CN214336906U

CN214336906U - Antenna module and unmanned aerial vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN214336906U
Application number: CN202023202265.XU
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李栋; 桑晓庆
Original assignee: SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-25
Filing date: 2020-12-25
Publication date: 2021-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 2030-12-25

Abstract

The application provides an unmanned aerial vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle specifically includes: a hub and an antenna assembly; the antenna assembly comprises an antenna and a receiving circuit, wherein the antenna is electrically connected with the receiving circuit, and the receiving circuit is used for processing electromagnetic wave signals received by the antenna; the antenna is arranged on the side face of the central body and is conformal with the side face of the central body, and the receiving circuit is arranged at a position outside the side face of the central body. In the embodiment of this application, under the prerequisite that occupies less space, the size of antenna can design great, and the performance of antenna is corresponding better, is favorable to unmanned aerial vehicle's miniaturized design.

Description

Antenna module and unmanned aerial vehicle

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, especially relates to an antenna module and unmanned aerial vehicle.

Background

With the popularization and promotion of unmanned aerial vehicles and aeromodelling, the antenna becomes an indispensable component thereof. The antenna can be used for sending the information that the sensor on the unmanned aerial vehicle gathered to remote control terminal, and receive remote control terminal's remote control instruction. In practical application, along with the performance requirement on the antenna in the use process is higher and higher, and the communication links carried on the antenna are more and more, in order to realize better signal transmission quality, the antenna on the unmanned aerial vehicle is often designed to be larger. However, for the unmanned aerial vehicle, the antenna is too large, which is not favorable for the miniaturization design of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the above, the present application is proposed in order to provide a drone that overcomes or at least partially solves the above mentioned problems.

In order to solve the above problem, the application discloses an unmanned aerial vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle includes: a hub and an antenna assembly; wherein,

the antenna assembly comprises an antenna and a receiving circuit, wherein the antenna is electrically connected with the receiving circuit, and the receiving circuit is used for processing electromagnetic wave signals received by the antenna;

the antenna is arranged on the side face of the central body and is conformal with the side face of the central body, and the receiving circuit is arranged at a position outside the side face of the central body.

Optionally, the antenna comprises: the device comprises a feed branch and a coupling branch surrounding the feed branch, wherein the feed branch is used for coupling energy to the coupling branch.

Optionally, the antenna further comprises a coaxial feed line, a ground area, and a ground line, and the drone further comprises a ground piece disposed at a position outside the side of the central body; the inner core of the coaxial feeder is electrically connected with the feeding branch, and the shielding layer of the coaxial feeder is electrically connected with the grounding area;

one end of the grounding wire is electrically connected with the grounding area, and the other end of the grounding wire is electrically connected with the grounding piece.

Optionally, the ground member is a ground circuit board.

Optionally, the grounding member is a metal member disposed on the central body.

Optionally, the length of the coupling branch is one quarter of the operating wavelength of the antenna.

Optionally, the central body comprises: the antenna is fixed in the shell and is conformal to the side surface of the shell.

Optionally, the antenna is fixedly connected to an inner wall of the housing.

Optionally, the antenna is a printed antenna printed on an inner wall of the housing.

Optionally, the central body further comprises a frame body disposed within the housing;

the antenna is arranged between the frame main body and the shell, and a gap is formed between the antenna and the frame main body.

Optionally, the drone further comprises: the antenna is fixed on one side of the isolating piece, and the other side of the isolating piece is fixed on the frame main body;

the isolation piece is a plastic piece.

Optionally, the drone further comprises: the circuit board is arranged on the top of the central body, the receiving circuit is arranged on the circuit board, and the circuit board is also provided with other functional circuits except the receiving circuit.

Optionally, the antenna assembly comprises at least two of the antennas;

the at least two antennas are respectively arranged on the left side surface and the right side surface of the central body.

