EP3176875B1 - Aufbau einer aktiven hybriden rekonfigurierbaren strahlbildungsantenne - Google Patents

Aufbau einer aktiven hybriden rekonfigurierbaren strahlbildungsantenne Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3176875B1
EP3176875B1 EP16199488.4A EP16199488A EP3176875B1 EP 3176875 B1 EP3176875 B1 EP 3176875B1 EP 16199488 A EP16199488 A EP 16199488A EP 3176875 B1 EP3176875 B1 EP 3176875B1
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Prior art keywords
quasi
beamformer
optical
reception
ports
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French (fr)
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EP3176875A1 (de
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Hervé Legay
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Thales SA
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Thales SA
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q15/00—Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
    • H01Q15/0006—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices
    • H01Q15/0013—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices said selective devices working as frequency-selective reflecting surfaces, e.g. FSS, dichroic plates, surfaces being partly transmissive and reflective
    • H01Q15/0033—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices said selective devices working as frequency-selective reflecting surfaces, e.g. FSS, dichroic plates, surfaces being partly transmissive and reflective used for beam splitting or combining, e.g. acting as a quasi-optical multiplexer
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q25/00—Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns
    • H01Q25/007—Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns using two or more primary active elements in the focal region of a focusing device
    • H01Q25/008—Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns using two or more primary active elements in the focal region of a focusing device lens fed multibeam arrays
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/27—Adaptation for use in or on movable bodies
    • H01Q1/28—Adaptation for use in or on aircraft, missiles, satellites, or balloons
    • H01Q1/288—Satellite antennas
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/42—Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/42—Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome
    • H01Q1/422—Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome comprising two or more layers of dielectric material
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q15/00—Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
    • H01Q15/0006—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices
    • H01Q15/0013—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices said selective devices working as frequency-selective reflecting surfaces, e.g. FSS, dichroic plates, surfaces being partly transmissive and reflective
    • H01Q15/0026—Devices acting selectively as reflecting surface, as diffracting or as refracting device, e.g. frequency filtering or angular spatial filtering devices said selective devices working as frequency-selective reflecting surfaces, e.g. FSS, dichroic plates, surfaces being partly transmissive and reflective said selective devices having a stacked geometry or having multiple layers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q15/00—Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
    • H01Q15/02—Refracting or diffracting devices, e.g. lens, prism
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q19/00—Combinations of primary active antenna elements and units with secondary devices, e.g. with quasi-optical devices, for giving the antenna a desired directional characteristic
    • H01Q19/10—Combinations of primary active antenna elements and units with secondary devices, e.g. with quasi-optical devices, for giving the antenna a desired directional characteristic using reflecting surfaces
    • H01Q19/12—Combinations of primary active antenna elements and units with secondary devices, e.g. with quasi-optical devices, for giving the antenna a desired directional characteristic using reflecting surfaces wherein the surfaces are concave
    • H01Q19/13—Combinations of primary active antenna elements and units with secondary devices, e.g. with quasi-optical devices, for giving the antenna a desired directional characteristic using reflecting surfaces wherein the surfaces are concave the primary radiating source being a single radiating element, e.g. a dipole, a slot, a waveguide termination
    • H01Q19/138—Parallel-plate feeds, e.g. pill-box, cheese aerials
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
    • H01Q21/0006—Particular feeding systems
    • H01Q21/0031—Parallel-plate fed arrays; Lens-fed arrays

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a reconfigurable hybrid beam-forming active antenna architecture.
  • the antenna can be applied to the terrestrial or space domain and in particular in the field of satellite telecommunications. In particular, it can be mounted on a terrestrial terminal or on board a satellite.
  • the mode of operation of the beamformers is assumed in reception, but a similar description could be formulated in transmission.
  • An electron beam-forming reconfigurable active antenna has a plurality of radiating elements, active chains for processing the signals received by the radiating elements, and a beamformer that recombines the received signals coherently in different directions to form different beams. .
  • Each radiating element is connected to the beamformer via a dedicated active channel.
  • the processing carried out by each active channel comprises a filtering and an amplification of the received signals.
