each column is converted into an IF signal, the IF signals A and B of each column are adjusted in phase and combined. Therefore, the gain is improved during reception. For example, when eight antenna elements 20 are arranged in two rows, the combined gain is increased due to an increase in the number of antenna elements 20 as compared with the case where six antenna elements 20 are arranged in one row. Further, the number of the antenna elements 20 arranged around the elevation angle is reduced from 6 to 4, and the device is reduced in height and downsized. When the number of antenna elements 20 per row is the same, the 2-row arrangement has a maximum increase in reception gain of 3 dB as compared to the 1-row arrangement.

In order to realize such an effect, the in-phase synthesis circuit 124 has a structure as shown in FIG. 19, for example. The in-phase synthesizing circuit 124 shown in this figure has a mixer 126 provided corresponding to each of the IF signals A and B.
And 128, and a combiner 130 that combines the outputs of the mixers 126 and 128 and outputs as an IF signal. A local oscillator 132 that supplies a signal of a predetermined frequency and a predetermined phase is connected to the mixer 128. Also, a phase comparator 134 that compares the output phase of the mixer 126 and the phase of the IF signal B and outputs a signal that represents a phase difference, and a loop filter 136 that extracts a signal that represents a phase difference from the outputs of the phase comparator 134, The oscillation phase is controlled according to the output signal value (voltage) of the loop filter 136, and the local oscillator 132
Voltage controlled local oscillator (VCO) that oscillates at the same frequency as
And 138. Mixer 126 and VCO 138
Constitutes a phase shifter 140 for the IF signal A.

That is, the IF signals A and B are combined with the oscillation output of the local oscillator 132 or the VCO 138 in the mixer 126 or 128, and combined with the combiner 130. Here, the oscillation output of the local oscillator 132 and the oscillation output of the VCO 138 have the same frequency, but the former is fixed, but the latter is variable in phase. The output phase of the VCO 138 is the mixer 126
Is adjusted in accordance with the result of the phase comparison so that the output phase of is the same as the output phase of the mixer 128.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to electronically track the satellite around the virtual XEL axis by the in-phase synthesis at the time of reception, and although the beam width around the virtual XEL axis is narrow, one column is formed. The fan beam directivity similar to that of the element arrangement can be equivalently realized. The tracking range is determined by the beam width of the antenna element 20 alone, C / N0, the performance of the in-phase combining circuit 124, and the like. Since it is necessary to perform phase comparison, this effect can be expected only at the time of reception.

(7) Others Further, in the above description, the AZ axis 34 and the radome 5 are arranged.
It is configured separately from 0. However, the same effect can be obtained even if this is integrated. As an apparatus in which the AZ axis 34 and the radome 50 are integrally configured, there is the apparatus of Japanese Patent Application No. 3-040297 previously proposed by the applicant of the present application. In other words, the azimuth axis structure of the previously proposed device can be applied to the device of the present invention. In this case, the radome 50 can be downsized.

[0112]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention.
According to this, since the antenna having the fan beam directivity is rotatably supported by the two mechanical axes, and the swing detection means for detecting the swing component around the elevation angle axis is fixed to the azimuth axis frame. The oscillation compensation can be executed by a simple control algorithm, the configuration of the oscillation detecting means can be simplified, and an inexpensive and small oscillation compensation type antenna device can be realized.

Further, according to the second aspect, since the swing detecting means is fixed to the auxiliary rotary base, the swing detecting means can be separately arranged, and a device more resistant to rainfall and the like can be realized. According to the third aspect, the fan beam directivity can be realized by the array antenna with a simple and small configuration.

According to the fourth aspect, the fan beam directivity can be realized easily and compactly by the array antenna. In addition, since the antenna elements are arranged in M rows,
The antenna can have a lower profile. Although the beam width around the virtual XEL axis is narrowed by the arrangement of M rows, the fan beam directivity almost equivalent to that of claim 3 is obtained by the in-phase synthesis.

According to the fifth and seventh aspects, the swing detecting means is fixed to the azimuth axis frame, and the swing component around the elevation angle axis detected by the swing detecting means is compensated by beam switching of the elevation angle of the antenna. As a result, the same effect as in claim 1 can be obtained, the operation of the mechanical axis can be made slower, and the simplification and cost reduction of the device configuration can be more significantly realized.

According to the sixth aspect, since the swing detecting means is fixed to the auxiliary rotary base, the effect in the second aspect can be obtained in addition to the effect obtained in the fifth aspect. According to claim 8 , having a fan beam directivity,
In addition, since the antenna capable of switching the beam tilt around the elevation angle can be realized by the array antenna, the device configuration can be downsized and the cost can be reduced.

According to the ninth aspect , since the swing component is detected by using both the inclinometer and the angular velocity detector while realizing the complementary transfer function, the swing can be performed more accurately with a simple structure. The detection can be performed, and the size reduction and cost reduction of the device configuration become more remarkable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the actual configuration of an oscillation compensation antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an overall circuit configuration of the oscillation compensation antenna device according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an array antenna in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a drive control unit in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a uniaxial rocking detector in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a transfer function model of the uniaxial oscillation detector shown in FIG.

