KR20170056230A - A microstrip antenna and an apparatus for transmitting and receiving radar signal with the antenna - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a microstrip antenna and a radar signal transmitting and receiving apparatus having the same. The present invention suggests a microstrip antenna where a dielectric including a ground plane and a microstrip line having a length in a half pipe are electrically connected to each other in a zigzag shape, and a radar signal transmitting and receiving apparatus having the same. An antenna according to the present invention includes a main body part constituting the body of an antenna; and a strip line part formed on one surface of the main body part and including conductors arranged to be oriented in different directions and connected to each other.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a microstrip antenna and a radar signal transmitting /

The present invention relates to a microstrip antenna. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for transmitting and receiving a radar signal for a vehicle having a microstrip antenna.

Microstrip antennas are suitable for mass production because they are made of printed boards, and they are sturdy because they are low in height and flat. Therefore, microstrip antennas are widely used as array antenna elements requiring a large amount of small antennas.

"A 79 GHz Differentially Fed Grid Array Antenna; Frei, M. / Bauer, F. / Menzel, W. / Stelzer, A. / Maurer, L .; EUROPEAN MICROWAVE CONFERENCE; 1320-1323; 41st European Microwave Conference Manchester, United Kingdom, 10 ~ 13 October 2011 "proposes a grid array antenna consisting of 10 rectangular microstrip line loop elements with a microstrip antenna. The antenna is connected to a line having a half wavelength (in-tube wavelength) based on the center frequency for the same phase, and the middle loop is connected to a differential microstrip line.

However, since the y-axis directions of the currents flowing to the grid cancel each other and the polarizations are formed in the x-axis direction, which is the grid arrangement direction, the antennas can not constitute polarizations orthogonal to the arrangement. In addition, since the antenna is fed from the center of the array antenna, if a single plane RF chip including the antenna is installed, RF chip interference may occur when the antenna is arranged between the grid antennas.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been conceived to solve the problems described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a microstrip line having a dielectric surface including a ground plane and a microstrip line having a length in a half pipe electrically connected to each other in a zig- And an antenna and a radar signal transmitting and receiving apparatus having the same.

However, the objects of the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other objects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

The present invention relates to an antenna comprising: a main body constituting a body of an antenna; And a strip line portion formed on one surface of the main body portion and including conductors arranged to be oriented in different directions and including mutually connected conductors.

Preferably, the strip line portion includes: at least one first unit element including a first conductor and a second conductor forming a predetermined first angle; And a third conductor connected to one of the first conductor and the second conductor, and at least one second unit element forming a predetermined second angle with the one of the conductors.

Preferably, the first conductor or the second conductor is different in width from the third conductor.

Preferably, the strip line portion includes at least two first unit elements, and the first unit element positioned at the center of the strip line portion as any one of the at least two first unit elements includes the at least two first unit elements, One of the unit elements is wider than the first unit element positioned at one end of the strip line portion.

Preferably, the strip line portion further includes at least one first unit element between a first unit element located at the center of the strip line portion and a first unit element located at one end of the strip line portion, The width of the first unit element located at the center of the strip portion is the widest and the width of the first unit element located at one end of the strip line portion is the narrowest.

Preferably, the strip line portion further includes at least two first unit elements between a first unit element located at the center of the strip line portion and a first unit element located at one end of the strip line portion, The width of the first unit element positioned closer to the first unit element located at the center of the strip line portion is relatively larger than the width of the first unit element positioned closer to the center of the strip line portion.

Preferably, the conductors are interconnected in a zigzag fashion.

Preferably, the conductors are interconnected in a zigzag fashion in the transverse direction with respect to the body portion.

Preferably, the microstrip antenna has a polarization that is orthogonal to an arrangement direction of the conductors.

Preferably, the conductor located at one end of the strip line portion is connected to a power feed, and the conductor located at the other end of the strip line portion is opened.

Preferably, the microstrip antenna has a ground (GND) function. The microstrip antenna further includes a grounding part attached to the other surface of the main body part or formed integrally with the main body part, which is separate from the main body part.

Preferably, the microstrip antenna is mounted on a vehicle and used when transmitting and receiving a radar signal.

Preferably, the body portion is formed of a dielectric substrate having a dielectric constant of not less than 2.5 and not more than 7.0.

Preferably, two adjacent conductors in the strip line portion form an obtuse angle.

Preferably, the widths of the conductors continuously increase from one end to the other end, and then decrease continuously.

