KR20240053559A - A planar antenna system having rotary function with azimuth - Google Patents

Abstract

A flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to an embodiment of the present invention relates to a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function installed in a gateway for communication with a low-orbit artificial satellite.

Description

Flat antenna system with azimuth rotation function {A PLANAR ANTENNA SYSTEM HAVING ROTARY FUNCTION WITH AZIMUTH}

The present invention relates to a flat antenna system, and specifically to a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function.

This patent was carried out under the “Gyeongnam Regional Enterprise Growth Ladder Support Project” of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Gyeongsangnam-do.

Currently, global space development is transitioning from the old space, which was led by the existing government, to the new space era, which refers to the era of space development led by the private sector. In the past, space development, which was centered on military purposes between powerful countries, is being promoted by the private sector for challenge and innovation. The space industry is evolving into an area that creates economic profits by pioneering new markets.

In particular, major private companies, led by America's Space

Meanwhile, interest is recently focused on low-orbit satellite communication, which is considered essential ahead of the commercialization of 6th generation mobile communication (6G). To achieve this, it is necessary to perform the function of connecting low-orbit satellites and ground networks and at the same time control low-orbit satellites. An antenna for the gateway is needed to do this.

In the case of currently installed gateway antennas, unlike user antennas composed of planar beam steering antennas, dish-shaped parabolic antennas with a parabolic reflector are generally applied.

These parabolic antennas have problems in that the operation rate of the satellite antenna is affected by various external factors such as wind, and there are many restrictions on installation conditions because a reflector of at least 4 meters or more must be applied.

Meanwhile, the following prior art document only discloses information about a dual-band hybrid antenna for simultaneous implementation of an active phased array antenna and a passive reflector antenna, but does not disclose the technical gist of the present invention.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2439526

The planar antenna system according to an embodiment of the present invention aims to solve the following problems in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.

Installation and accessibility can be improved through the small and lightweight structure of the gateway antenna, and a flat antenna is provided that can overcome installation restrictions due to external factors such as wind.

In addition, the elevation angle is adjusted using electronic beam steering, while the azimuth angle adjustment and tilting are adjusted through separate mechanical configurations, thereby providing a flat antenna system capable of 3-axis control with a simple configuration.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below.

A flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to an embodiment of the present invention relates to a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function installed in a gateway for communication with a low-orbit artificial satellite, and includes a plurality of antenna units. a flat antenna arranged in a preset array and configured to steer the low-orbit satellite by controlling an elevation angle by shifting the phase of a signal transmitted to the plurality of antenna units; An azimuth adjustment module for adjusting the azimuth of the planar antenna; and a tilting module for adjusting the cross level of the flat antenna, wherein the tilting module is composed of an inclined cylinder.

The azimuth adjustment module includes a first base mounted on the floor; a rotating shaft fixed to the upper part of the first base; a rotation drive motor disposed on an upper portion of the first base and adjacent to the rotation shaft; A reducer coupled to the drive shaft of the rotation drive motor; A transmission gear coupled to the reducer to transmit the rotational force of the rotation drive motor; a rotating gear rotatably coupled to the rotating shaft and meshed with the transmission gear; A connection bracket coupled to the upper part of the rotating gear; a second base coupled to the upper part of the connection bracket; a fixing bracket coupled to the upper part of the second base and disposed at a position corresponding to the rotation axis; an inclined bracket rotatably coupled to the fixing bracket; and a support base coupled to the upper part of the inclined bracket and on which a flat antenna is disposed.

The inclined cylinder includes a cylinder housing, one end of which is rotatably coupled to the second base; and a cylinder rod, one side of which is disposed inside the cylinder housing. Preferably, the other end of the cylinder rod is rotatably disposed on the support base.

The planar antenna includes: a first substrate on which a first antenna patch that radiates a signal in a first frequency band is disposed; a second substrate disposed below the first substrate and having a second antenna patch radiating a signal in a second frequency band on the upper portion; a third substrate disposed below the second substrate and having a first feed network disposed on the upper portion for supplying a first frequency band signal to the first antenna patch; and a fourth substrate disposed below the third substrate, on which a ground plane is formed, and on which a second power supply network for supplying a second frequency band signal to the second antenna patch is disposed. It is preferable that the fourth substrate be formed with a first slot for aperture-coupled power feeding between the first feeding network and the first antenna patch and a second slot for aperture-coupled feeding between the second feeding network and the second antenna patch. .

The first antenna patch and at least one second antenna patch disposed at a position corresponding to the first antenna patch are defined as one antenna unit, and the area that overlaps the second antenna patch among the first antenna patches is It is desirable for an opening to be formed.

The planar antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to an embodiment of the present invention is equipped with a planar antenna that applies a planar beam steering antenna structure without applying a parabolic reflector, thereby reducing external factors such as wind and large size. /The effect of overcoming installation restrictions due to internal factors such as high weight can be expected.

