JP2001094331A - Array antenna device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a beam scanning angle to be wide in an array antenna device containing sub-arrays formed of array transmitters/receivers of plural elements 1. SOLUTION: When only an array (a) formed of one element one array transmitters/receivers 2 is operated, a satisfactory antenna gain characteristic can be obtained in a range exceeding a prescribed beam scanning angle ϕwith the angle as a boundary compared to a case when a sub-array (b) is also operated. Thus, a device can be used in a wider beam scanning range by permitting a control circuit 9 to switch-control the sub-array (b) formed of plural elements one array transmitters/receivers 3 to be turned off in the range exceeding the beam scanning angle ϕ.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an array antenna device capable of changing a radar beam width.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An array antenna comprises a plurality of antenna (radiation) elements arranged regularly, receives and radiates a high-frequency signal under a constant excitation condition, and radiates the amplitude of each antenna element. Since the directivity of the antenna is controlled by electrical control of the phase and the phase, the antenna is used in various directions as a radar antenna device.

[0003] The directivity of the array antenna is controlled by controlling a phase shifter built in the array transceiver, and a larger output can be obtained by summing the outputs of the array transceivers.

In general, one array transceiver is connected to each antenna element. However, in a large array antenna, a large number of antenna elements are arranged, so that the number of array transceivers having a module configuration increases. The configuration becomes complicated. Therefore, in order to reduce the array transceiver as much as possible and to simplify the configuration, an array antenna device in which a so-called subarray in which a plurality of antenna elements are commonly connected to one array transceiver is also adopted.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a conventional array antenna device incorporating a sub-array. An array composed of a so-called one-element one-array transceiver in which one antenna transceiver 1 is connected to one antenna element 1 is shown. And a plurality of antenna elements 1 on both outer sides in the vertical (elevation angle EL) direction of the array.
Subarrays connected to one array transceiver 3 are arranged in common in a, 1b,..., and each is commonly connected to a first high frequency (RF) distribution / synthesis circuit 4 in the vertical direction.

These first high-frequency distribution / synthesis circuits 4 are commonly connected to a second high-frequency distribution / synthesis circuit 5 so as to be commonly connected in the horizontal (horizontal AZ) direction, and perform high-frequency signal distribution / synthesis. Thereafter, the receiver 62 and the low-output transmitter 63 are connected via the transmission / reception switch 61.

Further, a phase shifter is incorporated in each of the array transceivers 2 and 3, and each phase shifter is controlled by a scanning control unit 8 which receives a drive signal from an antenna control unit 7, whereby each antenna The power supply phases of the elements 1, 1a, 1b,... Are controlled.

Incidentally, the beam width of the array antenna apparatus having the above configuration is uniquely determined by the size of the antenna aperture surface. As the size of the antenna aperture surface increases, a sharper antenna pattern having a smaller beam width is formed. You.

Further, as is well known, even in the case of an array antenna having the same aperture surface size and shape, the case where the array antenna is entirely constituted by one element and one array transceiver, and the case where the It is known that the antenna gain characteristics over the beam scanning angle show different characteristics when a sub-array composed of one array transceiver is arranged and combined.

That is, taking a circular array as an example,
As shown in FIG. 5 (a), one antenna 1
The antenna gain with respect to the beam scanning angle in the case where the array transceiver is connected exhibits good characteristics over a wide range of beam scanning angles as shown by the characteristic curve A in FIG. However, in a plane array having the same shape and size, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), an array (a) of one-element one-array transceivers is arranged in the center, and a plurality of one-element transceivers are arranged outside the array. When the sub-array (b) is arranged, the null point N is located at a narrow beam scanning angle as shown by the characteristic curve B in FIG. 5C, and beam scanning over a wide angle becomes impossible.

[0011]

As described above, in a conventional array antenna device in which a surface array is formed by an array combination of an array composed of one element and one array transceiver and a subarray composed of a plurality of element one array transceivers. , 1
The antenna gain characteristic with respect to the beam scanning angle is greatly reduced as compared with the case where only the array including the element 1 array transceiver is used.