The application includes the following advantages:

in the embodiment of the present application, since the antenna is disposed on the side surface of the central body and is conformal to the side surface of the central body, the size of the antenna can be designed to be larger on the premise of occupying a smaller space, and the performance of the antenna is correspondingly better. Moreover, through setting up receiving circuit in the position outside the side of central body, can realize receiving circuit with the separation overall arrangement of antenna, like this, can improve receiving circuit's overall arrangement flexibility on unmanned aerial vehicle further reduces the space that the antenna module took up on unmanned aerial vehicle, is favorable to unmanned aerial vehicle's miniaturized design.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an angle structure of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of the drone shown in fig. 1 from another angle;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a circuit board of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a side of an antenna of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the antenna shown in FIG. 4 on the opposite side;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a side of another antenna of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the antenna shown in FIG. 6 on the opposite side;

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view of an antenna of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic view of an antenna layout on a drone of the present application;

description of reference numerals: 10-central body, 11-antenna, 111-feeding branch, 112-coupling branch, 113-coaxial feeder, 114-grounding area, 115-grounding wire, 12-circuit board, 13-receiving circuit, 14-functional circuit; 15-coaxial line, 16-spacer.

Detailed Description

In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present application more comprehensible, the present application is described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and the detailed description.

Referring to fig. 1, a schematic structural diagram of an angle of an unmanned aerial vehicle of the present application is shown, and referring to fig. 2, a schematic structural diagram of another angle of the unmanned aerial vehicle shown in fig. 1 is shown, the unmanned aerial vehicle may specifically include: a hub 10 and an antenna assembly; wherein,

the antenna assembly may include an antenna 11 and a receiving circuit, the antenna 11 and the receiving circuit being electrically connected, the receiving circuit being operable to process electromagnetic wave signals received by the antenna 11;

the antenna 11 is arranged on the side of the central body 10 and conformal with the side of the central body 10, and the receiving circuit is arranged at a position outside the side of the central body 10.

Specifically, the central body 10 can be formed by structures such as frame, shell, and the central body 10 can be regarded as unmanned aerial vehicle's organism carries on parts such as unmanned aerial vehicle's control module, drive module and rotor. The sides of the central body 10 may in particular be left and right sides.

In particular, the conformation of the antenna 11 to the lateral surface of the central body 10 may be in particular: the outer shape of the antenna 11 is kept identical to the outer shape of the central body 10 and the antenna 11 does not impose an additional burden on the central body 10. That is, the antenna 11 may be attached to or cover the side of the central body 10 without damaging the outer shape of the antenna 11, to reduce the space occupied by the antenna 11.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the antenna 11 is disposed on the side surface of the central body 10, and is conformal with the side surface of the central body 10, on the premise of occupying a smaller space, the size of the antenna 11 can be designed to be larger, so that more communication links can be carried on the antenna 11, and better signal transmission quality is realized, and further, the performance of the antenna 11 can be correspondingly better.

In practical applications, the antenna 11 may be used for receiving electromagnetic wave signals, and since the receiving circuit is electrically connected to the antenna 11, the electromagnetic wave signals received by the antenna 11 may be transmitted to the receiving circuit, and the receiving circuit may be used for processing the electromagnetic wave signals received by the antenna 11.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the antenna 11 is disposed on the side surface of the central body 10, and the receiving circuit is disposed at a position other than the side surface of the central body 10, the receiving circuit and the antenna 11 can be separately disposed. Therefore, the flexibility of the layout of the receiving circuit on the unmanned aerial vehicle can be improved, the space occupied by the antenna assembly on the unmanned aerial vehicle is further reduced, and the miniaturization design of the unmanned aerial vehicle is facilitated.

Illustratively, the outboard position outside the side of the hub 10 may include: the top, head or tail of the central body 10, etc., and the position other than the side is not particularly limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna 11 may be an ADS-B antenna, a mapping antenna, or the like, and the embodiment of the present application only takes the antenna 11 as the ADS-B antenna as an example for description, and other types of antennas may be executed by reference.