  • the processing carried out by each active chain further comprises a transposition in frequency. Treatments may also include scanning if the beam formation is performed on digitized signals.
  • a planar radiofrequency beamformer divides the signals received by each radiating element E1, E2,..., Ei,..., EN, into M sub-signals which are conveyed in M different channels, then applies to each of the M sub-signals, a phase shift and a controllable value attenuation before recombining the sub-signals from the N radiating elements to form M different beams S1, S2, ..., SM, also called spots.
  • the radiofrequency planar beamformer requires crossings between the channels carrying the sub-signals, the number of crossings being equal to the product between the number M of beams and the number N of radiating elements. Consequently, the larger the number of beams to be made, the greater the mass, the size and the complexity of this beamformer. This beamformer therefore quickly becomes impractical when a large number of beams have to be made to cover a wide angular sector.
  • planar quasi-optical beamformers using electromagnetic propagation of radiofrequency waves from several input power sources, for example internal horns, according to a propagation mode in general TEM (in English). : Transverse Electric Magnetic) between two parallel metal plates (in English: parallel plates).
  • the focusing and the collimation of the beams can be carried out by a lens, for example an optical lens as described in particular in the documents US 3170158 and US 5936588 which illustrate the case of a Rotman lens, the lens being inserted in the path of propagation of radio waves, between the two parallel metal plates.
  • lenses can be used, these lenses being essentially phase correctors and allowing in most cases to convert one or more cylindrical waves emitted by the sources into one or more plane waves propagating in the waveguide.
  • wave with parallel metal plates The lens may comprise two opposite edges with parabolic profiles, respectively input and output.
  • the lens may be a dielectric lens, or a gradient index lens, or any other type of lens.
  • this technology uses parallel plate waveguides, As an alternative to using a plurality of discrete radiators aligned side by side, it is possible to use a continuous linear radiating aperture at the output of each parallel plate waveguide.
  • linear radiating apertures which are not spatially quantized, have much higher performances compared to the linear arrays of several radiating elements, for the depointed beams, because of the absence of quantization, and in bandwidth because of the absence of resonant propagation modes.
  • a quasi-optical beamformer is much simpler than traditional waveguide beamformers because it has no couplers or crossover devices and allows for multiple beams that cover a wide angular sector without no aberration. In addition, their bandwidth is very important and they can operate both in an Rx transmit band and in a Tx receive band.
  • known planar beam formers are only able to form beams in one dimension of space, in a direction parallel to the plane of the metal plates. To form beams according to two dimensions of the space, in two directions, respectively parallel and orthogonal to the plane of the metal plates, it is necessary to combine orthogonally between them, two sets of beam forming, each beam forming assembly consisting of a stack of several layers of unidirectional beamformers.
  • connection interfaces in particular input / output connectors
  • connection interfaces in particular input / output connectors
  • the object of the invention is to provide a novel reconfigurable active antenna architecture comprising a simpler electronic beamformator than the known electron beam formers, making it possible to reduce the number of signals to be controlled in phase and amplitude, to reduce the number of signals to recombine electronically for each beam, and to make a large number of beams from a large number of radiating elements.
  • the antenna architecture may further include switches capable of selecting, in each quasi-optical beamformer, a port among all the available beam access ports, each switch having an input connected to a transmission channel. phase and amplitude control of the electron beamformer and several outputs respectively connected to a plurality of respective beam access ports of the corresponding quasi-optical beamformer.
  • the beam access ports may consist of a first row of transmission ports arranged side by side along the focal axis of the lens and a second row of reception ports arranged side by side. along the focal axis of the lens, the first and second rows being stacked one above the other, the transmitting ports and the receiving ports being distinct and of different sizes, each port of emission, respectively receiving, being provided with a respective filter centered on the transmission frequency band, respectively receiving.
  • the linear radiating openings of the different quasi-optical beam formers can be networked to a single, partially reflective radome, common to all quasi-optical beamformers, the radome having a first partially reflecting surface sized for the sub-reflector. receiving frequency band and a second partially reflecting surface sized for the transmitting frequency subband, the first and second partially reflecting surfaces being respectively disposed at the output of the linear radiating apertures at a distance corresponding to a wavelength each of the two transmitting and receiving frequency sub-bands.
