CN112242610A - Metamaterial unit, metamaterial, antenna and antenna frequency modulation method - Google Patents
Metamaterial unit, metamaterial, antenna and antenna frequency modulation method Download PDFInfo
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- CN112242610A CN112242610A CN202011226486.2A CN202011226486A CN112242610A CN 112242610 A CN112242610 A CN 112242610A CN 202011226486 A CN202011226486 A CN 202011226486A CN 112242610 A CN112242610 A CN 112242610A
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q15/00—Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
- H01Q15/0006—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices
- H01Q15/0086—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices said selective devices having materials with a synthesized negative refractive index, e.g. metamaterials or left-handed materials
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
- H01Q1/36—Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella; Particular materials used therewith
- H01Q1/364—Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella; Particular materials used therewith using a particular conducting material, e.g. superconductor
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q15/00—Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
- H01Q15/0006—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices
- H01Q15/0013—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices said selective devices working as frequency-selective reflecting surfaces, e.g. FSS, dichroic plates, surfaces being partly transmissive and reflective
- H01Q15/002—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices said selective devices working as frequency-selective reflecting surfaces, e.g. FSS, dichroic plates, surfaces being partly transmissive and reflective said selective devices being reconfigurable or tunable, e.g. using switches or diodes
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q15/00—Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
- H01Q15/0006—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices
- H01Q15/0013—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices said selective devices working as frequency-selective reflecting surfaces, e.g. FSS, dichroic plates, surfaces being partly transmissive and reflective
- H01Q15/0046—Theoretical analysis and design methods of such selective devices
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Abstract
The invention discloses a metamaterial unit, a metamaterial, an antenna and an antenna frequency modulation method, relates to the technical field of metamaterials, and aims to simplify the structure of the metamaterial unit of a frequency reconfigurable wire, reduce the manufacturing difficulty, enlarge the adjustment range and facilitate the miniaturization of a packaging integrated system. The metamaterial unit includes: the reflection part, the first medium part located below the reflection part, the second medium part located above the reflection part and the control unit. The surface of the first medium part facing the reflection part is provided with a liquid storage tank, and liquid metal is stored in the liquid storage tank. The surface of the second medium part far away from the reflection part is provided with an empty groove communicated with the liquid storage groove, and the area of the empty groove is gradually increased along the direction of the notch close to the empty groove. The control unit is used for adjusting the filling amount of the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank in the empty tank so as to reconstruct the frequency characteristic of the antenna by using the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank. The metamaterial unit, the metamaterial, the antenna and the antenna frequency modulation method are used for manufacturing and frequency modulation of the metamaterial.
Description
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of metamaterials, in particular to a metamaterial unit, a metamaterial, an antenna and an antenna frequency modulation method.
Background
Electromagnetic Metamaterials (Electromagnetic Metamaterials) are artificial materials with specific Electromagnetic response formed by sub-wavelength metal/dielectric micro/nano-structured unit designs. Electromagnetic metamaterials allow efficient manipulation and guidance of free-space electromagnetic waves, potentially improving existing new microwave assemblies and antenna designs. With the increase of the complexity of the system, the functional requirements of users are continuously increased, which requires the system to be dynamically adjusted in time under different application scenarios, thereby ensuring the optimal performance. In addition, there is a need to support more functions within a compact, limited structure. In this context, the application of electromagnetic metamaterials to reconfigurable antennas becomes a very practical hot research field.
The reconfigurable antenna based on the electromagnetic metamaterial can realize the readjustment of the working frequency in a specific range so as to form the frequency reconfigurable antenna. However, in the related art, the metamaterial unit of the reconfigurable antenna is often formed by adopting a method of integrating devices such as a varactor diode, a PIN diode switch, an MEMS switch and the like in a substrate, so that the reconfigurable antenna frequency is realized, and the structure is complex, the manufacturing difficulty is high, the adjustment range is limited, and the miniaturization of a packaging integrated system is not facilitated.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a metamaterial unit, a metamaterial, an antenna and an antenna frequency modulation method, so that the structure of the metamaterial unit of a frequency reconfigurable wire is simplified, the manufacturing difficulty is reduced, the adjustment range is enlarged, and the miniaturization of a packaging integrated system is facilitated.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a metamaterial unit for reconstructing antenna frequency characteristics. The metamaterial unit includes: the reflection part, the first medium part located below the reflection part, the second medium part located above the reflection part and the control unit. The surface of the first medium part facing the reflection part is provided with a liquid storage tank, and liquid metal is stored in the liquid storage tank. The surface of the second medium part far away from the reflection part is provided with an empty groove communicated with the liquid storage groove, and the area of the empty groove is gradually increased along the direction of the notch close to the empty groove. The control unit is used for adjusting the filling amount of the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank in the empty tank so as to reconstruct the frequency characteristic of the antenna by using the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank.
