JPH03254207A - Antenna system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an antenna system with a high gain and an excellent portability by providing plural element antennas arranged along a curved dielectric member forming a helmet or a cap and a control section controlling a beam shaping circuit. CONSTITUTION:Most of a signal inputted to a terminal A of a directional coupler 19 is inputted to a radio equipment 5 in the reception state from a terminal B, part of the signal is outputted to a terminal C of the directional coupler 19 to a control circuit 15. The control circuit 15 matches an incident direction vector of a radio wave signal (arrow 10) and a maximum gain direction of a reception beam (directivity pattern 11) formed by the antenna system so that the intensity of the radio signal inputted from the directional coupler 19 is maximized. The radio wave signal outputted from a radio equipment 9 in the transmission state controls a variable power synthetic distributer 13 with a maximum intensity in the direction of the reception beam 11. Thus, the communication with high quality having less possibility of interrupt by an obstacle is attained.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an antenna device in which an array antenna is attached to a helmet or a hat to improve function and performance as a mobile antenna.

[Conventional technology]

As a conventional antenna device of this type, for example,
It is disclosed in Japanese Patent No.-181906, and its sectional view is shown in FIG. In the figure, l is a helmet formed of a dielectric material, 2 is a conductive plate pasted over almost the entire inside of the helmet 1, and 3 is a metal pasted on the outside of the helmet 1. It's a batch. Reference numeral 4 denotes a coaxial cable for supplying radio wave signals to the metal patch 3. The center conductor 4a of the coaxial cable 4 is connected to the metal patch 3, and the outer conductor 4b is connected to the conductor plate 2. 5 is a radio device connected to the other end of the coaxial cable 4. In operation, a radio wave signal is received by a microstrip batch antenna composed of a conductor plate 2 and a metal patch 3 that sandwich the helmet l, and this received radio wave signal is transmitted to a radio device 5 via a coaxial cable 4. is input. At the time of transmission, the radio wave signal is transmitted from the radio device 5 to the microstrinopropagator via the coaxial cable 4 in the opposite route to that at the time of reception. The power is fed to the antenna and is radiated into space from the metal batch 3. Another antenna device of this type is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 144713/1983, and its plan view and side view are shown in FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B). In this device, a plurality of loop antennas 6 and a radio device 5 that provides radio signals to the loop antennas 6 are both embedded within the material of the helmet 1.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the antenna device shown in FIG. 6, there is only one antenna element, the metal badge 3, and the antenna gain is low, so weak signals such as radio signals from artificial satellites or distant base stations are transmitted. There was a problem in that it could not be received. Furthermore, although the antenna devices shown in FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) are provided with a plurality of loop antennas 6,
There is no mention of how the loop antennas 6 are connected to each other or how to combine the radio signals received by the loop antennas 6. Therefore, even in this antenna device, the sensitivity of the antenna may vary depending on the direction in which the radio waves arrive. The radio signal was too low and too weak to be detected. The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an antenna device with high antenna gain and excellent portability.

[Means to solve the problem]

The antenna device of the present invention includes a plurality of element antennas arranged along a curved dielectric material forming a helmet or a hat, and a desired receiving beam for radio wave signals received by each of the element antennas. The present invention is characterized by comprising: a beam forming circuit that forms a transmission beam for radio wave signals transmitted by each element antenna; and a control unit that controls the beam forming circuit.

[Effect]

According to the above configuration, at the time of reception, by processing the radio wave signal received by each element antenna in the beam forming circuit, it is possible to form a reception beam that matches the direction of arrival of the radio wave signal, and at the time of transmission, the radio wave signal received by each element antenna is processed by the beam forming circuit. By similarly processing the radio wave signals fed to each element antenna in the beam forming circuit, it is possible to form a transmission beam with directivity in the desired direction, increasing antenna gain and enabling efficient communication. becomes.