  • the hybrid beamformer may comprise a quasi-optical beamformer common to the Tx transmission and the Rx reception, two separate specific electron beam formers, respectively dedicated to transmission and reception, and switches having different positions respectively capable of selecting one of a plurality of beam access ports, each switch selectively connecting, depending on its position, a phase and amplitude control chain of the electron beamformer dedicated to the transmission, respectively to the receiving, at one of the transmitting or receiving ports, each quasi-optical beamformer.
  • the beam access ports selected by the switches in all stacked quasi-optical beam formers and connected to the same electron beam trainer, can have an identical direction of orientation and cover an identical geographic area.
  • a first portion of the beam access ports, selected by the switches in the stacked quasi-optical beamformers, may cover a first geographic area and a second portion of the beam access ports, selected by the switches in stacked quasi-optical beam trainers may cover a second geographic area adjacent to the first geographic area.
  • the combination device may consist of a combiner / divider comprising Nx inputs respectively connected to the Nx phase and amplitude control strings and a beam output.
  • the combination device may comprise a shunt for splitting each phase and amplitude control chain into several different channels, each channel comprising a dedicated phase shifter.
  • the combination device may consist of a quasi-optical beamformator in PCB technology comprising Nx inputs respectively connected to Nx channels of phase and amplitude control and several beam outputs.
  • the novel reconfigurable beam forming active antenna architecture comprises a hybrid beamformer consisting of at least two planar quasi-optical beamformers stacked one above the other, and at least one planar electron beamformer connected to a respective port of each planar quasi-optical beamformer.
  • Each quasi-optical beamformer is capable of forming beams in a first direction of the space parallel to the plane of the quasi-optical beamformer.
  • the electron beamformer is able to form the beams in a second direction of space, orthogonal to the first direction.
  • the hybrid beamformer includes Ny quasi-optical beamformers 101, 102, ..., 10i, ..., 10Ny, stacked one above the other, and Nx electron beam formers 201, ... , 20Nx, where Nx and Ny are integers greater than one.
  • Ny is equal to four and on the figure 5 , Nx and Ny are equal to two.
  • each quasi-optical beamformer comprises a parallel plate guide (waveguide 10) consisting of two parallel metal plates 11, 12, spaced apart from one another, a lens 13 integrated in the waveguide 10, between the two metal plates, My internal horns 141, 142, ..., 14k, ... 14My, distributed periodically side by side along a focal axis of the lens 13, where My is greater than or equal to 2, My beam access ports 161, 162, ..., 16k, ... 16My, respectively associated with My internal horns and connected to a first end of the waveguide 10 and a linear radiating aperture 15 arranged at a second end of the waveguide 10.
  • waveguide 10 parallel plate guide
  • the linear aperture 15 may be associated with a linear horn or a radome common to all the quasi-optical beamformers of the hybrid beamformer.
  • the quasi-optical beamforming apparatus makes it possible to focus, in the first direction of the space, the signals received by the linear radiating aperture 15, on the My beam access ports 161, 162, ..., 16k, ... 16My, depending on the direction of arrival of these received signals.
  • the first direction of the space is parallel to the plane of the metal plates 11, 12 of the waveguides of the quasi-optical beam formers.
  • the lens 13 may be an optical lens distributed over a large part of the volume of the parallel plate waveguide 10, such as, for example, of the Rotman lens type or of the index gradient lens type, for example a Luneberg lens. .
  • the lens 13 may be a delay gradient metal lens located in a limited area of the parallel plate waveguide, as shown for example by the lens 13 illustrated in FIG. figure 2 and on the figure 4 , which extends transversely in an area of the waveguide located in front of the linear aperture 15.
  • the quasi-optical beamformer may furthermore comprise a focusing device, for example a parabolic reflector, transversely integrated in the waveguide. wave 10, between the two parallel plates.
  • the quasi-optical beamformer has a structure conventionally called pillbox.