Compared with the prior art, the metamaterial unit comprises a first medium part, a second medium part and a control unit, wherein liquid metal is stored in a liquid storage tank formed in the first medium part, and a hollow groove is formed in the second medium plate. And under the control of the control unit, adjusting the filling amount of the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank filled into the empty tank. Because the area of the empty groove is gradually increased along the direction close to the notch of the empty groove, the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflecting part in the empty groove can be adjusted under the control of the control unit, so that the metamaterial unit has the frequency characteristic of the reconstructed antenna. And, the metamaterial unit includes reflection part, first medium portion, second medium portion and the control unit, and the constitution structure is less, and first medium portion and second medium portion only need etch out the cell body structure can, simple structure, the preparation technology degree of difficulty is low. Therefore, the metamaterial unit has the characteristics of reconstructing the frequency of the antenna, and is simple in structure and low in manufacturing difficulty.
In addition, compared with the prior art that the frequency characteristic of the antenna needs to be reconstructed by adopting devices such as a variable capacitance diode, a PIN diode switch and an MEMS switch, the metamaterial unit can be reconstructed by the empty tank, the liquid storage tank storing liquid metal and the control unit, the structure is simple, the manufacturing process difficulty is low, the miniaturization of a packaging integrated system is facilitated, the area change range of the liquid metal projection in the empty tank on the reflecting part is large, and the frequency range of the antenna is adjusted by the metamaterial unit is large.
In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a metamaterial. The metamaterial comprises a plurality of units of metamaterial as described in the first aspect.
The beneficial effects of the metamaterial provided by the second aspect can refer to the beneficial effects of the metamaterial unit described in the first aspect, and are not described in detail herein.
In a third aspect, the present invention provides an antenna. The antenna comprises the metamaterial described in the second aspect.
The advantageous effects of the antenna provided by the third aspect can be found in the advantageous effects of the metamaterial described in the second aspect.
In some possible implementations, the antenna further includes a dipole antenna located above the second dielectric portion.
Under the condition of adopting the technical scheme, the in-phase reflection characteristic of the metamaterial unit in the metamaterial below the dipole antenna is adopted to realize the low-profile antenna. In addition, the size of the dipole antenna does not need to be changed, the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflecting part in the metamaterial unit is reconfigurable, and the function of reconfigurable antenna frequency is realized.
In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a method for tuning an antenna. Applying the metamaterial described in the second aspect, the antenna frequency modulation method includes:
receiving electromagnetic modulation information, wherein the electromagnetic modulation information comprises a target frequency parameter;
determining a reconstruction control strategy from a preset corresponding relation according to the electromagnetic modulation information, wherein the reconstruction control strategy comprises state information of a plurality of control units which accord with the electromagnetic modulation information; the preset corresponding relation comprises the corresponding relation between the state information of the plurality of control units and the working frequency points of the metamaterial;
and controlling a control unit contained in each metamaterial unit according to a reconstruction control strategy, so that the filling amount of the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank in the empty tank is adjusted under the control of each metamaterial unit by the control unit, and the frequency characteristic of the antenna is reconstructed by using the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank.
The beneficial effects of the antenna frequency modulation method provided by the fourth aspect may refer to the beneficial effects of the metamaterial described in the second aspect, and are not described herein again.
In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a terminal device. The terminal device includes a processor and a communication interface coupled to the processor. The processor is used for running a computer program or instructions to implement the antenna frequency modulation encoding method described in the fourth aspect.