【Example】

FIG. 1 describes an embodiment of the present invention according to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view showing one embodiment of the antenna device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the helmet portion of FIG. 1. In each figure, 1 is a helmet formed of a dielectric material, 2 is a conductor plate attached to almost the entire inside of the helmet 1, and 3 is a conductor plate attached along the outer spherical surface of the helmet 1. A plurality of metal pins are arranged at predetermined intervals so as to function as an array antenna. 5 is a radio device. Reference numeral 7 denotes a plurality of power supply lines connected to each metal badge 3, and this power supply line 7 is embedded in the dielectric of the helmet 1, as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 8 denotes a radio signal processing section to which the other end of the feed line 7 is connected, and this radio signal processing section 8 is connected to the radio device 5 by a connecting cable 9. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the radio signal processing section 8 described above, and the same parts as in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. In the figure, 12 is a variable phase shifter that changes the phase of the radio wave signal received by each metal batch 3 and the radio wave signal fed to each metal pad 3 at the time of transmission. provided. 13, each variable phase shifter 12 is connected to each variable phase shifter 12 by a plurality of transmission lines 14.
It is a variable power combiner/distributor connected to the radio device 5, which controls the amplitude value of the radio wave signals supplied from each variable phase shifter 12 during reception and combines them at the required combining ratio, and when transmitting, it is powered by the radio device 5. The wireless signal is controlled and distributed to each metal batch 3 at a required amplitude value. 15 is a control circuit which controls the phase in the variable phase shifter 12 via a digit control line 16, and controls the amplitude value of each signal in the variable power combiner/divider 13 via an amplitude control line 17. control. 18 is a memory attached to this control circuit 15. 19 is a directional coupler having three terminals A and BC, the other end of the connection cable 9 from the radio device 5 is connected to the terminal B, and the terminal A and the variable power divider 13 are connected to the transmission line 20. The terminal C is connected to the control circuit 15 via the transmission line 21. Next, the operation of the apparatus having the above configuration will be explained. When a radio signal transmitted from another transmitter is received by each metal batch 3, the radio signal is guided to each variable phase shifter 12 in the radio signal processing unit 8 via the feed line 7, respectively. In each variable phase shifter 12, the required phase amount is given to each radio wave signal according to the phase control signal under the control of the control circuit 15, and each radio wave signal to which the phase amount has been given is sent to the variable power combiner/divider 13. is input. The variable power combiner/divider 13 controls the amplitude of each input radio wave signal based on the amplitude control signal from the control circuit 15, so that these radio wave signals are combined with a desired combination ratio, and the directionality is It is supplied to terminal A of coupler 19. Most of the signals input to terminal A are output to terminal B of the codirectional coupler 19 and input to the radio 5 which is in the receiving state, but a part of the signals input to terminal A is ,
It is output to the terminal C of the codirectional coupler 19, and the control circuit 15
is input. The control circuit 15 uses the amplitude and digit control information stored in the memory 18 in advance to maximize the strength of the radio signal input from the directional coupler 17. The variable power divider 13 gives the optimum phase and amplitude to each radio signal. As a result of this control operation, the incident direction vector of the radio wave signal (arrow 10 in FIG.
) and the receiving beam (first beam) formed by this antenna device.
The maximum gain direction of the directional characteristic pattern 11) shown in the figure comes to match. The above is the operation at the time of reception, and next the operation at the time of transmission will be explained. The radio signal output from the radio device 5 in the transmitting state is sent to the directional coupler 1 in the radio signal processing unit 8 via the connection cable 9.
It is input to terminal B of 9. The radio wave signal input to this terminal B is directly guided to the terminal A of the codirectional coupler 19 and input to the variable power combiner/divider 13. In the variable power combiner/distributor 13, the amplitude control signal from the control circuit 15 is used to distribute the signal into a plurality of radio wave signals having a required amplitude value.Furthermore, in each variable phase shifter 12, the amplitude control signal from the control circuit is used to distribute the signal into a plurality of radio wave signals. A required amount of phase is given to each distributed radio signal, and at this time, the amplitude control signal and the phase control signal are based on the amplitude and phase shift control information stored in advance in the memory 18. Alternatively, the control circuit 15 may perform a predetermined control so as to form a transmitting beam capable of emitting a radio wave signal having maximum intensity in the direction of the receiving beam 11, that is, in the direction of the incident direction vector. An amplitude control signal and a phase control signal may also be output. As a result of such control, the radio wave signals radiated from each metal patch 3 come to be radiated as a transmission beam having directional characteristics in a desired direction. In the above reception operation, in order to increase reception sensitivity, a reception beam whose direction matches the direction vector 10 of the radio wave signal is formed, but during reception, unnecessary radio wave signals from a direction different from the direction vector 10 are generated. When it is incident,
By controlling the amplitude and phase shift by the control circuit 15, it is also possible to change the directivity characteristics to minimize interference caused by interfering radio signals. Further, the shape of the metal batch 3 used in the above embodiment is not limited to a circle, but may be any shape such as a rectangle or an ellipse. Furthermore, as an element antenna, a metal patch 3 arranged parallel to the conductor plate 2 was used, but in addition to this, any antenna such as a loop antenna, dipole antenna, slot antenna, etc., can be used as long as it can be attached to the above-mentioned helmet 1. It may be of type. The feed line 7 may also be a microstrip line using the conductor plate 2 as a ground conductor, or a coaxial cable. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, parallel to the conductor plate 2 on the inner surface of the helmet 1,
It is also possible to adopt a triplate structure in which another conductor plate 2a is embedded within the material of the helmet 1 and outside the power supply line 7. Regarding the connection between the metal batch 3 and the power supply line 7, it is not only necessary to connect them directly as in the above embodiment, but also to connect them to another conductor plate 2a inside the metal batch 3, as shown in FIG. A circular, square, or cross-shaped coupling hole 22 may be provided, and the metal batch 3 and the power supply line 7 may be electromagnetically coupled through this coupling hole 22. In the above embodiment, a case is shown in which the array antenna is provided on the helmet 1, but an antenna device having the same function can be obtained by using a hat made of a dielectric sheet, synthetic resin cloth, etc. instead of the helmet 1. Can be provided.

