CN116526118A - Liquid crystal antenna and communication equipment - Google Patents
Liquid crystal antenna and communication equipment Download PDFInfo
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- CN116526118A CN116526118A CN202210080418.2A CN202210080418A CN116526118A CN 116526118 A CN116526118 A CN 116526118A CN 202210080418 A CN202210080418 A CN 202210080418A CN 116526118 A CN116526118 A CN 116526118A
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- 239000004973 liquid crystal related substance Substances 0.000 title claims abstract description 133
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 15
- 230000005855 radiation Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 64
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 claims description 51
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 claims description 38
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 description 5
- 230000010363 phase shift Effects 0.000 description 5
- 239000011521 glass Substances 0.000 description 4
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 3
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 3
- 239000000306 component Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000000059 patterning Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000004075 alteration Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000009286 beneficial effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000008358 core component Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000007769 metal material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052755 nonmetal Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 238000002360 preparation method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000010453 quartz Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000011347 resin Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229920005989 resin Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 230000008054 signal transmission Effects 0.000 description 1
- VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N silicon dioxide Inorganic materials O=[Si]=O VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 238000002834 transmittance Methods 0.000 description 1
Classifications
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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
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
- H01Q1/48—Earthing means; Earth screens; Counterpoises
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
- H01Q1/50—Structural association of antennas with earthing switches, lead-in devices or lightning protectors
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q3/00—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system
- H01Q3/26—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
- H01Q3/30—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array
- H01Q3/34—Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array by electrical means
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Abstract
The invention discloses a liquid crystal antenna and communication equipment, wherein a first dipole radiation electrode directly couples received microwave signals to a first electrode and a second electrode which are vertically arranged below the first dipole radiation electrode, and the first electrode and the second electrode form a differential line pair structure, namely, the signal amplitude transmitted on the first electrode and the second electrode which are arranged above and below a liquid crystal layer is the same, the phase difference is 180 degrees, and the equal-amplitude differential mode signal feed-in on the first electrode and the second electrode is realized.
Description
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of microwave communication, in particular to a liquid crystal antenna and communication equipment.
Background
The liquid crystal antenna is a novel array antenna based on a liquid crystal phase shifter and is widely applied to the fields of satellite receiving antennas, vehicle-mounted radars, base station antennas and the like. The liquid crystal phase shifter is a core component of the liquid crystal antenna, and the liquid crystal phase shifter controls the deflection of liquid crystal molecules so as to adjust the phase of electromagnetic waves.
Disclosure of Invention
According to the liquid crystal antenna and the communication equipment provided by the embodiment of the invention, the liquid crystal antenna can directly receive the microwave signals from the first dipole radiation electrode to form the differential mode signal feed-in, a balun is not required to generate a differential mode structure, the loss and the bandwidth loss caused by the balun structure are avoided, and the energy loss of the whole structure can be reduced.
The embodiment of the invention provides a liquid crystal antenna, which comprises a plurality of liquid crystal antenna units, wherein each liquid crystal antenna unit comprises a liquid crystal phase shifter and a first radiation structure, the first radiation structure comprises a first dipole radiation electrode and a first ground electrode, and the first dipole radiation electrode and the first ground electrode are respectively positioned at two opposite sides of the liquid crystal phase shifter;
the liquid crystal phase shifter comprises a first substrate, a second substrate and a liquid crystal layer, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are oppositely arranged, the liquid crystal layer is arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate, the first substrate comprises a first base and a first electrode arranged on one side of the first base close to the liquid crystal layer, and the second substrate comprises a second base and a second electrode arranged on one side of the second base close to the liquid crystal layer;
the first electrode and the second electrode form a differential line pair structure, the first dipole radiation electrode and the first electrode have an overlapping area, and the first dipole radiation electrode and the second electrode have an overlapping area.
Optionally, in the above liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the first electrode includes a first transmission portion and a first branch structure electrically connected to one end of the first transmission portion, the second electrode includes a second transmission portion and a second branch structure electrically connected to one end of the second transmission portion, the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion overlap each other, the first branch structure and the second branch structure are located at the same end of the overlapping region, and the first branch structure and the second branch structure are located at both sides of the overlapping region.
Optionally, in the above liquid crystal antenna provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the first dipole radiation electrode and the first branch structure overlap each other, the first dipole radiation electrode and the second branch structure overlap each other, and the first ground electrode covers the second substrate.
