CN115296704A - Distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna control system and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a control system and a control method for a distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna, wherein the system comprises a main control module for generating a beam control instruction and a local oscillation frequency mixing frequency source, and the system also comprises: and the at least one subarray control module receives the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency mixing frequency source of the main control module, generates a calibration amplitude and a calibration phase difference of the current TR component based on the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency mixing frequency source, converts the calibration amplitude and the calibration phase difference into control codes of the TR component to realize phase shift and amplitude modulation of array elements in the TR component, and the TR component comprises an antenna unit. According to the technical scheme, millimeter wave active integrated phased-array antenna beam scanning is achieved in the FPGA through receiving control parameters transmitted by the upper computer or the end machine.

Description

Distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna control system and control method

technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of millimeter wave phased array communication, in particular to a phased array antenna control system and a control method.

Background technique

With the rapid rise of 5G millimeter-wave communications and broadband low-orbit satellite communications, millimeter-wave active phased array antennas have begun unprecedented development and have been widely used in satellite communications and radar systems. The beam control of the millimeter wave active phased array antenna is mainly by receiving the beam control command of the millimeter wave active phased array antenna sent by the host computer, and calculating the phase difference and amplitude of the control TR component through the beam assignment algorithm module and the calibration unit , to realize beam steering of millimeter wave active phased array antenna. Field programmable logic device FPGA has the characteristics of reprogrammable program, high flexibility, and greatly shortens the development cycle and development cost. Based on these advantages, FPGA plays an important role in the field of software radio.

The cascading mode adopted by the current beam control system is mostly serial cascading. This mode causes the transmission of functional signals such as command issuance to the phased array system by the end machine, system status monitoring, and fault detection to go through multiple stages. The interface causes too much system delay and is not suitable for systems with high sensitivity requirements. In addition, the implementation of this scheme by the beamforming unit in the end machine causes the phase difference calculation results of each array element to be imported from the outside, and the parallel allocation of multiple channels of the configuration code cannot be achieved, and the speed is too slow and can only reach the millisecond level, and there is no storage device The storage of calibration compensation parameters and prefabricated beam parameters cannot be realized.

Contents of the invention

In order to solve the above-mentioned defects in the prior art, the present invention proposes a phased array antenna beam control method, system and storage medium, by receiving the control parameters transmitted by the host computer or the terminal computer, the millimeter wave active integration is realized in the FPGA Phased array antenna beam scanning.

The above effects are specifically realized through the following technical solutions:

The distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control system includes a main control module for generating beam control commands and local oscillator frequency sources, and the system also includes:

At least one sub-array control module receives the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source of the main control module, and generates the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference of the current TR component based on the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source converting the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference into a control code of a TR component to implement phase shifting and amplitude modulation of array elements in the TR component, and the TR component includes an antenna unit.

Further, the subarray control module includes a beamforming unit, and the beamforming unit is used to calculate the phase difference of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit in real time, and the amplitude of the antenna unit;

The sub-array control module includes a calibration unit, and the calibration unit invokes preset phase and amplitude compensation values to compensate the phase difference and amplitude of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit to obtain a calibrated phase difference and a calibrated amplitude.

Further, the system includes a plurality of sub-array control modules, and a parallel transmission architecture is adopted between the sub-array control modules.

Further, the main control module receives and analyzes the instructions sent by the terminal computer or the host computer, obtains target information, and generates beam control instructions according to the target information.

Furthermore, the analyzing terminal computer or the upper computer dynamically updates and configures the beam control instruction.

As a preferred implementation solution of the present application, the main control module sends the beam pointing file to the sub-array control module through an SPI interface.

The present application also provides a method for controlling a distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna. The method includes: a main control module generating a beam control command and a local oscillator mixing frequency source;

The subarray control module receives the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source generated by the main control module, and generates the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference of the current TR component based on the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source, and The calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference are converted into control codes of the TR component to implement phase shifting and amplitude modulation of the elements in the TR component.

Further, the phase difference of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit and the amplitude of the antenna unit are calculated in real time through the beamforming unit in the subarray control module;

The calibration unit in the sub-array control module invokes the preset phase and amplitude compensation values, compensates to the phase difference and amplitude of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit, and obtains the calibration phase difference and calibration amplitude.

Further, the system includes a plurality of sub-array control modules, and each sub-array control module receives the beam control instruction generated by the main control module and the local oscillator mixing frequency source in parallel.

Further, the main control module receives the instruction sent by the analyzing terminal computer or the host computer, obtains target information, and generates a beam control instruction according to the target information.

Furthermore, the analyzing terminal computer or the upper computer dynamically updates and configures the beam control instruction.

