WO2022036564A1

WO2022036564A1 - Antenna array

Info

Publication number: WO2022036564A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/109851
Authority: WO
Inventors: 曾祺民; 曹芽子; 阳克伟恩; 李桐
Original assignee: 诺赛特国际有限公司; 海能达通信股份有限公司
Priority date: 2020-08-18
Filing date: 2020-08-18
Publication date: 2022-02-24

Abstract

Disclosed in the present invention is an antenna array. The antenna array comprises a controller and a plurality of antenna units. The antenna units are arranged to form at least (n-1) surfaces of an n-hedron, n being an integer greater than or equal to 4; each of the at least (n-1) surfaces is provided with at least two antenna units; the distance between the adjacent antenna units on the same surface is smaller than a wavelength corresponding to a center frequency of the antenna units; the controller is connected to each antenna unit; the controller is used for controlling on/off and a phase of each antenna unit.

Description

antenna array

【Technical field】

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to an antenna array.

【Background technique】

In the field of radio communication technology, antenna arrays have been widely used in various fields, such as GPS reception and low-orbit satellite communication fields and personal mobile communication fields. However, the current coverage of the beam transmitted by the antenna array is small. In order to transmit the beam to all angles, the antenna array needs to frequently rotate the placement position of the wireless array mechanically, and the steering speed is slow, resulting in low steering efficiency.

[Content of the invention]

The main purpose of this application is to provide an antenna array to increase the coverage of wireless beams emitted by the wireless array.

In order to achieve the above object, a technical solution adopted in the present application is to provide an antenna array, which includes a controller and a plurality of antenna units;

The antenna elements are arranged to form at least n-1 faces of an n-hedron, where n is an integer greater than or equal to 4, and each of the at least n-1 faces is provided with at least two antenna elements, and adjacent ones on the same face. The distance between the antenna elements is smaller than the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna elements; and

A controller connected to the antenna unit, the controller is used to control the start, stop and phase of each antenna unit.

Wherein, each of the at least n-1 surfaces is provided with 4 antenna units.

Wherein, the distance between the adjacent antenna units on the same plane is greater than 0.5 times the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna units.

Among them, the antenna array also includes:

A switch, the controller is connected with each antenna unit through the switch, and is used to control the start and stop of the antenna unit;

A driver, the controller is connected with each antenna unit through the driver, and is used for controlling the phase of the antenna unit.

Wherein, the corresponding relationship between the phase of the antenna unit and the beam steering angle is stored in the controller.

Among them, the n-hedron is a hexahedron.

In order to achieve the above purpose, a technical solution adopted in the present application is to provide an antenna array, the antenna array comprising:

a plurality of antenna units, the antenna units are arranged to form an arc surface, and the distance between the adjacent antenna units is smaller than the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna units; and

Wherein, the arc surface is at least a partial spherical surface or at least a partial ellipsoidal surface.

Among them, the antenna array also includes:

The antenna array of the present application includes a controller and a plurality of antenna units, and the antenna units are arranged to form at least n-1 faces of an n-hedron, so that the beams generated by the antenna units on different faces face different directions; Each surface is provided with at least two antenna units, and the distance between adjacent antenna units on the same surface is smaller than the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna units, so that the beams emitted by at least two antenna units on the same surface can interact with each other. , and since the controller controls the start, stop and phase of each antenna unit, the beam steering angle that the antenna unit can send has a wide range; and since the antenna unit forms at least n-1 faces of an n-hedron, there must be adjacent Antenna elements are provided on at least two of the faces, so that the main beam steering angle exceeding the operating limit of each individual face can be obtained by the joint action of the antenna elements of two or three adjacent faces, which can further increase the beam range, It is even possible to increase the coverage of the radio signal to be omnidirectional and include the entire sky.

