WO2022012021A1

WO2022012021A1 - Multi-beam antenna

Info

Publication number: WO2022012021A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/073889
Authority: WO
Inventors: 刘晴宇; 曾骏; 李�浩; 郭亚军; 徐存伟
Original assignee: 摩比天线技术（深圳）有限公司; 摩比科技（深圳）有限公司; 摩比通讯技术（吉安）有限公司; 摩比科技(西安)有限公司; 深圳市晟煜智慧科技网络有限公司; 西安摩比天线技术工程有限公司
Priority date: 2020-07-15
Filing date: 2021-01-27
Publication date: 2022-01-20
Also published as: CN111682323A

Abstract

The present invention provides a multi-beam antenna, comprising a reflection plate and an antenna array provided on the reflection plate. The antenna array is formed by mixing and arraying multiple types of subarrays, and each of the subarrays is formed by uniformly arraying multiple radiation units; the types, the number and/or gaps of the radiation units in the different types of subarrays are different. In view of this, the present invention can overcome the defect that the radiation units are dislocated horizontally, that is, the problems that due to the fact that a three-dimensional directional diagram of the radiation unit has a phase difference in space, a vertical plane downward inclination angle accuracy and a sidelobe of an antenna are poor, and related neighboring cell interference and coverage hole are increased are solved; moreover, it is possible to have the advantage of dislocation in the horizontal direction of the radiation unit, that is, the sidelobe of the horizontal plane is lower to control the neighboring cell interference between the beams in the near distance range.

Description

Multibeam Antenna

technical field

The present invention relates to the technical field of mobile communication base station antennas, and in particular, to a multi-beam antenna.

Background technique

After entering the 5G era, 2G, 3G and 4G networks will still coexist for a long time. Spectrum utilization, antenna sharing, and antenna integration will become major issues in the field of base station antennas. Multi-beam antennas can improve network coverage and capacity without adding new spectrum and antenna. For example, dual-beam antennas can increase capacity by about 1.7 times, and triple-beam antennas can increase capacity by about 2.2 times. Therefore, multi-beam antennas are more and more popular in the market.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a conventional multi-beam antenna. All sub-arrays of the antenna are the same, evenly arrayed in the horizontal direction, and evenly arrayed in the vertical direction, and there is no dislocation in all directions. The wave troughs coincide with the wave troughs. For example, on the reflector 1, the pattern corresponding to the sub-array composed of the radiation elements 2-5-1, 2-5-2, 2-5-3, and 2-5-4 is the same as that of the radiation elements 2-5-1. The patterns corresponding to the sub-arrays composed of -6-1, 2-6-2, 2-6-3, and 2-6-4 are roughly the same.

The power ratio between the sub-array elements of the antenna is variable, and the phase difference is constant, but since the corresponding pattern of each sub-array is roughly the same, that is, the field distribution in space is roughly the same, the crests coincide with the crests, and the troughs coincide with the troughs. The side lobe difference in the horizontal plane of the antenna pattern, such as 8-9dB, seriously interferes with adjacent cells.

The sub-array radiating elements of the antenna are close to each other, resulting in serious mutual coupling, poor antenna isolation, and difficulty in debugging.

In addition, for the 1710-2690MHz frequency band, the power ratio between the sub-array radiating elements of the antenna is small, the first side lobe on the horizontal plane of 1710MHz is poor, and the horizontal wave width is small; the power between the sub-array radiating elements of the antenna is relatively small. When it is relatively large, the second side lobe of the 2690MHz horizontal plane is poor, and the horizontal wave width is large; therefore, the contradiction between the two cannot be solved by simply relying on the shaping design, and the horizontal plane wave width is often too divergent. For example 23-43°.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of a conventional multi-beam antenna. All the sub-arrays of the antenna are the same, uniform in the horizontal direction, uniform in the vertical direction, and only half the array spacing in the vertical direction. The horizontal plane pattern corresponding to each sub-array is roughly the same, that is, the field distribution in space is roughly the same The wave crest coincides with the wave crest, and the wave trough coincides with the wave trough. The patterns corresponding to the sub-arrays consisting of radiating elements 2-6-1, 2-6-2, 2-6-3, 2-6-4 are roughly the same.