As a preferred implementation solution of the present application, the main control module sends the beam pointing file to the sub-array control module through an SPI interface.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages:

The invention provides a space-borne distributed millimeter wave active integrated phased array antenna control method, device and storage medium. By receiving the control parameters transmitted by the host computer or the terminal computer, the millimeter-wave active integrated phased array antenna beam scanning is realized in the FPGA. Compared with the prior art, the present invention also has the following advantages:

1. Strong scalability. The distributed millimeter-wave active integrated phased array antenna control system of this application adopts a distributed sub-array architecture, which has the characteristics of scalability. Combined with FPGA IO interface resources, the system has strong scalability.

2. The response speed is fast, and the beamforming and calibration units are set in each independent sub-array, which can reduce the interface delay; and the parallel transmission architecture between the main control and the sub-array can reduce the transmission delay.

3. The beam pointing is flexible. The system structure provided by this application places the beamforming and calibration units in the sub-arrays, which can have a flexible working mode, and a single sub-array can work independently or multiple sub-arrays can work together.

4. Strong reliability, the reliability advantage mainly lies in the strong stability of the FPGA device.

5. The underlying calibration file and beam file can be dynamically updated and configured through the host computer, which can be adapted to different application scenarios, and the system has strong versatility.

Description of drawings

In order to illustrate the technical solution in the present invention more clearly, the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the present invention will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings on the premise of not paying creative work.

Fig. 1 is the overall architecture diagram of the distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna control system of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the main control system of one of the embodiments of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a sub-array control system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a beamforming algorithm according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a working flow chart of the main control system of one embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

Example 1

As shown in Figure 1, this embodiment provides a distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control system, including a main control module for generating beam control instructions and a local oscillator mixing frequency source, and the system also includes:

At least one sub-array control module receives the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source of the main control module, and generates the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference of the current TR component based on the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source converting the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference into a control code of a TR component to implement phase shifting and amplitude modulation of array elements in the TR component, and the TR component includes an antenna unit.

The sub-array control module includes a beamforming unit, and the beamforming unit is used to calculate the phase difference of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit in real time, and the amplitude of the antenna unit;

The sub-array control module includes a calibration unit, and the calibration unit invokes preset phase and amplitude compensation values to compensate the phase difference and amplitude of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit to obtain a calibrated phase difference and a calibrated amplitude.

The system includes a plurality of sub-array control modules, and the parallel transmission architecture is adopted between the sub-array control modules; the main control module receives and analyzes the instructions sent by the terminal computer or the host computer, obtains target information, and generates beam steering according to the target information instruction; the analyzing terminal computer or the host computer dynamically updates and configures the beam control instruction.

As a preferred implementation solution of the present application, the main control module sends the beam pointing file to the sub-array control module through an SPI interface.

Example 2

This embodiment also provides a distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control method for the present application. The method includes: the main control module generates a beam control command and a local oscillator frequency mixing frequency source;

The subarray control module receives the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source generated by the main control module, and generates the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference of the current TR component based on the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source, and The calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference are converted into control codes of the TR component to implement phase shifting and amplitude modulation of the elements in the TR component.

Further, the phase difference of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit and the amplitude of the antenna unit are calculated in real time through the beamforming unit in the subarray control module;

The calibration unit in the sub-array control module invokes the preset phase and amplitude compensation values, compensates to the phase difference and amplitude of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit, and obtains the calibration phase difference and calibration amplitude.

The system includes a plurality of sub-array control modules, and a parallel transmission architecture is adopted between the sub-array control modules, and each sub-array control module receives in parallel the beam control instructions generated by the main control module and the local oscillator frequency source; the main control The module receives the instructions sent by the analysis end computer or the upper computer, obtains the target information, and generates a beam control instruction according to the target information; the analysis end computer or the upper computer dynamically updates and configures the beam control instruction.

As a preferred implementation solution of the present application, the main control module sends the beam pointing file to the sub-array control module through an SPI interface.

The above scheme will be further introduced in combination with specific working scenarios: the entire array works under the same beam, and the beamforming 1° precision two-dimensional precise scanning mode can be used for precise beam scanning. The beam steering method described above is implemented in the following ways:

Step 1, referring to FIG. 5 , in this embodiment, after the FPGA hardware is powered on, interrupt initialization and peripheral interface initialization are performed first, and the calibration file stored in the flash of the main control module is loaded. At the same time, the system status monitoring interrupt is set in the CPU. When the system status is abnormal, it will print an error and perform a soft reset.