In addition, it is configured to enable communication in a dual band that allows both communication for satellite control and communication for data downloading from the satellite, and the stacked format can be expected to significantly reduce the size of the gateway antenna.

Furthermore, in the case of elevation angle, it is adjusted using electronic beam steering, but in case of azimuth adjustment and tilting, it is adjusted through a separate mechanical configuration, so that not only can it effectively track low-orbit satellites, but it can also overcome the keyhole phenomenon during tracking. Effects can be expected.

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

Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 and 4 are perspective views of a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 5 is a diagram for explaining an azimuth adjustment module of a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to one embodiment and another embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view of an antenna unit of a flat antenna of a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to one embodiment and another embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A' in Figure 1.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB′ of FIG. 1.
Figure 9 is a plan view in which the configurations of the lower layer of the antenna unit of the dual-band array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention are projected.
Figure 10 is an exploded perspective view of a 4 x 8 array example of a dual-band patch array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a plan view in which the configurations of the lower layer in FIG. 10 are projected.
Figure 12 is a conceptual diagram of an antenna system using a dual-band array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings, but identical or similar components will be assigned the same reference numbers regardless of reference numerals, and duplicate descriptions thereof will be omitted.

Additionally, when describing the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known technologies may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description will be omitted. In addition, it should be noted that the attached drawings are only intended to facilitate easy understanding of the spirit of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the spirit of the present invention by the attached drawings.

Hereinafter, a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12.

The flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to the present invention relates to a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function installed in a gateway for communication with low-orbit artificial satellites, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. It is configured to include a flat antenna 10, an azimuth adjustment module, and a tilting module.

The flat antenna 10 has a plurality of antenna units arranged in a preset array, and controls the elevation angle by shifting the phase of the signal transmitted to the plurality of antenna units to steer the low-orbit satellite. It is configured, and specific details about this planar antenna 10 will be described later.

The azimuth adjustment module is a component for adjusting the azimuth of the flat antenna 10. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the azimuth adjustment module is fixed to a first base 650 that is seated on the floor and an upper part of the first base 650. a rotation shaft 651, a rotation drive motor 653 disposed on the upper part of the first base 650 and adjacent to the rotation shaft 651, and a reducer fastened to the drive shaft of the rotation drive motor 653 ( 653), a transmission gear 655 that is fastened to the reducer 653 and transmits the rotational force of the rotation drive motor 653, and a rotation gear rotatably coupled to the rotation shaft 651 and engaged with the transmission gear 655. (657), a connection bracket 659 coupled to the top of the rotating gear 657, a second base 670 coupled to the top of the connection bracket 659, and a connection to the top of the second base 670. A fixing bracket 671 disposed at a position corresponding to the rotation axis 651, an inclined bracket 673 rotatably coupled to the fixing bracket 671, and an upper part of the inclined bracket 671, the upper part It is configured to include a support base 690 on which the planar antenna 10 is disposed.

That is, a rotation shaft 651 disposed upwardly and a rotation drive motor 653 that rotates a rotation gear 657 rotatably disposed on the rotation shaft 651 are disposed on the first base 650.

At this time, the rotation drive motor 653 is equipped with a reducer 653a as shown in FIG. 5, and a transmission gear 655 meshed with the rotation gear 657 is arranged on the output shaft of the reducer 653a. Therefore, when the rotation drive motor 653 is driven, the rotational force of the rotation drive motor 653 is transmitted to the transmission gear 655 and the rotation gear 657.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a connection bracket 659 coupled to the second base 670 is attached to the upper part of the rotary gear 657, so that when the rotary gear 657 rotates, the second base 670 ) rotates around the rotation axis 651.

In addition, a fixing bracket 671 is disposed on the upper part of the second base 670 at a position corresponding to the rotation axis 651, and the fixing bracket 671 includes an inclined bracket 673 rotatable about the inclined axis 673a. is disposed, and the support base 690 to which the planar antenna 10 is coupled is coupled to the inclined bracket 673.

The tilting module is configured to overcome the keyhole phenomenon by performing the function of adjusting the cross level of the flat antenna 10. The second base 670 and the support base 690 of the above-described azimuth adjustment module A tilting module for tilting the second base 670 is disposed between them.

This tilting module can be considered as an embodiment consisting of an inclined cylinder 675 as shown in FIG. 1, and when the inclined cylinder 675 is driven, the support base 690 is tilted to the inclined axis as shown in FIG. 2. It is tilted around (673a).

This inclined cylinder 675 is composed of a cylinder housing 675a, one end of which is rotatably coupled to the second base 670, and a cylinder rod 675b, one end of which is disposed inside the cylinder housing 675a. The other end of the rod 675b is rotatably coupled to the support base 690.