Drawings
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention and not to limit the invention. In the drawings:
fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a metamaterial unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a first state of an n-m-4 metamaterial embodying the present invention;
fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a second state of an n-m-4 metamaterial embodying the present invention;
fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a change in an operating frequency of the antenna according to a size of a liquid metal projected on the reflector.
Reference numerals: the antenna comprises an A-dipole antenna, 10-metamaterial units, 11-reflecting parts, 12-first medium parts, 121-liquid storage tanks, 13-second medium parts, 131-empty tanks, 14-third medium parts, 15-control units, 16-through holes and 100-metamaterial arrays.
Detailed Description
In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and advantageous effects to be solved by the present invention more clearly apparent, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.
It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically defined otherwise. The meaning of "a number" is one or more unless specifically limited otherwise.
In the description of the present invention, the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience in describing the present invention and simplifying the description, but do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and be operated, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.
In the present invention, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a and b combination, a and c combination, b and c combination, or a, b and c combination, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.
Additionally, the words "exemplary" or "such as" are used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g.," is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.
Electromagnetic Metamaterials (Electromagnetic Metamaterials) are artificial materials with specific Electromagnetic response formed by sub-wavelength metal/dielectric micro/nano-structured unit designs. Electromagnetic metamaterials have attracted extensive research interest over the last several decades due to their specific ability to manipulate electromagnetic waves. The electromagnetic wave control capability of the electromagnetic metamaterial cannot be realized by a naturally generated material, and is usually realized by local control of the phase, amplitude and polarization of the electromagnetic metamaterial.
Electromagnetic metamaterials allow efficient manipulation and guidance of free-space electromagnetic waves, potentially improving existing new microwave assemblies and antenna designs. With the increase of the complexity of the system, the functional requirements of users are continuously increased, which requires the system to be dynamically adjusted in time under different application scenarios, thereby ensuring the optimal performance. In addition, there is a need to support more functions within a compact, limited structure. In this context, the application of electromagnetic metamaterials to reconfigurable antennas becomes a very practical hot research field.
The reconfigurable antenna based on the electromagnetic metamaterial can realize the readjustment of the working frequency in a specific range so as to form the frequency reconfigurable antenna. In the related art, the metamaterial unit of the reconfigurable antenna is formed by adopting a method of integrating devices such as a variable capacitance diode, a PIN diode switch, an MEMS switch and the like in a substrate, so that the reconfigurable antenna frequency is realized, the structure is complex, the manufacturing difficulty is high, the adjusting range is limited, and the miniaturization of a packaging integrated system is not facilitated.
In view of the above technical problems, embodiments of the present invention provide an antenna. Fig. 1 illustrates an antenna schematic diagram provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the antenna includes a dipole antenna a and a metamaterial. The dipole antenna a may be formed by a rectangular or disc-shaped metal patch, disposed above the metamaterial. At this time, the in-phase reflection characteristic of the metamaterial below the dipole antenna A is adopted to realize the low-profile antenna. In addition, the size of the dipole antenna A does not need to be changed, and the antenna is reconfigurable by utilizing metamaterials, so that the function of reconfigurable antenna frequency is realized.
The embodiment of the invention also provides the metamaterial. As shown in fig. 1, the metamaterial may be applied to the antenna. The metamaterial includes a plurality of metamaterial units 10. A plurality of metamaterial units 10 are periodically arranged to form a metamaterial.
Fig. 2 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a metamaterial unit provided in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, the metamaterial unit 10 includes a reflection portion 11, a first dielectric portion 12 located below the reflection portion 11, a second dielectric portion 13 located above the reflection portion 11, and a control unit 15. A liquid storage tank 121 is opened on the surface of the first medium part 12 facing the reflection part 11, and liquid metal is stored in the liquid storage tank 121. The surface of the second medium portion 13 away from the reflection portion 11 is opened with an empty groove 131 communicated with the liquid storage tank 121, and the area of the empty groove 131 gradually increases along the direction of the opening of the empty groove 131. The control unit 15 is configured to adjust the filling amount of the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank 121 in the empty tank 131, so as to reconstruct the antenna frequency characteristic by using the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank 131.
