KR102238497B1 - Beam reconfigurable antenna apparatus for wide coverage - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a beam reconstruction antenna apparatus having a wide coverage, which includes: a patch antenna which receives power feeding and radiates a first beam; a monopole antenna which receives power feeding and radiates a second beam; and a power feeding device which controls power feeding so that a mode having a phase difference of 0 degrees and a mode having a phase difference of 180 degrees between the patch antenna and a signal transmitted to the monopole antenna are repeatedly operated. The patch antenna is disposed parallel to a substrate, and the monopole antenna is disposed in a direction perpendicular to the center of the patch antenna.

Description

Beam reconstruction antenna device with wide coverage {BEAM RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA APPARATUS FOR WIDE COVERAGE}

The technique to be described below relates to a beam reconstruction antenna device.

Along with the development of the wireless communication environment, new antenna devices are being researched and developed in various fields. For example, a special purpose antenna device is required in various applications such as autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and IoT devices.

US published patent US 2017-0244159

For example, the UAV must communicate with objects located in the air or on the ground while moving in the air. That is, it is preferable that the UAV has a wide range of coverage with one antenna device, if possible. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional patch antenna provides a narrow coverage (elevation angle) to a UAV. Therefore, the conventional array antenna is not suitable for objects requiring communication in various directions in a three-dimensional space, such as a UAV or a vehicle.

The technique described below is intended to provide a beam reconstruction antenna device having a wide coverage.

A beam reconstruction antenna device having a wide coverage includes a patch antenna that emits a first beam by receiving power, a monopole antenna that emits a second beam by receiving power, and a phase difference between the patch antenna and the signal transmitted to the monopole antenna is 0 degrees. And a feeding device that controls the feeding so that the mode and the 180° mode are repeatedly operated. The patch antenna is disposed parallel to the substrate, and the monopole antenna is disposed in a direction perpendicular to the center of the patch antenna.

The technology to be described below provides an antenna having a wide coverage while being able to be packaged in a small size due to its simple structure. The technology described below provides an antenna suitable for the market environment of various systems including U2X systems.

1 is an example of coverage for a UAV to which a patch antenna is applied.
2 is an example of a beam reconstruction antenna device.
3 is an example of a beam formed by a beam reconstruction antenna device.
4 is an example of a feed port in a beam reconstruction antenna device.
5 is an example of the structure of a power feeding device.
6 is an example of a radiation pattern of a beam reconstruction antenna device.
7 is a result of experimenting the performance of the beam reconstruction antenna.

The technology to be described below may be modified in various ways and may have various embodiments, and specific embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail. However, this is not intended to limit the technology described below to a specific embodiment, it should be understood to include all changes, equivalents, or substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the technology described below.

Terms such as 1st, 2nd, A, B, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited by the above terms, and only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from other components. Is only used. For example, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, a second component may be referred to as a first component without departing from the scope of the rights of the technology described below. The term and/or includes a combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

In terms of the terms used in this specification, expressions in the singular should be understood as including plural expressions unless clearly interpreted differently in context, and terms such as "includes" are described features, numbers, steps, actions, and components. It is to be understood that the presence or addition of one or more other features or numbers, step-acting components, parts or combinations thereof is not meant to imply the presence of, parts, or combinations thereof.

Prior to the detailed description of the drawings, it is intended to clarify that the division of the constituent parts in the present specification is merely divided by the main function that each constituent part is responsible for. That is, two or more constituent parts to be described below may be combined into one constituent part, or one constituent part may be divided into two or more for each more subdivided function. In addition, each of the constituent units to be described below may additionally perform some or all of the functions of other constituent units in addition to its own main function, and some of the main functions of each constituent unit are different. It goes without saying that it can also be performed exclusively by.

In addition, in performing the method or operation method, each of the processes constituting the method may occur differently from the specified order unless a specific order is clearly stated in the context. That is, each of the processes may occur in the same order as the specified order, may be performed substantially simultaneously, or may be performed in the reverse order.

Recently, the World Radio Conference (WRC) under the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) allocated 5030 to 5150 MHz bands exclusively for ground control of unmanned aerial vehicles worldwide. For the purpose of controlling unmanned aerial vehicles on the ground, the 5030~5150MHz band was allocated to create an environment that enables communication up to several kilometers. The antenna described below is also capable of 5000MHz band service.

The technique described below relates to a beam reconstruction antenna. The technique described below relates to an antenna supporting a wide range coverage.

A single antenna element does not have various radiation patterns. A developer can use an array antenna when developing an antenna having a specific directivity (radiation pattern). The array antenna includes an array using two or more antenna elements simultaneously. The antenna described below basically corresponds to an array antenna using two antenna elements.