Additionally, another embodiment of the tilting module using an inclined drive motor can be considered as shown in FIG. 3. Specifically, the tilting module is fixed to the inclined bracket 673 and rotatably disposed on the fixed bracket 671. It is coupled to the tilt axis 673a, which rotates the tilt bracket 673 when rotating, the tilt drive motor 676 disposed on the upper part of the second base 670, and the rotation axis of the tilt drive motor 676, and the tilt shaft ( It may be composed of a reducer 676a coupled to the inclined shaft 673a to transmit rotational force to 673a). In this case, when driving the inclined drive motor 676, the flat antenna 10 as shown in FIG. 4 Tilting becomes possible.

Hereinafter, the planar antenna 10, which is a component of the planar antenna system with an azimuth rotation function according to the present invention, will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 6 to 12.

The flat antenna 10, which is a component of the present invention, relates to a dual-band patch array antenna installed in a gateway for communication with low-orbit artificial satellites. This flat antenna 10 has a plurality of antenna units as described above. They are arranged in a preset arrangement.

This antenna unit is configured to form a stack of a first substrate 100, a second substrate 200, a third substrate 300, and a fourth substrate 400, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8.

The first substrate 100 disposed at the top is configured to have a first antenna patch 110 that radiates a signal in a first frequency band on the top, where the first frequency band is the S-band frequency band of 2 to 4 GHz. It can be.

Additionally, the first antenna patch 110 may be formed in a trimmed square shape that is advantageous for transmitting and receiving circular polarized waves.

The second substrate 200 is disposed below the first substrate 100, and a second antenna patch 210 that radiates a signal in the second frequency band is disposed on the upper portion, where the second frequency band is 8. It may be an X-band frequency band of ~12 GHz.

Like the first antenna patch 110, the second antenna patch 210 may be formed in a trimmed square shape that is advantageous for transmitting and receiving circular polarized waves.

Meanwhile, the second antenna patch 210 is formed with a smaller area than the first antenna patch 110, and a plurality of second antenna patches 210 may be formed in an area corresponding to one first antenna patch 110.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 9, four second antenna patches 210 may be arranged in a 2 x 2 array at a position corresponding to the first antenna patch 110, where one first The antenna patch 110 and the corresponding four second antenna patches 210 may be defined as one antenna unit 10.

Meanwhile, an opening 111 is formed in the first antenna patch 110 to minimize overlap with the signal of the second antenna patch 210.

In particular, when the second antenna patch 210 is arranged in a 2 x 2 array as shown in FIGS. 6 and 9, the second antenna patch 210 arranged in a 2 x 2 array among the first antenna patches 110 A total of four openings 111 in a 2 x 2 arrangement are formed at positions corresponding to .

In addition, when the second antenna patch 210 is formed in a trimmed square shape, the opening 111 of the first antenna patch 110 can also correspond to the shape of the second antenna patch 210. It is preferably formed in a trimmed square shape.

The third substrate 300 is disposed below the second substrate 200, and a first feed network 310 for supplying a first frequency band signal to the first antenna patch 110 is disposed on the upper portion.

The fourth substrate 400 is disposed below the third substrate 300, and a second feed network 420 for supplying a second frequency band signal to the second antenna patch 210 is disposed below.

In particular, the dual-band patch array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured to feed power to the antenna patch using an aperture coupled feed method to ensure a wide bandwidth and simple structure.

For this purpose, a ground plane 410 is formed on the upper part of the fourth substrate 400, and further, a ground plane 410 is formed on the fourth substrate 400 for aperture-coupled power feeding between the first feed network 310 and the first antenna patch 110. A second slot 440 is formed for aperture-coupled power feeding between the first slot 430, the second feeding network 320, and the second antenna patch 210.

At this time, the first slot 430 is formed in an area corresponding to the first antenna patch 110 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and the second slot 440 is formed as shown in FIGS. 7 and 9. It is preferably formed in an area corresponding to the second antenna patch 120.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the first feed network 310 is formed to pass through the area corresponding to the first slot 430, but not the area corresponding to the second slot 440, thereby forming two Frequency interference between bands can be minimized.

Similarly, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, the second feed network 420 is formed to pass through the area corresponding to the second slot 440 but not the area corresponding to the first slot 430, thereby forming two Frequency interference between bands can be minimized.

Meanwhile, as described above, one first antenna patch 110 and at least one second antenna patch 210 disposed at a position corresponding to the first antenna patch 110 may be defined as one antenna unit 10. In this case, a plurality of antenna units 10 can be arranged to form a single planar dual-band patch array antenna system.