In specific implementation, as shown in fig. 2, the control unit 15 controls the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank 121 to flow into or out of the empty tank 131 so as to change the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank 131. Since the area of the empty groove 131 gradually increases along the direction of the notch close to the empty groove 131, when the control unit 15 controls the liquid metal to enter the empty groove 131 so that the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty groove 131 increases, the area of the liquid metal projected in the empty groove 131 on the reflection part 11 increases; in contrast, when the control unit 15 controls the liquid metal to flow out of the empty tank 131 so that the liquid metal filling amount in the empty tank 131 decreases, the area of the liquid metal in the empty tank 131 projected on the reflection part 11 decreases.
Based on the above-mentioned detailed structure and operation of the metamaterial unit 10, as shown in fig. 2, under the control of the control unit 15, the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty groove 131 can be adjusted to change the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflective portion 11 in the empty groove 131, so as to cause the resonant frequency and the in-phase reflection band to be changed, so that the metamaterial unit 10 has the reconfiguration characteristic. Moreover, the metamaterial unit 10 comprises a reflection part 11, a first medium part 12, a second medium part 13 and a control unit 15, the number of the formed structures is small, the first medium part 12 and the second medium part 13 only need to be etched to form a groove body structure, the structure is simple, and the difficulty of the manufacturing process is low. Therefore, the metamaterial unit 10 has the characteristics of reconstructing the frequency of the antenna, and is simple in structure and low in manufacturing difficulty.
In addition, as shown in fig. 1, compared with the prior art that the reconstruction of the antenna frequency characteristic needs to be realized by adopting devices such as a varactor, a PIN diode switch, an MEMS switch, and the like, the metamaterial unit 10 of the present invention can realize the reconstruction of the metamaterial unit 10 by the empty tank 131, the liquid storage tank 121 storing the liquid metal, and the control unit 15, and has the advantages of simple structure, low manufacturing process difficulty, and contribution to the miniaturization of the package integrated system, and the large area change range of the liquid metal projected in the empty tank 131 on the reflection portion 11, so that the antenna frequency adjusting range of the metamaterial unit 10 of the present invention is large.
As shown in fig. 2, the reflection unit 11 functions to reflect the received electromagnetic wave and prevent the electromagnetic wave from transmitting therethrough. In practical applications, the reflection portion 11 may be a patch type metal floor. The metal floor is a metal sheet made of copper, tin, etc.
As shown in fig. 2, the first medium part 12 is located below the reflection part 11, and specifically, the first medium part 12 is located on the lower surface of the reflection part 11. The thickness of the first medium part 12 may be determined according to the design size of the reservoir 121 as long as the thickness of the first medium part 12 is ensured enough to open the reservoir 121 of the design size. The material of the first dielectric portion 12 may be an organic material, a ceramic material, or silicon, but is not limited thereto.
As shown in fig. 2, the contour of the reservoir 121 may be square, rectangular, or triangular, but is not limited thereto. The liquid metal in the reservoir 121 includes one or more of a gallium-based liquid metal alloy, an indium-based liquid metal alloy, a bismuth-based liquid metal alloy, and a tin-based liquid metal alloy. The gallium-based liquid metal alloy is mainly prepared from gallium and metals such as indium, bismuth, lead, tin, cadmium and the like according to different proportions. The indium-based liquid metal alloy is prepared by using indium as a main component and bismuth, gallium, tin and other metals as auxiliary components. The bismuth-base liquid metal alloy is prepared by using bismuth as a main component and using metals such as lead, indium, tin, lithium and the like as auxiliary components. The tin-base liquid metal alloy is prepared with tin as main component and Al, Co, Ga, Zn, Sb, etc. as supplementary material. These liquid metals are metals that are liquid at room temperature, have excellent metallicity and fluidity, and easily flow in the reservoir 121 and the empty tank 131 that communicate with each other. In practical applications, the volume of the liquid metal stored in the liquid storage tank 121 may be determined according to the volume of the empty tank 131, as long as the liquid metal can be filled to the end of the empty tank 131 close to the notch.
As shown in fig. 2, the second dielectric portion 13 is located above the reflection portion 11, and specifically, the second dielectric portion 13 is located on the upper surface of the reflection portion 11. The material of the second dielectric portion 13 may be an organic material, a ceramic material, or silicon, but is not limited thereto. The characteristics of the second dielectric portion 13, such as material and size, affect the regulation of the metamaterial unit 10 on the electromagnetic waves. In practical applications, the second dielectric portion 13 may be a silicon wafer with a thickness of 0.3mm to 0.5 mm.