In practical applications, in the case that the antenna 11 is an ADS-B antenna, the receiving circuit may be an ADS-B receiver. The ADS-B antenna can be used for receiving broadcast radio signals, and the ADS-B receiver can obtain the monitoring information of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the radio signals received by the ADS-B antenna.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the drone may further include: a circuit board 12, a circuit board 12 being arranged on top of the hub 10, said receiving circuit being arranged on the circuit board 12, the circuit board 12 being further provided with other functional circuits than said receiving circuit, so that it is possible to avoid the need to provide a dedicated circuit board for providing said receiving circuit, further reducing the space occupied by said antenna assembly on said drone.

Referring to fig. 3, a schematic structural diagram of a circuit board of the present application is shown, and as shown in fig. 3, the circuit board 12 is provided with not only the receiving circuit 13 but also other functional circuits 14 besides the receiving circuit 13. For example, the other functional circuit 14 may be a global navigation satellite system circuit, a map-based control circuit, and the like, which is not particularly limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that, in practical application, the circuit board 12 may also be a main control board of the drone, that is, the receiving circuit 13 may be disposed on the main control board of the drone, and moreover, the circuit board 12 may also be disposed on other positions of the central body 10 according to practical requirements. For example, the circuit board 12 may be disposed at the head, tail, or bottom of the central body 10, as required, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

In practical applications, in the case that the receiving circuit 13 is disposed on the circuit board 12, the circuit board 12 and the antenna 11 may be connected by a coaxial line 15 to achieve electrical connection between the antenna 11 and the receiving circuit 13.

Specifically, one end of the coaxial line 15 may be soldered to the antenna 11, and the other end of the coaxial line 15 may be provided with a coaxial line connector, and by connecting the coaxial line connector at the other end of the coaxial line 15 to the circuit board 12, the electrical connection between the antenna 11 and the receiving circuit 13 on the circuit board 12 may be achieved.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of one side of an antenna of the present application, and fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of the other side of the antenna shown in fig. 4 opposite to the antenna. As shown in fig. 4, the antenna 11 may specifically include: feed branch 111 and coupling branch 112 surrounding feed branch 111, feed branch 111 may be used to couple energy to coupling branch 112.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the coupling branch 112 is designed to surround the feeding branch 111, the efficiency of coupling and feeding between the coupling branch 112 and the feeding branch 111 can be higher, which is beneficial to achieve higher feeding efficiency with a smaller antenna size. In addition, in the unmanned aerial vehicle, the antenna 11 is closer to the metal parts around, so the quality factor of the antenna 11 is higher, and the radiation impedance is smaller. In practical application, the coupling feeding between the feeding branch 111 and the coupling branch 112 is equivalent to connecting a small inductor (feeding branch 111) and a small capacitor (mutual capacitance between the feeding branch 111 and the coupling branch 112) in series at the feeding port of the antenna 11, so as to perform the function of impedance matching and expand the impedance bandwidth of the antenna 11.

As shown in fig. 4, the antenna 11 may further include a coaxial feed line 113 and a ground region 114, an inner core of the coaxial feed line 113 is electrically connected to the feed branch 111, a shielding layer of the coaxial feed line 113 is electrically connected to the ground region 114, and the feed branch 111 may be connected to the ground region 114 through the coaxial feed line 113 to implement grounding.

Referring to fig. 6, a schematic structural diagram of one side of another antenna of the present application is shown, and referring to fig. 7, a schematic structural diagram of the other side of the antenna shown in fig. 6 opposite to the other side is shown. As shown in fig. 6, the antenna 11 may further include a ground line 115. Correspondingly, the drone may also comprise a ground, which is arranged in an area outside the side of the central body 10, i.e. separately from the antenna 11. One end of the grounding line 115 is electrically connected to the grounding region 114, and the other end is connected to the grounding member. The grounding wire 115 and the grounding wire member form a radiating ground of the antenna 11, so that the grounding size of the antenna 11 is increased, and the radiation efficiency of the antenna 11 is improved.

