JPH03266508A - Antenna controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the mechanical constitution of the controller and to attain miniaturization and light weight by correcting an antenna beam electrically so that an error signal detected by the electric beam scanning is made zero with respect to an elevating angle in the tracking system of the antenna controller. CONSTITUTION:Let scanning phase shifts of antenna elements 1A-1D be respectively phiA, phiB, phiC, phiD, then they are selected so as to be phiA=phiC=theta1, phiB=phiD=0 in the azimuth direction (1) and phiB=phiD=theta1, phiA=phiC=0 in the azimuth direction (2). Moreover, they are selected so as to be phiA=phiB=theta2, phiC=phiD=0 and phiA=phiB=0, phiC=phiD=theta2 in the elevating angle directions (1), (2) of the electric scanning phase shift respectively. A phase shift eta to correct the antenna beam in the elevating angle is added to scanning phase shifts phiA, phiB of antenna elements 1A, 1B for the beam scanning to obtain a tracking error signal from the phase of each antenna and the beam is offset in the accurate elevating angle direction by varying the phase shift eta. Thus, the controller is simplified and miniaturization and light weight are attained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an antenna control device, and more particularly to a miniaturized and lightweight antenna control device used for mobile communications with satellites.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional antenna control devices for beam scan tracking that track satellite radio waves mechanically perform tracking by driving motors in both elevation and azimuth directions based on tracking signals obtained by beam scanning.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above-mentioned conventional antenna control device requires a mechanism to mechanically drive the antenna in the elevation and azimuth directions, which makes its structure complicated and poses a major obstacle in terms of miniaturization and weight reduction. There are drawbacks.

[Means to solve the problem]

An antenna control device of the present invention is an antenna control device having at least four antenna elements that performs tracking of satellite radio waves by beam scanning, and includes a mechanical drive mechanism that performs azimuth direction tracking in a tracking direction, and a mechanical drive mechanism that performs azimuth direction tracking in a tracking direction, and a mechanical drive mechanism that performs azimuth direction tracking in a tracking direction, and four phase shifters that perform phase shift scanning of high frequency signals received from each of the elements; a correction phase shifter that performs phase correction in response to a tracking error signal; the four phase shifters and the correction. and a calculation processing section that controls the mechanical drive mechanism and the phase control section according to a predetermined procedure.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 (a>, (
b) is an explanatory diagram illustrating the relationship between the antenna beam switching conditions and the antenna phase in this embodiment. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes an array antenna 1 consisting of four antenna elements LA, IB, IC, and LD, each antenna element IA, IB,
I.C.

Phase shifters 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D for electrically scanning the ID beams by a certain phase shift amount, and a phase shifter 3 for electrically scanning the beams of the array antenna 1 in the elevation direction.
, each of the phase shifters 2A to 2D, and a phase control unit 4 that controls the amount of phase shift of the phase shifter 3, and the same array antenna as the conventional one]
a motor drive unit 6 for mechanically driving the azimuth direction;
There is a motor 7 to be driven and a speed reduction mechanism for the motor 7. Also, based on the error signal 9 detected from a receiving device (not shown) that receives satellite radio waves, a control signal is output in accordance with a predetermined procedure for the azimuth direction of mechanical beam scanning and the elevation direction of electrical beam scanning. An arithmetic processing unit 5 is configured. Note that the high frequency output 10 is the phase shifter 3, the phase shifters 2A to 2
It is output from the array antenna 1 via D.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b). The beam switching conditions in FIG. 1(a) are divided into conditions for the azimuth directions (1) and (2) of the antenna beam and conditions for the elevation directions (1) and (2).

For azimuth directions (1) and (2), the scanning phase shift amount of antenna elements IA to ID is φA and φB, respectively.

When φC2φD, the scanning phase shift amount is set as shown in FIG. 1(a). That is, the azimuth direction (1) is φA=φC
: θ1, φB=φ0=0, and the azimuth direction (2) is φB
=φD=θ0, φA=φc=Q. Next, for the elevation direction (1) and (2) of the electrical scanning phase shift amount, φA=φB=θ2, φC=φD=0, and φA=φ8=0, φC=φD=θ2, respectively. Set. These scanning phase shift amounts φA to φD correspond to the corresponding phase shifters 2A to 2.
This is done by controlling D. By scanning in the azimuth direction with a phase shift amount of θ1 and scanning in the elevation direction with a phase shift amount of θ2 in this manner, tracking error signals in each direction can be obtained.

The phase shifter 3 is a phase shifter for correcting by moving the beam direction by the error angle based on the tracking error signal obtained in the elevation direction. In other words, the phase of each antenna is
As shown in Figure (b), the scanning phase shift amount φ of antenna elements IA and IB is used for beam scanning to obtain a tracking error signal.
A and φB are further added with a phase shift amount η for correcting the antenna beam in the elevation direction, and by changing this phase shift amount η, the beam is offset in the accurate elevation direction. In this case, the phase shift amount η is corrected by the movement in the elevation angle in the azimuth directions (1) and (2) as well.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention uses the tracking method of the antenna control device to detect an error signal by electrical beam scanning in the elevation direction, and electrically correct the antenna beam so that this error signal becomes 0. This has the effect of simplifying the mechanical configuration of the device and making it smaller and lighter.

Furthermore, since the beam can be scanned at high speed, it has the advantage of being able to respond to rapid changes in the direction of elevation angle.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2(a),
(b) is an explanatory diagram illustrating this embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Array antenna, IA-ID... Antenna element, 2A-2, 3... Phase shifter, 4... Phase control unit,
5... Arithmetic processing unit, 6... Motor drive unit, 7...
Motor, 8... Reduction mechanism, 9... Error signal input, 1
0...High frequency signal output.

Claims (1)

[Claims] At least 4 satellites that track satellite radio waves by beam scanning
In an antenna control device having antenna elements,
A mechanical drive mechanism that performs azimuth direction tracking in the tracking direction, four phase shifters that perform phase shift scanning of high frequency signals received from each of the four antenna elements that perform tracking, and a tracking error signal corresponding to the tracking error signal. a correction phase shifter that performs phase correction, a phase control section that controls the four phase shifters and the correction phase shifter, and the mechanical drive mechanism and the phase control section that are controlled according to a predetermined procedure. What is claimed is: 1. An antenna control device comprising: an arithmetic processing section;