2 is an example of the beam reconstruction antenna device 100. The antenna device 100 includes a patch antenna 110, a monopole antenna 120 and a power feeding device 130.

The power supply device 130 may have a Coplanar Waveguide with Lower Ground Plane (CPW-G) structure. The CPW (Coplanar Waveguide) feeding method generates less dispersion than the microstrip feeding method, has broadband propagation characteristics, and reduces feed loss because the feed structure is implemented on the same plane as the ground plane. 2 shows a dielectric substrate separately. However, in the CPW-G structure, a waveguide is formed on a substrate and a ground plane is formed on the bottom surface. Therefore, there may not be a separate additional substrate.

The patch antenna 110 is disposed parallel to the substrate or the power supply surface. 2 shows a patch antenna 110 in a circular shape. The patch antenna 110 may have other shapes.

The monopole antenna 120 is disposed on the patch antenna 110. The monopole antenna 120 may have a meander shape to reduce the height of the antenna as much as possible. 2 shows a meander monopole antenna.

The monopole antenna 120 may be disposed at the center of the patch antenna 110. The monopole antenna 120 may be disposed so that the center of the bottom surface of the monopole antenna and the center of the patch antenna 110 coincide. The monopole antenna 120 may be disposed in a vertical direction to the patch antenna 110.

To this end, the monopole antenna 120 may be disposed by configuring a clearance and a via in the center of the patch antenna 110.

3 is an example of a beam formed by a beam reconstruction antenna device. In FIG. 3, a clearance and a feeding path for disposing the monopole antenna 120 can be confirmed. 3A shows beam patterns of the patch antenna 110 and the monopole antenna 120. 2(B) shows an example in which the beam pattern of the patch antenna 110 and the beam pattern of the monopole antenna 120 are combined.

4 is an example of a feed port in a beam reconstruction antenna device. The monopole antenna 120 is connected to one feed port P1. The monopole antenna 120 may have a surface length of 0.25λ relative to a plane. The patch antenna 110 is connected to two feed ports P2 and P3. The patch antenna 110 may have a surface length of 0.5λ relative to the plane. The positions of the feed ports P2 and P3 may be spaced apart at a constant distance d from the center of the patch antenna. The feed ports P2 and P3 may be disposed spaced apart from each other at an angle of 90°.

The power feeding device 130 may be controlled to operate in a mode in which the phase difference between the signal transmitted to the patch antenna 110 and the monopole antenna 120 is 0° or 180°. 5 is an example of the structure of the power feeding device 200. The power supply device 200 includes a coupler 210, a phase converter 220 and a switch 230. In FIG. 5, the power supply source and the signal supply source are omitted.

_{Two signals RF IN} from a power source or a signal source #1 and RF _IN Either of #2 is entered. Coupler 210 is RF _IN #1 and RF _IN #2 is received through two different input terminals (paths). The coupler 210 may be a 90° hybrid coupler that converts and transmits a 90° phase with respect to an input signal.

Coupler 210 is RF _IN #1 or RF _IN The #2 is received and transmitted to the feed port P1 connected to the monopole antenna and the input of the phase converter 220. _{RF OUT} the output delivered to the feed port P1 Express it as #1. _{RF OUT} the output delivered to the phase converter 220 Express #2. 90° hybrid coupler (210) is RF _{IN Receive} #1 and output a signal without phase conversion to RF OUT #1, and a 90° phase-changed signal to RF _OUT Print as #2. In addition, the 90° hybrid coupler 210 is RF _IN Receive #2 and RF _{OUT a signal without phase change} Output to #2, and the signal whose 90° phase has been changed is output to RF _OUT #2.

The phase converter 220 is a component that changes the phase of an input signal and outputs it. The structure of the phase converter 220 may be various. The phase converter 220 outputs the phase by changing the phase of the input signal by 90°.

The switch 230 receives an output signal from the phase converter 220. The switch 230 may be a single pole double throw (SPDT) switch. The switch 230 transmits the input signal to the first feed port P2 connected to the patch antenna or the second feed port P3 connected to the patch antenna.

Two input signals RF _IN #1 and RF _IN For #2, the possible modes in consideration of the operation of the RF switch are shown in Table 1 below.

RF switch Phase change (unit: °) mode RF IN SPDT P1 P2 P3 △θ Mode1 #One P1 0 180 × ±180 Mode2 #One P2 0 × 180 ±180 Mode3 #2 P1 90 90 × ±0 Mode4 #2 P2 90 × 90 ±0

The power feeding device 200 having the structure as shown in FIG. 5 provides four modes (Mode1 to Mode4) for the antenna of FIG. 2.

