JP5758341B2 - Antenna direction adjusting method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an antenna direction adjustment method and apparatus for adjusting the direction of a directional antenna between radio apparatuses facing each other constituting a radio communication system.

  A portable wireless communication system is used when a temporary communication line is constructed to recover an access communication path that has been interrupted due to a disaster or the like. A portable radio communication system establishes a communication line by setting up a radio device between two arbitrary points where demand occurs without fixing the installation location of the radio device. When setting up a wireless device, it is necessary to install the directional antennas of both wireless devices so that they face each other and adjust the antenna direction in the direction that provides the best line quality.

  As a conventional antenna direction adjustment method, using a scope or a telescope that is fixed so as to coincide with the directivity direction of the antenna of the wireless device, the direction adjustment jig that adjusts so that the antenna of the opposite station is positioned at the center of the scope or the telescope Has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, the antenna of the opposite station is used by using a first camera that captures an image of the opposing antenna through the scope, and a second camera that is attached to the fixed portion to which the antenna is attached so as to face the direction of the antenna. Adjusting the direction of the antenna so that the second camera is positioned approximately in the center of the image captured, and adjusting the direction of the antenna so that the antenna is positioned in the center of the image captured by the first camera A jig has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2004-253921 A JP 2007-088576 A

  All of the conventional antenna direction adjustment methods require a line of sight to the antenna of the opposite station because the antenna directivity is adjusted visually. Therefore, if the antenna of the opposite station cannot be seen due to weather conditions such as nighttime, rainy weather, or fog, it is difficult to adjust in the direction.

  An object of this invention is to provide the antenna direction adjustment method and apparatus which can adjust the directivity direction of an antenna, without being influenced by weather conditions, such as nighttime, rainy weather, and fog.

A first aspect of the present invention is an antenna direction adjustment method for adjusting an antenna directivity direction for wireless communication between a first wireless station and a second wireless station, and the first wireless station and the second wireless station The stations notify each other's position information via communication means other than the antenna that adjusts the directivity direction, and based on the position information of the own station and the position information of the opposite station, A first step for performing a rough adjustment in which the directions are opposed to each other, and a test signal transmitted and received by the first radio station and the second radio station using the antenna that has been coarsely adjusted in the first step, respectively measures the received signal strength and reception BER of the signal, received signal strength if the first reference value or more and the reception BER is equal to or lower than the second reference value, and confirm the orientation of the antenna to establish communication line The received electric field strength is higher than the first reference value When the received BER exceeds the second reference value, a second step for notifying that a communication line cannot be established by a received radio wave from other than the opposite station, and the received electric field strength at the second step is the first reference. If the value is less than the value, fine adjustment is performed to scan the direction of the antenna within a predetermined adjustment movable range. The obtained maximum value of the received electric field intensity is equal to or greater than the first reference value and the received BER at that time is the second value. in the case of less than the reference value, and confirm the orientation of the antenna in which the maximum value of the received electric field strength is obtained to establish the communication line, the maximum value of the reception field intensity is more than a first reference value and the reception at that time When the BER exceeds the second reference value, a third step for notifying that the communication line cannot be established by a received radio wave from other than the opposite station, and the maximum value of the received electric field strength in the third step is the first value . If it is less than the reference value, the own station And a fourth step of notifying can not establish communication line by an obstacle between the antennas of the opposite station.

  In the antenna direction adjustment method of the first invention, the other communication means used in the first step includes a capacity required for transmission of position information, an omnidirectional commercial radio link or satellite capable of long-distance communication Use a communication line.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an antenna direction adjusting apparatus for adjusting a directivity direction of an antenna for performing wireless communication within a line-of-sight between a first wireless station and a second wireless station, wherein the first wireless station and the second wireless station The stations notify each other's position information via communication means other than the antenna that adjusts the directivity direction, and based on the position information of the own station and the position information of the opposite station, a coarse adjustment means for performing coarse adjustment to oppose the direction, using the coarsened antenna coarse adjusting means, the first radio station and the second radio station transmits and receives a test signal, the test signal received respectively the reception field strength and the reception BER is measured, when the received electric field intensity is the first reference value or more and the reception BER is equal to or lower than the second reference value, and confirm the orientation of the antenna to establish communications lines, received The field strength is greater than the first reference value and received If the ER exceeds a second reference value, notifies the fact that the radio waves received from other than the opposite station can not be established communication line, when the received electric field strength is less than the first reference value, a predetermined adjustment movable range It performs fine adjustment of scanning the directivity direction of the antenna at the inner, when the maximum value of the resulting received signal strength than the first reference value and the reception BER at that time is less than the second reference value, the reception field strength maximum value to determine the orientation of the antenna obtained by establishing a communication line, when the maximum value of the reception field intensity is more than a first reference value and the reception BER at that time exceeds the second reference value To the fact that the communication line cannot be established by the received radio wave from other than the opposite station, and when the maximum value of the received electric field strength is less than the first reference value , between the antenna of the own station and the antenna of the opposite station Make communication line by the obstacle And a fine adjustment means for notifying the fact that can not be.

