WO2019185411A1

WO2019185411A1 - Transmitter device for transmitting electromagnetic radiation

Info

Publication number: WO2019185411A1
Application number: PCT/EP2019/056918
Authority: WO
Inventors: Oliver Krayl; Jens Ehlermann
Original assignee: Robert Bosch Gmbh
Priority date: 2018-03-28
Filing date: 2019-03-20
Publication date: 2019-10-03
Also published as: DE102018204715A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for providing a phase shift for electromagnetic radiation for a phase array or similar, comprising multiple phase shifter devices, and a control device which is connected to the phase shifter devices for controlling the phase shifting thereof, and wherein the respective phase shifter devices have at least two phase shifter units, which are designed to provide respective different optical path lengths for the electromagnetic radiation and wherein every phase shifter unit can be controlled by means of the control device.

Description

Transmitting device for emitting electro-magnetic beams

Technical area

The invention relates to a device for providing a phase shift for a phase array or the like.

The invention further relates to a method for providing a directed electromagnetic radiation ^¬ by means of a transmitting device.

The invention further relates to a transmitting device for emitting electro-magnetic ^¬ shear radiation for a sensor array or the like.

The invention also relates to an M EMS sensor arrangement with a transmission ^¬ device.

Although the present invention is applicable to any transmission devices, the present invention in terms of transmission devices in the form of optical phased arrays ^¬ rule will be described.

State of the art

An optical phase array is essentially a phased groups on ^¬ antenna with high directivity, which reaches a concentration of the radiation energy by the arrangement and interconnection of individual radiators / emitters. When the individual emitters or emitter can be controlled differently, the on ^¬ antenna diagram of the antenna array is electronically adjustable, so that it can be dispensed with mecha nically ^¬ moving parts for this purpose.

From WO 2014/110017 Al an optical phased array has been known wel ^¬ ches forms a pattern in the far field of a coherent beam. Here, a control of the optical path length by a heating element with a control voltage described. In addition, also for influencing the phase displacement ^¬ advertising a change in an optically active liquid is disclosed.

From EP 1617183 Bl an electronic processor for controlling a Pha ^¬ senmodulation has become known. For this purpose, a light beam is split, modulated and brought together again after the modulation.

Apparently the invention

In one embodiment, the invention provides a device for providing a phase shift of an electromagnetic radiation for a phased array or the like, comprising a plurality of phase shifters and a STEU ^¬ ereinrichtung which is connected to the phase shifter means for controlling the Pha ^¬ senverschiebung, and wherein the respective Phasenschiebereinrichtun ^¬ conditions each having at least two phase shift units, which are each designed to provide different optical path lengths for the electromagnetic radiation and wherein each phase shift unit is controllable by means of the control device.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a transmitting device for transmission of electromagnetic radiation for a sensor assembly or the like comprising a light source for providing light at least one wavelength, a plurality of emitters for radiating the light from the light source, and a device ge ^¬ Mäss any one of claims 1-7, the phase shifters are connected on the one hand to the light source, on the other hand in each case with an emitter.

In a further embodiment, the invention provides a process for the READY ^¬ averaging a phase shift for a phase array, or the like prepared wherein who by means of a control device which is connected to a plurality of phase shifters for controlling the phase shift, which provide the respective phases ^¬ shifter means having at least two phase shifter units ^¬ each of which Phasenschie ^¬ bereinheit is controllable, each providing different optical path lengths. In a further embodiment, the invention provides a MEMS sensor arrangement with a transmitting device according to claim 11.

One of the advantages achieved thereby that this digital control of the phase shifter means ^¬ is enabled by the control device, since each phase ^¬ slider unit of the phase shifter means connected individually or shutdown ^¬ bar. On a complex analog signal to change the phase shift, can be dispensed with. Another advantage is that no digital-to-analog converter has to be used to achieve discrete phase shifts. The overall mechanical length of the phase shifting devices can also be made very accurately, so that accurate phase shifts provided ^¬ who can. Moreover, an advantage that external influences such as temperature fluctuations or the like, less impact on the Phasenver ^¬ shift have, as for example, length changes in the individual phase shifters that provide the respective optical path length to phase shift substantially cancel.

Further features, advantages and further embodiments of the invention are described below or become apparent:

According to an advantageous further development, the respective phase shift means Rich ^¬ obligations are formed to provide optical path lengths in powers of two by the phase shifting units ^¬ prepared. In this way, any integer phase ^¬ shifts with respect to the optical path length can be provided, for example, ^¬ a single, double, quadruple or eight times optical path length, from which then by appropriate interconnection, for example, a fivefold optical path length can be provided.