Therefore, in a conventional array antenna device in which a surface array is formed by an array combination of an array composed of one element and one array transceiver and a subarray composed of a plurality of element one array transceivers, a transmission and reception module constituting the array transceiver is provided. Although the number can be reduced, the antenna gain characteristic with respect to the beam scanning angle has been reduced, so that improvement has been demanded.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. A first invention is an array antenna device comprising: an array comprising one element and one array transceiver; It is characterized by comprising a surface array formed by an array combination with a sub-array composed of an element 1 array transceiver, and a control circuit for controlling ON / OFF operation of at least the multiple element 1 array transceiver forming the sub-array. .

As described above, in the array antenna apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the operation of the multi-element one-array transceiver formed with the sub-array is performed in an array combination configuration of the one-element one-array transceiver and the sub-array.
Since a control circuit for N / OFF control is provided, the radiation of the radar signal by the sub-array is stopped at the time of wide-angle beam scanning, and the necessary antenna gain is obtained by forming the antenna pattern only from the array consisting of one element and one array transceiver. Properties can be obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is also provided an array antenna device comprising an array comprising one element and one array transceiver.
A surface array formed by an array combination with a sub-array composed of a plurality of one-element transceivers and a high-frequency signal supplied to a plurality of antenna elements forming the sub-array are provided by O.
And a switch circuit for N / OFF control.

As described above, the array antenna device according to the second aspect of the present invention is provided with the switch circuit and shuts off (OFF) the supply of the high-frequency signal to the antenna element forming the sub-array.
Therefore, as in the first invention, one element 1
By forming the antenna pattern only from the array transceiver, a good beam scanning angle characteristic in antenna gain can be obtained.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an array antenna device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. The same components as those of the conventional configuration shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of an array antenna apparatus according to the present invention, in which one array element transceiver 1 is connected to one antenna element 1 and one array transceiver 2 is connected. And a so-called sub-array in which one array transceiver 3 is connected in common to the plurality of elements 1a, 1b,... And a plurality of rows are arranged outside the array to form one surface array.

These arrays and sub-arrays are commonly connected to columns in the vertical (EL) direction to distribute and combine signals, and a first high-frequency distribution / synthesis circuit 4 and a horizontal ( A second high-frequency distribution / synthesis circuit 5 commonly connected in the AZ direction and similarly distributing signals is sequentially connected, and a receiver 62 and a low-output transmitter 63 are connected via a transmission / reception switch 61, respectively. .

The phase shifters built in each of the array transceivers 2 and 3 are controlled by a scan signal from a scan control unit 8 which receives a command signal from the antenna control unit 7, and each of the antenna elements 1, 1a , 1b,..., The scanning beam subjected to the directivity control is formed. A control circuit 9 composed of a module drive controller is connected to the scanning control unit 8 so that at least an intra-module switch incorporating at least the multiple-element one-array transceiver 3 can be controlled ON / OFF. ing.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 5 (c), in the configuration of FIG. 2 (a) in which sub-arrays composed of a plurality of one-element transceivers are arranged and combined on the outside, FIG.
As shown again in the characteristic curve B, the antenna gain characteristic with respect to the beam scanning angle was greatly reduced, and wide-angle beam scanning was impossible.

Therefore, the present invention focuses on the fact that a better antenna gain characteristic can be obtained over a wide beam scanning angle when a single-element one-array transceiver is used, compared to a plane array with an additional sub-array. It was done.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2B, an antenna in a case where the sub-array arranged outside is turned off (non-operating) and only the one-element one-array transceiver 2 at the center is turned on (operating). The gain characteristic is represented by a characteristic curve C in FIG.
As shown in (1), although the antenna gain itself is small in a range where the beam scanning angle is narrow, the null point Nc is improved, and good antenna gain characteristics can be obtained at a wider angle.