  • Each electron beam trainer 201,..., 20Nx comprises Ny input ports respectively connected to Ny quasi-optical beamformers 101, 102,..., 10i,..., 10Ny, each electron beam formatter 201 , ..., 20Nx having Mx outputs capable of delivering Mx different beams, where Mx is greater than or equal to one.
  • Each electron beamformer 201, ..., 20Nx is connected to a selected beam access port of each of the quasi-optical beamformers Ny and applies to the signals from the corresponding beam access ports Ny a phase and amplitude control, then electronically recombines the Ny signals delivered by said beam access port of each of the Ny quasi-optical beamformers to form Mx beams according to the second direction of the orthogonal space in the first direction .
  • each of the My beam access ports of the quasi-optical beam forming trainers and the N x electron beam trainers it is necessary that the number of beam access ports My of each beam trainer quasi -optic equals the number Nx of electron beam trainers.
  • the electron beam formation is reconfigurable by changing the phase and amplitude law applied to each beam access port of the quasi-optical beamformers.
  • the electron beam formers allow reconfiguration, in the second direction of space, of the beams formed in the first direction by quasi-optical beamformers.
  • this hybrid beamforming significantly reduces the number of signals on which phase and amplitude control must be applied, since each electron beam trainer, the phase and amplitude control only relates to Ny beam access ports from each of the Ny quasi-optical beamformers instead of Nx '* Ny' radiating elements.
  • N x ' would be the number of radiating elements along a first axis X and Ny' would be the number of radiating elements along a second axis Y.
  • each electron beamformer 201, ..., 20Nx comprises a planar combination device 34, for example a candlestick-type combiner, capable of operating, receiving, power combining, and Ny phase control chains. and of amplitude 221, ..., 22Ny respectively connected to inputs of the combination device 34 to form the beams at the output of the combination device 34.
  • the Ny phase and amplitude control chains 221, ..., 22Ny of each electron beamformer are respectively connected to a corresponding beam port 161, ..., 16Ny of each quasi-optical beamformer 101, ..., 10Ny.
  • This electron beam trainer is therefore particularly simple and feasible because it comprises only combinations of Ny signals delivered on Ny beam access ports Ny trainers of quasi-optical beams.
  • Each phase and amplitude control chain 221,..., 22Ny comprises in series, a filter 30 connected to a port for accessing beams 16i,..., 16Ny of a quasi-optical beamformer 101 , ..., 10Ny, an amplifier 31, as well as a variable attenuator 33 and a variable phase shifter 32 for applying a phase and amplitude control to the signals coming from the corresponding beam access port of each of the Ny quasi-optical beamformers.
  • the combination device 34 there is only one beam formed at the output of the combination device 34, but depending on the desired application, it is of course possible to form several beams using more complex combination / division devices or trainers.
  • quasi-optical beams in SIW technology in English: Substrate Integrated Waveguide
  • printed circuit boards in English: Printed Circuit Board
  • the quasi-optical beamformer has the advantage of operating in a very wide frequency band because it propagates the propagation mode TEM (Transverse Electro Magnetic) which is non-dispersive in frequencies. It can therefore be used to propagate signals in two sub-bands of very separate frequencies, such as Tx transmission and reception bands Rx in the Ka and Ku bands.
  • the invention furthermore consists, in each quasi-optical beamformer, of arranging separate transmit and receive ports Tx and Rx, respectively dedicated to the transmission Tx and to the reception Rx, and to provide each port Tx, Rx with respective filters respectively centered on the transmission and reception frequency bands for separate the transmit and receive signals.
  • the figure 6a represents an example of arrangement of two 16k1 transmission and 16k2 reception ports at the end of a waveguide 10 of a quasi-optical beamformer.
  • the two ports Tx, Rx are provided with corresponding filters 181, 182 and the waveguide is provided with an enlarged end for housing the two ports Tx and Rx stacked one above the other.
  • the two distinct ports Tx, Rx can be associated with separate horns internal to the quasi-optical beamformer.
  • the physical size of the opening of the internal horns is different for the two transmitting and receiving frequency subbands so that the same size is normalized by the central wavelength corresponding to each frequency sub-band. .