Preferably, the microstrip antenna further includes an impedance matching portion for controlling an impedance of at least one end of the strip line portion by the strip line portion.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a radar system including: a radar signal generator for generating a radar signal; A main body that forms the body of the antenna and that is formed on one surface of the main body and is arranged to be oriented in different directions and connected to each other And a micro strip antenna including a strip line portion including conductors.

Preferably, the radar signal transmitting / receiving device is mounted on a vehicle.

The present invention can achieve the following effects through the above-described configurations.

First, a microstrip line array antenna having polarizations orthogonal to the array direction can be constructed.

Second, since the one end of the array antenna is fed and the other end is opened, interference of the RF chip can be prevented.

1 is a conceptual view of a microstrip line array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a first reference view for explaining the operation principle of a microstrip line array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a second reference view for explaining the operation principle of a microstrip line array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a first reference diagram for explaining performance verification of the present invention through simulation.
5 is a second reference diagram for explaining the performance verification of the present invention through simulation.
6 is a conceptual diagram of a microstrip line array antenna according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar components throughout the drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. In addition, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but it is needless to say that the technical idea of the present invention is not limited thereto and can be variously modified by those skilled in the art.

Microstrip antennas are used in high-performance aircraft, spacecraft, satellite, missile, and mobile communication fields, which require consideration of size, weight, price, performance, ease of installation, and air resistance.

Microstrip antennas are thin and easy to attach to planar and non-planar surfaces. In addition, microstrip antennas can be easily manufactured using printed circuit technology, which is cheap and suitable for monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) designs.

The microstrip antenna can change resonance frequency, polarization, pattern and impedance by selecting patch shape and mode. In other words, the microstrip antenna can arbitrarily vary the resonance frequency, impedance, polarization, and pattern by adding an active element such as a pin or a varactor diode between the patch and the ground plate as a load.

The present invention proposes a microstrip line array antenna having a polarization characteristic orthogonal to the array direction, which can be fed to the end for direct planarization with an RF chip.

1 is a conceptual view of a microstrip line array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a microstrip line array antenna 100 includes a main body 110 and a strip line portion 120.

The strip line portion 120 is formed on one surface of the body portion 110 and includes conductors 121 connected to each other. The conductors 121 constitute the strip line portion 120 so as to be oriented in different directions.

The conductors 121 may be interconnected in a zigzag fashion. In particular, the conductors 121 may be connected to each other in a zigzag fashion in the left-right direction with respect to the main body 110. The microstrip line array antenna 100 may have a polarized wave orthogonal to the array direction of the conductors 121 thus connected. A more detailed description thereof will be described later with reference to Fig.

A conductor 123 externally provided at one end of the strip line unit 120 is connected to a power feed and a conductor 124 located at the other end of the strip line unit 120 is opened, do.

The strip line section 120 may include at least one first unit element 122 and at least one second unit element 125. [

The first unit element 122 includes a first conductor and a second conductor forming a predetermined first angle.

The second unit element 125 includes a third conductor connected to one of the first conductor and the second conductor. Wherein the third conductor forms a predetermined second angle with the connected conductor (i.e., the first conductor and one of the conductors connected to the third one of the second conductors).

The first conductor or the second conductor is formed to have a width different from that of the third conductor. When comparing the first conductor and the second conductor constituting one unit element (i.e., the first unit element 122), the length and the width are both the same. On the other hand, when comparing the first conductor and the third conductor constituting the different unit elements (i.e., the first unit element 122 and the second unit element 125), the lengths are the same but the widths are not the same do. The same is true for the second conductor and the third conductor. That is, in the case of the second conductor and the third conductor, the lengths are the same but the widths are not the same.

The strip line portion 120 includes at least two first unit elements. In this case, the first unit device 122 located at the center of the strip line unit 120 as one of the at least two first unit devices is connected to the strip line unit 120 as another one of the at least two first unit devices, The width of the first unit element 123 or 124 is larger than that of the first unit element 123 or 124 located at one end of the first unit element 123 or 124.

In the strip line portion 120, the first unit element is located at the center 122 of the strip line portion, both ends (123 or 124) of the strip line portion, and the like. The first unit element 122 located at the center of the strip line unit 120 is formed wider than the first unit elements 123 and 124 located at both ends of the strip line unit 120, The first unit elements 123 and 124 located at both ends of the first unit element 120 are formed to have the same width. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. It is also possible that the first unit elements 123 and 124 located at both ends of the strip line unit 120 have the same width. In this case, however, the first unit devices 123 and 124 located at both ends of the strip line unit 120 are formed to be narrower than the first unit devices 122 positioned at the center of the strip line unit 120 .