Compared with the multi-beam antenna shown in Figure 1, after the sub-arrays are vertically displaced by half the array spacing, the distance between the radiating elements increases, the mutual coupling decreases, and the isolation is improved, but the performance of the horizontal plane pattern is defective. constant.

FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of a conventional multi-beam antenna. All the sub-arrays of the antenna are the same, only the horizontal direction is dislocated, and the vertical direction is uniform. For example, the horizontal plane pattern corresponding to the sub-array composed of radiation units 2-5-1, 2-5-2, 2-5-3, and 2-5-4 on the reflector 1 is the same as that of the radiation units 2-6- The sub-arrays composed of 1, 2-6-2, 2-6-3, and 2-6-4 have different horizontal plane patterns.

Compared with the multi-beam antenna shown in Figure 1, due to the different horizontal plane patterns corresponding to the sub-arrays of the antenna, that is, the field distribution in space is different, the wave crest and the wave crest no longer overlap, and the wave trough and the wave trough no longer overlap, so the synthesized antenna The side lobes of the pattern in the horizontal plane are suppressed, thereby reducing the neighbor interference between beams at close range. However, the horizontal misalignment of the sub-array radiating elements will also cause the spatial phase difference of the three-dimensional patterns of the corresponding radiating elements, which will lead to the deterioration of the vertical tilt angle accuracy and side lobes of the antenna, and the related adjacent area interference and coverage holes will increase.

To sum up, the prior art obviously has inconvenience and defects in practical use, so it is necessary to improve it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above-mentioned defects, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a multi-beam antenna, which can overcome the defect of the horizontal dislocation of the radiating element, that is, solve the problem that the three-dimensional pattern of the radiating element has a phase difference in space, thereby causing the vertical plane of the antenna to be tilted down. Accuracy and side lobes are degraded, and the related adjacent area interference and coverage holes increase; at the same time, it can have the advantages of horizontal dislocation of the radiating unit, that is, the horizontal side lobes are low to control the adjacent beams within a short range. area interference.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a multi-beam antenna, which includes a reflector and an antenna array disposed on the reflector. The antenna array is formed by a hybrid array of multiple sub-arrays, and each of the A plurality of radiation units are uniformly arrayed; the types, numbers and/or spacings of the radiation units in the sub-arrays of different types are different.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, a plurality of the sub-arrays are mixed and arrayed along the vertical direction of the reflector, and all the sub-arrays are aligned in the center along the horizontal direction of the reflector.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the number of the sub-arrays in the antenna array is greater than or equal to five.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the number of the radiating elements in each of the sub-arrays is greater than or equal to three.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the distance between the adjacent radiating elements in each of the sub-arrays is 0.5-0.6 wavelengths of the center frequency.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the distance between the adjacent sub-arrays in the antenna array is 0.6-0.8 wavelengths of the center frequency.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the antenna array is formed by a mixed array of a first seed array and a second seed array, and the types of radiation elements in the first seed array and the second seed array, Quantity and/or spacing varies.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the number of radiation units in the first sub-array is 4, and the number of radiation units in the second sub-array is 3; the antenna array consists of 9 The first seed array and the second seed array are mixed and formed, the first to third subarrays are the first seed array, the fourth to seventh subarrays are the second seed array, and the eighth to ninth subarrays are the second seed array. The number of sub-arrays is the first sub-array.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the antenna array is formed by a mixed array of a first sub-array, a second sub-array, a third sub-array and a fourth sub-array, the first sub-array, the third sub-array The types, numbers and/or spacings of radiation elements in the second sub-array, the third sub-array and the fourth sub-array are different.

According to the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the number of radiation elements in the first sub-array, the second sub-array and the fourth sub-array is 4, and the number of radiation elements in the third sub-array is 4 The 1st to 2nd subarrays are the first subarray, the 3rd to 4th subarrays are the second subarray, the 5th to 10th subarrays are the third subarray, and the 11th to 12th subarrays are the third subarray. The number of sub-arrays is the fourth sub-array.