  • the central reception frequency Rx is equal to 30 GHz and the central transmission frequency Tx is equal to 20 GHz
  • the beams produced at the Tx emission and at the Rx reception overlap at the same level and there are 3/2 times more reception beams Rx than emission beams Tx on the same angular sector covered by the quasi-optical beamformer.
  • the invention may furthermore consist in eliminating linear horns and replacing them with a single, partially reflective radome common to all quasi-beamformers.
  • the radome 70 has a first partially reflective surface 71 sized for the receiving frequency subband and a second partially reflecting surface 72 sized for the transmit frequency subband.
  • the two partially reflecting surfaces are respectively arranged at the output of the linear radiating openings of the different quasi-optical beam formers at a distance corresponding to the respective central wavelength of the two frequency sub-bands.
  • the two reflecting surfaces distribute the radiofrequency signals, respectively in Rx reception and Tx transmission.
  • the radiating openings are of different widths for the two frequency sub-bands Rx and Tx, the radiating emission opening being larger than the radiating opening in reception.
  • the architecture of the antenna may be different depending on whether the operation is transmitting or receiving.
  • only two out of three quasi-optical beamformers have two beam access ports equipped with respective filters 181, 182 and thus operate in the two subbands Rx, Tx.
  • the intermediate quasi-optical beamformer has only one beam access port equipped with a filter 182 dedicated to the reception and therefore operates only in the sub-band Rx.
  • This intermediate quasi-optical beamformer comprises a second filter 182 housed in the linear radiating aperture 15 in order to select, at the corresponding linear radiating aperture, only the reception band.
  • the hybrid beamformer of the invention may be used in an antenna for a user terminal requiring delivery of a slave beam on a satellite. To reduce the cost of this application, it is particularly interesting that the antenna operates Tx transmission and Rx reception.
  • An example of architecture of such an antenna is shown on the figure 8a . Only two quasi-optical beamformers 101, 102 are illustrated, but there can be many more than two.
  • the hybrid beamformer comprises at least two quasi-optical beamformers common to the Tx transmission and the Rx reception, two separate specific electron beam formers, respectively dedicated to the emission 201, and to the 203, and switches 211, 212, 231, 232 having different positions respectively able to select, depending on their position, a port of access of several beams, the selectively connecting switches, the electronic beamformer 201, 203 dedicated to transmitting, respectively on reception, to one of the transmitting or receiving ports of each quasi-optical beamformer 101, 102 of the hybrid beamformer.
  • each specific electronic beamformer 201, 203 comprises two amplitude control and amplitude control chains 221, 222, 242, 243 respectively dedicated to the two quasi-optical beamformers 101, 102, each phase and current control chain.
  • amplitude being selectively connected, via a multi-position switch 211, 212, 231, 232, to a selected beam port of the respective quasi-optical beamformer.
  • Each switch has an input connected to a phase and amplitude control chain of an electron beamformer and several outputs respectively connected to different respective ports of the various internal horns of a corresponding quasi-optical beamformer.
  • the beams preformed by the quasi-optical beamformer and delivered on the different beam access ports of the quasi-optical beamformer have orientation directions different from each other. Therefore, the beam pointing direction generated by the hybrid beamformer may be selected, depending on the switch position, by selecting one of several of the optical-to-optical beamformer ports.
  • the access ports selected by the switches in all the stacked quasi-optical beam formers and connected to the same electron beam trainer, can have an identical orientation direction and cover an identical geographical area.
  • the hybrid beamformer points in the geographical area covered by the corresponding access ports of each quasi-optical beamformer. Since, for each quasi-optical beamformer, the geographical areas covered by two adjacent access ports overlap with attenuations of between 3 dB and 6 dB, the hybrid beamformer will also exhibit attenuation of the same beam. order of magnitude in the two corresponding directions. To improve the gain of the antenna including the hybrid beamformer, it is possible to point a beam in an intermediate direction between two adjacent geographical areas.
  • the invention consists in alternating the access ports selected in different successive quasi-optical beam formers so that a first part of the selected access ports covers a first geographical area and a second part of the ports of access. Selected access covers a second geographic area, adjacent to the first geographical area.