Mode 1 and Mode 2 are RF _IN This is the case where #1 is entered. (i) In Mode 1, the monopole antenna A1 receives an input signal and a signal with no phase change (phase difference is 0°) through the feed port P1 and emits a beam. The patch antenna A2 emits a beam by receiving a signal having a phase difference of 180° from the input signal through the feed port P2. At this time, the two antennas receive signals having a phase difference of 180° from each other. (ii) In Mode 2, the monopole antenna A1 receives an input signal and a signal with no phase change (phase difference is 0°) through the feed port P1 and emits a beam. Patch antenna A2 emits a beam by receiving a signal having a phase difference of 180° from the input signal through the feed port P3. At this time, the two antennas receive signals having a phase difference of 180° from each other.

_{RF IN for} Mode 3 and Mode 4 This is the case where #2 is entered. (iii) In Mode 3, the monopole antenna A1 emits a beam by receiving a signal with a phase difference of 90° from the input signal through the feed port P1. Patch antenna A2 emits a beam by receiving an input signal and a signal having a phase difference of 90° through the feed port P2. At this time, the two antennas receive signals having a phase difference of 0° from each other. (iv) In Mode 4, the monopole antenna A1 emits a beam by receiving a signal with a phase difference of 90° from the input signal through the feed port P1. Patch antenna A2 emits a beam by receiving an input signal and a signal having a phase difference of 90° through the feed port P3. At this time, the two antennas receive signals having a phase difference of 0° from each other.

The power feeding device 200 controls the feeding so that the phase difference between the signal transmitted to the patch antenna and the monopole antenna is 0° (Mode3, Mode4) and 180° (Mode1, Mode2) repeatedly operated. The power supply device 200 may control the mode to be constantly repeated according to a predetermined specific order. The order in which the modes are switched may be a predetermined order or an arbitrary order.

6 is an example of a radiation pattern of a beam reconstruction antenna device. It is a simulation result of the radiation pattern of the beam reconstruction antenna device of FIG. 2. 6(A) is a radiation pattern in Mode 1. 6(B) is a radiation pattern in Mode 2. 6(C) is a radiation pattern in Mode 3. 6(D) is a radiation pattern in Mode 4. 6(E) is a radiation pattern in which beams of all modes are synthesized.

7 is a result of experimenting the performance of the beam reconstruction antenna. The antenna for the experiment considered the size of 0.5λ × 0.5λ × 0.20λ (1λ × 1λ × 0.01λ feeding circuit). The center frequency was considered 5.09GHz. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the reconstructed antenna device can provide a wide operation coverage of 170° or more using the synthesized beam pattern. Therefore, the antenna provided an operation coverage wide enough to cover the hemisphere region, and it was confirmed that the antenna has a high gain of 6.8dBi (Sim) or more.

In addition, the method for controlling the feed mode in the beam reconstruction antenna device as described above may be implemented as a program (or application) including an executable algorithm that can be executed in a computer. The program may be provided by being stored in a temporary or non-transitory computer readable medium.

The non-transitory readable medium refers to a medium that stores data semi-permanently and can be read by a device, not a medium that stores data for a short moment, such as a register, cache, and memory. Specifically, the above-described various applications or programs include CD, DVD, hard disk, Blu-ray disk, USB, memory card, read-only memory (ROM), programmable read only memory (PROM), and erasable PROM (EPROM). Alternatively, it may be provided by being stored in a non-transitory readable medium such as an EEPROM (Electrically EPROM) or a flash memory.

Temporary readable media are static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), and enhanced SDRAM (Enhanced SDRAM). SDRAM, ESDRAM), Synchronous DRAM (Synclink DRAM, SLDRAM) and Direct Rambus RAM (Direct Rambus RAM, DRRAM) refers to a variety of RAM.

The present embodiment and the accompanying drawings are merely illustrative of some of the technical ideas included in the above-described technology, and those skilled in the art can easily be used within the scope of the technical idea included in the specification and drawings of the above-described technology. It will be apparent that all of the modified examples and specific embodiments that can be inferred are included in the scope of the rights of the above-described technology.

