JPH06164231A - Antenna device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an antenna device which can be driven with no deterioration of the antenna performance even with a communication equipment included in the main body of a satellite. CONSTITUTION:A horn radiated wave is converted into the parallel waves by a 1st paraboloidal mirror 16 in the main body 11 of a satellite and sent to a 2nd paraboloidal mirror 21 excluded out of the main body 11. The parallel waves are converted into the converged waves by the mirror 21 and sent to a 3rd paraboloidal mirror 22 which shares the focal point of the mirror 21. The converged waves are converted into the parallel waves by the mirror 22 and sent to a plane mirror 23. Then these parallel waves are reflected in an optional direction. An antenna consisting of the mirrors 21, 22 and 23 are turned integrally around the reflected wave axis of the mirror 16 by a 1st driver. Meanwhile the antenna is also turned integrally around an axis which passes through the focal point shared by both mirrors 16 and 21 by a 2nd driver, and is vertical to the reflected wave axis.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an antenna device that can be used as a satellite-mounted drive antenna, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, when data observed by a low earth orbit altitude satellite A as shown in FIG. 3 is sent to a ground station C via a data relay satellite B installed in a geosynchronous orbit, a low earth orbit altitude satellite A The driving antenna mounted on the vehicle is required to have a driving function of 360 ° in one direction and ± 10 ° in the other one direction in the directions of two orthogonal axes. Conventionally, to achieve this,
The antenna device shown in FIG. 4 is used.

In this antenna device, a boom 2 extending from an artificial satellite body 1 is connected to a biaxial gimbal 3, and the gimbal 3 has an antenna 4, a TWT (transmitter using a traveling wave tube power amplifier) 5, RX (reception). Device 6), DIP (transmission / reception switching device) 7 and other communication devices are mounted on the electronic device mounting platform 8.

Since the frequency band used for satellite communication is microwave or higher, a waveguide is used for the wiring of the communication device. For this reason, the artificial satellite body 1 directly from the antenna 4
If it is piped to, the rotation drive of the platform 8 becomes impossible. Therefore, conversion to the IF frequency, which is a low frequency, is performed inside the communication device, and connection with the satellite body 1 is performed by a flexible coaxial cable that can be deformed even when driven. FIG. 5 shows the driven state.

However, in the above method, it is necessary to mount the communication device on the outside of the satellite main body, and the electronic device mounting platform is required to have a temperature control function. The ambient temperature of the communication device generally needs to be in the range of -20 to + 50 ° C.

On the other hand, communication devices include high heat generating devices such as TWT power amplifiers. Therefore, the thermal design of the electronic device mounting platform has two problems of securing a heat radiation surface and controlling the heater, which make the design of the device difficult.

Further, the mechanical environment at the time of launching a rocket is different from that in the interior of the satellite body, and it becomes difficult to design the structure for protecting the communication device. These difficulties cause an increase in weight of the entire antenna.

[0008]

As described above, in the antenna device used for the conventional satellite-mounted drive antenna, the communication device must be arranged outside the satellite body because of its structure. A temperature control function is required for the equipment mounting platform, and in particular, it is necessary to secure the heat radiation surface and control the heater at the same time. Further, when the communication device is arranged outside the satellite body, a relatively strong structure is required for protection at the time of launch, which also causes an increase in weight.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can be driven without deteriorating the antenna performance even when the communication device is arranged inside the satellite body. It is an object of the present invention to provide an antenna device that facilitates dynamic design.

[0010]

To achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to a horn arranged in a satellite body for emitting a communication wave, and a horn arranged in the satellite body for parallelizing a radiated wave of the horn. A first parabolic mirror which converts the wave into a wave and reflects in an outward direction of the satellite body; and a parallel beam which is arranged outside the satellite body and which converts the parallel beam from the first parabolic mirror into a focused wave. And a second parabolic mirror that reflects in a direction different from the incident wave, and the second parabolic mirror is arranged outside the satellite body so that the focal point is at the same position as the focal point of the second parabolic mirror. A third parabolic mirror that converts the focused wave from the parabolic mirror into a parallel wave and reflects it in a direction different from the incident wave; and a third parabolic mirror that is arranged outside the satellite body. Plane mirror that reflects the parallel wave in the arbitrary direction, and the second and third parabolic mirrors around the reflection wave axis of the first parabolic mirror. And a first driving device that integrally rotates the plane mirror and the first and second parabolic mirrors, and the second and second parabolic mirrors pass through a common axis and are perpendicular to the reflection wave axis. The parabolic mirror 3 and the plane mirror 3 of FIG.

[0011]

In the antenna device having the above-mentioned structure, the radiation wave from the horn is converted into a parallel wave by the first parabolic mirror in the satellite body and reflected in the outward direction of the satellite body, so that the first wave is generated outside the satellite body. The parallel beam from the parabolic mirror is converted into a focused wave by the second parabolic mirror, reflected in the other direction, and arranged so that the focal point is at the same position as the focal point of the second parabolic mirror. The focused parabolic wave from the second parabolic mirror is converted into a parallel wave by the third parabolic mirror and reflected in the other direction, and the parallel wave from the third parabolic mirror is reflected by a plane mirror. Reflect in any direction. Here, by the first driving device, the second parabolic mirror about the reflection wave axis of the first parabolic mirror,
An antenna system composed of a third parabolic mirror and a plane mirror is integrally rotated. In addition, by the second drive device,
The second and third parabolic mirrors and the plane mirror are integrally driven to rotate about an axis that passes through the focal point shared by the second parabolic mirror and is perpendicular to the reflected wave axis.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an antenna device according to the present invention, and 11 is a satellite body. This satellite body 1
Communication devices TWT12, RX13, DIP
14 are installed, and these are placed under the thermal environment and the structural environment inside the satellite body 11.

