JPH0427205Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] This invention relates to beam scanning of an electronic scanning antenna.

[Prior art]

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional electronic scanning antenna. In the figure, 1 is an element antenna, 2 is a module, 3 is a power distribution/synthesis circuit, 4 is a duplexer, 5 is a transmitter, 6 is a receiver, and 7 is a 7a is a computing unit, 7b is a memory, 7c is a controller, and 8 is a radar signal processor. Figure 4 is a configuration diagram of module 2, and in the figure, 2
a is a phase shifter, and 2b is a controller. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the computing unit 7a. In the figure, 7a ₁ is a beam scanning computing unit, and 7a ₂ is an adder. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of the memory 7b, in which 7b ₁ is an element coordinate memory, 7b ₂ is a beam shaping memory,
_7b3 is a correction data memory.

When transmitting, this electronic scanning antenna distributes the signal from the transmitter 5 by the power distribution/synthesis circuit 3,
The phase of the signal is controlled by a phase shifter 2a in the module 2, and the signal is supplied to the element antenna 1 and radiated into space. At this time, based on the control signal from the radar signal processor 8, the beam controller 7 calculates the amount of phase shift of each element necessary for beam scanning and transfers it to the module 2. By moving and controlling the phase, the beam direction of the electronic scanning antenna can be controlled. The same applies when receiving.

The beam controller 7 performs the following calculations for each element according to instructions from the radar signal processor.

Pn=P ^B n+P ^F n+P ^C n Here, Pn is the phase shift amount given to the phase shifter 2a of each element, P ^B n is the phase shift amount necessary for beam scanning, P ^F n
is a phase shift amount for beam shaping, P ^C n is a phase shift amount for correcting antenna variations, and n indicates an element number.

A method for determining the phase shift amount P ^B n necessary for beam scanning will be explained. FIG. 7 shows a conceptual diagram showing beam scanning.

In the figure, x, y, z are coordinate axes, and x-
The y plane is the antenna aperture plane, 1 is the element antenna described above, θ indicates the beam scanning angle, and xn, yn
are the coordinates of the element. At this time, the amount of beam scanning phase shift given to the element is P ^B n=2π/λxn sinθ・cos+2π/λyn sinθ・c
It is os. Here, λ is the wavelength.

P ^F n is a phase shift amount for beam shaping, and this is a phase shift amount given to form a beam shape other than a pencil beam. This is normally held as memory data.

P ^C n is a phase shift amount for correcting antenna variations. This is a variation caused by manufacturing errors, frequency characteristics, temperature characteristics, differences between the transmitting system and receiving system, and pulse characteristics. This is data that is measured and held. Therefore, when there are many elements and many factors, the amount becomes enormous.

For beam control calculations, the beam scanning phase shift amount is calculated by the beam scanning calculator 7a ₁ and the element coordinate data memory 7b ₁ , and the beam shaping data memory 7b ₂
This is done by adding the correction data memory _7b3 and the beam scanning phase shift amount using an adder _7a2 .

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

The electronic scanning antenna described above has a problem in that when the correction data memory becomes enormous, the proportion of the memory in the beam controller increases, making the beam controller larger.

This invention was made to solve this problem, and its purpose is to separate the correction data memory from the beam controller.

[Means for solving problems]

In the electronic scanning antenna according to this invention, a correction data memory, a beam-forming deso-memory, and an adder are moved from the beam controller to the module.

[Effect]

In this invention, by moving the correction data memory, beam forming data memory, and adder from the beam controller to the module, the beam controller is prevented from becoming larger.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of this invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a module. Symbols in the figures indicate the same or equivalent parts as in the conventional device described above. In this system, the beam shaping data memory 7b ₂ , the correction data memory 7b ₃ , and the adder, which were located in the beam controller 7 in the conventional device, are separated for each element and moved into the module 2. Therefore, the beam controller 7 calculates the beam scanning phase shift amount, transfers it to the module 2, and adds the phase shift amount for beam shaping and the phase shift amount for correcting antenna variations in the module. It turns out. The calculation method is the same as before, but the calculation location and configuration are different.

Furthermore, since it is divided into each element, the increase in hardware per element is minimal and can be accommodated in the controller in the module of the conventional device.

Incidentally, in the above explanation, the electronic scanning antenna shown in FIG. 3 was used as an example, but the electronic scanning antenna according to this invention has various elements such as the type of element antenna, the arrangement configuration of the element antenna, the configuration of the module, the configuration and type of the feeding circuit, Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to all electronic scanning antennas, regardless of the configuration of the beam controller.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, this idea allows the beam controller to be made smaller by moving the beam shaping data memory, correction data memory, and adder contained in the beam controller into the module, making it more compact overall. There are effects that can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of this invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a module in one embodiment, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional electronic scanning antenna, and Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional module. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional arithmetic unit, FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional memory, and FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing beam scanning. In the figure, 1 is an element antenna, 2 is a phase shifter,
3 is a power distribution combiner, 4 is a duplexer, 5 is a transmitter, 6 is a receiver, 7 is a beam controller, 8 is a radar signal processor, 2a is a phase shifter, 2b is a control unit,
7a is a computing unit, 7b is a memory, and 7c is a controller. Note that the same reference numerals in each figure indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] a plurality of element antennas and a module connected correspondingly to each of the element antennas and configured of a phase shifter, a controller, etc.; a power distribution/synthesis circuit connecting the module and the transmitter/receiver; In order to control the amount of phase shift of the phase shifter, an arithmetic unit consisting of a beam scanning arithmetic unit and an adder, a memory consisting of an element coordinate data memory, a beam shaping data memory and a correction data memory, and the above arithmetic unit and memory are used. and a beam controller connected to the module; and a radar signal processor that controls the beam controller; An electronic scanning antenna characterized in that a memory consisting of a forming data memory and a correction data memory is divided for each element antenna and incorporated into each module.