CN117199830A - Multi-beam antenna module - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a multi-beam antenna module, which comprises a radio frequency circuit board, a plurality of reflecting plates and a plurality of area coverage feed-in antenna groups; each of the area coverage feed antenna groups comprises a feed antenna; the reflection plates have different arrangement directions, and each reflection plate is arranged relative to each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna groups so as to change a radiation field type of each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna groups to deflect a main radiation direction of each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna groups.

Description

Multi-beam antenna module

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an antenna module, and more particularly, to a multi-beam antenna module.

Background

In wireless communication and radar applications, there are many situations where a large range of signal coverage is required. In the related art planar antenna and the related art antenna array, the gain and coverage angle of a single antenna are opposite; that is, if the gain of the antenna is higher, the beam of the antenna is narrower and the beam of the antenna can be transmitted farther, but the angular range of the beam of the antenna is limited; the wider the beam of the antenna and the larger the angular range of the beam of the antenna, but the shorter the transmission distance of the beam of the antenna, if the gain of the antenna is lower.

Please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of the appearance of a millimeter wave band series-fed patch array antenna (series-fed patch array antenna) in the prior art; generally, the radiation beam of the antenna is designed to face the direction of the Z axis +z, and the antenna is connected with three array elements 202 in series in the direction of the X axis, so that the beam in the X-Z plane is narrower, and the beam in the Y-Z plane is wider; please refer to fig. 2, which is a diagram of an antenna pattern in the X-Z plane of fig. 1; please refer to fig. 3, which is a diagram of an antenna pattern in the Y-Z plane of fig. 1. In most cases, the Z-axis +z is directed to the communication target or measurement area, the wider Y-Z plane of the beam is parallel to the horizontal plane, and the narrower X-Z plane of the beam is placed perpendicular to the horizontal plane, so as to obtain a larger measurement angle and range in the horizontal plane.

Please refer to fig. 4, which is a schematic diagram illustrating an arrangement of a three-sector antenna in the prior art; please refer to fig. 5, which is a schematic diagram of the horizontal antenna pattern of fig. 4. There are many cases where the need for full coverage of the horizontal plane exists, and one solution is to use sector division, and use multiple sets of antennas with different beam directions to meet the coverage of all angles of the horizontal plane, as shown in fig. 4. Multiple antennas are connected by matching with a related-art switch circuit or multiple sets of related-art radio frequency transceivers. In millimeter wave frequency bands, the multi-beam antenna configuration involves relatively high construction cost, in the past, the 1.85mm rf connector supporting to 65GHz and the 1.0mm rf connector supporting to 110GHz and the corresponding coaxial cable are very expensive, the architecture of the antenna and the transceiver separate from each other needs to be matched with multiple groups of high-frequency connectors and high-frequency coaxial cables, which makes the cost very expensive and cannot be widely applied, so that many applications are currently made on the same circuit board by the antenna and the rf front end or the transceiver, because of the limitation of high-frequency loss and assembly precision, most of them are limited to the layout of the active circuit and the antenna feeder plane, so that the multi-beam result can be achieved by matching each sector with a group of plane circuits and antenna modules, but because many parts need to be repeatedly configured, the cost is increased, and the number of antennas and the number of main integrated circuits are also lack of elasticity. For example, many radar integrated circuits have multiple transceiver antennas, but are limited by the inability of the planar layout to support multiple sector antennas.

While a single or fewer planar circuits are matched with some external mechanisms to achieve a multi-angle multi-beam result, for example, US patent 6933900 discloses a horn antenna formed by adopting a planar convex polygon arrangement and matching upper and lower shells to achieve a high-gain multi-angle result, or for example, US patent 7994996 discloses a planar layout matched with an external spherical or various planar lenses to achieve a multi-beam high-gain effect, but the two aforementioned US patents have many limitations on the arrangement and radiation patterns of the antenna, and the frequency applicability and assembly accuracy of materials need to be considered when the two US patents are applied to millimeter wave bands, so that the cost is high. Furthermore, in many radar applications, the transmit antenna and the receive antenna are independent and co-exist, and the transmit antenna and the receive antenna of the same sector should be pointed in the same direction, which also increases the difficulty of alignment.