Step 2, referring to Figure 2, the host computer sends millimeter-wave active phased array antenna beam control commands through the Gigabit Ethernet port through the TCP/IP protocol (UART serial port as a backup interface), including TR mode switching, antenna pointing angle, Antenna frequency point, antenna element spacing, amplitude and beam calibration file. The CPU transmits the received beam control instruction parameters to the FPGA side through the AXI4-Lite interface and caches them in the Bram module, then configures the mixing frequency source of the entire array through the SPI interface, and sends the beam configuration parameters to the sub- array control module. Only when recalibration is required, the calibration file will be re-delivered and updated to the flash.

Step 3, referring to Figure 3, the default working mode of the subarray control module is that the whole array works in the same beam mode, and the calibration parameters prefabricated in flash will be loaded when the subarray is powered on. The sub-array receives the beam control command issued by the master through the SPI interface and transmits it to the beamforming unit.

和θ，根据公式(1)，(2)和(3)计算天线之间的相位差。Step 4, referring to Figure 4, after the sub-array control module FPGA receives the millimeter-wave active phased array antenna beam control command, the parameters are transmitted to the beamforming algorithm module and the calibration unit. According to the scanning principle of the planar phased array antenna, the antenna beam angle is known in the beamforming unit

and θ, calculate the phase difference between the antennas according to formulas (1), (2) and (3).

和θ皆为1°精度的二维角度扫描。In the formula, the distance between the antenna elements is d, d _x and d _y are the distances of the antenna elements on the x-axis and y-axis respectively, λ is the beam wavelength, and cosα _x and cosα _y represent the cosine of the direction of the beam respectively. Δφ _x , Δφ _y represent the phase difference between the (i, k)th antenna unit and the reference unit in the x-axis and y-axis directions, then the (i, k)th unit and the (0,0)th The intra-array phase difference between the reference units is Δφ _Bik =iΔφ _Bx +kΔφ _By (3). Note A=Δφ _Bx , B=Δφ _By , then Δφ _Bik =iA+kB, where A and B represent the simplified intra-array phase shift value calibration unit is to combine the phase and amplitude compensation value of each channel with the beamforming The phase and amplitude calculated by the unit are added to obtain the final calibration phase difference and calibration amplitude of each channel. Beamforming algorithm module enables antenna beam angle

and θ are two-dimensional angular scans with 1° accuracy.

Step 5, referring to Figure 3, the sub-array control module converts the calculated phase difference and amplitude of each array element into phase and amplitude control codes of the corresponding array elements in real time according to the working mechanism of the TR component. Finally, the control code of the corresponding array unit is output to the TR component of the corresponding array through the SPI interface to realize the beam control of the phased array antenna.

Example 3

This application also provides the second distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control system. The difference from Embodiment 2 is that the system in this embodiment does not perform the calculation of the control code of the TR component in the sub-array control mode, and directly calls the main The beam pointing file in the control module is used to control the TR component, which can realize the fast switching of different control strategies. The system includes:

The main control module is provided with a beam pointing file and a mixing frequency source local oscillator control command, and sends the beam pointing file to the sub-array control module, and provides a mixing frequency source for the sub-array;

A sub-array control module, the sub-array control module switches the direction of the array elements in the TR component and adjusts the amplitude of the array elements according to the beam pointing file.

Further, the main control module and the sub-array control module adopt FPGA chips.

Example 4

Based on the above system, the second distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control method provided by this application includes:

The main control module sends a beam pointing file to the sub-array control module, and provides a mixing frequency source for the sub-array;

The sub-array control module switches the direction of the array elements in the TR component and adjusts the amplitude of the array elements according to the beam pointing file.

Further, the beam pointing file is stored in the flash module of the main control module, and the main control module sends the beam pointing file to the sub-array control module through the SPI interface.

Further, the main control module and the sub-array control module adopt FPGA chips.

The above scheme is further introduced below in conjunction with specific working scenarios: each sub-array has a flexible working mode and can be used for various services in the communication system.

Step 1, referring to FIG. 5 , in this embodiment, after the FPGA hardware is powered on, interrupt initialization and peripheral interface initialization are performed first, and the calibration file stored in the flash of the main control module is loaded. At the same time, the system status monitoring interrupt is set in the CPU. When the system status is abnormal, it will print an error and perform a soft reset.

Step 2, referring to Figure 2, the host computer sends millimeter-wave active phased array antenna beam control commands through the Gigabit Ethernet port through the TCP/IP protocol (UART serial port as a backup interface), including TR mode switching, antenna pointing angle, Antenna frequency point, antenna element spacing, amplitude and beam calibration file. The CPU transmits the received beam control instruction parameters to the FPGA side through the AXI4-Lite interface and caches them in the Bram module, then configures the mixing frequency source of the entire array through the SPI interface, and sends the beam configuration parameters to the sub- array control module. In this mode, an independent calibration file for each sub-array needs to be loaded and updated to flash.