In the satellite body 11, a horn 15 which receives a communication signal from a communication device and radiates a communication wave, and a radiation wave of the horn 15 is converted into a parallel wave to the outside of the satellite body 11 (in the figure, A first parabolic mirror 16 is provided which reflects (in the direction perpendicular to the body side).

A first parabolic mirror 1 is provided on the side surface of the satellite body 11.
Cylindrical boom 17 having the central axis Y of the reflection waveguide 6 as the axis
Is provided. A first gimbal device 18 having the central axis Y as a rotation axis is provided at the tip portion thereof. A pole 19 is erected on the first gimbal device 18, and a second gimbal device 20 that rotates around an X axis perpendicular to the Y axis is provided at the tip of the pole 19.

In the second gimbal device 20, second and third parabolic mirrors 21 and 22 and a plane mirror 23 are integrally arranged as a drive antenna. The second parabolic mirror 21 is arranged on the Y axis, has a focal point F on the X axis, receives the parallel wave from the first parabolic mirror 16, and converts it into a focused wave.
The third parabolic mirror 22 has a focus F with the second parabolic mirror 21.
Are arranged so as to be shared, and receive the focussing wave from the second parabolic mirror 16 and convert it into a parallel wave. The plane mirror 23 receives the parallel wave from the third parabolic mirror 22 and reflects it in an arbitrary direction. The operation of the above configuration will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, the radiation wave from the horn 15 is applied to the first parabolic mirror 16 and converted into a parallel wave here. The parallel wave is a plane wave, passes through the boom 17, is reflected by the second parabolic mirror 21, becomes a spherical wave, and is converged on the focal point F. This focal point F is the focal point of the second parabolic mirror 21, but it is also the focal point of the third parabolic mirror 22 that is installed oppositely. The spherical wave passing through the focal point F is reflected by the third parabolic mirror 2
It is converted into a parallel wave, that is, a plane wave by 2 and is further reflected in a desired direction by the plane mirror 23.

By driving the first gimbal device 18, the entire driving antenna can be rotated 360 ° about the Y axis. Further, by driving the second gimbal device 20, the entire drive antenna can be rotated around the X axis passing through the focus F. This rotation angle can be secured at about 30 °. At this time, the first parabolic mirror 16 does not move. FIG. 2 shows how the drive antenna is rotated by the second gimbal device 20.

As is clear from FIG. 2, in the antenna device having the above-described structure, the relative setting of the antenna system does not collapse during rotation in the Y-axis direction or rotation in the X-axis direction, and therefore the antenna performance is basically deteriorated. Does not occur in Further, since the transmission between the satellite bodies 11 is performed by the focused beam power feeding, if the beam radius is sufficiently larger than the wavelength, the power feeding loss can be made smaller than that of the coaxial cable.

Further, as the greatest effect, the communication device can be installed in the satellite main body 11, and the driving antenna side is thermally
Since only the gimbal devices 18 and 20 having a small structural problem are mounted, no special temperature control is required. It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and can be similarly implemented even if various modifications are made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when the communication device is arranged inside the satellite body, it can be driven without deteriorating the antenna performance, thereby facilitating thermal and structural design of the communication device. It is possible to provide the antenna device.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a state in which the drive antenna system of the embodiment is rotated around the X axis.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the current state of space communication.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an antenna device used for a conventional satellite-mounted drive antenna.

5 is a configuration diagram showing a state in which the antenna device of FIG. 4 is rotationally driven.

[Explanation of symbols]

A ... Low Earth Orbit Advanced Satellite, B ... Geostationary Satellite, C ... Earth Station, 1 ...
Artificial satellite body, 2 ... Boom, 3 ... 2-axis gimbal, 4 ... Antenna, 5 ... TWT, 6 ... RX, 7 ... DIP, 8 ... Electronic device mounting platform, 11 ... Satellite body, 12 ... T
WT, 13 ... RX, 14 ... DIP, 15 ... Horn, 16
... first parabolic mirror, 17 ... boom, 18 ... first gimbal device, 19 ... pole, 20 ... second gimbal device, 2
1 ... 2nd parabolic mirror, 22 ... 2nd parabolic mirror, 23 ... plane mirror, F ... focus.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A horn arranged in the satellite body for radiating a communication wave; and a horn arranged in the satellite body for converting a radiated wave of the horn into a parallel wave and reflecting the wave outward of the satellite body. No. 1 parabolic mirror and a second parabolic arranged outside the satellite body for converting a parallel beam from the first parabolic mirror into a focused wave and reflecting it in a direction different from the incident wave. The plane mirror and the satellite are arranged so as to have a focal point at the same position as the focal point of the second parabolic mirror outside the satellite main body, and convert a focusing wave from the second parabolic mirror into a parallel wave. A third parabolic mirror that reflects in a direction different from the incident wave; a flat mirror that is arranged outside the satellite body and that reflects parallel waves from the third parabolic mirror in an arbitrary direction; The second, around the reflection wave axis of the parabolic mirror of 1,
A first parabolic mirror and a plane mirror are integrally driven to rotate.
Drive unit and the second and third parabolic mirrors and the plane mirror are integrated around an axis passing through a focal point shared by the first and second parabolic mirrors and perpendicular to the reflected wave axis. An antenna device comprising: a second drive device that is rotationally driven.