【Description of drawings】

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna array according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna array according to another embodiment of the present application;

3 is a schematic diagram of beam steering when all antenna arrays on a single plane of the antenna array described in FIG. 1 are in an active state;

4 is a schematic elevation plan view of the first application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

5 is a schematic diagram of an azimuth plane of the first application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

6 is a schematic elevation plan view of the second application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

7 is a schematic diagram of an azimuth angle plane of the second application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

8 is a schematic elevation plan view of a third application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

9 is a schematic diagram of an azimuth plane of the third application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of beam steering when the four closest antenna elements at the edges of two faces of the antenna array described in FIG. 1 are in an active state;

11 is a schematic elevation plan view of the fourth application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

12 is a schematic diagram of an azimuth plane of the fourth application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

13 is a schematic elevation plan view of the fifth application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

14 is a schematic diagram of an azimuth plane of the fifth application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

15 is a schematic diagram of beam steering when the three closest antenna elements at the sharp corners of the three surfaces of the antenna array described in FIG. 1 are in an active state;

16 is a schematic elevation plan view of the sixth application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

17 is a schematic diagram of an azimuth plane of the sixth application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

18 is a schematic elevation plan view of the seventh application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

19 is a schematic diagram of an azimuth angle plane of the seventh application scenario of the antenna array of the present application;

FIG. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an antenna unit of the present application.

【detailed description】

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, but not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

It should be noted that if there are directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.) involved in the embodiments of the present application, the directional indications are only used to explain a certain posture (as shown in the accompanying drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional indication also changes accordingly.

In addition, if there are descriptions related to "first", "second", etc. in the embodiments of the present application, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. are only for the purpose of description, and should not be construed as indicating or implying Its relative importance or implicitly indicates the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature delimited with "first", "second" may expressly or implicitly include at least one of that feature. In addition, the technical solutions between the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but must be based on the realization by those of ordinary skill in the art. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be realized, it should be considered that the combination of such technical solutions does not exist. , is not within the scope of protection claimed in this application.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a first embodiment of an antenna array 200 of the present application. The antenna array 200 includes a controller and a plurality of antenna elements 210 .

The antenna elements 210 are arranged to form at least n-1 faces of an n-hedron. Wherein, n is an integer greater than or equal to 4, and n can be equal to 5, 6, 8, or 10. Preferably, the n-hedron is a hexahedron, and for satellite communication applications, this hexahedral arrangement ensures that the entire sky can be viewed by steering the main beam to the optimum reception angle.

The antenna elements on each face may be spaced apart by a predetermined distance. The predetermined distance can be adjusted according to the actual situation to achieve different gains and beam steering angles. The predetermined distance may be smaller than the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna unit, so that the beams emitted by the adjacent antenna units can partially overlap, so that the adjacent antenna units 210 can work together, so that the coverage of the beam generated by the antenna array 200 is increased, And make the beam emitted by the antenna array have a higher gain. In addition, in order to prevent the coupling between adjacent antenna units from being too close, the predetermined distance may be greater than 0.5 times the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna units to reduce interference caused by the proximity of adjacent antenna units.

Each antenna unit 210 is connected to the controller, so that the controller can control the start, stop and phase of each antenna unit 210 .

In this embodiment, the antenna array 200 includes a controller and a plurality of antenna units, and the antenna units are arranged to form at least n-1 faces of an n-hedron, so that the beams generated by the antenna units 210 on different faces face different directions; at least n -At least two antenna elements are arranged on each of the 1 plane, and the distance between adjacent antenna elements on the same plane is smaller than the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna elements, so that at least two antennas on the same plane The beams emitted by the units can interact with each other, and since the controller controls the start-stop and phase of each antenna unit 210, the beam steering angle that the antenna unit 210 can emit has a wide range; and since the antenna units form at least n of an n-hedron - 1 face, there must be at least two adjacent faces with antenna elements 210, so that through the joint action of the antenna elements 210 of two or three adjacent faces, it is possible to obtain an operating limit exceeding the operating limit of each individual face. The steering angle of the main beam can further increase the beam range, and even the coverage of the radio signal can be increased to omnidirectional and include the entire sky.

