JPH05152826A - Electronic beam scanning antenna system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease a phase jump at beam changeover in the electronic beam scanning antenna system. CONSTITUTION:The system consists of an antenna section 12 comprising an element antenna 5, a variable phase shifter 6, a switch 10, a synthesis distributer 11 and an amplifier added as required and of a beam control section 9 controlling the phase shifter directing the beam in a prescribed direction, and the combinations of element antennas in use are selected according to the direction, the combination of elements is decided according to the accuracy of a phase jump and the phase jump is reduced with simple configuration.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron beam scanning antenna device used for radar and satellite communication antennas, and more particularly to an improved beam control technique.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows a conventional type antenna in which, for example, an electron beam scanning antenna device whose entire azimuth direction is covered is composed of four antenna surfaces and the surfaces are switched according to the azimuth direction. This is a structural example, and its block configuration is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 5, 1 is an antenna surface 1, 2 is an antenna surface 2, 3 is an antenna surface 3, 4 is an antenna surface 4, 5
Are element antennas constituting the respective antenna surfaces.

Further, in FIG. 6, 6 is a variable phase shifter for setting the phase amount for the element antenna, 7 is a combine distributor for distributing the transmission signal input through the switcher to each variable phase shifter, Reference numeral 8 is a switch for supplying a transmission signal to each antenna surface in response to a switch signal from the beam controller, and 9 is a beam controller for generating a switch signal to the switch.

Next, the operation will be described. The beam control unit 9 determines the direction of the beam to be directed by the antenna. In the azimuth direction, 0 to 360 ° is shared by the antenna surfaces 1 to 4, and in the case of 0 to 90 °, the surfaces 1 and 90 are allocated. ~
The surface is covered with the surface 2 in the case of 180 °, the surface 3 in the case of 180 to 270 °, and the surface 4 in the case of 270 to 360 °. Since the elevation direction is simple, it is assumed that the coverage area can be covered by beam scanning on each surface.

Since the switching of the surfaces 1 to 4 is determined by the beam controller 9 when the pointing direction is determined, the desired surface is selected by controlling the switch 8. On the selected surface, the beam scanning sets the phase amount of each element antenna 5 by a variable phase shifter, and reaches each element antenna so that the wavefront is orthogonal to the radio wave from the target direction as shown in FIG. This is done by giving the phase difference of the difference.

As described above, the azimuth coverage can be covered by controlling the phase shifter on each antenna surface and selecting the four antenna surfaces.

[0008]

Since the conventional electron beam scanning antenna device is constructed as described above, the structure shown in FIG.
As shown in, for example, in the case of the surface 1 and the surface 2, when the target direction deviates from the direction in which the target direction is equidistant from the surface 1 and the surface 2 (Δθ), with respect to the combined phase center distance (d) of the two surfaces. A phase error (Δφ) occurs. In this case, Δφ = dsin Δ
θ. Normally, since the command value from the beam control unit and the target direction cause pointing errors due to various factors,
Phase switching due to the above phase error occurs at the time of surface switching, but this is a problem particularly in coherent communication systems that require phase synchronization. In this system, when the phase jump becomes large, the beam error rate deteriorates and synchronization is lost. There was a problem of causing such as.

Further, if the antenna is made smaller or the number of surface divisions is increased in order to reduce the combined phase center distance d, the antenna gain on one surface is lowered, and a predetermined performance cannot be obtained. there were.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and even if a pointing error occurs, an electron beam scanning capable of suppressing the phase skip to a small level without lowering the antenna gain. The purpose is to obtain an antenna device.

[0011]

In the electron beam scanning antenna device according to the present invention, the combination of element antennas to be used is changed according to the beam pointing direction, and the phase shifter corresponding to the combination is changed. The phase jump is suppressed to a small value by applying the beam scanning to the beam.