Alternatively, the ground member may be a ground circuit board, one end of the ground line 115 may be soldered to the ground region 114, and the other end may be connected to the ground circuit board, and the ground line 115 and the ground circuit board may together constitute a radiating ground of the antenna 11, so as to increase the ground size of the antenna 11. For example, the ground circuit board may be connected to the bottom, top or other position of the central body 10, and the specific position of the ground circuit board may not be limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Alternatively, the grounding member may also be a metal member disposed on the central body 10, and the metal member may specifically be a metal structural member on the central body 10, such as a metal beam, a metal worktable, a metal mounting plate, and the like. One end of the grounding wire 115 may be soldered to the grounding area 114, and the other end may be connected to the metal member, and the grounding wire 115 and the metal member together constitute a radiating ground of the antenna 11, increasing the grounding size of the antenna 11.

In practical application, a person skilled in the art may additionally provide a ground circuit board on the unmanned aerial vehicle as the ground component according to actual needs, or may use a metal component existing on the central body 10 as the ground component.

Optionally, the length of the coupling branch 112 is one quarter of the operating wavelength of the antenna, so that after the coupling branch 112 and the receiving circuit 13 are connected by the ground line 115, a monopole antenna with 1/4 wavelength and a floor can be formed, and the radiation efficiency of the antenna 11 is further improved.

For example, where antenna 11 is an ADS-B antenna, the corresponding 1/2 wavelength is about 153mm due to the resonance of the ADS-B antenna at 978MHz and 1090 MHz. At this point, the length of the coupling stub 112 may be set at around 80mm, close to 1/4 wavelengths, to form a monopole antenna with a floor of 1/4 wavelengths.

In the present embodiment, the central body 10 may comprise: the antenna 11 is fixed in the shell and is conformal with the side surface of the shell. In particular, said shell may be coated outside the central body 10, protecting the central body 10. In order to improve unmanned aerial vehicle's outward appearance aesthetic property, abundant outward appearance molding also can be carried out to the casing.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the antenna 11 is fixedly connected to an inner wall of the housing, so that the antenna 11 and the housing are designed in a conformal manner, and the space occupied by the antenna 11 on the drone is reduced. For example, in the case that the antenna 11 is fixedly connected to the inner wall of the housing, the antenna 11 may be formed on an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit), and the FPC may be fixed to the inner wall of the housing by means of pasting or the like, so as to achieve a conformal design of the antenna 11 and the housing.

Optionally, antenna 11 can be for printing the printing antenna of shells inner wall, like this, can further reduce the space that antenna 11 occupied at unmanned aerial vehicle, be favorable to unmanned aerial vehicle's miniaturized design.

In the present embodiment, the central body 10 further comprises a frame body, which is arranged inside said housing; the antenna 11 is disposed between the frame body and the housing, and a gap is formed between the antenna and the frame body.

In particular, the frame body may be a main structural member of the central body 10, and may be made of a material containing carbon fibers for the sake of joyful fuselage strength of the drone. For example, the frame body can be formed by injection molding of a material containing 30% carbon fibers, so as to well balance the advantages of carbon fiber processing difficulty, cost, strength, weight and the like. However, in the case that the frame body is made of a material containing carbon fiber, when the frame body is closer to the antenna 11, the frame body may be equivalent to a lossy dielectric material, and may absorb the electromagnetic wave radiated by the antenna 11, and therefore, a performance gap should be formed between the antenna 11 and the frame body, so that the antenna 11 is as far away from the frame body as possible, and the energy image radiated by the antenna 11 is not absorbed by the middle frame body, thereby improving the radiation efficiency of the antenna 11.