  • the number of access ports selected in each of the two adjacent geographic areas depends on the desired intermediate pointing direction for the corresponding beam.
  • the figure 8b illustrates an example of intermediate pointing of the beam located between two adjacent beams.
  • the two ellipses 81, 82 represented in dotted lines represent the two beams generated in a first direction of space, by two adjacent quasi-optical beam formers and the three circles 83, 84, 85 in solid lines represent the beams delivered.
  • Each of the two outer circles 83, 84 is obtained by selecting, for the two quasi-optical beam formers, access ports covering a first geographic area, respectively a second geographic area adjacent to the first geographic area.
  • the two outer circles therefore correspond to two adjacent geographical areas.
  • the intermediate circle 85 located between the two outer circles 83, 84 is obtained by selecting, for a first half, the access ports covering the first geographical area and, for a second half, access ports covering the second geographical area. adjacent to the first geographic area.
  • the hybrid beamformer of the invention can also be used in a transmit and receive multibeam antenna as shown in the antenna example of FIG. figure 9 in the case where the spots cover a predetermined geographical area.
  • the quasi-optical beam formers are identical to those described in connection with the figure 8a . Only the number of specific electron beam trainers dedicated to transmission and reception is increased according to the number of beams to be developed. On the figure 9 , two beams are developed on the show and two beams are developed at the reception.
  • the electron beam trainer comprises Ny phase and amplitude control chains, each phase and amplitude control channel dedicated to the transmission, respectively to the reception, being selectively connected, via a switch to several different positions, for example four positions on the figure 9 at a chosen port of a respective quasi-optical beamformer, the ports being able to to be selected at the sending, respectively at the reception, by a first switch being different from the ports that can be selected on transmission, respectively on reception, by a second switch.
  • each phase and amplitude control chain 221, 222 connected to the quasi-optical beamformers may include a bypass 52 for splitting the phase and amplitude control chain into a plurality of different paths 221a, 221b, 222a, 222b each channel having a phase shifter 50a, 50b, 51a, 51b dedicated.
  • a power combiner / divider recombines the channels so as to deliver several different beams Fa, Fb corresponding to different phase laws.
  • two beams are delivered at the output of each electron beamformer, but of course this is not limiting, using a number of channels greater than two, it is possible to form a number of beams greater than two.
  • each electron beamformer may include a quasi-optical 60 PCB-based formatter having a plurality of beam outputs corresponding to different phase shifts and a plurality of inputs to which the active channels are connected. 221, 222.
  • the quasi-optical beamformer in PCB technology is then used in place of the signal combiner / divider shown on the figure 8 .
  • the beams thus obtained are then inclined only according to the phase shift applied on each channel.
  • the beams formed are independent of each other and can be pointed in any direction.
  • a cluster of beams is produced, and this cluster is orientable and the beams are not independent of each other.
  • the quasi-optical beam formers can be mounted with their longitudinal axis oriented parallel to the orthogonal axis to the satellite scroll so as to preform a row of beams along this orthogonal axis and to recombine the ports of these quasi-optical beam formers with the electron beam trainer. This makes it possible to follow the same geographical area on the ground during the scrolling of the satellite and also allows detaching all the beams formed along the axis of scrolling when the satellite scrolls over a low traffic area, such as oceans.