Optionally, in the above liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion completely overlap, and the shapes and the sizes of the first branch structure and the second branch structure are the same.
Optionally, in the above liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the liquid crystal antenna further includes a second ground electrode located at a side of the first substrate facing away from the liquid crystal layer, where the second ground electrode and the liquid crystal phase shifter have an overlapping area.
Optionally, in the above liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the second ground electrode and the first dipole radiating electrode are arranged on the same layer and are independent from each other.
Optionally, in the above liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the first electrode further includes a third branch structure electrically connected to another end portion of the first transmission portion, where the first branch structure and the third branch structure are respectively located at two sides of the first transmission portion;
the second electrode further comprises a fourth branch structure electrically connected with the other end part of the second transmission part, and the second branch structure and the fourth branch structure are respectively positioned at two sides of the second transmission part.
Optionally, in the above liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the liquid crystal antenna further includes a second radiation structure, where the second radiation structure includes a second dipole radiation electrode and a third ground electrode, the first dipole radiation electrode and the third ground electrode are disposed in the same layer, and the second dipole radiation electrode and the first ground electrode are disposed in the same layer;
the second dipole radiation electrode and the third branch structure overlap each other, the second dipole radiation electrode and the fourth branch structure overlap each other, and the third ground electrode covers the first substrate.
Optionally, in the above liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion completely overlap, shapes and sizes of the first branch structure and the second branch structure are the same, and shapes and sizes of the third branch structure and the fourth branch structure are the same.
Correspondingly, the embodiment of the invention also provides communication equipment, which comprises the liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention.
According to the liquid crystal antenna and the communication equipment provided by the embodiment of the invention, the first dipole radiation electrode adopts the dipole structure, the first dipole radiation electrode directly couples the received microwave signals to the first electrode and the second electrode which are vertically arranged below, and the first electrode and the second electrode form the differential line pair structure, namely, the signal amplitude transmitted on the first electrode and the second electrode above and below the liquid crystal layer is the same, the phase difference is 180 degrees, so that the equal-amplitude differential mode signal feed-in on the first electrode and the second electrode is realized, namely, the liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention can directly receive the microwave signals from the first dipole radiation electrode to form the differential mode signal feed-in, the balun is not required to be adopted in the prior art to generate the differential mode structure, the loss and the bandwidth loss caused by the balun structure are avoided, and the energy loss of the whole structure can be reduced.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings that are needed in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.
Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another liquid crystal antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a liquid crystal antenna;
FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the direction CC' in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a schematic top view of the first electrode;
FIG. 6 is a schematic top view of the second electrode;
FIG. 7 is a schematic top view of a first dipole radiating electrode;
FIG. 8 is a schematic top view of the first ground electrode;
FIG. 9 is another cross-sectional schematic view of a liquid crystal antenna;
FIG. 10 is a further schematic top view of the first electrode;
FIG. 11 is a further schematic top view of a second electrode;
FIG. 12 is a schematic top view of a first dipole radiating electrode and a third ground electrode;
fig. 13 is a schematic top view of a second dipole radiating electrode and a first ground electrode.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the invention. And embodiments of the invention and features of the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict. All other embodiments, which can be made by a person skilled in the art without creative efforts, based on the described embodiments of the present invention fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
Unless defined otherwise, technical or scientific terms used herein should be given the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terms "first," "second," and the like, as used herein, do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that elements or items preceding the word are included in the element or item listed after the word and equivalents thereof, but does not exclude other elements or items. The terms "connected" or "connected," and the like, are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect.
It should be noted that the dimensions and shapes of the figures in the drawings do not reflect true proportions, and are intended to illustrate the present invention only. And the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions throughout.
The embodiment of the invention provides a liquid crystal antenna, which comprises a plurality of liquid crystal antenna units, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, wherein fig. 1 and 2 only show a schematic cross-section of one liquid crystal antenna unit 100, and fig. 1 is a front view, fig. 2 is a side view, each liquid crystal antenna unit 100 comprises a liquid crystal phase shifter 1 and a first radiation structure 2, the first radiation structure 2 comprises a first dipole radiation electrode 21 and a first ground electrode 22, and the first dipole radiation electrode 21 and the first ground electrode 22 are respectively positioned on two opposite sides of the liquid crystal phase shifter 1;
the liquid crystal phase shifter 1 includes a first substrate 11 and a second substrate 12 disposed opposite to each other and a liquid crystal layer 13 disposed between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 12, the first substrate 11 including a first base 111 and a first electrode 112 disposed on a side of the first base 111 adjacent to the liquid crystal layer 13, the second substrate 12 including a second base 121 and a second electrode 122 disposed on a side of the second base 121 adjacent to the liquid crystal layer 13;
the first electrode 112 and the second electrode 122 form a differential line pair structure, the first dipole radiation electrode 21 and the first electrode 112 have an overlapping region, and the first dipole radiation electrode 21 and the second electrode 122 have an overlapping region.