Further, in the electron beam scanning antenna device according to the present invention, the beam antenna is selected so that the combined vector direction of the azimuth angle and the elevation angle is optimal with respect to the beam direction for the entire coverage area. It is designed to be controlled.

Further, in the electron beam scanning antenna device according to the present invention, beam switching is performed by using an element block composed of a plurality of element antennas as one unit.

[0014]

In the antenna device according to the present invention, the combination of element antennas is changed to change the directivity direction. Therefore, the distance between the combined phase centers for each combination can be shortened, thereby reducing the phase jump. To do.

The antenna device according to the present invention is
Since beam control is performed so that the combined vector direction of azimuth angle and elevation angle is optimal for the beam direction for the entire coverage area, phase skip and gain reduction are reduced over the entire coverage area. To act like.

Further, in the antenna device according to the present invention, beam switching is performed by using an element block composed of a plurality of element antennas as a unit, so that the antenna is a polyhedral antenna composed of a plurality of planes according to the required phase jump amount. Since the number of switches of the composite distributor can be reduced, the manufacturing can be performed very easily.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an electron beam scanning antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 12 is a truncated cone-shaped antenna part, and 5 is an element antenna attached to the antenna part.

FIG. 2 shows the block configuration. In FIG. 2, 10 is a switch for turning on / off the signal of the element antenna, 11 is a combine distributor for combining and distributing the switch output to all the element antennas, and 9 is a combination of the element antennas with respect to the beam pointing direction. , Switch ON / OF
It is a beam control unit that sets the phase amount of the variable phase shifter while performing F.

Next, the operation will be described. The beam control unit 9 determines the beam direction in which the antenna should be directed. However, an optimal combination of the element antennas 5 with n elements satisfying the antenna gain and the like (the combination closest to the beam direction) is used. ), The switch 10 of the combiner / distributor 11 is turned on / off by the beam controller 9 so that the signal of the element antenna is connected to the terminal. Further, in order to direct the beam in a desired direction by the selected element antenna, as shown in FIG. 3, the phase difference of the reach distance difference to each element antenna is transmitted from the beam control unit 9 to the variable phase shifter 6. Set as.

In this case, the combination of n element antennas is selected by changing it for each element. For example, beam 1 is element antennas 1 to n, beam 2 is element antennas 2 to n + 1,
By changing the combination of the beam 3 such as the element antennas 3 to n + 2, ..., The combined phase center distance d ′ at the time of beam switching can be shortened to the element antenna interval as shown in FIG. Therefore, even if there is a pointing error (Δθ), the phase jump at the time of beam switching can be suppressed to be small. Further, in this case, since the beam scanning range is small with respect to the selected element antenna, the antenna gain reduction amount due to beam scanning can also be reduced.

FIG. 4 shows an example of switch operation in the element antenna combination of beam 1 and beam 2. This switch matrix may be stored in the beam control unit 9 in advance for all beams.

In the above embodiment, the beam switching is performed only in the azimuth direction, but as shown in FIG.
With respect to the entire coverage area, a combination of element antennas in which the combined vector direction of azimuth angle and elevation angle is optimal with respect to the beam direction may be selected, and beam switching may be performed. It is possible to configure an antenna device with a small phase jump and a small gain reduction over the entire coverage area.

In the above embodiment, n element antennas are combined with a resolution of one element antenna, but the combination is not necessarily one element depending on the required phase jump amount. Instead, beam switching may be performed with the element block 13 composed of a plurality of elements as one unit.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, beam switching is performed by a combination of beam 1 for element blocks 1 to 4, beam 2 for element blocks 2 to 5, beam 3 for element blocks 3 to 6, and so on.

Further, in this case, as shown in the above embodiment, the antenna shape does not need to be a truncated cone or a hemispherical shape, and as shown in FIG. The polyhedron antenna configured can be used, and the number of switches of the composite distributor can be small, so that the manufacturing becomes extremely easy.