The multi-beam antenna of the present invention is formed by a plurality of different types of sub-arrays mixed in a certain order on the reflector, and at least one of the three factors of the type, number and/or spacing of the radiation elements of the different types of sub-arrays The factors are different. The three-dimensional patterns of different types of sub-arrays have different spatial orientations, shapes, and zero-point positions and field strengths. The side lobes of the synthesized array beams in the horizontal plane, that is, the side lobes below the horizontal plane, will be significantly reduced. The interference of adjacent cells in the short range is reduced, which has the advantages of horizontal dislocation of the radiating element; the horizontal plane wave width also has a certain degree of convergence, and at the same time, it avoids the horizontal dislocation of the factor array radiating element, which causes the antenna vertical plane downtilt angle accuracy and side lobe change. poor, the related neighbor interference and coverage holes increase, so that the defect of the horizontal dislocation of the radiating element can be overcome. Preferably, all the sub-arrays are aligned in the center along the horizontal direction of the reflector, which is beneficial to simplify the space layout of the whole machine, and can also reduce the weight of the antenna by reducing the number of radiating elements.

Description of drawings

1 is a schematic diagram of a first existing multi-beam antenna;

2 is a schematic diagram of a second existing multi-beam antenna;

3 is a schematic diagram of a third existing multi-beam antenna;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a first preferred embodiment of the multi-beam antenna of the present invention;

5 is a sub-array horizontal plane pattern of the first preferred embodiment of the multi-beam antenna of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a second preferred embodiment of the multi-beam antenna of the present invention.

detailed description

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention, but not to limit the present invention.

It should be noted that references in this specification to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "example embodiment", etc., mean that the described embodiment may include specific features, structures or characteristics, but not every Embodiments must contain these specific features, structures or characteristics. Furthermore, such expressions are not referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, whether or not explicitly described, it has been shown that it is within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to incorporate such feature, structure or characteristic into other embodiments .

In addition, certain terms are used in the description and the following claims to refer to specific components or components, and it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that manufacturers may use different terms or terms to refer to the same component or component. This specification and the following claims do not use differences in names as a way of distinguishing components or components, but use differences in functions of components or components as a criterion for distinguishing. References to "including" and "comprising" throughout the specification and subsequent claims are open-ended terms and should be interpreted as "including but not limited to". Otherwise, the term "connected" herein includes any direct and indirect means of electrical connection. Indirect electrical connection means include connection through other means.

The present invention provides a multi-beam antenna, comprising a reflector and an antenna array arranged on the reflector, wherein the antenna array is formed by a mixed array of multiple sub-arrays. Each sub-array is formed by a uniform array of multiple radiation units; the types, numbers and/or spacings of radiation units in different types of sub-arrays are different. The sub-array types of the multi-beam antenna are N, and N is greater than or equal to 2, for example, the sub-array types are 2 types, 3 types, 4 types, and 5 types. Since the patterns of different types of sub-arrays of multi-beam antennas have different field distributions in space, the positions of the corresponding peaks and troughs are also different, and the horizontal plane patterns are also different. Therefore, the side lobes of the synthesized antenna pattern in the horizontal plane are suppressed, and the beam The interference between adjacent cells within a short range is reduced accordingly. In addition, through the combined design of different sub-arrays in the present invention, the wave width range in the horizontal plane of the pattern synthesized by the superposition of all the sub-arrays is reduced, and at the same time, the horizontal misalignment of the radiating elements of the factor array is avoided to cause the down-tilt angle accuracy and side lobes of the antenna vertical plane to deteriorate. The problem.

Preferably, a variety of sub-arrays are mixed and formed along the vertical direction of the reflector, and all the sub-arrays are aligned in the center along the horizontal direction of the reflector, which is conducive to simplifying the spatial layout of the whole machine, and can also be reduced by reducing the number of radiation units. Antenna weight.

Preferably, the number of sub-arrays in the antenna array is greater than or equal to five. The distance between adjacent sub-arrays in the antenna array is 0.6-0.8 wavelengths of the center frequency.