According to the liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention, the first dipole radiation electrode adopts the dipole structure, the first dipole radiation electrode directly couples the received microwave signals to the first electrode and the second electrode which are vertically arranged below the first dipole radiation electrode, and the first electrode and the second electrode form the differential line pair structure, namely, the first electrode and the second electrode which are arranged on the upper side and the lower side of the liquid crystal layer are identical in signal amplitude and 180 degrees in phase difference, so that the equal-amplitude differential mode signal feed-in on the first electrode and the second electrode is realized, namely, the liquid crystal antenna structure can directly receive the microwave signals from the first dipole radiation electrode to form the differential mode signal feed-in, the balun is not required to be adopted in the prior art to generate the differential mode structure, the loss and bandwidth loss caused by the balun structure are avoided, and the energy loss of the whole structure can be reduced.
In addition, the amplitude of the signals transmitted on the first electrode and the second electrode are the same, and the phase difference is 180 degrees, namely equivalent virtual ground planes are formed at the middle position of the liquid crystal layer. The deflection state of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer is changed by different voltages applied to the liquid crystal layer, thereby changing the dielectric constant of the liquid crystal layer to change the phase of the microwave signal transmitted into the liquid crystal layer. The adjustable capacitance of the liquid crystal layer is inversely proportional to the distance between the first electrode and the ground and inversely proportional to the distance between the second electrode and the ground, so that the adjustable capacitance proportion of the liquid crystal layer obtained by the structure of the liquid crystal phase shifter is increased, the maximum phase shift amount under the same size is increased, and the phase shift efficiency is improved. If the phase shift amounts are the same, the transmission loss of the liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention is smaller.
As shown in fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic top view of a liquid crystal antenna, the liquid crystal antenna includes a plurality of liquid crystal antenna units 100 arranged in an array, fig. 1 and 2 are schematic cross-sectional views of one liquid crystal antenna unit 100 in fig. 3, as shown in fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view along the direction CC' in fig. 3, and the liquid crystal phase shifter 1 in fig. 4 is an equivalent circuit structure, and the feed source 200 in fig. 3 and 4 is used for feeding microwave signals to the first dipole radiation electrode 21, where the first dipole radiation electrode 21 directly couples the received microwave signals to the first electrode 112 and the second electrode 122 vertically below, so as to realize uniform-amplitude differential mode signal feeding on the first electrode and the second electrode. By utilizing the deflection characteristics of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 13, a planar reconfigurable liquid crystal antenna with adjustable dielectric constant is realized. After each first dipole radiation electrode 21, a liquid crystal phase shifter 1 is added, the output phase assignment of each liquid crystal antenna unit 100 is independently controlled, interference is superimposed in space, and finally, beam enhancement signal reception in a specified direction is realized.