The strip line unit 120 includes at least one first unit element 122 located at the center of the strip line unit 120 and at least one unit element 122 located at one end of the strip line unit 120 Of the first unit element.

The first unit device 122 located at the center of the strip line unit 120 is defined as a first A unit device and the first unit device 123 or 124 located at one end of the strip line unit 120 A first unit element is defined as a first B unit element, and a first unit element positioned between the first A unit element and the first B unit element is defined as a first C unit element.

When the first C unit element is one, the width of the first A unit element is the widest, and the width of the first B unit element is the narrowest. The first C-unit element has a medium width. That is, the first C unit element is narrower in width than the first A unit element and wider than the first B unit element.

Next, when there are two first C-unit elements, a first C-unit element positioned relatively close to the first A-unit element is defined as a first C-1 unit element, and a first C-unit element (I.e., a first C unit element positioned relatively close to the first B unit element) is defined as a first Cb unit element. In this case, width comparison results of the first 1A unit element, the first Ca unit element, the first Cb unit element and the first B unit element are as follows.

First 1A unit element> First Ca unit element> First Cb unit element> First B unit element

On the other hand, when there are three or more first C-unit elements, the first C-1 unit element, the first Cb-unit element, , It is defined as a first Cn unit element. In this case, the first 1A unit element, the first Ca unit element, the first Cb unit element, ... , The width comparison results of the first Cn unit element and the first B unit element are as follows.

The first 1A unit element> The first Ca unit element> The first Cb unit element> > 1stCn unit element> 1stB unit element

As described above, when the number of the first C-unit elements is two or more, the first C-unit element located closer to the first A-unit element has a relatively wider width.

The main body 110 constitutes the body of the antenna 100 and may be realized as a dielectric substrate.

The microstrip line array antenna 100 may further include a ground portion (not shown).

The grounding part functions as a ground (GND) function. The grounding portion may be attached to the other surface of the main body 110, which is separate from the main body 110. Here, the other surface of the main body 110 means a surface different from one surface of the main body 110 where the strip line portion 120 is formed. In addition, the grounding part may be integrated with the main body 110, such as being embedded in the main body 110 or being adhered to one surface of the main body 110.

The microstrip line array antenna 100 described above can be used when transmitting and receiving a radar signal mounted on a vehicle. For example, the microstrip line array antenna 100 may be mounted on a 77 GHz Long Range forward radar system.

The characteristics of the microstrip line array antenna 100 described with reference to FIG. 1 will be summarized as follows.

First, in the microstrip line array antenna 100, a dielectric substrate 110 including a ground plane and a microstrip line 120 having a wavelength in a half pipe are electrically connected to each other and are connected in a zigzag pattern .

Second, a power supply is located at one end of the microstrip line 120 constituting the microstrip line array antenna 100, and the opposite end is opened.

Third, the center of the microstrip line 120 constituting the microstrip line array antenna 100 is characterized by having a greater width than the longitudinal end. The above-described characteristic of the microstrip line array antenna 100 is easy to secure the side lobe level.

Fourth, the zigzag current flows of the microstrip line 120 constituting the microstrip line array antenna 100 are characterized by having polarizations orthogonal to the direction in which they are arranged through canceling and constructive interference. That is, the microstrip line array antenna 100 is an array antenna having polarization components orthogonal to the array direction through canceling of current due to zigzag arrangement and constructive interference.

2 is a first reference view for explaining the operation principle of a microstrip line array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention. And FIG. 3 is a second reference view for explaining the operation principle of the microstrip line array antenna according to the embodiment of the present invention. The following description refers to Fig. 2 and Fig.

The left side view in Fig. 2 shows the antenna structure concept. Reference numeral 210 denotes a first unit element having an in-tube wavelength (in-tube wavelength), and reference numeral 220 denotes a second unit element having a in-tube wavelength (in-tube wavelength).

Each microstrip line has a half-wave tube wavelength, and the actual radiation is generated at the bent portion by the microstrip lines. At this time, the current components of the bent portions are canceled by the vector components in the direction in which they are arranged, so that the actually radiated polarized waves have only a component orthogonal to the direction in which they are arranged. 2, the middle diagram and the right diagram illustrate this. In the middle, reference numeral 230 denotes currents intended for radiation, and reference numeral 240 denotes a current for a transmission purpose. In the right side of FIG. 2, reference numeral 250 denotes a radiation field by a vector sum.

Meanwhile, FIG. 3 shows an E-field vector simulated as a HFSS (High Frequency Structural Simulator) result of FIG.