In summary, the related art has poor effect or complicated structure of transmitting electromagnetic wave signals to different directions or receiving electromagnetic wave signals transmitted from different directions.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a multi-beam antenna module.

To achieve the above object, a multi-beam antenna module of the present invention comprises: a radio frequency circuit board; the reflection plates are arranged relative to the radio frequency circuit board; the radio frequency integrated circuit is arranged on the radio frequency circuit board; a plurality of area coverage feed-in antenna groups which are arranged on the radio frequency circuit board; the radio frequency integrated circuit is electrically connected to the area coverage feed-in antenna groups through the radio frequency transmission lines, wherein the radio frequency circuit board is a multilayer circuit board; the radio frequency integrated circuit comprises a transmitter or a receiver; each of the area coverage feed antenna groups comprises a feed antenna; the reflection plates have different arrangement directions, and each reflection plate is arranged relative to each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna groups so as to change a radiation field type of each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna groups to deflect a main radiation direction of each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna groups.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention as described above, the multi-beam antenna module further comprises: the angle adjusting mechanisms are arranged on the radio frequency circuit board and connected to the reflecting plates, wherein each of the angle adjusting mechanisms is configured to adjust each of the reflecting plates to change the main radiation direction of each of the feeding antennas of the region coverage feeding antenna group.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention as described above, each of the reflection plates is a planar reflection plate.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention as described above, each of the reflection plates is a parabolic curved reflection plate.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention as described above, the feed antenna is a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna or a transmitting receiving antenna.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention as described above, each of the reflection plates is a free-form surface reflection plate.

The invention has the effects of effectively transmitting electromagnetic wave signals in different directions or effectively receiving electromagnetic wave signals transmitted in different directions by a simple structure.

For a further understanding of the technology, means, and efficacy of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of the invention and to the accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and to the specific features and aspects of the invention, however, are given by way of illustration and not limitation.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an external view schematically showing a millimeter wave band series-fed patch array antenna according to the prior art.

Fig. 2 is a diagram of an antenna pattern of the X-Z axis of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a diagram of the antenna pattern of the Y-axis-Z-axis of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an arrangement of a related art three-sector antenna.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the horizontal antenna pattern of fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an external view of a first embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module according to the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a circuit block diagram of a multi-beam antenna module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a circuit block diagram of another embodiment of a multi-beam antenna module according to the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a partial side view of a first embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a radiation pattern of a first embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module according to the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a partial side view of a second embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a partial side view of a third embodiment of a multi-beam antenna module of the present invention.

Fig. 13 is an antenna pattern diagram of a second embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention.

Fig. 14 is an antenna pattern diagram of a third embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module of the present invention.

Fig. 15 is an external view of a fourth embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module according to the present invention.

Fig. 16 is an external view of a fifth embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module according to the present invention.

Wherein, the reference numerals:

10 Multi-beam antenna Module

102 radio frequency circuit board

104 reflecting plate

106 radio frequency integrated circuit

108 area coverage feed antenna group

110 radio frequency transmission line

112, angle adjusting mechanism

114 first included angle

116 a second included angle

202 array element

1061 emitter

1062 receiver

1081 feed-in antenna

1082 radiation field pattern

1083 main radiation direction

1084 transmitting antenna

1085 receiving antenna

X is X axis

Y is Y-axis

Z, Z axis

Detailed Description

In the present disclosure, numerous specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention; however, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without one or more of these specific details; in other instances, well-known details are not shown or described in order to avoid obscuring the invention. The technical content and detailed description of the present invention are described below with reference to the drawings:

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a first embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 according to the present invention; as shown in fig. 6, a multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention includes a rf circuit board 102, a plurality of reflection boards 104, a rf integrated circuit 106, and a plurality of area coverage feed antenna groups 108, wherein each of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108 includes a feed antenna 1081; the reflection plates 104 are arranged relative to the radio frequency circuit board 102, the radio frequency integrated circuit 106 is arranged on the radio frequency circuit board 102, and the area coverage feed-in antenna groups 108 are arranged on the radio frequency circuit board 102; the rf circuit board 102 may be, for example and without limitation, a multi-layer circuit board, the rf integrated circuit 106 may also be referred to as an rf integrated circuit, and each of the reflectors 104 may be, for example and without limitation, a planar reflector.