In particular, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal antenna provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5 and 6, fig. 5 is a schematic top view of the first electrode 112, fig. 6 is a schematic top view of the second electrode 122, the first electrode 112 includes the first transmission portion 10 and the first branch structure 20 electrically connected to one end of the first transmission portion 10, the second electrode 122 includes the second transmission portion 30 and the second branch structure 40 electrically connected to one end of the second transmission portion 30, the first transmission portion 10 and the second transmission portion 30 overlap each other, the first branch structure 20 and the second branch structure 40 are located at the same end of the overlapping region, and the first branch structure 20 and the second branch structure 40 are located at both sides of the overlapping region. The first dipole radiating electrode 21 couples the received microwave signal to the first and second branch structures 20 and 40 vertically below, and the signals on the first and second branch structures 20 and 40 have the same amplitude and 180 ° phase difference, and are then transmitted through the corresponding first and second transmission parts 10 and 30, respectively. In practical implementation, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal antenna provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 7 and 8, fig. 7 is a schematic top view of the first dipole radiation electrode 21, fig. 8 is a schematic top view of the first ground electrode 22, the first dipole radiation electrode 21 and the first branch structure 20 overlap each other, the first dipole radiation electrode 21 and the second branch structure 40 overlap each other, and the first ground electrode 22 covers the second substrate 12. Specifically, first, the first dipole radiating electrode 21 on the right side in fig. 7 receives a microwave signal in the space, the received microwave signal is transmitted as a high-frequency current on the electrodes in fig. 5 and 6, the electrode structures in fig. 5 and 6 are differential line pair structures, the electrodes in fig. 5 and 6 are structurally located on the upper and lower sides of the liquid crystal layer, the effective liquid crystal adjustable area is located in the orthogonal area of the electrodes in fig. 5 and 6, when the microwave signal is transmitted, a virtual ground plane is formed in the liquid crystal layer, the microwave signal is firstly transmitted along the arrow A1 direction and then transmitted along the arrow A2 direction, the tail end (the side of the first dipole radiating electrode 21) of the differential line pair structure is set to be open circuit, the microwave signal is transmitted to the tail end to be totally reflected, and the signal is radiated out from the first dipole radiating electrode 21 again, so that the reflective liquid crystal antenna design can be realized. The reflective liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the disclosure can realize transmission lines (such as the length of the first transmission part 10) with the same physical length, and the microwave signal can realize twice phase shift effect, so that the requirement of a miniaturized antenna is more easily met. In addition, the first ground electrode 22 is disposed entirely, effectively reducing the opposite microwave signal energy radiation. By controlling the voltage difference between the two electrodes in fig. 5 and 6, the phase change of the transmission signal is realized, and the radiated microwave signal carries information to correspondingly change.
In a specific implementation, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal antenna provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5 and 6, the first transmission portion 10 and the second transmission portion 30 are completely overlapped, and the shapes and the sizes of the first branch structure 20 and the second branch structure 40 are the same. This ensures that the signals transmitted on the first electrode 112 and the second electrode 122 are of the same amplitude and 180 deg. out of phase.
In a specific implementation, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal antenna provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 7, the liquid crystal antenna further includes a second ground electrode 3 located on a side of the first substrate 11 facing away from the liquid crystal layer, where the second ground electrode 3 and the liquid crystal phase shifter 1 have an overlapping region. The second ground electrode 3 may shield the first electrode 112 and the second electrode 122 from radiating signals outward, reducing signal loss.
In practical implementation, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal antenna provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1 and 7, the second ground electrode 3 and the first dipole radiation electrode 21 are arranged in the same layer and are independent from each other. In this way, the patterns of the second ground electrode 3 and the first dipole radiation electrode 21 can be formed through one-time patterning process only by changing the original patterning pattern when the first dipole radiation electrode 21 is formed, and the process of independently preparing the second ground electrode 3 is not needed to be added, so that the preparation process flow can be simplified, the production cost can be saved, and the production efficiency can be improved.
In particular, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal antenna provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9-11, fig. 9 is another schematic cross-sectional view of the liquid crystal antenna, fig. 10 is a further schematic top view of the first electrode 112, fig. 11 is a further schematic top view of the second electrode 122, the first electrode 112 further includes a third branch structure 50 electrically connected to the other end of the first transmission portion 10, and the first branch structure 20 and the third branch structure 50 are respectively located at two sides of the first transmission portion 10;
the second electrode 122 further includes a fourth branch structure 60 electrically connected to the other end of the second transmission part 30, the second branch structure 40 and the fourth branch structure 60 being located at both sides of the second transmission part 30, respectively;
the liquid crystal antenna further comprises a second radiation structure 4, the second radiation structure 4 comprises a second dipole radiation electrode 41 and a third ground electrode 42, the first dipole radiation electrode 21 and the third ground electrode 42 are arranged in the same layer, and the second dipole radiation electrode 41 and the first ground electrode 22 are arranged in the same layer;
as shown in fig. 12 and 13, fig. 12 is a schematic plan view of the first dipole radiation electrode 21 and the third ground electrode 42, fig. 13 is a schematic plan view of the second dipole radiation electrode 41 and the first ground electrode 22, the second dipole radiation electrode 41 and the third branch structure 50 overlap each other, the second dipole radiation electrode 41 and the fourth branch structure 60 overlap each other, and the third ground electrode 42 covers the first substrate 11.