7 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of an inclinometer in the uniaxial rocking detector shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an azimuth / elevation angle input unit in the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an antenna output processing unit in the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an overall circuit configuration of a vibration compensation antenna device according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of an array antenna according to a second exemplary embodiment.

12 is a diagram showing an antenna pattern around an auxiliary EL axis obtained by the array antenna shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a drive controller in the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a side view showing the configuration of an auxiliary rotating body in the third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an azimuth / elevation angle input unit in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an antenna output processing unit in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the actual configuration of the oscillation compensation antenna device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a configuration of an array antenna in a fifth exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an in-phase combining circuit according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an oscillation compensation antenna device according to a first conventional example.

FIG. 21 is a coordinate relationship diagram showing the principle of oscillation compensation in an oscillation compensation antenna device having an EL axis and an XEL axis.

FIG. 22 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the actual configuration of the oscillation compensation antenna device according to the second conventional example.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an antenna pattern around a virtual XEL axis in an array antenna having fan beam directivity.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an antenna pattern around an EL axis in an array antenna having fan beam directivity.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 Antenna Element 22 Array Antenna 24 Elevation Axis (EL Axis) 26 Azimuth Axis Frame 30 Elevation Axis Motor (EL Axis Motor) 34 Azimuth Axis (AZ Axis) 40 Azimuth Axis Motor (AZ Axis Motor) 52 Uniaxial Oscillation Detector 54 Drive Control unit 56 Azimuth / elevation angle input unit 58 Antenna output processing unit 70 EL axis control amount computing means 72 Inclinometer 74 Angle detector 76 Synthesis filter 82 Filter A 84 Filter B 86 Adder 106-1, 106-2 Phase shifter 108 Phase shifter drive circuit 110 Phase shifter control amount calculation means 112 Motor 114 Rotating platform 120 Receiver front end 124 In-phase combining circuit 130 Combiner 132 Local oscillator 134 Phase comparator 138 Voltage controlled local oscillator (VCO) S Satellite r roll p pitch u elevation component of the swing angle q ₁ swing angle (swing around the EL axis formed )