Therefore, in this embodiment, in the array antenna device to which the sub-array is added, the beam scanning angle φ at the intersection P of the characteristic curve B and the characteristic curve C is
The control circuit 9 controls the ON / OFF of the sub-array, and controls the array transceivers 3 of the sub-array to OFF when the beam scanning angle scans at a wide angle beyond the intersection P, thereby achieving a good antenna gain over a wider range. What you get.

The ON / OFF switching operation of the multi-element one-array transceiver 3 at the scanning angle φ is executed in the following procedure.

First, beam scanning angle information for following or searching for a radar target is obtained from the antenna control unit 7.
It is supplied to the scanning control unit 8 and the control circuit 9. Therefore, the scanning control unit 8 first calculates a phase code to be set for the phase shifters of the array transceivers 2 and 3 based on the beam scanning angle information from the antenna control unit 7, and calculates the phase code based on the calculation. The code is transmitted to each of the array transceivers 2 and 3.

On the other hand, the control circuit 9 determines whether or not the beam scanning directional angle from the antenna control unit 7 exceeds the scanning angle φ in order to avoid a decrease in antenna gain characteristics during wide-angle scanning by the sub-array as described above. Is subjected to a comparison determination process.

Then, the control circuit 9 turns ON / OF the phase code set by the scanning control unit 8 in order to turn off the sub-array at the beam scanning designated angle exceeding the intersection point P.
Since F information is added and supplied to each array transceiver 3,
It can be realized with a relatively simple hardware configuration.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, wide-angle scanning is enabled by a simple configuration in which the control circuit 9 controls ON / OFF switching of the sub-array to the array transceiver 3. An array antenna device can be provided.

In the first embodiment, the angle of beam scanning is widened by the ON / OFF control of the control circuit 9 for the array transceiver 3. However, the supply of the high-frequency signal to the sub-array is controlled by the ON / OFF control. By doing
Similar effects can be obtained.

That is, FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the array antenna device according to the present invention in which the same effect as that of the first embodiment is achieved by ON / OFF control of the high-frequency signal supplied to the sub-array. This will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, an array (a) composed of one-element one-array transceiver 2 and a plurality-element one-array transceiver 3
Sub-array (b) is a switch 1
0, which is sequentially connected to the transmission / reception switch 61 via the combination distribution / combination circuit 11 and the changeover switch circuit 12, and switches the changeover switch 10 and the changeover switch circuit 12 in synchronization with the ON / OFF control signal from the control circuit 9. It is configured to be controlled.

That is, the combination distribution / combination circuit 11
Is a splitter / combiner 11 which is located between the changeover switch 10 and the changeover switch circuit 12, and performs signal splitting / combining between the array (a) and subarray (b) and the transmission / reception switch 61.
a and a transmission line 11 for simply transmitting and receiving signals of the array (a).
b, the transmission / reception switch 61 is switched to both the array (a) and the sub-array (b) or one element 1
It is connected to one of the arrays (a) composed of an array transceiver.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the switching operation of the changeover switch 10 and the changeover switch circuit 12 is synchronized by the ON / OFF signal based on the timing at the intersection P from the control circuit 9. In accordance with the beam scanning angle, switching of transmission / reception of a high-frequency signal to / from an array of only one-element one-array transceiver 2 (a) and a whole surface array including a sub-array of a plurality of one-element transceivers 3 is performed. .

Therefore, in the second embodiment, the beam scanning is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment by controlling the ON / OFF switching of the high-frequency signal to the array transceiver 3 in the sub-array based on the control circuit 9. Since beam formation from the sub-array in a range exceeding the angle φ is cut off, beam scanning with good antenna gain characteristics can be formed at a wide angle.

In the configuration shown in FIG.
A similar effect can be obtained by a configuration in which 0 is omitted, the distributor / synthesizer 11a is commonly connected to the array (a) and the subarray (b) simultaneously, and the transmission line 11b is connected only to the array (a). However, in this case, when only the array (A) is operated by the one-element one-array transceiver 2, the distribution / combiner 11a is connected as a load, so that a slight loss of a high-frequency signal is inevitable.

