JPH0427206Y2 - - 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, and 6 is a 7 is a beam controller, 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 shift, 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-y
The 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/λxnsinθ・cos+2π/λynsinθ・sin
It is. 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.

Beam control calculations are performed by calculating the beam scanning phase shift amount using the beam scanning calculator 7a ₁ and the element coordinate data memory 7b ₁ , and then using the beam shaping data memory 7.
_b2 , the correction data memory _7b3 , and the beam scanning phase shift amount described above are added by 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. Furthermore, in order to perform beam scanning at high speed, it is necessary to perform parallel processing due to hardware limitations, which also poses the problem of increasing the size of the beam controller.

This invention was made to solve such problems, and aims at high-speed processing and decentralization of beam controllers.

[Means for solving problems]

In the electronic scanning antenna according to this invention, the beam controller is distributed for each element and incorporated into a module to perform distributed parallel processing.

[Effect]

In this idea, by distributing the beam controller to each element and incorporating it into the module for distributed parallel processing, it is possible to scan the beam at high speed.
There is no need for a beam controller.

〔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. This was in the beam controller in conventional equipment. The arithmetic unit 7a and memory 7b are included in the module 2, and the controller 7c is included in the controller 2b. In other words, the beam controller 7 used to perform processing for all the elements, but it is now divided for each element and incorporated into the module 2. Therefore, the beam controller is now built inside the antenna, and the calculation method is the same as before.
Due to distributed parallel processing, calculations are extremely fast and compact.

Also, since it is divided into each element, the hardware for each element is an LSI together with the controller in the module.
If it becomes , it becomes possible with a slight increase.

Incidentally, the above explanation has been made using the electronic scanning antenna shown in FIG. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to all electronic scanning antennas, regardless of the configuration of the controller.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, this idea divides the beam controller into each element and incorporates them into the module to perform distributed parallel processing, which enables high-speed beam scanning.Since it is incorporated inside the antenna, it is compact. It has the effect of becoming

[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 combination diagram, 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, a module connected to each of the element antennas and configured of a phase shifter, a controller, etc., and a power distribution/synthesis circuit connecting the module and a transmitter/receiver;
In order to control the amount of phase shift of the phase shifter of the above module, 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 a memory for the above calculation are used. In an electronic scanning antenna, the antenna is composed of a beam controller connected to the module, and a radar signal processor controlling the beam controller. An arithmetic unit consisting of a scanning arithmetic unit and an adder, a memory consisting of an element coordinate data memory, a beam forming data memory, and a correction data memory, and a controller that controls the above arithmetic unit and memory are divided for each element antenna. An electronic scanning antenna characterized by being incorporated into a module.