As shown in fig. 5 and 7, the unmanned aerial vehicle further includes: a spacer 16, the antenna 11 being fixed to one side of the spacer 16, the other side of the spacer 16 being fixed to the frame body; the spacer 16 may be an insulating member such as a plastic member. In the embodiment of the present application, the spacer 16 is disposed between the antenna 11 and the frame body, so that a gap is formed between the antenna 11 and the frame body, and the radiation efficiency of the antenna 11 is improved.

Referring to fig. 8, which shows a schematic side view of an antenna of the present application, as shown in fig. 8, one side of the spacer 16 is fixed to the back surface of the antenna 11. In practical applications, the other side of the spacer 16 may be fixed to the frame body so that a gap is formed between the antenna 11 and the frame body.

Specifically, the isolation member 16 may be a plastic member such as a foam member or a plastic member, and the other side of the isolation member 16 may be fixed to the frame body by a bonding medium such as glue or a double-sided tape. In practice, the frame body is usually provided with some grooves on its surface for weight reduction, and the antenna 11 is usually fixed in the grooves by the spacers 16 for space saving.

Referring to fig. 9, which shows a schematic layout of antennas on a drone of the present application, as shown in fig. 9, the antenna assembly on the drone may include at least two antennas 11; at least two antennas 11 are respectively disposed at left and right lateral sides of the central body 10.

Specifically, the radiation direction of the antenna 11 on the left side of the central body 10 is a, and the radiation direction of the antenna 11 on the side is B. As shown in fig. 8, the radiation direction of a single antenna 11 can cover more than half of the central body 10, and the antennas 11 are respectively arranged on the left side and the right side of the central body 10, so that the radiation directions of the antennas 11 on the left side and the right side can well cover the whole horizontal plane omni-direction, and omni-directional radiation is realized, and further, the radiation efficiency of the antennas 11 can be improved.

To sum up, unmanned aerial vehicle described in the embodiments of the present application can include following advantage at least:

Finally, it should also be noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or terminal that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or terminal. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or terminal that comprises the element.

The above details are introduced into the unmanned aerial vehicle provided by the present application, and a specific example is applied in the present application to explain the principle and the implementation manner of the present application, and the description of the above embodiment is only used to help understand the method and the core idea of the present application; meanwhile, for a person skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present application, there may be variations in the specific embodiments and the application scope, and in summary, the content of the present specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present application.

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: a hub and an antenna assembly; wherein,

2. A drone according to claim 1, wherein the antenna comprises: the device comprises a feed branch and a coupling branch surrounding the feed branch, wherein the feed branch is used for coupling energy to the coupling branch.

3. The drone of claim 2, wherein the antenna further includes a coaxial feed line, a ground area, and a ground line, the drone further including a ground piece disposed at a location outside of the sides of the central body; the inner core of the coaxial feeder is electrically connected with the feeding branch, and the shielding layer of the coaxial feeder is electrically connected with the grounding area;

4. The drone of claim 3, wherein the ground member is a ground circuit board.

5. The drone of claim 3, wherein the ground member is a metal member disposed on the hub.

6. The drone of claim 2, wherein the coupling stub has a length of one quarter of an operating wavelength of the antenna.

7. The drone of claim 1, wherein the hub comprises: the antenna is fixed in the shell and is conformal to the side surface of the shell.

8. The drone of claim 7, wherein the antenna is fixedly connected with an inner wall of the housing.

9. The drone of claim 8, wherein the antenna is a printed antenna printed on an inner wall of the housing.

10. The drone of claim 7, wherein the central body further includes a frame body disposed within the housing;

11. The drone of claim 10, further comprising: the antenna is fixed on one side of the isolating piece, and the other side of the isolating piece is fixed on the frame main body;

the isolation piece is a plastic piece.

12. The drone of claim 1, further comprising: the circuit board is arranged on the top of the central body, the receiving circuit is arranged on the circuit board, and the circuit board is also provided with other functional circuits except the receiving circuit.

13. The drone of claim 1, wherein the antenna assembly includes at least two of the antennas;