Preferably, the number of radiation units in each sub-array is greater than or equal to three. The distance between adjacent radiation units in each sub-array is 0.5-0.6 wavelengths of the center frequency.

Referring to the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 4 , the multi-beam antenna includes: M sub-arrays in a mixed array along the vertical direction of the reflector, all sub-arrays are aligned in the center along the horizontal direction of the reflector, and the number of the first sub-arrays is M1, the number of the second sub-array is M2..., M1+M2+...=M, M1 is greater than or equal to 1, M2 is greater than or equal to 1..., M is greater than or equal to 5.

The first sub-array: It is composed of A1 radiating elements with horizontal spacing H1-1, H1-2... The vertical spacing V1 of the adjacent sub-arrays on the right, V1 is 0.6-0.8 wavelengths of the center frequency, and the numbers of the corresponding radiation units are 2-1-1, 2-1-2, 2-1-3...

The second sub-array: It is composed of A2 radiating units with horizontal spacing H2-1, H2-2... uniformly arrayed, H2 is 0.5-0.6 wavelengths of the center frequency, A2 is greater than or equal to 3, the second sub-array and the right The vertical spacing V2 of adjacent sub-arrays, V2 is 0.6-0.8 wavelengths of the center frequency, and the numbers of the corresponding radiation units are 2-2-1, 2-2-2, 2-2-3...

...

And so on.

Preferably, the antenna array of the present invention is formed by a mixed array of a first sub-array and a second sub-array, and the types, numbers and/or spacings of radiating elements in the first sub-array and the second sub-array are different.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a first preferred embodiment of the multi-beam antenna of the present invention. The number of radiation elements in the first sub-array of the multi-beam antenna is 4, the number of radiation elements in the second sub-array is 3, and the number of radiation elements in the first sub-array is 4. The 2nd, 3rd, 8th, and 9th subarrays are the first subarrays, and the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th subarrays are the second subarrays.

The patterns of the first and second sub-arrays of the antenna have different field distributions in space, the positions of the corresponding wave crests and valleys are also different, and the horizontal plane patterns are also different. - The horizontal plane pattern corresponding to the sub-array composed of 3-2, 2-3-3, 2-3-4 and the sub-array composed of radiating elements 2-5-1, 2-5-2, 2-5-3 The corresponding horizontal plane directions are different. As shown in Figure 5, the side lobes of the synthesized antenna pattern in the horizontal plane are thus suppressed, and the adjacent cell interference within a short range between beams is reduced accordingly. At the same time, since all the sub-arrays are uniformly arranged and aligned with each other, the downtilt angle accuracy and side lobe in the vertical plane of the pattern synthesized by the superposition of all the sub-arrays are comparable to those of conventional antennas. In addition, through the combined design of different sub-arrays, the wave width range of the superposition and synthesis of all sub-arrays becomes smaller in the horizontal plane, for example, it converges to 27-38° in the 1710-2170MHz frequency band, the energy is more concentrated, and the coverage effect is better.

Preferably, the antenna array is formed by a mixed array of a first seed array, a second seed array, a third seed array and a fourth seed array, and the first seed array, the second seed array, the third seed array and the fourth seed array The type, number and/or spacing of radiating elements in the array varies.

6 is a schematic diagram of a second preferred embodiment of the multi-beam antenna of the present invention, the number of radiation elements in the first sub-array, the second sub-array and the fourth sub-array is 4, and the number of radiation elements in the third sub-array The 1st to 2nd subarrays are the first seed arrays, the 3rd to 4th subarrays are the second seed arrays, the 5th to 10th subarrays are the third seed arrays, and the 11th to 12th subarrays are the fourth seed arrays array.