Further, at least two adjacent faces may be perpendicular to each other. Of course, the at least two adjacent surfaces may not be perpendicular to each other.

Each of the at least n-1 planes may include at least two antenna elements 210, so that the at least two antenna elements on each plane can work together to improve beam gain and beam range. For example, when n=8, four antenna elements 210 are provided on at least seven surfaces of the n-hedron.

In addition, the antenna units 210 on the same plane can be arranged in an array. Also, the structures of the antenna units 210 on the same one may be the same or different. Further, the antenna unit 210 may be a broadband circularly polarized antenna unit 210 .

Further, the antenna array 200 may further include a driver and a switch.

Specifically, each antenna unit 210 is connected to the controller through a switch, so that the controller can control the start and stop of each antenna unit 210 through the switch, that is, the controller can activate (turn on) or deactivate (turn off) each antenna unit 210 through the switch. antenna unit 210. The switches may be RF switches.

Specifically, each antenna unit 210 is connected to the controller through a driving member, so that the controller can control the phase of each antenna unit 210 through the driving member. It will be appreciated that the switch and the driver may be controlled by the same controller. The controller can be a computer or a microcontroller.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which shows the structure of the second embodiment of the antenna array 200 of the present application. The antenna array 200 includes a controller and a plurality of antenna elements 210 . The antenna units 210 are arranged to form an arc surface. Each of the antenna units 210 is connected to the controller, and the controller is used to control the start, stop and phase of each of the antenna units 210 .

Wherein, the arc surface may be at least a partial spherical surface or at least a partial ellipsoidal surface. Wherein, at least part of the spherical surface can be understood as the surface of the entire sphere, or the surface of the sphere with a part cut off.

Compared with the first embodiment, the antenna array 200 of this embodiment can reduce the number of antenna units 210 to realize the omnidirectional beam steering function, but at the expense of a more complicated mechanical structure.

Alternatively, adjacent antenna elements may be spaced apart by a predetermined distance. Among them, the predetermined distance can be adjusted according to the actual situation to achieve different gains and steering angles of omnidirectional beams. The predetermined distance can be smaller than the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna unit, so that the beams emitted by the adjacent antenna units can partially overlap, so that the adjacent antenna units 210 can work together, so that the coverage of the beam generated by the antenna array 200 is increased, and the The beams emitted by the antenna array have higher gain. In addition, in order to prevent the coupling between adjacent antenna units from being too close, the predetermined distance may be greater than 0.5 times the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna units to reduce interference caused by the proximity of adjacent antenna units.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2 , the angle of the inclined antenna unit 210 relative to the vertical antenna unit 210 and the horizontal antenna unit 210 and the diagonal vertical antenna unit 210 is 45°. Of course, it is not limited to this, and the angle between the antenna units 210 can be adjusted according to actual conditions to achieve different gains and resolutions. For example, the angle between the inclined antenna unit 210 and the vertical antenna unit 210 is 30°.

If the size is not limited, the number of antenna elements 210 can be increased to provide higher gain and higher resolution coverage, but the control complexity of the beam steering angle further increases. And while the number of antenna units 210 is increased, the angle between the inclined antenna unit 210 and the vertical antenna unit 210 or the horizontal antenna unit 210 can also be changed.

Further, the antenna array 200 in this embodiment may further include a switch and a driver.

In the actual use process of the above-mentioned antenna array 200, the surface without the antenna unit 210 may face away from the sky, so that the surface with the antenna unit 210 can face the front, left, back, right and sky.

In order to better illustrate the technical effect that the antenna array 200 of the present application can increase the coverage of the beam, or even increase the coverage of the beam to omnidirectional, the following application scenarios of manipulating the beam of the antenna array 200 of the first embodiment are provided as examples. illustrate:

Figure 3 shows an example of how the 4 antenna elements 210 using the face 1 of the antenna element 210 of the first embodiment steer the beam in different directions. When all 4 antenna elements 210-1 to 210-4 of face 1 are activated, their overlapping beams can be represented by the cones of FIG. 3 . For any plane, the coverage of the beam depends on the spacing between adjacent antenna elements 210 on the same plane. The larger the spacing, the narrower the coverage of the beam.