For example, when the antenna unit 10 is composed of one first antenna patch 110 and four second antenna patches 210, the antenna unit 10 as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 A planar dual-band patch array antenna system can be configured by arranging in a 4 x 8 array, and can be configured to enable beam steering by appropriately shifting the phase of the feed signal transmitted to each antenna unit 10. You can.

To this end, as shown in FIG. 12, the second power supply network 420 branches off one or more times from the supply line 421 and supplies power from the outside to the plurality of antenna units 10. It may include a plurality of branch lines 422 extending.

A phase shifter 500 is disposed on the branch line 422 to shift the phase of the signal transmitted from the supply line and feed it to the second antenna patch 210 of the antenna unit 10. It can be.

As shown in FIG. 12, when the antenna units 10 are arranged in an 8 The shifter 500 is required, and therefore, when the antenna unit 10 is placed to ensure high performance of the planar dual-band patch array antenna, there is a problem of cost increase due to the deployment of many phase shifters 500. It can happen.

In order to overcome this problem, the phase shifter 500 is preferably composed of a pin diode.

As described above, the flat antenna 10 controls the elevation angle using a beam steering method using the phase shifter 500, and the azimuth angle adjustment and tilting are implemented through a mechanical configuration, thereby minimizing the weight and volume. The effect of providing an antenna system capable of accurate and rapid tracking of low-orbit satellites can be expected.

Above, the present invention has been described in detail using preferred embodiments, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments and should be interpreted in accordance with the appended claims. Additionally, those skilled in the art should understand that many modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

10: Planar antenna
100: first substrate
110: first antenna patch
111: opening
200: second substrate
210: second antenna patch
300: third substrate
310: first feeding network
400: fourth substrate
410: ground plane
420: Second feeding network
421: Supply line
422: branch line
430: first slot
440: second slot
500: Phase shifter
650: 1st base
651: Rotation axis
653: Rotation drive motor
653a: reducer
655: Transmission gear
657: Rotating gear
659: Connection bracket
670: 2nd base
671: Fixing bracket
673: Inclined bracket
673a: inclined axis
675: inclined cylinder
675a: Cylinder housing
675b: cylinder rod
676: Incline drive motor
676a: reducer
690: support base

Claims (5)

In a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function installed in a gateway for communication with low-orbit satellites,
a flat antenna in which a plurality of antenna units are arranged in a preset array and configured to steer the low-orbit satellite by controlling an elevation angle by shifting the phase of a signal transmitted to the plurality of antenna units;
An azimuth adjustment module for adjusting the azimuth of the planar antenna; and
A tilting module for adjusting the cross level of the planar antenna;
Including,
The tilting module is a flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function, characterized in that the tilting module is composed of an inclined cylinder.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the azimuth adjustment module,
A first base seated on the floor;
a rotating shaft fixed to the upper part of the first base;
a rotation drive motor disposed on an upper portion of the first base and adjacent to the rotation shaft;
A reducer coupled to the drive shaft of the rotation drive motor;
A transmission gear coupled to the reducer to transmit the rotational force of the rotation drive motor;
a rotating gear rotatably coupled to the rotating shaft and meshed with the transmission gear;
A connection bracket coupled to the upper part of the rotating gear;
a second base coupled to the upper part of the connection bracket;
a fixing bracket coupled to the upper part of the second base and disposed at a position corresponding to the rotation axis;
an inclined bracket rotatably coupled to the fixing bracket; and
A flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function, comprising a support base coupled to the upper part of the inclined bracket and having a flat antenna placed thereon.
The method of claim 2, wherein the inclined cylinder,
a cylinder housing, one end of which is rotatably coupled to the second base; and
a cylinder rod on one side of which is disposed inside the cylinder housing;
Includes,
A flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function, characterized in that the other end of the cylinder rod is rotatably disposed on the support base.
The method of claim 1, wherein the planar antenna,
a first substrate on which a first antenna patch that radiates a signal in a first frequency band is disposed;
a second substrate disposed below the first substrate and having a second antenna patch radiating a signal in a second frequency band on the upper portion;
a third substrate disposed below the second substrate and having a first feed network disposed on the upper portion for supplying a first frequency band signal to the first antenna patch; and
a fourth substrate disposed below the third substrate, with a ground plane formed on the upper portion, and a second feeding network disposed below for supplying a second frequency band signal to the second antenna patch;
Including,
A first slot for aperture-coupled power feeding between the first feed network and the first antenna patch and a second slot for aperture-coupled power feeding between the second feed network and the second antenna patch are formed in the fourth substrate. A flat antenna system with azimuth rotation function.
In claim 4,
The first antenna patch and at least one second antenna patch disposed at a position corresponding to the first antenna patch are defined as one antenna unit,
A flat antenna system with an azimuth rotation function and a low-orbit satellite tracking function, wherein an open portion is formed in an area of the first antenna patch that overlaps with the second antenna patch.

Images