The empty groove may be a trumpet-shaped empty groove. Specifically, an empty groove is formed in the surface, far away from the reflection portion, of the second medium portion, the empty groove is horn-shaped, and the end, with the largest size, of the horn-shaped empty groove is close to the notch, so that the area of the empty groove is gradually increased along the direction of the notch close to the empty groove. When the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty groove is increased, the liquid metal is filled from the direction far away from the notch to the notch direction, so that the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflecting part in the empty groove is increased. When the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty groove is reduced, the liquid metal flows out in the direction away from the notch, so that the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflecting part in the empty groove is reduced.
As shown in fig. 2, since the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflection portion 11 in the empty groove 131 corresponds to the corresponding antenna frequency, the sidewall of the empty groove 131 may be formed with a plurality of annular steps to facilitate adjusting the metamaterial unit 10 to a corresponding state. The area of the plurality of annular steps increases gradually in the direction of the notch near the empty groove 131. When the control unit 15 adjusts the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflection portion 11, the liquid metal may be filled on the corresponding annular step. Based on this, a plurality of annular steps are opened on the side wall of the empty groove 131, a certain height difference exists between adjacent steps, when the liquid metal increases or decreases in the same step, the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflection portion 11 does not change, and only when the liquid metal increases or decreases to the adjacent steps, the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflection portion 11 changes, so that the area change of the liquid metal projected on the reflection portion 11 has an obvious limit, and the metamaterial unit 10 can be conveniently and accurately adjusted to the state corresponding to the antenna frequency.
As shown in fig. 2, when the sidewall of the hollow 131 has a plurality of annular steps, each step may have a regular shape or a special shape. Specifically, the regular shape may be a square, a rectangle, a circle, a triangle, a polygon, or the like. The irregular shape may be the empty groove 131 having a curved sidewall, but is not limited thereto. The empty tank 131 and the reservoir 121 may be communicated with each other by providing a passage between the empty tank 131 and the reservoir 121. In practical applications, the second medium portion 13 and the reflective portion 11 may be both provided with a through hole 16 communicating with the empty tank 131 and the liquid storage tank 121. The through-holes 16 include a first through-hole 16 and a second through-hole 16. The first through hole 16 is formed in the reflection portion 11, the second through hole 16 is formed in the second medium portion 13, and the first through hole 16 and the second through hole 16 are communicated with each other to form a through hole 16 for communicating the empty tank 131 and the reservoir 121. It should be understood that the through hole 16 may be a vertical through hole 16, a curved through hole 16, or a bent through hole 16. In particular, the liquid metal in the reservoir 121 flows into the empty tank 131 through the through hole 16.
As shown in fig. 2, the metamaterial unit 10 may further include a third dielectric portion 14 on an upper surface of the second dielectric portion 13. The third medium portion 14 seals the empty groove 131 of the second medium portion 13. After the control unit 15 controls the liquid metal to fill the empty groove 131, the third medium part 14 can not only prevent impurities from entering the empty groove 131 to contaminate the liquid metal therein, but also prevent the liquid metal from leaking out of the empty groove 131. In practical applications, the third medium part 14 may be integrally formed with the second medium part 13, or may be provided separately from the second medium part 13. When the third medium part 14 and the second medium part 13 are integrally formed, a gap in the case of connecting the separate structures to each other can be avoided, so that the third medium part 14 has good sealing performance. When the third medium part 14 and the second medium part 13 are separately arranged, the second medium part 13 and the third medium part 14 can be respectively processed, so that the empty groove 131 can be conveniently formed in the second medium part 13, and the processing difficulty is reduced. The material of the third dielectric portion 14 may be an organic material, a ceramic material, silicon, or the like, but is not limited thereto.
As shown in fig. 2, the control unit 15 is used to control the flow of the liquid metal in the reservoir 121. That is, the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank 131 is adjusted. Accordingly, the control unit 15 has both an operating state and a shutdown state. In practical applications, the control unit 15 may be disposed below the first medium portion 12. The control unit 15 may include a control switch provided below the first medium part 12. The control switch can be a pump or a valve switch. The pump as a control switch may be a micro-structure like a syringe pump.