In the first embodiment, the control circuit 9
Is configured to turn off the array transceiver 3 module in the sub-array (b) via the scanning control unit 8, but in the second embodiment, in the scanning range exceeding the beam scanning angle φ, Since the supply of the high-frequency signal from the transmitter 63 to the sub-array (b) is cut off, the control circuit 9 does not necessarily control the
May not be configured to perform the OFF control.

In each of the above embodiments, beam scanning in both the azimuth (AZ) direction and the elevation (EL) direction can be considered. In general, the scanning coverage of an antenna in a ground radar or the like is in the azimuth (AZ) direction. Wide, elevation angle (EL)
Narrow in the direction. Therefore, for example, when a rectangular array antenna is configured by incorporating the subarray (b), the elevation direction can be within a narrow angle range. Therefore, it is desirable to configure the subarray (b) in the elevation direction (vertical direction) of the array antenna.

In each of the above embodiments, a plurality of sub-arrays may be provided by changing the number of antenna elements, and the sub-arrays may be sequentially controlled to be turned off in descending order of the number of antenna elements.

In any case, according to the array antenna apparatus of the present invention, even when saving and simplification of the array transceiver composed of modules by the sub-array configuration, the characteristic curve of the one-element one-array transceiver can be obtained. Since the switching control of the signal operation in the sub-array is performed based on the correlation, the beam scanning over a wide range can be performed, and a great effect can be obtained when the present invention is applied to a phased array radar or the like.

[0041]

As described above, the array antenna device according to the present invention realizes wide-angle beam scanning by turning on / off the sub-arrays, which is a large effect obtained in practical use.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a first embodiment of an array antenna device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of antenna gain characteristics with respect to a beam scanning angle of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a second embodiment of the array antenna device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a circuit configuration diagram showing a conventional array antenna device.

5 is an explanatory diagram of an antenna gain characteristic with respect to a beam scanning angle of the apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1a, 1b Antenna element 2 1 element 1 array transceiver 3 Multiple element 1 array transceiver 4 First high frequency distribution / synthesizer 5 Second high frequency distribution / synthesizer 61 Transmission / reception switch 62 Receiver 63 (low output) transmission Machine 7 Antenna control unit 8 Scan control unit 9 Control circuit (module controller) 10 Changeover switch (switch circuit) 11 Combination distribution / combination circuit 11a Distribution / combination unit 11b Transmission line 12 Switching switch circuit (switch circuit) I Array B Subarray

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A surface array formed by an array combination of an array composed of one-element one-array transceivers and a sub-array composed of a plurality of one-element transceivers, and an operation of at least a plurality-element one-array transceiver formed with the sub-arrays And a control circuit for controlling ON / OFF of the array antenna. 2. The array antenna device according to claim 1, wherein the sub-array is arranged outside an array composed of the one-element one-array transceiver. 3. An OFDM array transceiver for the sub-array
A switch circuit is provided between the array and the sub-array and the high-frequency signal supply source so as to turn off the supply of the high-frequency signal to the antenna element connected to the array transceiver that has been turned off when F is turned off. The array antenna device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. A combination distribution / combination circuit of the array and the sub-array is connected between the array and the sub-array and the supply source of the high-frequency signal, and the switch circuit controls ON / OFF of the control circuit. 4. The array antenna device according to claim 3, wherein the input / output side of the combination distribution / combination circuit is switched correspondingly. 5. A surface array formed by an array combination of a one-element one-array transceiver and a sub-array of a plurality of one-element transceivers, and supply of a high-frequency signal to a plurality of antenna elements forming the sub-array And a switch circuit for controlling ON / OFF of the array antenna. 6. The array antenna device according to claim 5, wherein the sub-array is arranged outside an array including the one-element one-array transceiver. 7. A combination distribution / combination circuit of the array and the sub-array is connected between the array and the sub-array and a supply source of the high-frequency signal, and the switch circuit is an input / output side of the combination distribution / combination circuit. 7. The array antenna device according to claim 5, wherein the switching is performed synchronously. 8. A plurality of sub-arrays are provided by changing the number of antenna elements.
2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the control is performed at F.
The array antenna device according to claim 7.