JPH1051232A - Antenna system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the antenna system by which transmission reception is conducted in an arbitrary direction for frequencies at board bands, without the use of a board band phase controller. SOLUTION: A plurality of radio waves with different frequencies over a broad frequency band coming space are received by antenna elements 11-1n, and the received signals are distributed into three respectively. Then the received signals are converted into specific frequency signals by three different and corresponding local oscillation signals, the frequency band is limited by narrow- band pass filters 611-6n3, and then a plurality of the radio waves with different frequencies are discriminated for each frequency band and three resulting reception signals are given to phase controllers 911-9n3 and the reception signals are phase-controlled respectively for each frequency band. On the other hand, at transmission time, the three transmission signals, phase-controlled for each frequency band by phase controllers (not shown), are combined by distributers/ combiners 21-2n via circulators 311-3n3, and the combined signals are emitted in space by the antenna elements 11-1n.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an antenna device used for, for example, a radar device and a communication device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional antenna apparatus, a plurality of antenna elements are arranged in an array, and a phase is controlled for input / output signals of each antenna element to form a beam in an arbitrary direction in space. And then send and receive.

However, in the conventional antenna apparatus having the above configuration, when transmitting and receiving at a wide band frequency, it is necessary to control the phase of the wide band frequency at the same time. Therefore, there is a problem that a wide band phase controller is required. there were.

[0004]

The conventional antenna apparatus has a problem that, when transmitting and receiving at a wide band frequency, a phase controller capable of controlling the phase at a wide band frequency is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an antenna apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving signals in a desired frequency in a wide band without using a wide-band phase controller. Aim.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an antenna apparatus according to the present invention has an array antenna in which a plurality of antenna elements are arranged in an array and a plurality of antenna elements. A plurality of distributors / combiners for distributing and outputting signals from the antenna elements to a plurality of transmission paths, combining the signals from the plurality of transmission paths and outputting the combined signals to the corresponding antenna elements, A plurality of frequency converters provided on a plurality of transmission paths of each of the devices for mixing a transmission signal with a local oscillation signal and converting the frequency;
A plurality of local oscillators that generate local oscillation signals corresponding to the number of distributions / combinations of the combiners at mutually different frequencies, and distribute the respective local oscillation signals generated by the plurality of local oscillators in accordance with the number of distributors / combiners. A plurality of distributors for supplying different local oscillation signals to frequency converters in a plurality of transmission paths connected to each distributor / synthesizer, and a plurality of transmission paths provided in each of the plurality of transmission paths, and a phase of the transmission signal is provided. A plurality of phase control means for controlling are provided.

According to the antenna device having the above-described configuration, the transmission signal received by each antenna element is distributed to a plurality of transmission signals by the corresponding distributor / combiner. Each of the distributed transmission signals is independently frequency-converted by a local oscillation signal having a different frequency from each other, and is phase-controlled.

On the other hand, for example, transmission signals from a plurality of transmitters are independently phase-controlled, frequency-converted by local oscillation signals having mutually different frequencies, and then combined by a distributor / combiner. The transmission signal obtained by combining the plurality of transmission signals in this manner is radiated into the space from the corresponding antenna element.

Accordingly, for a plurality of transmission / reception signals,
Since frequency conversion and phase control are performed independently of each other, transmission and reception can be performed in any direction with respect to a wideband frequency without using a wideband phase controller.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The antenna device shown in the figure includes antenna elements 11 to 1n, distributors / combiners 21 to 2n, and circulators 311 to 3n.
3, frequency converters 411 to 4n3, distributors 71 to 73,
Local oscillators 81-83 and phase controllers 911-9n3
It has.

The antenna elements 11 to 1n are arranged in an array and mutually transmit and receive radio waves of a wide frequency band. The signals received by the antenna elements 11 to 1n are respectively distributed / combined by 21/2.
It is distributed to three signals at n. These distributed reception signals are respectively supplied to the corresponding circulators 311.
To 3n3.

The circulators 311 to 3n3 have a distribution /
The received signal from the synthesizer is converted into a corresponding frequency converter 4 described later.
11-4n3, and the transmission signals to the corresponding distributors / combiners 21-2n.

The frequency converters 411 to 413 have mixers 511 to 513 and filters 611 to 613, respectively, and the three received signals distributed by the distributor / combiner 21 are input to the corresponding mixers 511 to 513, respectively. Is done.

These mixers 511 to 513 receive local oscillation signals generated by local oscillators 81 to 83 via distributors 71 to 73, respectively, and convert the three received signals into specific frequencies. . The local oscillators 81 to 83 generate a local oscillation signal having an arbitrary frequency within a predetermined frequency variable range.

The three frequency-converted received signals are subjected to filters 611 to 613, are subjected to spurious elimination, are band-limited, and are input to phase controllers 911 to 913.

Similarly, the other frequency converters 421 to 4n3 also include mixers 521 to 5n3 and filters 621 to 6n3, respectively, and convert the outputs of the corresponding distributors / combiners 22 to 2n into reception signals of a specific frequency. After the conversion, the band is limited and input to the phase controllers 921 to 9n3. The phase controllers 911 to 9n3 control the phases of the signals output from the corresponding filters 611 to 6n3, respectively.

On the other hand, as for the transmission signal, the transmission signal whose phase is controlled by a phase controller (not shown) is transmitted to corresponding distribution / combiner 2 via circulators 311 to 3n3.
1 to 2n. And the distributor / combiner 21
２2n and then input to the antenna elements 11-1n and radiated into space.