  In the antenna direction adjusting apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention, the other communication means used in the coarse adjustment means include a capacity required for transmission of position information, an omnidirectional communication radio line or satellite communication capable of long-distance communication. This is a configuration using a line.

  The present invention transmits / receives a test signal using the antenna after the coarse adjustment in which the directivity directions of the antennas face each other according to the position information of both the first radio station and the second radio station, and the communication quality thereof By making fine adjustments to the antenna directivity so that the received signal strength is greater than or equal to the reference value (received field strength is greater than or equal to the first reference value and received BER is less than or equal to the second reference value), Can be opposed to each other. As a result, the communication line can be established by accurately facing the directivity directions of both antennas without being affected by the weather such as nighttime, rain, or fog.

It is a figure which shows the Example structure of the antenna direction adjustment apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the block structural example of the antenna direction adjustment apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a direction adjustment procedure of the antenna direction adjustment apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the adjustment movable range (threshold value) of the antenna in fine adjustment of a directivity direction.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an embodiment of an antenna direction adjusting apparatus according to the present invention. Here, it is assumed that temporary antennas are installed facing each other in an emergency such as a disaster, and the directivity directions of the antennas are adjusted to face each other.

  In FIG. 1, the antenna direction adjustment apparatus of the present invention is intended to establish a wireless line by adjusting the directing direction so that the antenna 11A of the local station and the antenna 11B of the opposite station face each other. Before the communication is established, both pieces of positional information are transmitted / received via other communication means not using the antenna. As other communication means, it is possible to use a capacity necessary for transmission of position information, an omnidirectional commercial radio line (for example, a disaster prevention radio line) or a satellite communication line capable of long-distance communication. Radio devices 21A and 21B for this purpose are provided in both.

  The antennas 11A and 11B have the same configuration, and will be described below centering on the antenna 11A of the own station. A wireless communication device 12 that processes signals transmitted to and received from the opposite station is connected to the antenna 11A of the local station. The wireless communication device 12, the GPS device 13 for detecting the position information of the antenna 11A, and the horizontal / vertical direction adjuster 14 for adjusting the directivity direction of the antenna 11A are connected to the control processing device 15, and further the control processing device 15 Is connected to the radio 21A.

FIG. 2 shows a block configuration example of the antenna direction adjusting apparatus of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, the radio communication device 12 connected to the antenna 11A has a function of transmitting a test signal after establishing a radio link with the opposite station, a function of measuring the received electric field strength of the received test signal, and It has a function of outputting the measured received electric field strength to the control processing device 15. In addition, it has a function of demodulating a test signal transmitted from the opposite station, measuring a BER (Bit Error Rate) of the test signal transmitted by the opposite station, and outputting it to the control processing device 15. Note that a configuration may be employed in which these measurements are periodically performed after establishing the wireless line, and when the measurement results do not satisfy the reference value, the directivity direction of the antenna 11A is readjusted.

  The GPS device 13 receives the radio wave from the GPS satellite 31, acquires the latitude / longitude / altitude position information of the installation location of the antenna 11 </ b> A, and outputs this position information to the control processing device 15.

  The horizontal / vertical direction adjuster 14 is equipped with an electronic compass that detects the azimuth of the antenna 11A and a tilt sensor that detects the tilt angle, and outputs attitude information including the detected azimuth and tilt angle to the control processing device 15, The directivity direction of the antenna 11A is adjusted in a direction corresponding to the direction adjustment amount given from the control processing device 15.

