JPH05199028A - Tracking antenna - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control the direction attended with the movement of a mobile body by turning a reflecting plate on the circumference around a disk shaped plane antenna and varying the angle of the plane antenna with respect to the center axis. CONSTITUTION:A drive motor, a reducer and a turning position detector are integrally mounted to a horizontal drive section 8, and its turning output is extracted by a horizontal pinion 9. A horizontal gear is fitted coaxially to the horizontal turning section 7 and meshes with the pinion 9 to turn the horizontal turning section 7 by a required quantity in the horizontal direction. A vertical gear 11 and a reflection plate 12 are integrally supported by a bearing 7a in the turning section 7 and the reflection plate 12 is turned in the vertical direction by a required quantity with the pinion 9. The reflection plate 12 reflects a radio wave perpendicularly to the plane antenna 5 and the antenna 5 allows the arrival radio wave to radiate perpendicularly and the radio wave is extracted externally from a signal cable 13. Thus, when a reception antenna receiving a radio wave from an artificial satellite is mounted on the mobile body, the direction is controlled attended with the movement of the mobile body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a receiving antenna adapted to receive radio waves from artificial satellites.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since a satellite is stationary when viewed from the ground, the receiving antenna may normally be fixed on the ground. However, when the satellite is installed on a moving body (ship or car), When looking and moving, it is necessary to control the direction of the antenna at all times. FIG. 4 is a side view showing a known tracking antenna. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 is a parabolic mirror, in which a receiving unit 2 is arranged at its focal position, and a vertical angle adjusting unit 3 integrally tilts it to an arbitrary vertical angle. Is being done. Further, the horizontal angle adjusting section 4 is adapted to rotate at an arbitrary horizontal angle, and as a whole, to be rotated in an arbitrary direction to obtain the best reception state.

In this manner, for example, the parabolic mirror 1 is installed on the roof of an automobile and its orientation is controlled so that the radio wave from the artificial satellite is always in the best reception state as the automobile moves. It is designed to do.

[0004]

Since the conventional receiving antenna is constructed as described above, it requires a large amount of power to rotate a structure having a large mass, is weak against vibration, and The control device is costly, and when installed on the roof of an automobile, the moving parts are large and the entire upper structure is large. In addition, there is a problem in that it is easily affected by air resistance during traveling.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a tracking antenna having a simple structure and low air resistance.

[0006]

In the tracking antenna according to the present invention, a disk-shaped planar antenna is installed horizontally, and the reflector is rotatable on the circumference of its circumference, and its tilt angle is changed. The best tracking is performed in the direction of arrival of radio waves.

[0007]

In the disk-shaped planar antenna according to the present invention, a plurality of radiating elements are arranged in a planar shape on a disk-shaped substrate at intervals of 0.6 to 0.9 wavelengths, and each of them is fed to provide a receiving antenna. The upper part is covered with a radio wave transparent body to make it durable and has a disk shape as a whole.

[0008]

EXAMPLES Example 1. The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an entire tracking antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 5 is a plane antenna fixed to the upper surface of the horizontal frame 6. FIG. 2 shows the details of the horizontal mount 6. In the figure, it is designed such that it is fixed to an object to be attached by four foot portions, and the attachment screw portion 6
The planar antenna 5 is integrally fixed by a. Further, it has a bearing portion 6b to rotatably support the horizontal rotation portion 7 shown in FIG. 3, and a hole portion for taking out the signal cable of the planar antenna 5 is provided in the center portion. It is provided. Further, in FIG. 2, a horizontal drive portion support portion 6c is arranged to support the horizontal drive portion 8 shown in FIG. A drive motor, a speed reducer, and a rotational position detector are integrally assembled in the horizontal drive unit 8.
The rotation output is taken out by the horizontal pinion 9. Further, a horizontal gear 10 is coaxially and integrally attached to the horizontal rotation portion 7, and the horizontal pinion 9 described above is attached.
Therefore, the horizontal rotation portion 7 can be rotated in the horizontal direction in the required direction by the required amount.

The horizontal rotation portion 7 is provided with a vertical bearing portion 7a, and the vertical gear 11 and the reflection plate 12 are integrally rotatable. The reflecting plate is composed of an oblong flat plate as shown in the figure. Further, a drive motor, a speed reducer, and a rotation position detector are integrally assembled in the horizontal rotation unit 7, and the rotation output thereof is taken out by the vertical pinion 13. Further, the vertical gear 11 is the vertical pinion 1
Reflective plate 12 made integral as it always meshes with 3
Can be rotated in the required direction in the vertical direction by the required amount.

In FIG. 1, the reflector 12 can reflect and radiate radio waves perpendicularly to the plane portion of the plane antenna 5. Since the plane antenna 5 has a sharp directivity in the vertical direction of the plane portion, good sensitivity can be obtained by vertically radiating an incoming radio wave.

The received radio signal is taken out by the signal cable 14. The planar antenna adopted for the explanation in this invention is composed of an assembly of elements having directivity in the vertical direction, and since the whole has sharp directivity in the vertical direction, the reflector is composed of a planar plate. In addition, it has a sufficient area for reflecting and irradiating the entire surface of the plane antenna with the incoming radio wave.

Example 2. In explaining this invention,
The reflector may be a curved surface such as a paraboloid. This is determined by the vertical angular field distribution of the planar antenna. Also, in the method of rotating and tilting the plane antenna itself in the direction of arrival of radio waves, the moving system becomes complicated due to the movement of a heavy object, and the occurrence of failure and However, there is a problem such as processing of the signal cable due to the movement. Further, although the outer periphery is made of a substance that transmits radio waves (not shown), the influence of air resistance during movement can be further reduced by surrounding the dome. Further, although the present invention has been described as a receiving antenna, it can be used as a transmitting antenna, and in that case, electric power may be supplied to the planar antenna.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the reflecting plate is configured to move around the planar antenna, the device can be made inexpensive, and the highly accurate and highly reliable device can be obtained. There is. Further, since the movable part is small, the entire structure can be made small, and particularly when installed on the roof of a moving body, the effect of reducing air resistance is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an entire tracking antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a horizontal mount of the tracking antenna according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a driving unit of the tracking antenna according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing an entire conventional tracking antenna.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Parabolic Mirror 2 Receiver 3 Vertical Angle Adjuster 4 Horizontal Angle Adjuster 5 Planar Antenna 6 Horizontal Mount 7 Horizontal Rotating Unit 8 Horizontal Drive 9 Horizontal Pinion 10 Horizontal Gear 11 Vertical Gear 12 Reflector 13 Vertical Pinion 14 Signal cable

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tracking antenna, wherein a reflector is rotatable on a circumference of a disk-shaped planar antenna and an angle of the reflector with respect to a central axis of the planar antenna is variable.