In the metamaterial, the plurality of metamaterial units may be periodically arranged. As shown in fig. 1, in order to facilitate the processing and improve the electromagnetic wave regulation performance of the metamaterial, a plurality of metamaterial units 10 included in the metamaterial may be integrated together. At this time, the reflective portions 11 of the plurality of metamaterial units 10 are integrated into a complete reflective plate, the first dielectric portions 12 of the plurality of metamaterial units 10 are integrated into a complete first dielectric plate, and the second dielectric portions 13 of the plurality of metamaterial units 10 are integrated into a complete second dielectric plate. The first dielectric plate, the second dielectric plate and the third dielectric plate may be made of the same material or different materials. The first dielectric plate, the second dielectric plate and the third dielectric plate can be manufactured by utilizing a packaging substrate process, a low-temperature co-fired ceramic process and a wafer-level fan-shaped demolding process, and miniaturization is facilitated.
The metamaterial provided by the embodiment of the invention can be formed by periodically arranging the metamaterial units by taking the metamaterial units as the minimum unit. The metamaterial array consisting of a plurality of metamaterial units can also be used as the minimum unit of the metamaterial, and the metamaterial array is periodically arranged to form the metamaterial.
The metamaterial units can form a metamaterial array in n rows and m columns; wherein n and m are integers greater than 1. The specific values of n and m may be equal or unequal. The metamaterial comprises at least one metamaterial array. When the metamaterial comprises an array of metamaterials, the metamaterial unit is the smallest unit of the metamaterial. When the metamaterial comprises a plurality of metamaterial arrays, the metamaterial arrays are the smallest units of the metamaterial.
The metamaterial may have a metamaterial array 100 with k rows and r columns distributed in an array, where k and r are integers greater than 0. The values of k and r may be equal or unequal.
Illustratively, fig. 3 illustrates a first state diagram of the metamaterial with n-m-4 implemented in the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the metamaterial includes 16 metamaterial units 10, and the 16 metamaterial units 10 are distributed in a 4 × 4 array. The control unit 15 controls the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank 131 to reconstruct the antenna frequency characteristic. As shown in fig. 3, the control unit 15 controls the liquid metal to be filled in the lowermost layer of the empty groove 131, and the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflection part 11 in the empty groove 131 is the smallest. Fig. 4 illustrates a second state diagram of the metamaterial according to the embodiment of the present invention, where n-m-4, as shown in fig. 4, the control unit 15 controls the liquid metal to be filled in the uppermost layer of the empty groove 131, and the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflective portion 11 in the empty groove 131 is the largest.
When the side wall of the empty groove is provided with a plurality of annular steps, the number, the area and the shape of the annular steps can be set according to actual needs, and the number, the area and the shape are not limited herein. The following explains the use method of the antenna provided by the present invention by taking the example that the number of the annular steps is 5 and the shape of each annular step is square.
As shown in fig. 3, 16 metamaterial units 10 are distributed in a 4 × 4 array to form a metamaterial. The lengths of the 5 annular steps in each metamaterial unit 10 along the groove edge close to the direction of the notch of the empty groove 131 are 0.8mm, 0.9mm, 1.0mm, 1.1mm and 1.2mm in sequence. The thickness of the second dielectric portion 13 is 0.4mm, the thickness of the third dielectric portion 14 is 0.04mm, and the total length of the dipole antenna a is half the dielectric wavelength (1.26 mm).
As shown in fig. 1, the control unit 15 controls the liquid metal to be filled from the liquid storage tank 121 to the empty tank 131 upward, and changes the position of the liquid metal on the annular step by changing the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank 131. When the liquid metal is filled into the empty groove 131, the liquid metal sequentially fills each annular step in the direction close to the notch, and as the lengths of the groove edges of the annular steps in the direction close to the notch are increased layer by layer, the area of the projection of the liquid metal on the reflection part 11 is increased, and the resonance frequency is reduced. When the liquid metal flows out of the empty groove 131, the liquid metal flows out of the empty groove 131 in a direction away from the notch, so that the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflection portion 11 is reduced, and the resonance frequency is increased.
Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a change of an operating frequency of the antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention along with a size of a liquid metal projected on the reflection portion. In fig. 5 w is the slot length. As shown in fig. 5, when the dipole antenna a works on the metamaterial, the frequency reconfiguration can be realized by changing the area of the liquid metal projected on the reflecting part 11 in the empty groove 131 only by changing the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty groove 131 through the control unit 15. As shown in fig. 5, when the length of the slot edge of the annular step filled with the liquid metal in each metamaterial unit 10 is changed from 0.8mm to 1.2mm, the dipole antenna a can realize a reconfigurable function in a wide frequency band range of 35GHz to 44GHz on a substrate with a thickness of less than 0.5 mm.
As can be seen from the above, as shown in fig. 1, the metamaterial provided by the embodiment of the invention uses liquid metal to replace conventional solid metal to form the electromagnetic metamaterial unit 10, so that the metamaterial unit 10 is reconfigurable. According to the antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention, the dipole antenna A is used as an antenna radiator, the metamaterial unit 10 with the same-phase reflection characteristic is arranged at the bottom of the dipole antenna A, the section of the dipole antenna A is reduced, and the distance from the antenna to a reflection ground plane during operation can be reduced from 1/4 wavelength to 1/20 wavelength or more. The radiator antenna of the antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention is a dipole antenna A with a fixed size, the working frequency of the antenna is changed by changing the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty groove 131 in the metamaterial unit 10 arranged below the radiator antenna, and the wide frequency reconfiguration in a broadband range is realized.
The embodiment of the invention also provides the terminal equipment. The terminal device comprises a processor and a communication interface coupled with the processor; the processor is used to run a computer program or instructions to implement the antenna frequency modulation method.
The antenna frequency modulation method applies the antenna. The antenna frequency modulation method comprises the following steps:
the communication interface receives electromagnetic modulation information, the electromagnetic modulation information including a target frequency parameter.
The processor determines a reconfiguration control strategy from the preset corresponding relation according to the electromagnetic modulation information, wherein the reconfiguration control strategy comprises state information of a plurality of control units which accord with the electromagnetic modulation information. In practical applications, the reconfiguration control strategy includes state information of control units of respective units of meta-material comprised by the meta-material. For example, when the control unit is a syringe pump, the syringe pump has two states, an operating state and a shutdown state. The reconfiguration control strategy includes status information for a plurality of infusion pumps.
The preset corresponding relation comprises the corresponding relation between the state information of the plurality of control units and the working frequency points of the metamaterial. For example, when the control unit is a syringe pump, the preset corresponding relationship may be a corresponding relationship between the set operating frequency of the metamaterial and the state information of the syringe pump.
And the processor controls the control unit contained in each metamaterial unit according to a reconstruction control strategy, so that the filling amount of the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank in the empty tank is adjusted under the control of each metamaterial unit by the control unit, and the frequency characteristic of the antenna is reconstructed by using the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank. In practical application, the processor sends the determined reconfiguration control strategy, that is, the state information of each control unit to a plurality of control units included in the metamaterial through the communication interface. And each control unit included in the metamaterial executes the received state information, so that each control unit is in a corresponding working state and a shutdown state according to the reconstruction control strategy.
Illustratively, when the target frequency parameters contained in the electromagnetic modulation information received by the communication interface include any working frequency point in 35 GHz-44 GHz, the processor determines a reconfiguration control strategy from a preset corresponding relation according to the electromagnetic modulation information, and determines state information of each control unit of the metamaterial. And the processor sends the state information of each control unit to each control unit through the communication interface. And each control unit executes the received state information and fills the liquid metal in the empty groove of each metamaterial unit.
The embodiment of the invention also provides a computer storage medium. The computer storage medium stores instructions that, when executed, implement the above-described antenna frequency modulation method.
In the foregoing description of embodiments, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.
The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the appended claims.