The operation of the antenna device having the above configuration will be described below. A plurality of radio waves having different frequencies over a wide band from space are received by the antenna elements 11 to 1n.
The received signals of the antenna elements 11 to 1n are respectively divided into three, and are converted into a specific frequency by three corresponding local oscillation signals.

The frequency-converted reception signals are band-limited by narrow-band filters 611 to 6n3, respectively, and the phase controllers 911 to 911-n are divided into three reception signals in which the radio waves of different frequencies are separated for each band. 9n3
Is input to Then, the received signals are phase-controlled for each band by the phase controllers 911 to 9n3.

On the other hand, at the time of transmission, three transmission signals whose phases are controlled for each band by a phase controller (not shown) are:
The signals are combined by the distributors / combiners 21 to 2n and radiated to the space from the antenna elements 11 to 1n, respectively.

As described above, in the antenna apparatus having the above-described configuration, a plurality of radio waves having different frequencies over a wide band are received by the antenna elements 11 to 1n, distributed to three received signals, and independently subjected to frequency conversion and frequency conversion. After band limitation by a plurality of narrow band filters 611 to 6n3, phase control is performed for each band. Similarly, phase control is performed on the transmission signals for each of the three transmission signals.

For this reason, transmission and reception can be performed by simultaneously processing a wide range of frequencies without using a wide-band phase controller. In addition, since phase control is independently performed on signals in different frequency bands, transmission and reception can be performed in any direction according to the frequency band.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, each of the distributors / combiners 21 to 2n distributes / divides three signals.
Although synthesis is performed, two signals or four or more signals may be distributed / combined, and a frequency conversion circuit may be provided according to the number of signals to perform frequency conversion and band limitation. .

If the phase controllers 911 to 9n3 perform A / D conversion on the received signals and then control the phases of the signals, a digital beam forming (DBF) type antenna apparatus can be realized. Note that, in this case, the phase control is also performed on the digital transmission signal, and then the D / A conversion is performed and the frequency converters 411 to 411 are converted.
If input to 4n3, it can be applied at the time of transmission.

Further, in the above embodiment, the circulators 311 to 3n3 are provided between the distributors / combiners 21 to 2n and the frequency converters 411 to 4n3, but the frequency converters 411 to 4n3 and the filter 611 are provided. ~ 6
You may make it provide between n3. According to such a configuration, the frequency converters 411 to 4n3 can be used for both transmission and reception. It goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the transmission signal received by each antenna element is divided by the corresponding distribution / transmission signal.
The signal is divided into a plurality of transmission signals by a synthesizer, and is independently frequency-converted / converted by local oscillation signals having mutually different frequencies.
The phase is controlled.

On the other hand, transmission signals from a plurality of transmitters are independently phase-controlled / frequency-converted, then combined by a distributor / combiner, and radiated from the corresponding antenna elements to space. ing.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an antenna apparatus capable of performing transmission and reception in an arbitrary direction over a wide band frequency without using a wide band phase controller.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

[Explanation of symbols]

 11-1n antenna elements 21-2n distributor / combiner 311-3n3 circulators 411-4n3 frequency converters 511-5n3 mixers 611-6n3 filters 71-73 distributor 81-83 local oscillator 911- 9n3 ... Phase controller

Claims (7)

[Claims] An array antenna in which a plurality of antenna elements are arranged in an array; and an array antenna provided corresponding to each of the plurality of antenna elements.
Distributes and outputs signals from antenna elements to multiple transmission paths,
A plurality of distributors / combiners for combining signals from the plurality of transmission paths and outputting the combined signals to corresponding antenna elements; and a plurality of distribution / combiners provided on the plurality of transmission paths of the plurality of distributors / combiners, respectively. A plurality of frequency converters for mixing and converting the frequency of signals; a plurality of local oscillators for generating local oscillation signals corresponding to the number of distributions / combinations of the distributor / combiner at mutually different frequencies; A plurality of local oscillation signals to be generated are distributed according to the number of the distributors / combiners, and different local oscillation signals are supplied to frequency converters in a plurality of transmission paths connected to the distributors / combiners. And a plurality of phase control means provided on each of the plurality of transmission paths to control the phase of the transmission signal. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission path provided for each of said plurality of frequency converters, for removing unnecessary wave components from the frequency-converted reception signal output from said frequency converter, and for corresponding phase control. 2. The antenna apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of filters for outputting to the means. 3. A circulator is provided on a transmission line connecting the plurality of distributors / combiners and the corresponding plurality of frequency converters, and the plurality of circulators connected to each distributor / combiner include: The antenna device according to claim 1, wherein transmission signals having different frequencies are input. 4. A circulator is further provided in a transmission line connecting the plurality of frequency converters and the plurality of filters corresponding thereto, and a plurality of circulators connected to each distributor / combiner have different frequencies. 3. The antenna device according to claim 2, wherein a transmission signal of the following is input. 5. The antenna apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a plurality of transmission signal phase control means for controlling a phase of the transmission signal. 6. A plurality of A / D converters for converting the transmission signal into a digital signal.
2. The digital camera according to claim 1, further comprising: a converter; and digital beam forming means for performing beam shaping by controlling the phase of the transmission signal converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter by digital processing. Antenna equipment. 7. The plurality of transmission signal phase control means includes: a plurality of A / D converters for converting the transmission signal into a digital signal; and a transmission signal converted to a digital signal by the A / D converter. 5. The antenna apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising digital beam forming means for performing beam shaping by controlling the phase by digital processing.