Furthermore, the RF circuit board 102 is disposed parallel to the ground. The rf integrated circuit 106 is an rf integrated circuit (such as, but not limited to, AWR2944 for TI) for integrating multiple sets of received transmissions and is connected to the regional coverage feed antenna groups 108. Each of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108 is disposed at an edge of the rf circuit board 102, and the area coverage feed antenna groups 108 have different alignment orientations. Each of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108 of fig. 6 includes only one of the feed antennas 1081, suitable for systems receiving transmit shared antennas. These areas cover the planar reflector plate of appropriate size above each of the feed antennas 1081 of the feed antenna group 108. The size, position and angle of the planar reflection plates are determined according to design requirements, and are fixed on a bracket (not shown in fig. 6) or a housing (not shown in fig. 6) or on the rf circuit board 102 to deflect the beam direction of the feed antenna 1081; that is, the beam, which is originally perpendicular to the rf circuit board 102 (i.e., perpendicular to the ground), is deflected by the planar reflective plate and generates a large proportion of horizontal components, which becomes the same horizontal plane full-circle coverage as the sector antenna of the related art, as shown in fig. 10 described later.

Furthermore, the planar reflecting plate can be formed by cutting metal sheets or plating metal on the surface of plastic materials, and the manufacture and the assembly are very simple. The planar reflecting plate has no focal length problem, the reflected wave beam width is similar to that of the original wave beam, the inclination angle is quite intuitive to adjust, and the matching of the antenna is not required to be readjusted, so that the planar reflecting plate is simple in design and application. The first number of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108 is equal to the second number of the reflection plates 104; that is, the area coverage feed antenna groups 108 and the reflection plates 104 are disposed one-to-one. The reflection plates 104 have a gap therebetween.

Referring to fig. 7, a circuit block diagram of an embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention is shown; the components shown in fig. 7 are identical to those shown in fig. 6, and thus, a description thereof will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity. As shown in fig. 7, the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention further comprises a plurality of rf transmission lines 110, and the rf integrated circuit 106 comprises a transmitter 1061; the rf integrated circuit 106 is electrically connected to the regional coverage feed antenna groups 108 through the rf transmission lines 110.

Referring to fig. 8, a circuit block diagram of another embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention is shown; the components shown in fig. 8 are identical to those shown in fig. 7, and thus, a description thereof will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity. As shown in fig. 8, the rf integrated circuit 106 includes a receiver 1062. That is, the rf ic 106 of the present invention may include the transmitter 1061 shown in fig. 7 or the receiver 1062 shown in fig. 8, but the present invention is not limited thereto, i.e. the rf ic 106 of the present invention may also include both the transmitter 1061 and the receiver 1062.

Referring to fig. 9, a partial side view of a first embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention is shown; the components shown in fig. 9 are identical to those shown in fig. 6, and thus, a description thereof will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity; referring to fig. 10, a radiation pattern diagram of a first embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 according to the present invention is shown; the components shown in fig. 10 are identical to those shown in fig. 6, and thus, a description thereof will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity. Please refer to fig. 6, 9 and 10; the reflection plates 104 have different arrangement directions, and each of the reflection plates 104 is disposed relative to the feed antenna 1081 of each of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108, so as to change a radiation pattern 1082 of the feed antenna 1081 of each of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108 to deflect a main radiation direction 1083 of the feed antenna 1081 of each of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108.

Furthermore, referring back to fig. 6, 9 and 10, the present invention changes the radiation pattern 1082 of each of the feed antennas 1081 of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108 to deflect the main radiation direction 1083 of the feed antenna 1081 of each of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108, so that a plurality of the radiation patterns 1082 are formed to cover the entire circumference of the radiation pattern toward the outside of the reflection plates 104.