As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the width of the microstrip line at the center portion is relatively thick in comparison with the microstrip line at the terminating end in order to secure the level of the side lobes. This allows the radiation to occur more at the center than at the end. Therefore, according to the present invention, it becomes possible to secure a sub-lobe level smaller than the sub-lobe level of about -13.3 dB which is the theoretical value in the case of uniform radiation.

4 is a first reference diagram for explaining performance verification of the present invention through simulation. And FIG. 5 is a second reference diagram for explaining the performance verification of the present invention through simulation.

4 shows an E-field distribution diagram. In FIG. 4, (a) shows the hue value for each field strength, and (b) shows the simulation result of the microstrip line array antenna 100.

As a result of analyzing the example of the microstrip line array antenna 100 using the EM simulation tool (HFSS), as shown in FIG. 4 (b), the cross- It can be seen that the distribution of the E-field is similar to the expected result of the operating principle, that the center part of the antenna has a large electric field intensity and the end part has a relatively weak electric field intensity.

5 is a graph showing a normalized radiation pattern in azimuth and elevation directions. In FIG. 5, the curve information (Curve info) denoted by reference numerals 310 to 360 is as follows.

310: Freq = 76.5 GHz, Phi = 0 deg

320: Freq = 76 GHz, Phi = 90 deg

330: Freq = 76 GHz, Phi = 0 deg

340: Freq = 77 GHz, Phi = 90 deg

350: Freq = 77 GHz, Phi = 0 deg

360: Freq = 76.5 GHz, Phi = 90 deg

Referring to FIG. 5, it can be seen that the high-level side lobe level including the plane in the direction in which the microstrip lines 120 are arranged is about -19 dB, which is smaller than the uniform distribution.

1 to 5, an embodiment of the present invention has been described. The present invention described above is a structure in which a polarization in a direction orthogonal to the array direction can be simply implemented using a cancellation phenomenon and a cancellation of a part of vector components of a current through a zigzag arrangement. Hereinafter, the effects of the present invention according to one embodiment will be summarized as follows.

First, the microstrip line array antenna 100 has a polarized wave orthogonal to the array direction. This is a component orthogonal to the polarization of the prior art. This provides effective performance in multifunctional implementations using radar polarization applied in the implementation example of the antenna (performance enhancement).

Second, the microstrip line array antenna 100 is a terminal feed structure, and it is possible to directly connect the RF chip to the end of the antenna. It can also be realized through PCB process on dielectric substrate (process simplification).

Third, when the microstrip line array antenna 100 is directly connected to the RF chip, it is possible to directly convert the RF signal through a simple SMT process without requiring a substrate or a connection part for a separate RF configuration, thereby reducing the number of parts.

Fourth, in the application of the microstrip line array antenna 100, it is possible to reduce the weight by reducing the number of parts through RF and direct application.

Fifth, simplification of the process, reduction in the number of parts, and weight reduction are effective as cost reduction factors of the microstrip line array antenna 100.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the microstrip line array antenna 100 may further include an impedance matching unit. This will be described below. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a microstrip line array antenna according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The impedance matching unit 300 controls the impedance by the conductors constituting the strip line unit 120 at one end of the strip line unit 120.

For example, the impedance matching unit 300 may be implemented as an impedance matching circuit such as a 1/4 impedance matching unit for impedance matching when a current flows from the A terminal to the B terminal as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, two adjacent conductors in the strip line section 120 may form an obtuse angle. As shown in FIG. 6, the conductors constituting the strip line portion 120 continuously increase in width from one end to the other end, and can be continuously decreased. This will be described below.

It is desirable to avoid an etched portion from being formed at an acute angle in order to secure the performance against manufacturing tolerances of the microstrip line array antenna 100. [ Therefore, it is preferable that the microstrip lines configured for each radiation are connected so that the lines of different widths are not connected directly but are gradually changed in thickness. Fig. 6 shows an example suitable for such a configuration.

6, when the conductors A 311, B 312 and C 313 are compared with each other, the width of the strip line portion 120 gradually increases from the conductor A 311 to the conductor B 312, , And the width of the conductor continuously decreases from the conductor B 312 to the conductor C 313.

Meanwhile, the main body 110 may be formed of a dielectric substrate having a dielectric constant of 2.5 to 7.0. This will be described below.

In the case of the microstrip line array antenna 100, if a substrate having a low dielectric constant (a substrate having a relative dielectric constant of less than about 2.5) is used, a grating lobe may occur due to an increase in the length of the in- . Therefore, in this embodiment, it is preferable to use a substrate having a relative permittivity higher than about 2.5 to suppress the grating lobe.