Specifically, first, the first dipole radiation electrode 21 on the right side in fig. 12 receives a microwave signal in the space, the received microwave signal is transmitted as a high-frequency current on the electrodes in fig. 10 and 11, the electrode structures in fig. 10 and 11 are differential line pair structures, the electrodes in fig. 10 and 11 are structurally located on the upper and lower sides of the liquid crystal layer, the effective liquid crystal adjustable area is located in the orthogonal area of the electrodes in fig. 10 and 11, a virtual ground plane is formed in the liquid crystal layer during microwave signal transmission, the microwave signal is transmitted along the arrow A1 direction, and is approximately transmitted in an asymmetric strip line structure, and then radiated from the second dipole radiation electrode 41, so that the transmissive liquid crystal antenna design can be realized. By controlling the voltage difference between the first electrode 112 and the second electrode 122, a change in the phase of the transmission signal is achieved, and the radiated signal carries information to change accordingly. Based on the design principle of the transmission type liquid crystal antenna unit, the differential mode wiring length is adjusted according to the required maximum phase shift, so that the design of an array structure can be realized, and the transmission type reconfigurable antenna is completed.
In a specific implementation, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal antenna provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 10 and 11, the first transmission portion 10 and the second transmission portion 30 are completely overlapped, the shapes and the sizes of the first branch structure 20 and the second branch structure 40 are the same, and the shapes and the sizes of the third branch structure 50 and the fourth branch structure 60 are the same. This ensures that the signals transmitted on the first electrode 112 and the second electrode 122 are of the same amplitude and 180 deg. out of phase.
In particular implementations, the lengths of the first, second, third and fourth branch structures 20, 40, 50 and 60 are 1/4 (i.e., 4/λ) of the microwave wavelength, respectively, to achieve impedance matching.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the first substrate and the second substrate may be transparent substrates, and may specifically be substrates made of light-guiding and non-metal materials with a certain firmness, such as glass, quartz, transparent resin, and the like.
In addition, the liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention can reduce the transmission loss of the whole system and enhance the signal coverage range. Because an equivalent ground plane is formed in the cathode layer, a metal structure can be reduced, and the design flexibility is increased. In the design based on the LCD process, the design can be completed through a glass double-sided metal structure, so that the use of a PCB (flexible circuit board) is avoided, and the weight and cost of the structure are reduced.
In summary, the liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention has the following advantages:
(1) The dipole radiation electrode is adopted to receive the microwave signals, the received microwave signals directly form differential mode signals, a balun is not required to generate a differential mode structure, loss and bandwidth loss caused by the balun structure are avoided, and energy loss of the whole structure can be reduced.
(2) The differential mode signals received by the first electrode and the second electrode form an equivalent ground plane at the middle position of the liquid crystal layer, the denominator d of the adjustable capacitance C of the liquid crystal layer is changed into d/2 on the basis of the same structure, the dielectric constant adjustable range of the liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal phase shifter is enlarged under the same size, and the phase shifting efficiency is improved.
(3) The upper side and the lower side of the liquid crystal layer have no whole-surface ground plane structure, the metal rate is low, the design flexibility is higher, more spaces are reserved for wiring areas such as control lines and the like especially in large-scale array design, and the large-scale array design is facilitated.
(4) The reflective liquid crystal antenna unit structure totally reflects the microwave signals after the microwave signals reach the open circuit port, and the size of the liquid crystal phase shifter can be reduced by half through twice the wiring length, thereby being beneficial to miniaturization design.
(5) The first substrate and the second substrate adopt glass substrates, and the design based on all-glass materials has high light transmittance and can be used as a beautification antenna.
Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the invention also provides a communication device, which comprises the liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention.
The communication device provided by the embodiment of the invention can be, for example: any product or component with communication function such as a mobile phone. Other essential components of the communication device will be understood by those skilled in the art, and are not described in detail herein, nor should they be considered as limiting the invention. The implementation of the communication device may refer to the above-mentioned embodiments of the liquid crystal antenna, and the repetition is not repeated.