According to a further advantageous embodiment one or more optical Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen are arranged, which are arranged in the beam path in front of the Pha ^¬ senschiebereinrichtungen and formed, a common phase shift be ^¬ riding observed for at least two of the phase shifter means. The advantage of this is that less wiring is needed. Thus, the number of control lines can be reduced, which allows faster responses or drives and allows lower energy consumption. According to a further advantageous development, the control ^{device is ausgebil ¬} det to control the phase shift means by means of digital signals. Advantage here ^¬ of is that in a particularly simple manner, the phase shift means can be controlled by means of the control device.

According to a further advantageous development, a compensation device is arranged at least ^¬ formed, changes in intensity of the electro-mag- netic radiation by one or more phase shifter means for For ^¬ same. In particular, a compensation ^¬ means may be arranged per phase shifter means. Changes in intensity of electromagnetic Strah ^¬ development are inter alia due to the phase shift means itself. By means of the compensation device is thus a particularly reliable provision of electro-magnetic radiation with a corresponding phase shift made ^¬ light. For example, only two discrete intensity values of the electro-magnetic Strah ^¬ lung have compensated for the respective outputs of the phase shifter means ^¬ the case of digital control of the phase shift means ^¬ directions. In known phase shift devices, this is just very expensive mög ^¬ Lich, since non-linear relationships are observed.

According to a further advantageous development, the phase shift means Rich ^¬ obligations and / or the formed before phase shifter means to provide a phase shift by means of a Än ^¬ alteration of the refractive index. In this way, it is particularly easy to change the optical path length based on the refractive index and thus to provide a phase shift.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the Phasenschiebereinrich ^¬ lines and / or Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen in the form of electro-optical Pha ^¬ senschieberdioden, thermo-optical phase shifters and / or silicon-organic hybrid phase shifters are formed. Thus a high flexibility is achieved in the loading ^¬ woman on top of a directional electro-magnetic radiation.

According to a further advantageous development of the method provide one or more Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen which are arranged to the emitters from the phase-shifter means in the beam path from the light source ^¬, for at least two of the phase shifter means a common Phasenver ^¬ schiebung ready. The advantage of this is that fewer wirings are required, and thus the number of control lines can be reduced, resulting in a high ^¬ sized reaction when controlling the phase shifter and a lower Ener ^¬ sumption.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the control of the phase ^¬ shifters and / or the pre-phase shifters by means of digital signals. For a particularly simple control of the Phasenschiebereinrichtun ^¬ conditions and / or the Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen is possible.

Further important features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the dependent claims ^¬, from the drawings, and from Related to figure description ^¬ hand of the drawings.

It will be appreciated that the hereinbefore identified and the hereinafter still to be erläu ^¬ ternden features are used not only in the respectively specified combination but also in other combinations or in isolation, without leaving the scope of the present invention.

Preferred embodiments and embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawing ^¬ calculations and are explained in more detail in the following description, wherein like reference numerals refer to the same or similar or functionally identical components or elements.

Brief description of the drawings

In schematic form shows

Figure 1 is an already known transmitting device;

FIG. 2 shows a transmitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 shows a transmitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

4 shows a transmitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the invention

FIG. 1 shows an already known transmitting device.

The transmitting device 1 in this case comprises a laser 2 serving as a light source and the light on the beam splitter 3 and 4 each waveguide phase shifters 5 supplied ^¬ leads will then provide a phase shift. After passing through the phase shifters 5, the phase-shifted light is provided to respective emitters 6, which then emit the light corresponding to the phase shift from ^¬, so that - as shown in Figure 1 - a directed wavefront resulting 10th The control of the phase shifter 5 is via an analog signal, wherein ^¬ play, via a voltage or a current signal to modulate a refractive index within a waveguide of each phase shifter according to the following formula

where f ₀ represents the phase shift at the beginning of the optical waveguide, fi the phase shift after passing through the optical waveguide of the phase shifter, l is the wavelength of the optical beam, n _eff is the refractive index of the waveguide material, the refractive index due to the Mo ^¬ dulation An _eff the change, and L represents the (mechanical) length of the waveguide. With rise ^¬ the DC voltage, the phase shift may for example, be reduced.

FIG. 2 shows a transmitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 shows substantially a transmitting device 1 according to figure 1. In the ^¬ difference to the transmitting apparatus 1 of Figure 1 is in the transmission device 1 according to FIG 2, a control device 7 arranged, which by means of digital signals, before ^¬ preferably with a 2-level signal a zero value, for example a corre sponding ^¬ voltage or current signal as the first level and a second level with a different value from the zero value, for example in the form of another voltage or current signal controls. Preferably, a value different from zero is used, which value is used by known logic circuits.