  In order to adjust the directivity direction of the antenna 11A, the control processing device 15 inputs the location information of the installation location from the GPS device 13 and the location information of the antenna 11B of the opposite station via the radio device 21A, and further horizontally / vertically. The orientation information (azimuth and tilt angle) of the antenna 11A is input from the direction adjuster 14, and the direction adjustment amount for the antenna 11A to be directed toward the antenna 11B of the opposite station is calculated to calculate the horizontal / vertical direction adjuster. 14 for output. In addition, the control processing device 15 notifies the location information of the installation location to the opposite station via the wireless device 21A, and is adjusted so that the directivity direction of the antenna 11B faces the direction of the antenna 11A also in the opposite station. In this way, in both antennas 11A and 11B, after performing the coarse adjustment of the directivity direction based on the position information, the test signal is transmitted and received, and the fine adjustment of the directivity direction is performed based on the received electric field strength and the reception BER.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the direction adjustment procedure of the antenna direction adjustment device of the present invention. Here, the direction adjustment procedure of the directivity direction of the antenna 11A of the own station is mainly shown.

  In FIG. 3, first, the antenna 11A is installed at a place urgently required such as a disaster area, and the direction adjustment is started (S1). The control processing device 15 acquires the position information of the installation location of the antenna 11A of the own station from the GPS device 13 (S2). Further, the position information is transmitted from the wireless device 21A to the wireless device 21B of the opposite station, and the position information of the antenna 11B of the opposite station received by the wireless device 21A is acquired (S3). Next, the control processing device 15 calculates the relative position of the antenna 11B of the opposite station from the position information of both the antenna 11A and the antenna 11B (S4). For example, if the latitude of your station is N35.40.40, longitude is E139.46.18, the latitude of the opposite station is N35.43.37, and longitude is E139.42.55, the relative position is the northwest direction when viewed from your station. Assuming that the north is the X axis and the west is the Y axis, θyaw (Z axis rotation) = 41.99 ° from the X axis to the Y axis. The distance between the local station and the opposite station is calculated as 8.5 km.

  Next, the control processing device 15 is based on the relative position of the antenna 11B of the opposite station and the attitude (azimuth and inclination angle) of the antenna 11A of the own station obtained from the electronic compass and the tilt sensor of the horizontal / vertical direction adjuster 14. Then, a direction adjustment amount (stereoscopic deviation angles θpitch, θroll, θyaw) for directing the directivity direction of the antenna 11A in the direction of the antenna 11B is calculated and instructed to the horizontal / vertical direction adjuster 14 (S5). The horizontal / vertical direction adjuster 14 directs the directivity direction of the antenna 11A of the local station to the antenna 11B of the opposite station based on the direction adjustment amount. Upon receiving notification of the completion of the direction adjustment from the horizontal / vertical direction adjuster 14, the control processing device 15 finishes the coarse adjustment of the directivity direction of the antenna 11A of its own station (S6), and performs the fine adjustment of the next directivity direction. Transition.

  Note that the coarse adjustment of the directivity direction described above is performed also in the antenna 11B of the opposite station based on the position information of the own station. At this time, the directivity directions of the antenna 11A and the antenna 11B are substantially directed to the other antenna, respectively. Will be. Therefore, unless there is an obstacle between the antenna 11A and the antenna 11B, the test signal transmitted from one antenna can be received by the other antenna. Therefore, after the coarse adjustment is completed, test signals are transmitted from both the antennas 11A and 11B, and fine adjustment of the directivity is started.

  When entering the fine adjustment of the directivity direction, the control processing device 15 first sets the adjustment movable range (threshold value) of the antenna (S7). Here, the horizontal angle threshold is ± Δφ degrees, and the vertical angle threshold is ± Δθ. Next, the test signal is transmitted / received to / from the opposite station using the wireless communication device 12 and the antenna 11A (S8). That is, the wireless communication device 12 and the antenna 11A transmit the test signal at a predetermined cycle, receive the test signal from the opposite station received during other periods, measure the received electric field strength and the received BER, and control the received signal. The processing device 15 is notified.

  The control processing device 15 determines whether or not the received electric field strength is greater than or equal to the reference value a (S9). If the received electric field strength is greater than or equal to the reference value a, the control processing device 15 determines whether or not the received BER is less than or equal to the reference value b. (S10) If the received BER is less than or equal to the reference value b, normal communication is possible, and the fine adjustment process of the directivity direction of the antenna 11A is terminated.

  On the other hand, if the received electric field strength is greater than or equal to the reference value a and the received BER exceeds the reference value b (S9: Yes, S10: No), it indicates that another radio wave that is not a test signal from the opposite station has been received. The alarm A shown is output (S11), and the fine adjustment process is terminated.

