JP2001136097A - Transmission and reception module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem of a conventional transmission and reception module for a radar and a communication device where a transmitting phase is changed depending on a set attenuation amount because a variable attenuator is employed to ensure a wide dynamic range with respect to input power. SOLUTION: The transmission and reception module back a detected power at an output terminal to a variable attenuator and a variable phase shifter via an analog control voltage generator so as to compensate for a change in a phase shift amount due to a set attenuation amount of the variable attenuator thereby stabilizing the transmitting phase at the same time while taking a wide dynamic range with respect to the input power.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transmitter / receiver for a radar or a communication device, and more particularly to a DBF (Digital Beam).
The present invention relates to a transmission / reception module which stabilizes a transmission phase while widening a dynamic range used for a transmission / reception device of a radar or a communication device using an m Forming (hereinafter referred to as DBF) antenna technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a radar or a communication device has
The number of devices using the F antenna technology is increasing, and a plurality of transmission / reception modules including a frequency converter according to the number of antenna elements, a wide dynamic range, and uniform transmission phase characteristics are indispensable as transmission / reception devices. .

FIG. 3 shows an example of a circuit showing the configuration of a conventional transmitting / receiving module. In FIG.
Is a signal input terminal, 2 is a signal output terminal, 3 is a local oscillation signal input terminal, 4 is a frequency converter, 5 is a filter for removing unnecessary waves, 6 is a variable attenuator capable of changing an attenuation amount according to a control voltage, Reference numeral 7 denotes a power amplifier, 8 denotes a power divider, 9 denotes a power detector, and 10 denotes a control voltage generation circuit that receives the output voltage of the power detector 9 and generates a control voltage for the variable attenuator 6. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a phase shift amount with respect to a set attenuation amount of the variable attenuator 6. Here, a description will be given using a receiving module that performs two-stage frequency conversion as an example.

In such a circuit, a high-frequency reception signal input from an input terminal 1 is supplied to a first-stage frequency converter 4a.
Is down-converted by the first local oscillation signal input from the local oscillation signal input terminal 3a to become an intermediate frequency signal. At that time, the filter 5a extracts only the desired frequency component in order to generate an unnecessary frequency component in which the high-frequency reception signal and the first local oscillation signal are higher-order intermodulated in the frequency converter 4a. Thereafter, the power is corrected by the variable attenuator 6, the power is amplified by the power amplifier 7a, and is input to the second-stage frequency converter 4b. Second stage frequency converter 4
At b, the signal is down-converted by the second local signal input from the local signal input terminal 3b to become an output frequency signal. At that time, the filter 5b extracts only the desired frequency component because the frequency converter 4b also generates unnecessary high-order intermodulated frequency components of the intermediate frequency signal and the second local oscillation signal. After that, the power is amplified by the power amplifier 7 b and distributed by the power distributor 8, and one is output from the output terminal 2. The other signal distributed by the power distributor 8 is input to a power detector 9 and outputs a detection voltage according to the power level. The control voltage generation circuit receives the detection voltage, detects an error from a voltage value corresponding to the power set in advance as a reference, and sets the attenuation amount of the variable attenuator 6 to a compensation amount corresponding to the detected error. A control voltage is generated. With the above operation, the received high-frequency signal can be down-converted into a desired frequency signal, and the variable attenuator 9 can secure a wide dynamic range with respect to the input power of the received signal.

In the above description, the receiving module has been described as an example. However, by adopting a similar configuration for the transmitting module, a wide dynamic range can be secured for the power of the input IF signal.

[0006]

In the conventional transmitting / receiving module as described above, the attenuation is set as shown in FIG. 4 in order to use a variable attenuator to secure a wide dynamic range for input power. There is a drawback that the transmission phase changes according to.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and has as its object to stabilize the transmission phase of a transmission / reception module while securing a wide dynamic range with respect to input power.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transmitting / receiving module comprising: a plurality of frequency converters connected in series for stepwise frequency conversion; and an unnecessary wave generated by each of the frequency converters. A plurality of filters for removing, a plurality of amplifiers for amplifying output signals of the respective filters, a variable attenuator connected between the plurality of frequency converters, and local oscillation signal input terminals of the plurality of frequency converters A variable phase shifter connected to the power divider having one output terminal as a signal output terminal, a power detector connected to the other output terminal of the power divider, and an output voltage of the power detector. A control voltage generating circuit for generating a voltage for controlling the variable attenuator in accordance with the control voltage generating circuit for generating a voltage for controlling the variable phase shifter in accordance with the output voltage of the power detector. Features .