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  • Astronomy & Astrophysics (AREA)
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Claims (10)

  1. Aktive Antennenarchitektur mit Formung umkonfigurierbarer Strahlen, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass sie einen hybriden Strahlformer umfasst, einerseits gebildet aus
    - Ny gestapelten planaren quasioptischen Strahlformern, wobei Ny eine ganze Zahl größer als eins ist, wobei jeder quasioptische Strahlformer Folgendes umfasst: einen Wellenleiter (10) mit parallelen Platten (11, 12) jeweils mit zwei Enden, ausgestattet mit einer linearen Strahlungsöffnung (15) und mit My Strahlenzugangsports (161, 162, ..., 16k, ... 16My), eine Linse (13), die in den Wellenleiter mit parallelen Platten integriert ist, interne Hörner (141, 142, ..., 14k, .... 14My), die periodisch Seite an Seite entlang einer Brennachse der Linse (13) verteilt sind, wobei die Strahlenzugangsöffnungen (161, 162, ..., 16k, ... 16My) jeweils mit den internen Hörnern (141, 142, ..., 14k, .... 14My) assoziiert sind, wobei jeder quasioptische Strahlformer Strahlen in zwei separaten Frequenzbändern, jeweils zum Senden und zum Empfangen, gemäß einer ersten Richtung des Raums parallel zur Ebene der Wellenleiter mit parallelen Platten formen kann, und andererseits aus
    - wenigstens einem planaren elektronischen Strahlformer (201, 202, 203, ... 20Nx), umfassend Ny Ketten zum Regeln von Phase und Amplitude und eine Kombinationsvorrichtung (34) mit Ny Eingängen, die jeweils mit den Ny Ketten zum Regeln von Phase und Amplitude und wenigstens einem Strahlenausgang verbunden sind, wobei jede Kette zum Regeln von Phase und Amplitude mit einem jeweiligen Strahlenzugangsport von jedem quasioptischen Strahlformer verbunden ist, wobei der elektronische Strahlformer Strahlen gemäß einer zweiten Richtung des Raums orthogonal zur ersten Richtung bilden kann.
  2. Antennenarchitektur nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass sie ferner Schalter (211, 212, 231, 232) umfasst, die in jedem quasioptischen Strahlformer einen Port unter allen verfügbaren Strahlenzugangsports auswählen können, wobei jeder Schalter einen Eingang, der mit einer Kette zum Regeln von Phase und Amplitude des elektronischen Strahlformers verbunden ist, und mehrere Ausgänge umfasst, die jeweils mit mehreren jeweiligen Strahlenzugangsports des entsprechenden quasioptischen Strahlformers verbunden sind.
  3. Antennenarchitektur nach einem der Ansprüche 1 oder 2, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Strahlenzugangsports (161, 162, ..., 16k, ... 16M) von einer ersten Reihe von Sendeports (16k1) gebildet werden, die Seite an Seite entlang der Brennachse der Linse (13) angeordnet sind, und einer zweiten Reihe von Empfangsports (16k2), die Seite an Seite entlang der Brennachse der Linse (13) angeordnet sind, wobei die erste und zweite Reihe aufeinander gestapelt sind, wobei die Sendeports (16k1) und die Empfangsports (16k2) getrennt sind und unterschiedliche Größen haben, wobei jeder Sende- bzw. Empfangsport mit einem jeweiligen Filter (181, 182) ausgestattet ist, zentriert auf dem Sende- bzw. Empfangsfrequenzband.
  4. Antennenarchitektur nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die linearen Strahlungsöffnungen (15) der unterschiedlichen quasioptischen Strahlformer in einem Netzwerk mit einem einzigen teilweise reflektierenden Radom (70) verbunden sind, das allen quasioptischen Strahlformern gemein ist, wobei das Radom (70) eine erste teilweise reflektierende Fläche (71) aufweist, dimensioniert für das Empfangsfrequenzsubband, und eine zweite teilweise reflektierende Fläche (72), dimensioniert für das Sendefrequenzsubband, wobei die erste und zweite teilweise reflektierende Fläche jeweils am Ausgang der linearen Strahlungsöffnungen angeordnet sind, in einem Abstand, der einer jeweiligen zentralen Wellenlänge der zwei Sende- und Empfangsfrequenzbänder entspricht.
  5. Antennenarchitektur nach Anspruch 3 oder 4, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass der hybride Strahlformer einen gemeinsamen quasioptischen Strahlformer (101, 102) zum Senden Tx und Empfangen Rx, zwei separate spezifische elektronische Strahlformer (201, 203), die jeweils zum Senden und zum Empfangen dediziert sind, und Schalter (211, 212, 231, 232) umfasst, die unterschiedliche Positionen haben, die jeweils einen Strahlenzugangsport unter mehreren auswählen können, wobei jeder Schalter jeweils gemäß seiner Position eine Kette zum Regeln von Phase und Amplitude des zum Senden bzw. Empfangen dedizierten elektronischen Strahlformers mit einem der Sende- bzw. Empfangsports von jedem quasioptischen Strahlformer verbindet.