  If the received electric field strength is less than the reference value a (S9: No), the received electric field strength and the received BER are measured while scanning the pointing direction within the adjustment movable range of the antenna 11A (S12), and the antenna 11A is adjusted. The direction of the horizontal angle and the vertical angle at which the maximum received electric field intensity is obtained within the movable range is set (S13). In that direction, it is determined whether or not the maximum received electric field strength is greater than or equal to the reference value a (S14). If the maximum received electric field strength is greater than or equal to the reference value a, it is determined whether or not the received BER is less than or equal to the reference value b. If it is determined (S15) and the reception BER is less than or equal to the reference value b, the fine adjustment process of the directivity direction of the antenna 11A is terminated.

  On the other hand, if the maximum received electric field strength is greater than or equal to the reference value a and the received BER exceeds the reference value b (S14: Yes, S15: No), another signal that is not a test signal from the opposite station is received. Is output (S11), and the fine adjustment process is terminated.

  Also, if the maximum received electric field intensity obtained by scanning the pointing direction within the adjustment movable range of the antenna 11A is less than the reference value a (S14: No), the self adjustment after the rough adjustment of the pointing direction based on the position information is completed. An alarm B indicating that there is an obstacle or the like in the line-of-sight range between the station antenna 11A and the opposite station antenna 11B and further antenna adjustment is impossible is output (S16), and the fine adjustment processing is terminated.

  The fine adjustment of the directivity is performed based on the test signal from the own station also in the antenna 11B of the opposite station, so that the received electric field strength is not less than the reference value a and the received BER is not more than the reference value b. When fine adjustment of the directivity direction is completed, wireless communication with a predetermined communication quality becomes possible between the antenna 11A of the own station and the antenna 11B of the opposite station.

  Here, the adjustment movable range (threshold value) of the antenna in the fine adjustment of the directivity direction will be described with reference to FIG. The horizontal angle threshold value ± Δφ degrees and the vertical angle threshold value ± Δθ described above are determined as follows.

  The directivity direction of the antenna 11A is roughly adjusted based on the relative position obtained from the position information of the own station and the opposite station obtained by the GPS device 13. If the GPS error is 1 m, the position of the antenna 11A of the own station and the antenna 11B of the opposite station each have an error of 1 m. Therefore, the maximum relative position error is 4 m as shown in FIG. The error of 4 m is 0.46 ° (± 0.23 °) if the distance between the antenna 11A and the antenna 11B is 0.5 km as shown in FIGS. 4 (2) and 4 (3), and the distance is 20km. If it is, it will be 0.012 ° (± 0.006 °). If a distance of 0.5 to 20 km is assumed between the own station and the opposite station, the horizontal angle and the vertical angle may be finely adjusted in a range of about ± 0.23 °. Actually, it is sufficient to finely adjust the horizontal angle and the vertical angle within a range of about ± 1 °, for example.

  The configuration of the antenna direction adjustment apparatus and the example of the antenna direction adjustment procedure described above are based on the assumption that both the own station and the opposite station autonomously perform coarse adjustment and fine adjustment of the antenna pointing direction. In other words, before establishing a radio link between both antennas, for example, the location information of both sides is exchanged via a commercial radio channel or a satellite communication channel, and the antenna pointing direction is determined based on the location information of the own station and the opposite station. Make coarse adjustments. Thereafter, a test signal was transmitted from both sides at a predetermined cycle, and the antenna pointing direction was finely adjusted while monitoring the received electric field strength and the received BER.

  However, for example, with the own station as the master and the opposite station as the slave, the slave station may automatically perform coarse adjustment and fine adjustment of the antenna directivity direction according to the remote instruction of the master station. The procedure is shown below. It should be noted that transmission of position information, an instruction, an end notification, and the like exchanged between the master station and the slave station is performed, for example, via a commercial wireless line or a satellite communication line.

  The master station notifies the slave station of the master station's position information, and then the slave station reports the slave station's position information, and performs coarse adjustments in the antenna directivity direction. Report to the station.

  Next, the master station measures the received electric field strength and the received BER of the test signal to the slave station, instructs the slave station to finely adjust the antenna directivity direction, and transmits the test signal to the slave station. . The slave station finely adjusts the antenna pointing direction while monitoring the received electric field strength and the received BER of the test signal, and transmits an end notification to the master station. Upon receiving the end notification from the slave station, the master station stops the transmission of the test signal, instructs the slave station to transmit the test signal, and starts measuring the received electric field strength and the received BER of the test signal. When the slave station starts transmitting the test signal, the master station performs fine adjustment of the antenna pointing direction while monitoring the received electric field strength and the received BER of the test signal, and transmits an end notification to the slave station. The slave station stops the transmission of the test signal upon receiving the end notification from the master station.