In an exemplary embodiment, the microstrip line array antenna 100 is implemented on a dielectric substrate having a relative dielectric constant of about three.

A radar signal transmitting and receiving apparatus according to the present invention includes a radar signal generating unit and a microstrip line array antenna (100). Such a radar signal transmitting and receiving apparatus can be mounted on a vehicle.

The radar signal generation unit generates the radar signal, and is the same concept as the RF module.

The microstrip line array antenna 100 outputs the radar signal generated by the radar signal generation unit to the outside, and receives the reflected and radar signal. A more detailed description of the features of the microstrip line array antenna 100 has been described above and will be omitted below.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and all elements constituting the embodiment of the present invention described above are described as being combined or operated in one operation. That is, within the scope of the present invention, all of the components may be selectively coupled to one or more of them. In addition, although all of the components may be implemented as one independent hardware, some or all of the components may be selectively combined to perform a part or all of the functions in one or a plurality of hardware. As shown in FIG. In addition, such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable medium such as a USB memory, a CD disk, a flash memory, etc., and read and executed by a computer to implement an embodiment of the present invention. As the recording medium of the computer program, a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, a carrier wave medium, and the like can be included.

Furthermore, all terms including technical or scientific terms have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs, unless otherwise defined in the Detailed Description. Commonly used terms, such as predefined terms, should be interpreted to be consistent with the contextual meanings of the related art, and are not to be construed as ideal or overly formal, unless expressly defined to the contrary.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, substitutions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. will be. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention and the accompanying drawings are intended to illustrate and not to limit the technical spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments and the accompanying drawings . The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (18)

A main body constituting a body of the antenna; And
A strip line portion formed on one surface of the main body portion and including conductors arranged to be oriented in different directions and connected to each other,
And a plurality of microstrip antennas. The method according to claim 1,
The strip line portion
At least one first unit element including a first conductor and a second conductor forming a predetermined first angle; And
And a third conductor connected to one of the conductors of the first conductor and the second conductor, and at least one second unit element forming a predetermined second angle with the one of the conductors,
And a plurality of microstrip antennas. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the first conductor or the second conductor has a width different from that of the third conductor. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the strip line portion includes at least two first unit elements,
Wherein the first unit element positioned at the center of the strip line portion as any one of the at least two first unit elements comprises a first unit element positioned at one end of the strip line portion as another one of the at least two first unit elements, And the width of the microstrip antenna is larger than that of the device. 5. The method of claim 4,
The strip line portion further includes at least one first unit element between a first unit element located at the center of the strip line portion and a first unit element located at one end of the strip line portion,
Wherein the width of the first unit element located at the center of the strip line portion is the widest and the width of the first unit element located at one end of the strip line portion is the narrowest. 5. The method of claim 4,
The strip line portion further includes at least two first unit elements between a first unit element positioned at the center of the strip line portion and a first unit element positioned at one end of the strip line portion,
Wherein a first unit element positioned closer to a first unit element located at the center of the strip line portion among the at least two first unit elements has a relatively wider width. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the conductors are interconnected in a zigzag fashion. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the conductors are connected to each other in a zigzag fashion in the left-right direction with respect to the main body. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the microstrip antenna has a polarized wave orthogonal to an arrangement direction of the conductors. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein a conductor located at one end of the strip line portion is connected to a power feed and a conductor located at the other end of the strip line portion is opened. The method according to claim 1,
A grounding (GND) function, which is attached to the other surface of the main body part, which is separate from the main body part, or which is integrally formed with the main body part,
Further comprising: a first antenna connected to the antenna; The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the microstrip antenna is mounted on a vehicle and used for transmitting and receiving a radar signal. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the main body portion is formed of a dielectric substrate having a dielectric constant of 2.5 or more and 7.0 or less. The method according to claim 1,
And two conductors adjacent to each other in the strip line portion form an obtuse angle. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the conductors continuously increase in width from one end to the other, and then decrease continuously. The method according to claim 1,
And an impedance matching unit for controlling an impedance of at least one end of the strip line unit by the strip line unit,
Further comprising: a first antenna connected to the antenna; A radar signal generator for generating a radar signal; And
A main body that forms a body of the antenna and that is formed on one surface of the main body and that is arranged so as to face in different directions, The microstrip antenna including a strip line portion
And a radar signal transmitter and receiver. 18. The method of claim 17,
Wherein the radar signal transmission / reception device is mounted on a vehicle.

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