Referring to fig. 11, a partial side view of a second embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention is shown. The second embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention is substantially the same as the first embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention, except that the second embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention further comprises a plurality of angle adjustment mechanisms 112, the angle adjustment mechanisms 112 are disposed on the rf circuit board 102, the angle adjustment mechanisms 112 are connected to the reflection boards 104, and each of the angle adjustment mechanisms 112 is configured to adjust each of the reflection boards 104 to change the main radiation direction 1083 of the feed antenna 1081 of each of the area coverage feed antenna groups 108.

Furthermore, please refer to fig. 12, which is a partial side view of a third embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention; the third embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention is substantially the same as the second embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention. The angle adjustment mechanism 112 is configured to adjust the reflector plate 104 to change a first angle 114 between the reflector plate 104 and the radio frequency circuit board 102 to change a second angle 116 between the primary radiation direction 1083 and the radio frequency circuit board 102. The smaller the first included angle 114, the more downward the primary radiation direction 1083 is; the larger the first included angle 114, the more upward the primary radiation direction 1083 is. Adjusting the first angle 114 between the reflector 104 and the rf circuit board 102 adjusts the beam tilt angle (i.e., the second angle 116) in the vertical plane. As shown in fig. 11, when the first angle 114 between the reflecting plate 104 and the rf circuit board 102 is 45 degrees, the beam is directed close to the horizontal plane and is declined at a small angle (e.g., the second angle 116 is 5 degrees). Fig. 11 is suitable for a beam configuration when the multi-beam antenna module 10 is installed at a relatively low position. Referring to fig. 13, an antenna pattern diagram of a second embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 of the present invention is shown. As shown in fig. 12, when the first angle 114 between the reflecting plate 104 and the rf circuit board 102 is 60 degrees, the beam is tilted upward by about 20 degrees (i.e., the second angle 116 is about 20 degrees). If the multi-beam antenna module 10 as shown in fig. 12 is hung upside down at a high position, the direction of the beam at this time becomes declined by about 20 degrees, and proper range coverage can be provided. Referring to fig. 14, an antenna pattern diagram of a third embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module 10 according to the present invention is shown.

Fig. 15 is a schematic view showing the appearance of a fourth embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module according to the present invention; the components shown in fig. 15 are identical to those shown in fig. 6, and thus, a description thereof will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity. As shown in fig. 15, the feed antenna 1081 is a transmitting antenna 1084 or a receiving antenna 1085; alternatively, the feed antenna 1081 may be a transmitting/receiving antenna (not shown in fig. 15), i.e. the transmitting antenna 1084 may also have a receiving function or the receiving antenna 1085 may also have a transmitting function as the transmitting/receiving antenna, depending on the design requirements.

Further, as shown in fig. 15, fig. 15 has four sectors, each sector having multiple antennas, e.g., 1T2R (one transmitting antenna 1084 and two receiving antennas 1085). Many low cost millimeter wave radars use different antennas for receiving and transmitting signals corresponding to different paths to eliminate the need for circulators (circulators), and multiple sets of receiving antennas may be configured corresponding to antenna diversity (diversity) of the communication system or to the need for angle detection by the radar system. As with the embodiment of fig. 6, the embodiment of fig. 15 uses the planar reflective plate to change beam direction; since the number of antennas per sector becomes large, the width of the planar reflecting plate is appropriately adjusted in response to the irradiation range of the antennas. In addition, since the total number of antennas increases, the number of antennas may exceed the receiving and transmitting number specification of a single rf ic 106, so that a plurality of rf ics 106 (shown in fig. 15) are required to operate together, or a switching circuit (not shown in fig. 15) is additionally provided to operate the antennas of each sector in a time-sharing manner. The antennas in the same sector have the same or very similar main radiation directions 1083 as described above.

Fig. 16 is a schematic view showing the appearance of a fifth embodiment of the multi-beam antenna module according to the present invention; the components shown in fig. 16 are identical to those shown in fig. 15, and thus, a description thereof will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity. Each of the reflectors 104 is a parabolic curved reflector or a free-form curved reflector.