Step 3, referring to Figure 3, firstly each sub-array control module receives an independent calibration file through the SPI interface, and then writes it into the flash of the sub-array control module after being cached by BRAM. Finally, the sub-array receives the beam control command issued by the master through the SPI interface and transmits it to the beamforming unit.

和θ，根据公式(1)，(2)和(3)计算天线之间的相位差。Step 4, referring to Figure 4, after the sub-array control module FPGA receives the millimeter-wave active phased array antenna beam control command, the parameters are transmitted to the beamforming algorithm module and the calibration unit. According to the scanning principle of the planar phased array antenna, the antenna beam angle is known in the beamforming unit

and θ, calculate the phase difference between the antennas according to formulas (1), (2) and (3).

和θ皆为1°精度的二维角度扫描。In the formula, the distance between the antenna elements is d, d _x and d _y are the distances of the antenna elements on the x-axis and y-axis respectively, λ is the beam wavelength, and cosα _x and cosα _y represent the cosine of the direction of the beam respectively. Δφ _x , Δφ _y represent the phase difference between the (i, k)th antenna unit and the reference unit in the x-axis and y-axis directions, then the (i, k)th unit and the (0,0)th The intra-array phase difference between the reference units is Δφ _Bik =iΔφ _Bx +kΔφ _By (3). Note A=Δφ _Bx , B=Δφ _By , then Δφ _Bik =iA+kB, where A and B represent simplified intra-array phase shift values. The calibration unit adds the phase and amplitude compensation value of each channel to the phase and amplitude calculated by the beamforming unit to obtain the final calibration phase difference and calibration amplitude of each channel. Beamforming algorithm module enables antenna beam angle

and θ are two-dimensional angular scans with 1° accuracy.

Step 5, referring to Figure 3, the sub-array control module converts the calculated phase difference and amplitude of each array element into phase and amplitude control codes of the corresponding array elements in real time according to the working mechanism of the TR component. Finally, the control code of the corresponding array unit is output to the TR component of the corresponding array through the SPI interface to realize the beam control of the phased array antenna.

The above are only preferred embodiments of the application, and are not intended to limit the application. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the application shall be included in the protection scope of the application. Inside.

Claims (12)

1. A distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna control system, including a master control module for generating beam control instructions and a local oscillator frequency source, characterized in that the system also includes: At least one sub-array control module receives the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source of the main control module, and generates the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference of the current TR component based on the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source converting the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference into a control code of a TR component to implement phase shifting and amplitude modulation of array elements in the TR component, and the TR component includes an antenna unit. 2. The distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna control system according to claim 1, wherein: The sub-array control module includes a beamforming unit, and the beamforming unit is used to calculate the phase difference of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit in real time, and the amplitude of the antenna unit; The sub-array control module includes a calibration unit, and the calibration unit invokes preset phase and amplitude compensation values to compensate the phase difference and amplitude of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit to obtain a calibrated phase difference and a calibrated amplitude. 3. The distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control system according to claim 1, wherein the system comprises a plurality of sub-array control modules, and a parallel transmission architecture is adopted between the sub-array control modules. 4. The distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the main control module receives instructions sent by the analysis terminal or host computer to obtain target information , generating a beam control instruction according to the target information. 5 . The distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna control system according to claim 4 , wherein the analysis terminal or host computer dynamically updates and configures the beam control instruction. 6 . 6. The distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control system according to claim 4, wherein the main control module sends the beam pointing file to the sub-array control module through an SPI interface. 7. A method for controlling a distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna, characterized in that the method comprises: The subarray control module receives the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source generated by the main control module, and generates the calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference of the current TR component based on the beam control instruction and the local oscillator frequency source, and The calibration amplitude and calibration phase difference are converted into control codes of the TR component to implement phase shifting and amplitude modulation of the elements in the TR component. 8. the distributed millimeter wave active phased array antenna control method according to claim 7, is characterized in that, Calculate the phase difference of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit and the amplitude of the antenna unit in real time through the beamforming unit in the subarray control module; The calibration unit in the sub-array control module invokes the preset phase and amplitude compensation values to compensate the phase difference and amplitude of the antenna unit relative to the reference unit to obtain the calibration phase difference and calibration amplitude. 9. The distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control method according to claim 7, wherein each sub-array control module receives in parallel the beam control instructions generated by the main control module and the local oscillator mixing frequency source . 10. The distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the main control module receives an instruction from an analysis terminal or a host computer to obtain target information , generating a beam control instruction according to the target information. 11. The method for controlling a distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna according to claim 10, wherein the analysis terminal or host computer dynamically updates and configures the beam control instruction. 12. The distributed millimeter-wave active phased array antenna control method according to claim 10, wherein the main control module sends the beam pointing file to the sub-array control module through an SPI interface.

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