Although the antenna section does not have an amplifier in the above embodiment, an amplifier may be provided in the antenna section from the viewpoint of gain, power, noise temperature, etc., and the same effect as that of the above embodiment is obtained. ..

[0027]

As described above, according to the electron beam scanning antenna device of the present invention, the combination of the element antennas to be used is selected according to the beam directing direction. Therefore, the beam switching can be performed with a simple structure. There is an effect that an antenna with a small phase jump in time can be obtained, and a configuration according to required accuracy can be selected.

Further, according to the electron beam scanning antenna device of the present invention, the combination of element antennas is selected so that the combined vector direction of the azimuth angle and the elevation angle is optimal with respect to the beam direction for the entire coverage area. Since the beam control is performed in the above, there is an effect that the phase skip and the gain decrease can be reduced over the entire coverage area.

Further, according to the electron beam scanning antenna device of the present invention, since the beam switching is performed by using the element block composed of a plurality of element antennas as one unit, the antennas are arranged according to the required phase jump amount. A polyhedral antenna composed of a plurality of planes can be used, and the number of switches of the combiner / distributor can be small, so that there is an effect that manufacturing is extremely easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an electron beam scanning antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electron beam scanning antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a phase error of the electron beam scanning antenna device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a switch operation example in a combination of element antennas according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional electron beam scanning antenna device.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional electron beam scanning antenna device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a phase error of a conventional electron beam scanning antenna.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing an electron beam scanning antenna device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram showing an electron beam scanning antenna device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Antenna Surface 1 2 Antenna Surface 2 3 Antenna Surface 3 4 Antenna Surface 4 5 Element Antenna 6 Variable Phase Shifter 7 Combiner / Distributor 8 Switcher 9 Beam Controller 10 Switch 11 Combiner / Distributor 12 Antenna Part 13 Element Block

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] September 18, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0004

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Further, in FIG. 6, 6 is a variable phase shifter for setting the phase amount for the element antenna, and 7 is a transmission (reception) signal input through the switcher, which is distributed to each variable phase shifter ( Combined
Adult) synthesized distributor, 8 switching supplying feed in accordance with the switching signal from the beam control section (receiving) signals to each antenna face exchanger, 9 a beam control unit for generating a switching signal to the switching device is there.

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0008

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[0008]

Since the conventional electron beam scanning antenna device is constructed as described above, the structure shown in FIG.
As shown in, for example, in the case of the surface 1 and the surface 2, the target direction deviates from the direction in which it is equidistant from the surface 1 and the surface 2 (Δθ). A phase error (Δφ) occurs. In this case, Δφ = dsin Δ
θ. Normally, the command value from the beam control unit and the target direction cause pointing errors due to various factors,
Phase switching due to the above phase error occurs at the time of plane switching, which becomes a problem especially in the coherent communication system requiring phase synchronization. In this system, when the phase skip becomes large, the bit error rate deteriorates and synchronization is lost. There was a problem of causing such as.

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Figure 1

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 1]

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Figure 3

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 3]

[Procedure Amendment 5]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Figure 5

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 5]

[Procedure correction 6]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Figure 7

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 7]

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An antenna device for electronically moving a beam by changing a phase amount of each element antenna using a phased array, the element antenna capable of covering a predetermined coverage area, a variable phase shifter,
The antenna part consisting of a switch, a combiner / distributor, and an amplifier added if necessary, and the switch is controlled to select the combination of the element antenna to be used according to the beam pointing direction and the variable phase shifter is controlled. And an electron beam scanning antenna device for directing a beam in a desired direction. 2. The beam control unit, for the entire coverage area,
2. The electron beam scanning antenna device according to claim 1, wherein a combination of element antennas is selected so that the combined vector direction of the azimuth angle and the elevation angle is optimal with respect to the beam direction. 3. The electron beam scanning antenna apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the beam control unit performs beam switching with an element block including a plurality of element antennas as one unit.