The directional patterns of the first, second, third and fourth sub-arrays of the antenna have different field distributions in space, the positions of the corresponding peaks and troughs are also different, and the horizontal plane patterns are also different. For example, on the reflector 1, the radiation elements 2-3 -1, 2-3-2, 2-3-3, 2-3-4 composed of sub-arrays corresponding to the horizontal plane pattern and the radiation elements 2-5-1, 2-5-2, 2-5-3 The corresponding horizontal plane patterns of the formed sub-arrays are different. As shown in Figure 6, the side lobes in the horizontal plane of the pattern synthesized by the superposition of all the sub-arrays are suppressed, and the adjacent area interference between the beams in the short range is reduced accordingly. At the same time, since all the sub-arrays are uniformly arranged and aligned with each other, the downtilt angle accuracy and side lobe in the vertical plane of the pattern synthesized by the superposition of all the sub-arrays are comparable to those of conventional antennas. In addition, through the combined design of different sub-arrays, the wave width range of the superposition and synthesis of all sub-arrays becomes smaller in the horizontal plane, for example, it converges to 25-41° in the 1710-2690MHz frequency band, the energy is more concentrated, and the coverage effect is better.

To sum up, the multi-beam antenna of the present invention is formed by a plurality of different types of sub-arrays mixed in a certain order on the reflector. At least one of the factors is different. The three-dimensional patterns of different types of sub-arrays have different spatial orientations, shapes, and zero-point positions and field strengths. The side lobes of the synthesized array beams in the horizontal plane, that is, the side lobes below the horizontal plane, will be significantly reduced. The interference of adjacent cells in the short range is reduced, so that it has the advantages of horizontal dislocation of the radiation unit; the horizontal plane wave width also has a certain degree of convergence, and at the same time, it avoids the horizontal dislocation of the factor array radiation unit, which causes the antenna vertical plane downtilt angle accuracy and side lobe change. If the difference is poor, the related neighbor interference and coverage holes increase, so that the defect of the horizontal dislocation of the radiating element can be overcome. Preferably, all the sub-arrays are aligned in the center along the horizontal direction of the reflector, which is beneficial to simplify the space layout of the whole machine, and can also reduce the weight of the antenna by reducing the number of radiating elements.

Of course, the present invention can also have other various embodiments, without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, those skilled in the art can make various corresponding changes and modifications according to the present invention, but these corresponding Changes and deformations should belong to the protection scope of the appended claims of the present invention.

Claims

A multi-beam antenna, characterized in that it includes a reflector and an antenna array arranged on the reflector, the antenna array is formed by a mixed array of multiple sub-arrays, and each of the sub-arrays is composed of multiple radiating elements A uniform array is formed; the types, numbers and/or spacings of the radiation units in the sub-arrays of different types are different.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the sub-arrays are mixed and arrayed along the vertical direction of the reflector, and all the sub-arrays are aligned in the center along the horizontal direction of the reflector.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 1, wherein the number of the sub-arrays in the antenna array is greater than or equal to five.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 1, wherein the number of the radiating elements in each of the sub-arrays is greater than or equal to three.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 1, wherein the distance between the adjacent radiating elements in each of the sub-arrays is 0.5-0.6 wavelengths of the center frequency.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 1, wherein the distance between the adjacent sub-arrays in the antenna array is 0.6-0.8 wavelengths of the center frequency.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 1, wherein the antenna array is formed by a mixed array of a first seed array and a second seed array, and the first seed array and the second seed array The type, number and/or spacing of radiating elements varies.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 7, wherein the number of radiation elements in the first sub-array is 4, and the number of radiation elements in the second sub-array is 3; the antenna The array is formed by mixing nine first seed arrays and second seed arrays, the first to third subarrays are the first seed arrays, and the fourth to seventh subarrays are the second seed arrays , the eighth to ninth sub-arrays are the first sub-arrays.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 1, wherein the antenna array is formed by a mixed array of a first seed array, a second seed array, a third seed array and a fourth seed array, and the first seed array The array, the second sub-array, the third sub-array and the fourth sub-array have different types, numbers and/or pitches of radiation elements.
The multi-beam antenna according to claim 9, wherein the number of radiation elements in the first sub-array, the second sub-array and the fourth sub-array is 4, and the third sub-array has 4 radiation elements. The number of radiating units is 3; the 1st to 2nd subarrays are the first subarrays, the 3rd to 4th subarrays are the second subarrays, and the 5th to 10th subarrays are the third subarrays , the 11th to 12th sub-arrays are the fourth sub-arrays.