According to the liquid crystal antenna and the communication equipment provided by the embodiment of the invention, the first dipole radiation electrode adopts the dipole structure, the first dipole radiation electrode directly couples the received microwave signals to the first electrode and the second electrode which are vertically arranged below, and the first electrode and the second electrode form the differential line pair structure, namely, the signal amplitude transmitted on the first electrode and the second electrode above and below the liquid crystal layer is the same, the phase difference is 180 degrees, so that the equal-amplitude differential mode signal feed-in on the first electrode and the second electrode is realized, namely, the liquid crystal antenna provided by the embodiment of the invention can directly receive the microwave signals from the first dipole radiation electrode to form the differential mode signal feed-in, the balun is not required to be adopted in the prior art to generate the differential mode structure, the loss and the bandwidth loss caused by the balun structure are avoided, and the energy loss of the whole structure can be reduced.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.
Claims (10)
1. A liquid crystal antenna, comprising a plurality of liquid crystal antenna units, wherein each liquid crystal antenna unit comprises a liquid crystal phase shifter and a first radiation structure, the first radiation structure comprises a first dipole radiation electrode and a first ground electrode, and the first dipole radiation electrode and the first ground electrode are respectively positioned at two opposite sides of the liquid crystal phase shifter;
the liquid crystal phase shifter comprises a first substrate, a second substrate and a liquid crystal layer, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are oppositely arranged, the liquid crystal layer is arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate, the first substrate comprises a first base and a first electrode arranged on one side of the first base close to the liquid crystal layer, and the second substrate comprises a second base and a second electrode arranged on one side of the second base close to the liquid crystal layer;
the first electrode and the second electrode form a differential line pair structure, the first dipole radiation electrode and the first electrode have an overlapping area, and the first dipole radiation electrode and the second electrode have an overlapping area.
2. The liquid crystal antenna according to claim 1, wherein the first electrode includes a first transmission portion and a first branching structure electrically connected to one end portion of the first transmission portion, the second electrode includes a second transmission portion and a second branching structure electrically connected to one end portion of the second transmission portion, the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion overlap each other, the first branching structure and the second branching structure are located at the same end of the overlapping region, and the first branching structure and the second branching structure are located at both sides of the overlapping region.
3. The liquid crystal antenna of claim 2, wherein the first dipole radiating electrode and the first branch structure overlap each other, the first dipole radiating electrode and the second branch structure overlap each other, and the first ground electrode covers the second substrate.
4. A liquid crystal antenna according to claim 3, wherein the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion are completely overlapped, and the first branching structure and the second branching structure are identical in shape and size.
5. The liquid crystal antenna of claim 4, further comprising a second ground electrode on a side of the first substrate facing away from the liquid crystal layer, the second ground electrode having an overlap region with the liquid crystal phase shifter.
6. The liquid crystal antenna of claim 5, wherein the second ground electrode is co-layered with and independent of the first dipole radiating electrode.
7. The liquid crystal antenna according to claim 3, wherein the first electrode further comprises a third branching structure electrically connected to the other end portion of the first transmission portion, the first branching structure and the third branching structure being located on both sides of the first transmission portion, respectively;
the second electrode further comprises a fourth branch structure electrically connected with the other end part of the second transmission part, and the second branch structure and the fourth branch structure are respectively positioned at two sides of the second transmission part.
8. The liquid crystal antenna of claim 7, further comprising a second radiating structure comprising a second dipole radiating electrode and a third ground electrode, the first dipole radiating electrode and the third ground electrode being co-layer, the second dipole radiating electrode and the first ground electrode being co-layer;
the second dipole radiation electrode and the third branch structure overlap each other, the second dipole radiation electrode and the fourth branch structure overlap each other, and the third ground electrode covers the first substrate.
9. The liquid crystal antenna of claim 8, wherein the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion completely overlap, the first branch structure and the second branch structure are identical in shape and size, and the third branch structure and the fourth branch structure are identical in shape and size.
10. A communication device comprising a liquid crystal antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 9.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202210080418.2A CN116526118A (en) | 2022-01-24 | 2022-01-24 | Liquid crystal antenna and communication equipment |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202210080418.2A CN116526118A (en) | 2022-01-24 | 2022-01-24 | Liquid crystal antenna and communication equipment |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CN116526118A true CN116526118A (en) | 2023-08-01 |
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| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202210080418.2A Pending CN116526118A (en) | 2022-01-24 | 2022-01-24 | Liquid crystal antenna and communication equipment |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CN (1) | CN116526118A (en) |
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2022
- 2022-01-24 CN CN202210080418.2A patent/CN116526118A/en active Pending
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