【Effect of the invention】

As explained above, the present invention provides a helmet with a metal badge as an element antenna, a feeder line, and a radio signal processing section as a beam forming circuit, and enables the element antenna to form arbitrary transmitting and receiving beams. Therefore, the antenna gain is high and there is little risk of being blocked by obstacles, making high-quality communication possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing an embodiment of the antenna device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the helmet section in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an example of the radio signal processing section in the device shown in FIG. 1. Block diagram, Figure 4 is a partial sectional view of a helmet using a triplate type feed line, Figure 5 is a partial sectional view of a helmet with coupling holes provided in the conductor plate, and Figure 6 is a partial sectional view of a helmet using a conventional antenna device. A sectional view shown in Fig. 7 (A
) and FIG. 7(B) are a plan view and a side view of another conventional antenna device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Helmet, 2... Conductor plate, 3... Metal patch, 5... Radio, 7... Power supply line, 8... Radio signal processing section, 9... Connection cable, 12... Variable phase shifter, 13... Variable power combiner/divider, 15... Control circuit, 18... Memory, 19... Directional coupler, 22... Coupling hole. Figure 1, /10

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of element antennas arranged along a curved dielectric material forming a helmet or a hat, and forming a desired receiving beam for radio signals received by each of the element antennas, An antenna device comprising: a beam forming circuit that forms a transmission beam for radio signals transmitted by each element antenna; and a control section that controls the beam forming circuit. (2) Claim 1, wherein the beam forming circuit controls the amplitude and phase of the radio wave signal received by each element antenna and the radio wave signal fed to each element antenna at the time of transmission.
The antenna device described.