Claims (13)
1. A metamaterial unit for reconstructing antenna frequency characteristics, the metamaterial unit comprising:
a reflection section;
the first medium part is positioned below the reflection part, a liquid storage tank is arranged on the surface, facing the reflection part, of the first medium part, and liquid metal is stored in the liquid storage tank;
the surface of the second medium part, which is far away from the reflecting part, is provided with an empty groove communicated with the liquid storage groove, and the area of the empty groove is gradually increased along the direction of a groove opening close to the empty groove;
and the control unit is used for adjusting the filling amount of the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank in the empty tank so as to reconstruct the frequency characteristic of the antenna by using the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank.
2. The metamaterial unit of claim 1, wherein the liquid metal includes one or more of a gallium-based liquid metal alloy, an indium-based liquid metal alloy, a bismuth-based liquid metal alloy, a tin-based liquid metal alloy.
3. The metamaterial unit according to claim 1, wherein the side wall of the hollow groove is provided with a plurality of annular steps, and the area of the plurality of annular steps is gradually increased along the direction close to the opening of the hollow groove; or the like, or, alternatively,
the dead slot is a horn-shaped dead slot.
4. The metamaterial unit according to claim 1, wherein the second media portion and the reflective portion are each provided with a through hole communicating with the empty tank and the reservoir.
5. A metamaterial unit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a third media portion located on an upper surface of the second media portion, the third media portion sealing the void.
6. A metamaterial unit as claimed in claim 5, wherein the third dielectric portion is integrally formed or separately provided from the second dielectric portion; wherein the content of the first and second substances,
at least one of the first dielectric part, the second dielectric part and the third dielectric part is an organic substrate, a ceramic substrate or a silicon wafer.
7. A metamaterial unit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the control unit includes a control switch disposed below the first media portion, the control switch being configured to control the internal pressure of the reservoir;
wherein, the control switch is a pump or a valve switch.
8. A metamaterial comprising a metamaterial unit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7.
9. The metamaterial according to claim 8, wherein a plurality of the metamaterial units form a metamaterial array in n rows and m columns, wherein n and m are integers greater than 1;
the metamaterial has k rows of the metamaterial array distributed in r columns, wherein k and r are integers larger than 0.
10. An antenna comprising the metamaterial according to claim 8 or 9.
11. The antenna of claim 10, further comprising a dipole antenna positioned above the second dielectric portion.
12. An antenna frequency modulation method, wherein the metamaterial according to claim 8 or 9 is applied, the antenna frequency modulation method comprising:
receiving electromagnetic modulation information, wherein the electromagnetic modulation information comprises a target frequency parameter;
determining a reconstruction control strategy from a preset corresponding relation according to the electromagnetic modulation information, wherein the reconstruction control strategy comprises state information of a plurality of control units which accord with the electromagnetic modulation information; the preset corresponding relation comprises the corresponding relation between the state information of the control units and the working frequency points of the metamaterial;
and controlling a control unit contained in each metamaterial unit according to the reconstruction control strategy, so that each metamaterial unit adjusts the filling amount of the liquid metal in the liquid storage tank in the empty tank under the control of the control unit, and reconstructing the frequency characteristic of the antenna by using the filling amount of the liquid metal in the empty tank.
13. A terminal device, comprising: a processor and a communication interface coupled to the processor; the processor is adapted to run a computer program or instructions to implement the method of frequency modulation for an antenna of claim 12.
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| KR20170052814A (en) * | 2015-11-04 | 2017-05-15 | 중앙대학교 산학협력단 | Frequency tunable metamaterial absorber and method for manufacturing thereof |
| CN107275789A (en) * | 2017-06-18 | 2017-10-20 | 南京理工大学 | Frequency-adjustable coplanar compact type Artificial magnetic conductor structure based on vanadium dioxide film |
| CN111786123A (en) * | 2020-08-06 | 2020-10-16 | 中国科学院微电子研究所 | Reconfigurable electromagnetic metamaterial |
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| US20030152315A1 (en) * | 2002-02-05 | 2003-08-14 | Oplux, Inc. | Optical switch with reversible electroplating mirrors |
| KR20170052814A (en) * | 2015-11-04 | 2017-05-15 | 중앙대학교 산학협력단 | Frequency tunable metamaterial absorber and method for manufacturing thereof |
| CN107275789A (en) * | 2017-06-18 | 2017-10-20 | 南京理工大学 | Frequency-adjustable coplanar compact type Artificial magnetic conductor structure based on vanadium dioxide film |
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