  6. Antennenarchitektur nach Anspruch 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die von den Schaltern in allen gestapelten und mit einem selben elektronischen Strahlformer verbundenen quasioptischen Strahlformern gewählten Strahlenzugangsports eine identische Orientierungsrichtung haben und einen identischen geografischen Sektor abdecken.
  7. Antennenarchitektur nach Anspruch 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass ein erster Teil der Strahlenzugangsports, gewählt durch die Schalter in den gestapelten quasioptischen Strahlformern, einen ersten geografischen Sektor abdeckt, und ein zweiter Teil der Strahlenzugangsports, gewählt durch die Schalter in den gestapelten quasioptischen Strahlformern, einen zweiten geografischen Sektor neben dem ersten geografischen Sektor abdeckt.
  8. Antennenarchitektur nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Kombinationsvorrichtung (34) von einem Kombinator/Teiler mit Nx Einträgen gebildet wird, die jeweils mit den Nx Ketten zum Regeln von Phase und Amplitude und einem Strahlenausgang verbunden sind.
  9. Antennenarchitektur nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Kombinationsvorrichtung (34) eine Ableitung (52) zum Aufspalten jeder Kette zum Regeln von Phase und Amplitude in mehrere unterschiedliche Kanäle (221a, 221b, 222a, 222b) umfasst, wobei jeder Kanal einen dedizierten Phasenschieber (50a, 50b, 51a, 51b) umfasst.
  10. Antennenarchitektur nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 5, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Kombinationsvorrichtung (34) von einem quasioptischen Strahlformer in PCB-Technologie gebildet wird, umfassend Nx Einträge, die jeweils mit den Nx Ketten zum Regeln von Phase und Amplitude und mehreren Strahlenausgängen verbunden sind.
EP16199488.4A 2015-12-04 2016-11-18 Aufbau einer aktiven hybriden rekonfigurierbaren strahlbildungsantenne Active EP3176875B1 (de)

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US10535394B2 (en) * 2017-07-20 2020-01-14 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Memory device including dynamic voltage and frequency scaling switch and method of operating the same
FR3069713B1 (fr) * 2017-07-27 2019-08-02 Thales Antenne integrant des lentilles a retard a l'interieur d'un repartiteur a base de diviseurs a guide d'ondes a plaques paralleles
FR3098024B1 (fr) * 2019-06-27 2022-06-03 Thales Sa Formateur analogique multifaisceaux bidimensionnel de complexité réduite pour antennes réseaux actives reconfigurables
CN112952390B (zh) * 2021-02-18 2022-11-11 四川大学 一种基于抛物面的衬底互换多波束缝隙天线

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US3170158A (en) * 1963-05-08 1965-02-16 Rotman Walter Multiple beam radar antenna system
US3979754A (en) * 1975-04-11 1976-09-07 Raytheon Company Radio frequency array antenna employing stacked parallel plate lenses
US5162803A (en) * 1991-05-20 1992-11-10 Trw Inc. Beamforming structure for modular phased array antennas
US5936588A (en) 1998-06-05 1999-08-10 Rao; Sudhakar K. Reconfigurable multiple beam satellite phased array antenna
US6275184B1 (en) * 1999-11-30 2001-08-14 Raytheon Company Multi-level system and method for steering an antenna
EP1148583A1 (de) * 2000-04-18 2001-10-24 Era Patents Limited Planare Gruppenantenne
GB0701087D0 (en) * 2007-01-19 2007-02-28 Plasma Antennas Ltd A displaced feed parallel plate antenna
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ES2681675T3 (es) 2018-09-14
FR3044832B1 (fr) 2018-01-05
EP3176875A1 (de) 2017-06-07
US10236589B2 (en) 2019-03-19
US20170162943A1 (en) 2017-06-08

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