Claims (11)

A patch antenna that receives power and emits a first beam;
A monopole antenna that receives power and emits a second beam; And
A power feeding device for controlling power feeding so that a mode having a phase difference of 0 degrees and a mode having a phase difference of 180 degrees between the patch antenna and the signal transmitted to the monopole antenna repeatedly operates,
The patch antenna is disposed parallel to the substrate, the monopole antenna is disposed in a direction perpendicular to the center of the patch antenna,
The power supply device
A first input terminal connected to a first signal supply source;
A second input terminal connected to a second signal supply source;
A hybrid coupler configured to receive a signal from the first input terminal or a signal from the second input terminal to have a phase difference between the first output terminal and the second output terminal connected to the feed port of the patch antenna by 90 degrees;
A phase converter configured to convert a phase by 90 degrees by receiving a signal from the second output terminal; And
A beam reconstruction antenna apparatus having a wide coverage, including a switch receiving the output of the phase converter and controlling to transmit a signal to a first feed port of the monopole antenna or a second feed port of the monopole antenna. The method of claim 1,
The monopole antenna is a beam reconstruction antenna device having a wide coverage, which is a meander type antenna. The method of claim 1,
The patch antennas are connected to two feed ports, and the two feed ports are separated from the center of the patch antenna in a direction of 90 degrees. The method of claim 1,
The monopole antenna is connected to a first feed port, the patch antenna is connected to a second feed port and a third feed port, and the second feed port and the third feed port are 90 degrees from the center of the patch antenna. Spaced apart,
The power supply device
(1) a first mode for simultaneously supplying a 0 degree phase signal to the first power supply port and a 180 degree phase signal to the second power supply port,
(2) a second mode for simultaneously supplying a 0 degree phase signal to the first feed port and a 180 degree phase signal to the third feed port,
(3) a third mode in which a 90-degree phase signal is simultaneously supplied to the first feeding port and a 90-degree phase signal to the second feeding port, or
(4) A beam reconstruction antenna device having a wide-angle coverage controlling operation in a fourth mode in which a 90 degree phase signal is simultaneously supplied to the first feed port and a 90 degree phase signal to the third feed port. The method of claim 4,
Different types of beams are emitted in the first mode, the second mode, the third mode, and the fourth mode,
The power supply device controls the first mode, the second mode, the third mode, and the fourth mode to repeatedly operate in a specific order on a time axis to provide a beam in which the different types of beams are synthesized. Beam reconstruction antenna device having a. delete The method of claim 1,
The feeding device is a beam reconstruction antenna device having a wide coverage structure of a CPW-G (Coplanar Waveguide with Lower Ground Plane) structure. The feeding device controls feeding to the first feeding port connected to the monopole antenna, the second feeding port connected to the patch antenna, and the third feeding port connected to the patch antenna,
The power feeding device includes (1) a first mode for simultaneously supplying a 0 degree phase signal to the first feeding port and a 180 degree phase signal to the second feeding port, (2) a 0 degree phase signal to the first feeding port And a second mode for simultaneously supplying a signal having a phase of 180 degrees to the third feeding port, (3) a second mode for simultaneously supplying a signal having a phase of 90 degrees to the first feeding port and a signal having a phase of 90 degrees to the second feeding port. Control to operate in a 3 mode or (4) a fourth mode of simultaneously supplying a 90 degree phase signal to the first feeding port and a 90 degree phase signal to the third feeding port,
The patch antenna is disposed parallel to the substrate, and the monopole antenna is disposed in a direction perpendicular to the center of the patch antenna. The method of claim 8,
Different types of beams are emitted in the first mode, the second mode, the third mode, and the fourth mode,
The power supply device controls the first mode, the second mode, the third mode, and the fourth mode to operate repeatedly in a specific order on a time axis to provide a beam in which the different types of beams are synthesized. A method of controlling the feeding mode in an antenna device. The method of claim 8,
The power supply device
A first input terminal connected to a first signal supply source;
A second input terminal connected to a second signal supply source;
A hybrid coupler configured to receive a signal from the first input terminal and a signal from the second input terminal to have a phase difference between the first output terminal and the second output terminal connected to the feed port of the patch antenna by 90 degrees;
A phase converter configured to convert a phase by 90 degrees by receiving a signal from the second output terminal; And
And a switch for receiving the output of the phase converter and controlling the signal to be transmitted to the first feed port of the monopole antenna or the second feed port of the monopole antenna. A patch antenna that receives power and emits a first beam;
A monopole antenna that receives power and emits a second beam; And
A power feeding device for controlling power feeding so that a mode having a phase difference of 0 degrees and a mode having a phase difference of 180 degrees between the patch antenna and the signal transmitted to the monopole antenna repeatedly operates,
The patch antenna is disposed parallel to the substrate, the monopole antenna is disposed in a direction perpendicular to the center of the patch antenna,
The feeding device is a beam reconstruction antenna device having a wide coverage structure of a CPW-G (Coplanar Waveguide with Lower Ground Plane) structure.

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