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. An antenna having a fan beam directivity having a wide beam width around the azimuth and a narrow beam width around the elevation angle, an elevation axis for rotatably supporting the antenna in the elevation direction, and an elevation axis for rotation. An azimuth axis frame that holds the azimuth axis frame, an azimuth axis that rotatably supports the azimuth axis frame, an elevation angle axis drive unit that rotates the antenna around the elevation angle axis, and an antenna around the azimuth axis by rotating the azimuth axis frame. The azimuth axis driving means for rotating the antenna in the direction, the rocking detecting means for detecting the rocking of a moving body such as a ship on which the antenna is mounted, and the radio waves related to the transmission and / or reception of the tracking target satellite are captured by the antenna. And a control means for controlling the azimuth axis drive means and the elevation angle axis drive means, and for controlling the elevation angle axis drive means so as to compensate the detected oscillation. The motion detecting means is installed so as to rotate together with the azimuth axis, and detects the swing component around the elevation axis of the swing of the moving body, and the control means detects the swing component around the elevation axis as the elevation angle of the antenna. An oscillation compensation type antenna device, characterized in that the oscillation compensation control is performed by controlling the oscillation compensation antenna. 2. An antenna having a fan beam directivity having a wide beam width around the azimuth and a narrow beam width around the elevation angle, an elevation angle axis for rotatably supporting the antenna in the elevation angle direction, and an elevation angle axis rotatable. An azimuth axis frame that holds the azimuth axis frame, an azimuth axis that rotatably supports the azimuth axis frame, an elevation angle axis drive unit that rotates the antenna around the elevation angle axis, and an antenna around the azimuth axis by rotating the azimuth axis frame. The azimuth axis driving means for rotating the antenna in the direction, the rocking detecting means for detecting the rocking of a moving body such as a ship on which the antenna is mounted, and the radio waves related to the transmission and / or reception of the tracking target satellite are captured by the antenna. And a control means for controlling the azimuth axis drive means and the elevation angle axis drive means, and for controlling the elevation angle axis drive means so as to compensate the detected oscillation. An auxiliary rotary base that rotates by the same angle in synchronization with the rotation of the position axis is provided, and the swing detection means is fixed to the auxiliary rotary base, and a swing component around the elevation axis of the swing of the moving body. Is detected, and the control means performs the swing compensation control by adjusting the swing component about the elevation angle axis to the elevation angle of the antenna, thereby performing the swing compensation type antenna device. 3. The oscillation-compensating antenna device according to claim 1, wherein the antenna is arranged so that the antenna elements are arranged around the elevation axis.
An oscillation compensation type antenna device, wherein (N: a natural number of 2 or more) antenna elements are array antennas arranged in series. 4. The oscillation-compensating antenna device according to claim 1, wherein the antenna has N rows and M columns (N, M: natural number of 2 or more) with the antenna elements as columns. An arrayed array antenna, which is provided for each column of the array antenna, and the receiver front end that outputs the combined output of the antenna elements belonging to the corresponding column and the signal output from each receiver front end are in-phase combined An oscillation compensation type antenna device comprising: an in-phase synthesizing circuit for continuously changing the directivity of the antenna around an axis perpendicular to the elevation angle axis. 5. An antenna having a fan beam directivity having a wide beam width around the azimuth direction and a narrow beam width around the elevation angle and capable of switching the beam tilt around the elevation angle, and an elevation angle for rotatably supporting the antenna in the elevation direction. Axis, an azimuth axis frame that rotatably holds the elevation angle axis, an azimuth axis that rotatably supports the azimuth axis frame, an elevation angle axis drive unit that rotates the antenna around the elevation angle axis, and an azimuth axis frame. Azimuth axis drive means for rotating the antenna around the azimuth axis by rotating, oscillating detection means for detecting oscillating movement of a moving body such as a ship equipped with an antenna, transmission with a satellite to be tracked, and /
Or a control means for controlling the azimuth axis drive means and the elevation angle axis drive means so that the radio wave related to the reception is captured by the antenna, and for switching the beam tilt of the antenna so as to compensate the detected oscillation. In the compensation type antenna device, the swing detecting means is installed so as to rotate together with the azimuth axis, and detects the swing component around the elevation angle axis in the swing of the moving body, and the control means detects the swing component around the elevation angle axis. An oscillation-compensating antenna device, characterized in that a beam inclination around an elevation angle of an antenna is adjusted to compensate an oscillation component. 6. An antenna having a fan beam directivity having a wide beam width around the azimuth direction and a narrow beam width around the elevation angle and capable of switching a beam tilt around the elevation angle, and an elevation angle for rotatably supporting the antenna in the elevation direction. Axis, an azimuth axis frame that rotatably holds the elevation angle axis, an azimuth axis that rotatably supports the azimuth axis frame, an elevation angle axis drive unit that rotates the antenna around the elevation angle axis, and an azimuth axis frame. Azimuth axis drive means for rotating the antenna around the azimuth axis by rotating, rocking detection means for detecting rocking of a moving body such as a ship on which the antenna is mounted, transmission with a satellite to be tracked, and /
Or a control means for controlling the azimuth axis drive means and the elevation angle axis drive means so that the radio wave related to the reception is captured by the antenna, and for switching the beam tilt of the antenna so as to compensate the detected oscillation. The compensation type antenna device is provided with an auxiliary rotary base that rotates by the same angle in synchronization with the rotation of the azimuth axis, the swing detection means is fixed to the auxiliary rotary base, and the elevation angle of the swing of the moving body is fixed. An oscillation compensation type antenna device, wherein the oscillation means around an axis is detected, and the control means adjusts the beam tilt around the elevation angle of the antenna so as to compensate for the oscillation component around the elevation angle axis. 7. A bee that is wide around the azimuth and narrow around the elevation.
A beam around the elevation angle that has a fan beam directivity with a wide width
Antenna with switchable tilt and antenna in elevation direction
And the elevation axis that supports it so that it can rotate.
Azimuth axis frame to be held and azimuth axis frame can be rotated
To rotate the azimuth axis to support and the azimuth axis frame
Azimuth axis drive means for rotating the antenna around the azimuth axis
And the swing of a moving body such as a ship equipped with an antenna is detected.
And / or transmission between the oscillation detection means and the tracking target satellite
Or, those who receive radio waves related to reception by the antenna
Controls the axis drive means and compensates for detected oscillations
Control means to switch the beam tilt of the antenna so that
In the oscillation compensation type antenna device having the above, the oscillation detection means is installed so as to rotate together with the azimuth axis.
And the swing component around the elevation axis of the swing of the moving body
Detection and control means to compensate for the swing component about the elevation axis.
Characterized by adjusting the beam tilt around the elevation angle of the tenor
Oscillation compensation type antenna device. 8. A swing compensation type antenna according to claim 5 or 7.
In the antenna device, the antennas are arranged N in series so as to be lined up around the elevation axis.
(N: 2 or more natural number) antenna elements and N antenna elements
For N or N-1 antenna elements among antenna elements
N or N-1 for phase shifting the transmitted and / or received signals according to
Shows the number of phase shifters and the beam tilt around the elevation angle to be realized
Phase shift that controls the amount of phase shift of the phase shifter according to the phase shifter drive signal
And a phase shifter according to the value of the swing component around the elevation axis.
The driving signal is supplied to the phase shifter driving circuit.
Oscillation compensation antenna device. 9. An oscillation compensation type antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
In the Na device, The swing detecting means detects the tilt angle of the moving body in the elevation direction.
Inclinometer and angular velocity that detects the angular velocity around the elevation angle of the moving body
Combine the detector output with the inclinometer output and the angular velocity detector output.
A synthetic filter that outputs as a swing component around the elevation axis,
Including, A synthesis filter is a first filter that filters the output of the inclinometer.
And the first filter to filter the output of the angular velocity detector.
A second filter having a transfer function complementary to the first
Add the output of the filter and the output of the second filter
An oscillation compensation type antenna device characterized by including a calculator and
Place.