The optically formed phase shifter 5 are further divided into two or more opti ^¬ cal phase shifter blocks 5a, 5b, ..., so that their optical length in powers of two or can be switched off. In Figure 2, the individual phase shift ^¬ about 5 are divided into four phase shifter blocks 5a, 5b, 5c, 5b divided, which are controllable by the control device 7 separately. These provide optical path lengths of 1L, 2L, 4L and 8L, where L represents the optical (ground) path or path length. The number of control lines for a number M of emitters is then given by the formula

M = 2 ^N, where N is the number of bits with respect to the discretization represents the phase shifters ^¬ bung.

The digital control therefore requires control lines for each bit in each phase shifter, so that the total number of control lines is given by the formula

L = M × N = M × ld (M), yields: As an example, here are 16 emitters according to FIG., That is to say M = 16, so that a total of 64 control lines are required. The control lines are shown in ^FIGSu ren 2-4 only schematically and not in their full number. In the figure 2, a compensation device 8 is further arranged, which compensates for a ge ^¬ usually not desired intensity change for a corresponding Phasenschie ^¬ bereinheit. By the digital control, in contrast to analog An ^¬ control the compensation device can be particularly a ^¬ repeatedly compensate for the respective signal offset respectively. By means of the respective phase shift by the phase shifters 5, a plane wave 10 is then generated, which is radiated by the transmitting device 1 at a certain angle.

FIG. 3 shows a transmitting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, essentially a transmitting device 1 according to FIG. 2 is shown. In contrast to the transmitting device 1 according to FIG. 2, sixteen detectors 6 are now shown in the transmitting ^device 1 according to FIG. 3, together with 16 phase shifting ^devices 5, each having four phase shifting units 5 a, 5 ^b, 5 ^c, 5 d. Although thus the number of control lines 64 is high, but the same number of control lines would be notwen ^¬ dig in an already known phase shift means to connect a digital-to-analog converter by means of an analog signal, which can provide the same discrete phase shifts.

FIG. 4 shows a transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 essentially shows a transmitting device 1 according to FIG. In contrast to the transmitting device 1 according to FIG. 3, in the transmitting device 1 according to FIG. 4, four pre-phase shifters 5 'are arranged in the optical path in front of the respective phase shifter ^devices 5, each providing a common phase shift for a group of phase shifters 5; 4 four phase shifter means 5 connected to a common Vorphasenverschiebung 5 ', which provide entspre ^¬ accordingly a respective Vorphasenverschie ^¬ bung or common phase shift of 0, + 4L + 8L and +12 L for each case together ^¬ quantitative summarized phase shifter means. 5 In this case, then waves 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, which are emitted on the one hand by the respective emitters 6, on the other hand one each form the same partial wave 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d. Due to the respective Vorphasenver ^¬ shift this then form a common planar wavefront 10, which is emitted at a certain angle from the transmitting device. For controlling the pre-phase shifters 5 ', the respective pre-phase ^shifter devices 5' are connected to the control device 7. The Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen 5 'in this case have substantially the same construction as the discrete phase shift ^¬ prepared directions 5 on. In FIG. 4, these each provide two phase shifter blocks 5'a, 5'b for phase shifting, and these are each controlled separately by the control device 7.

In other words, the phase shifter arrangement is divided into a sub-assembly of smaller units here phase shifter and a Vorphasenschieberein ^¬ direction then enables the formation of a common wave front 10 with the respective emitted sub-waves 10a, 10b, 10c, lOd. For each provided Ablen ^¬ kung angle of the entire phase shifting device 10 has the planar wavefront at the output of the emitter 6 at a constant Ablenkungswinkelgradienten. Thus ^¬ with filters the phase shifter means 5 each essentially the same Winkelablenkungsgradienten ready and the Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen 5 ', which are arranged in the optical path in front of the phase shifters 5, provide an additional phase shift. Since the respective Phasenschieberein ^¬ directions 5 can be controlled the same, the number of control ^¬ lines can be reduced. Essentially, the following applies:

M = 2 ^N , where M is the number of investigators 6 and N is the number of phase bits. If we now introduce the bandwidth T for each phase shifter, where T <M, the total number of phase bits N can be divided into two parts:

N - nOffset NTILE + a) = Id nOffset ⁵ (M / T) number of bits, which are used for programming the so-called Pha ^¬ senschiebereinrichtung offsets b) Ntiie = Id (t) number of bits that are used to program the phase shifter means ^¬ directivity pattern

With respect to the total number of control lines:

L = Loffset + Ltile a) Loffset = (M / T) * Noffset = (M / T) * ld (M / T)

b) Ltile = T * Ntiie = T * ld (T) M = 16 emitter 6 are provided as an example, the bandwidth of the phase ^¬ shifters T = 4 is selected. Noffset = Id (16/4) = 2, Ntiie = Id (4) = 2.