Furthermore, as shown in fig. 16, the antennas and the reflection plates 104 are arranged into four sectors, each sector has four independent antennas, each antenna has only one unit, the antennas are closely arranged, and a 1T3R configuration (one transmitting antenna 1084 and three receiving antennas 1085) is adopted. The arrangement of the antennas of fig. 16 is different from the arrangement of the antennas of fig. 15, and the reflection plate 104 of fig. 16 is different from the reflection plate 104 of fig. 15. For the right-most sector of fig. 16, the surface of the reflecting plate 104 is formed by horizontally extending the parabolic line of the X-Z plane in the Y-axis direction, and the antennas are disposed adjacent to the focal point; such a configuration would result in a focusing effect of the beam in the X-Z plane, while the Y-Z plane would maintain a wider beam to achieve greater angular coverage. In this embodiment, the reflecting plate 104 can be rotated to adjust the inclination angle of the beam in the vertical plane, but the rotation about the focal line can have a more uniform focusing effect. In addition to the planar reflector 104 and parabolic curved reflector 104 shown in fig. 15 and 16, the reflector 104 may be more complex in shape to achieve a specific antenna radiation energy distribution, such as a wider horizontal beam width, or to make the FOV (Field of View) range of radiation energy more uniform, and many reflector designs may be used in the present invention.

In summary, the present invention is technically characterized in that a planar antenna arrangement is used to match with a plurality of reflecting plates so as to achieve multi-beam transmission and reception, and the best coverage range is achieved through proper arrangement and adjustment. The invention is mainly characterized in that:

1. the single-chip printed circuit board is arranged with the planar antenna without an additional radio frequency connector and a high-frequency coaxial line, so the invention has the advantage of lower cost.

2. The reflecting plate can be configured into different forms and sizes according to the requirements so as to achieve the most suitable coverage range.

3. The reflecting plate can adjust the angle on site so as to control the beam inclination angle to correspond to different devices and environments.

4. The invention can optimize the matching of the number of the antennas and the number of the transmitter/receiver sets supported by the radio frequency integrated circuit.

5. The antenna is suitable for a structure that the radar transmitting/receiving antennas are separated and arranged side by side.

The invention has the effects of effectively transmitting electromagnetic wave signals in different directions or effectively receiving electromagnetic wave signals transmitted in different directions by a simple structure.

However, the above description is only of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of the invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but the invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments.

Of course, the present invention is capable of other various embodiments and its several details are capable of modification and variation in light of the present invention by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (6)

1. A multi-beam antenna module, comprising:

a radio frequency circuit board;

a plurality of reflection plates disposed opposite to the radio frequency circuit board;

the radio frequency integrated circuit is arranged on the radio frequency circuit board;

the area coverage feed-in antenna groups are arranged on the radio frequency circuit board; a kind of electronic device with high-pressure air-conditioning system

A plurality of radio frequency transmission lines, the radio frequency integrated circuit is electrically connected to the area coverage feed-in antenna group through the radio frequency transmission lines,

the radio frequency circuit board is a multilayer circuit board; the radio frequency integrated circuit comprises a transmitter or a receiver; each of the area coverage feed antenna groups comprises a feed antenna; the reflecting plates have different arrangement directions, and each reflecting plate is arranged relative to each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna group so as to change a radiation pattern of each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna group to deflect a main radiation direction of each feed-in antenna of the area coverage feed-in antenna group.

2. The multi-beam antenna module of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of angle adjusting mechanisms arranged on the radio frequency circuit board, the angle adjusting mechanisms are connected to the reflecting plate,

wherein each of the angle adjustment mechanisms is configured to adjust each of the reflection plates to change the main radiation direction of each of the feed antennas of the area coverage feed antenna group.

3. The multiple beam antenna module of claim 1, wherein each of the reflecting plates is a planar reflecting plate.

4. The multi-beam antenna module of claim 1, wherein each of the reflecting plates is a parabolic curved reflecting plate.

5. The multi-beam antenna module of claim 1, wherein the feed antenna is a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna, or a transmitting receiving antenna.

6. The multi-beam antenna module of claim 1, wherein each of the reflecting plates is a free-form surface reflecting plate.