11A Antenna of own station 11B Antenna of opposite station 12 Wireless communication device 13 GPS device 14 Horizontal / vertical direction adjuster 15 Control processing device 21A, 21B Radio device 31 GPS satellite

Claims (4)

In the antenna direction adjustment method for adjusting the directivity direction of the antenna for the first wireless station and the second wireless station to perform wireless communication within line-of-sight,
The first radio station and the second radio station mutually notify the position information of the own station via communication means other than the antenna that adjusts the directivity direction, and the position information of the own station and the opposite station A first step of performing coarse adjustment to make the directivity directions of the antennas face each other based on the position information of the first radio station and the first radio station using the coarsely adjusted antenna in the first step second radio station transmits and receives a test signal, the received electric field strength and the reception BER test signals received respectively measured, the received electric field intensity is the first reference value or more and the reception BER is equal to or less than the second reference value in the case of, in the case to confirm the orientation of the antenna to establish communication lines, the received electric field strength is said first reference value or more and the reception BER exceeds said second reference value, the counter station It is not possible to communicate by receiving radio waves from other than A second step of notifying that a communication line cannot be established ; and scanning the antenna pointing direction within a predetermined adjustable movable range when the received electric field strength is less than the first reference value in the second step. If the obtained maximum value of the received electric field intensity is not less than the first reference value and the received BER at that time is not more than the second reference value , the maximum value of the received electric field intensity is obtained to confirm the orientation of the antenna to establish communication line, when the maximum value of the received electric field intensity is the first reference value or more and said reception BER at that time exceeds the second reference value A third step of notifying that a communication line cannot be established by a received radio wave from other than the opposite station ;
In the third step, when the maximum value of the received electric field strength is less than the first reference value, a notification that a communication line cannot be established due to an obstacle between the local station antenna and the opposite station antenna is notified. An antenna direction adjusting method comprising: a fourth step. In the antenna direction adjustment method according to claim 1,
The other communication means used in the first step uses a capacity necessary for transmission of the position information and a commercial wireless line or a satellite communication line that is omnidirectional and capable of long-distance communication. Antenna direction adjustment method. In the antenna direction adjustment device that adjusts the directivity direction of the antenna for the first wireless station and the second wireless station to perform wireless communication within the line-of-sight,
The first radio station and the second radio station mutually notify the position information of the own station via communication means other than the antenna that adjusts the directivity direction, and the position information of the own station and the opposite station Coarse adjustment means for performing rough adjustment to make the directivity directions of the antennas face each other based on the position information of
Using said coarse adjustment antennas by the coarse adjustment means, the first radio station and the second radio station transmits and receives a test signal, measures the reception field strength and the reception BER test signals received respectively , if the received signal strength first reference value or more and the reception BER is equal to or lower than the second reference value, and determine the pointing direction of the antenna to establish communication lines, the received signal strength wherein the When the reference value is equal to or greater than 1 and the received BER exceeds the second reference value, a notification is made that a communication line cannot be established by a received radio wave from other than the opposite station, and the received electric field strength is the first reference value. If the value is less than the value, fine adjustment is performed to scan the direction of the antenna within a predetermined adjustment movable range, and the obtained maximum value of the received electric field strength is equal to or greater than the first reference value and the received BER at that time is Said If more than the reference value, to confirm the orientation of the antenna in which the maximum value of the received electric field strength is obtained to establish the communication line, the maximum value of the received electric field intensity is the first reference value or more and If the received BER at that time exceeds the second reference value, a notification is made that a communication line cannot be established by a received radio wave from other than the opposite station, and the maximum value of the received electric field strength is less than the first reference value. In this case, fine adjustment means for notifying that a communication line cannot be established due to an obstacle between the antenna of the local station and the antenna of the opposite station ;
Antenna direction adjusting device, characterized in that it comprises a. In the antenna direction adjustment device according to claim 3,
The other communication means used in the coarse adjustment means is configured to use a capacity required for transmission of the position information and a commercial radio line or a satellite communication line that is omnidirectional and capable of long-distance communication. An antenna direction adjusting device.

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