Further, a frequency synthesizer according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of frequency converters connected in series for converting the frequency in a stepwise manner and an unnecessary wave generated by each of the frequency converters. A plurality of filters, a plurality of amplifiers for amplifying output signals of the respective filters, and a variable attenuator connected between the plurality of frequency converters and a local signal input terminal of the plurality of frequency converters A power divider having a variable phase shifter and one output terminal as a signal output terminal, a power detector connected to the other output terminal of the power divider, and converting an output voltage of the power detector into digital data. A / D converter, a memory storing a control voltage of a variable attenuator corresponding to the digital data, a D / A converter for converting output data of the memory into an analog voltage, and an output of the A / D converter. Memory and output data from the memory storing the control voltage of the variable phase shifter according to the data, characterized in that is constituted by a D / A converter for converting an analog voltage.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a transmitting / receiving module according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a variable phase shifter, and 12 denotes a control voltage generation circuit which receives an output voltage of the power detector 9 and generates a set voltage of the variable phase shifter 11. The same or corresponding parts as in the conventional example of FIG.
A description will be given using a receiving module that performs stepwise frequency conversion as an example.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the down conversion system for performing two-stage frequency conversion, and the operations of the power detector 9, the control voltage generation circuit 10 for the variable attenuator 6, and the variable attenuator 6 are the same as those in the conventional example. The control voltage generation circuit 12 for the variable phase shifter 11 receives the detection voltage and compensates for a change in the transmission phase shift value generated according to the set attenuation of the variable attenuator shown in FIG. A control voltage is generated. By applying the control voltage to the variable phase shifter 11, the transmission phase of the entire receiving module can be stabilized at a constant value.

In the above description, the receiving module has been described as an example. By adopting the same configuration for the transmitting module, a wide dynamic range can be secured for the power of the input IF signal and the entire transmitting module can be secured. The transmission phase can be stabilized at a constant value.

Embodiment 2 FIG. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a transmission / reception module according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 13 denotes an A / D converter, 14 denotes a memory, and 15 denotes a D / A converter. The same or corresponding parts as in the conventional example and the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the operation of the down-conversion system that performs two-stage frequency conversion is as follows:
This is the same as the conventional example and the first embodiment. The output voltage of the power detector 9 is converted into digital data by the A / D converter 13. The digital data is stored in the memory 14
a, a desired set voltage value of the variable attenuator 6 is read out, converted into an analog voltage by the D / A converter 15a, input to the variable attenuator 6, and the output power is made constant so that the input power is reduced. A dynamic range can be secured. On the other hand, the output data of the A / D converter 13 is also input to the memory 14b at the same time, and the variable data for compensating for the change in the transmission phase shift value generated according to the attenuation set by the variable attenuator 6 shown in FIG. The control voltage data of the phase shifter 11 is output as a digital value, converted into an analog voltage by the D / A converter 15b, and output. By applying the control voltage to the variable phase shifter 11, the transmission phase of the entire receiving module can be stabilized at a constant value.

In the above description, the receiving module has been described as an example. By adopting the same configuration for the transmitting module, a wide dynamic range can be secured for the power of the input IF signal and the entire transmitting module can be secured. The transmission phase can be stabilized at a constant value.

[0016]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the power detection value at the output terminal is fed back to the variable attenuator and the variable phase shifter via the analog control voltage generator, thereby obtaining a wide dynamic range for the input power. At the same time, the transmission phase can be stabilized by compensating for the change in the phase shift amount due to the set attenuation amount of the variable attenuator.

According to the second invention, in addition to the above,
By converting the feedback data into a digital value and reading out the compensation amount acquired in advance from the memory, it is possible to realize high-precision compensation corresponding to one-to-one, instead of compensation using an approximate curve.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a transmitting / receiving module according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a transmitting / receiving module according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional transmitting / receiving module.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a change in a phase shift amount with respect to a set attenuation amount of a variable attenuator.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 input terminal, 2 output terminal, 3 local oscillator signal input terminal,
4 frequency converter, 5 filter, 6 variable attenuator, 7
Power amplifier, 8 power divider, 9 power detector, 10
Control voltage generation circuit, 11 variable phase shifter, 12 control voltage generation circuit, 13 A / D converter, 14 memory, 15
D / A converter.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of frequency converters connected in series to convert a frequency in a stepwise manner, and unnecessary waves generated in the plurality of frequency converters provided corresponding to the plurality of frequency converters. A plurality of filters to be removed, a plurality of amplifiers provided corresponding to the plurality of filters to amplify output signals of the plurality of filters, and a variable attenuation connected between the plurality of filters and the plurality of amplifiers A variable phase shifter connected to the local oscillation signal input terminals of the plurality of frequency converters; a power divider having one of the two output terminals as a signal output terminal; and the power divider. A power detector connected to the other output terminal of the power detector, a control voltage generation circuit that generates a voltage for controlling the variable attenuator according to the output voltage of the power detector, and an output voltage of the power detector. Variable A transmission / reception module comprising a control voltage generation circuit for generating a voltage for controlling a phaser. 2. A plurality of frequency converters connected in series for converting the frequency in a stepwise manner, and unnecessary waves generated in the plurality of frequency converters provided corresponding to the plurality of frequency converters. A plurality of filters to be removed, a plurality of amplifiers provided corresponding to the plurality of filters to amplify output signals of the plurality of filters, and a variable attenuation connected between the plurality of filters and the plurality of amplifiers A variable phase shifter connected to the local oscillation signal input terminals of the plurality of frequency converters; a power divider having one of the two output terminals as a signal output terminal; and the power divider. A power detector connected to the other output terminal of the A / D converter, an A / D converter for converting an output voltage of the power detector into digital data, and a control voltage of a variable attenuator corresponding to the digital data. Memory and A D / A converter for converting the output data of the memory into an analog voltage, a memory storing a control voltage of a variable phase shifter corresponding to the output data of the A / D converter, A transmission / reception module, comprising: a D / A converter for converting a voltage.