Loffset = (16/4) * 2 = 8, Ltiie = 4 * 2 = 8, so L = 8 + 8 = 16 control lines

Compared to the control lines in accordance with Example to Figure 2, the control line is only 25% ^¬ expense.

The embodiment of Figure 4 thus allows a reduction in the number of control lines with the same functionality and accordingly the energy ^¬ consumption is reduced and increases the reaction time.

As another example, here are the following:

Number of emitters 6: M = 4096

Number of phase shifts = 4096, i. the number of bits required for each phase shifter is N = 12.

- In the known analog arrangement, a digital-to-analog converter with 12 bit is needed.

- In the embodiment of Figure 2 is the number of required control lines ^¬ M * N = 49,152th

In the embodiment of FIG. 4 with T = 64, ie 64 phase shift devices with 64 emitters in each case, the following applies: - »N = N offset + Ntiie = Id (4096/64) + Id (64) = 6 + 6 = 12 bits

L = ffset + ie = 64 * 6 + 64 * 6 = 768 control lines Thus, reduction of the number of control lines 1 / T, i. here about 1.56% possible.

In summary, at least one of the embodiments of the invention has at least one of the following advantages:

• Easy control of the pre-phase shifters and phase shifters by digital signals.

• Lower energy consumption.

• Less wiring effort.

Reliable provision of the phase shift.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments be, it is not limited thereto, but modi fizierbar in a variety of ways.

Claims

1. A device for providing a phase shift of an electro-magnetic radiation for a phase array or the like, comprising

a plurality of phase shifters (5) and a control device (7) ^¬ is connected to the phase shifting means (5) for controlling the phase shift-jointed, and wherein the respective phase-shifting means (5) (5a, 5b) each having at least two phase shifter units formed , in each case ^¬ different optical path lengths for the electromagnetic radiation bereitzustel ^¬ len and wherein by means of the control device (7) each phase shifter unit (5a, 5b) is controllable.

2. Device according to claim 1, wherein the respective Phasenschiebereinrich ^¬ lines (5) are designed to provide optical path lengths in two powers by means of the phase shift devices (5a, 5b).

3. Device according to one of claims 1-2, wherein one or more opti ^¬ cal Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen (5 ') are arranged, which are arranged in the beam path in front of the phase shifter means (5) and which are formed for at least two of the phase shifter means (5). provide a common phase shift ^¬.

4. Device according to one of claims 1-3, wherein the control device (7) is formed by means of digital signals, the phase shift means (5) to control ^¬ ern.

5. Device according to one of claims 1-4, wherein at least one compen ^¬ sationseinrichtung (8) is arranged, which is adapted to compensate for changes in intensity of the electromagnetic radiation by one or more Phasenschiebereinrichtun ^¬ conditions (5).

6. Device according to one of claims 1-5, wherein the Phasenschieberein ^¬ directions (5) and / or Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen (5 ') are formed to provide a phase shift ^{¬ means of} a change in the refractive index.

7. Device according to one of claims 1-6, wherein the Phasenschieberein ^¬ directions (5) and / or Vorphasenschiebereinrichtungen (5 ') in the form of elektroop ^¬ tisch phase shifter diodes, thermo-optical phase shifters and / or silizi ^¬ organic hybrid phase shifters are formed.

8. A method for providing a phase shift for a phase array or the like, wherein

by means of a control device (7) which is connected to a plurality of phase shifters (5) for controlling their phase shift, wherein the respective phase shifters (5) are provided with at least two phase shifter units (5a, 5b) each providing different optical path lengths each phase shifter unit (5a , 5b) is controllable.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein one or more Vorphasenschieber ^¬ means (5 ') which are arranged in the beam path in front of the phase shifter means (5) provide, for at least two of the phase shifting means (5) has a ge ^¬ my same phase shift.

10. The method according to any one of claims 8 or 9, wherein the control of the phase shifter means (5) and / or the pre-phase shifters (5 ') is effected by means of digital signals.

1 1. transmitting device (1) for emitting electro-magnetic radiation (10) for a sensor arrangement or the like, comprising

a light source (2) for providing light of at least one wavelength, a plurality of emitters (6) for emitting the light of the light source (2),

and a device according to any one of claims 1-7, the Phasenschieberein ^¬ directions (5) on the one hand with the light source (2), on the other hand in each case with one of the emitter (6) are connected.

12. M EMS sensor arrangement with a transmitting device according to one of the ^¬ claim 11th