In order to realize the horizontal steering/scanning of the beam, as shown in FIG. 3 , when all four antenna elements 210 on the same plane are activated, the phase between the adjacent antenna elements 210 in the horizontal direction of each plane can be controlled by difference to achieve horizontal (azimuth plane) steering of the beam. Specifically, in the first application scenario, the phases of the antenna units 210-1 and 210-2 may be different from those of the antenna units 210-3 and 210-4. The phase of the antenna unit 210-2 is set to 45°, and the phase of the antenna unit 210-3 and the antenna unit 210-4 arranged on the surface 1 in FIG. 3 is set to 0°, as shown in FIG. The beam steering angle is 0°, as shown in Figure 5, and the beam steering angle in the horizontal direction is 7°.

In order to realize the vertical steering/scanning of the beam, as shown in Fig. 3, when all four antenna elements on the same face are activated, the phase difference between the adjacent antenna elements in the horizontal direction of each face can be controlled by Vertical (elevation plane) steering of the beam is achieved. Specifically, in the second application scenario, the phases of the antenna units 210-1 and 210-3 may be different from those of the antenna units 210-2 and 210-4. The phase of the antenna unit 210-3 is set to 225°, and the phase of the antenna unit 210-2 and the antenna unit 210-4 arranged on the surface 1 in FIG. 3 is set to 0°, as shown in FIG. The beam steering angle is 20°, as shown in Figure 7, and the beam steering angle in the horizontal direction is 0°.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3 , when all four antenna units 210 are activated, diagonal steering can also be achieved by controlling the phase difference of the two antenna units 210 on at least one diagonal of each facet. Specifically, when the phase of the antenna unit 210-1 can be different from that of the antenna unit 210-4, and the antenna unit 210-2 and the antenna unit 210-3 are kept at the 0° phase reference, positive-diagonal steering of the beam can be achieved. Antenna element 210-2 may be out of phase with antenna element 210-3, while antenna elements 210-1 and 4 remain at the 0° phase reference, allowing for negative diagonal steering of the beam. In the third application scenario, the phase of the antenna unit 210-1 set on the surface 1 in FIG. 3 is 270°, and the phase of the antenna unit 210-3 set on the surface 1 in FIG. 3 is 90°. The phase of the antenna unit 210-2 and the antenna unit 210-4 set on the surface 1 of the 1 is 0°, as shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9, the beam steering angle in the vertical direction is 14°, and the beam steering angle in the horizontal direction is - 14°.

But the beam steering produced by a single facet is limited.

For this purpose, the antenna elements 210 at the junction of two or three adjacent faces can be controlled simultaneously to obtain a steering angle that exceeds the steering limit of each individual face.

As shown in Fig. 10, the beam angle between face 1 and face 2 can be achieved by activating the four antenna elements 210 that are closest to the edges of the two faces, and the overlapping beams of these four antenna elements 210 can be used in Fig. 10. balloon shape representation. By varying the phase difference between the antenna elements 210 on each adjacent face, steering at an intermediate angle between the two faces can be achieved. For example, the phase of the antenna element 210-1 and the antenna element 210-2 provided on the plane 1 is different from or the same as the phase of the antenna element 210-3 and the antenna element 210-4 provided on the plane 2, so that the plane 1 and the plane 2 can be realized. intermediate angle between. Specifically, in the fourth application scenario, the phase of the antenna unit 210-1 and the antenna unit 210-2 of the plane 1, the phase of the antenna unit 210-3 and the antenna unit 210-4 of the plane 2 is 0°, and the main beam is in the horizontal direction. Above is the angle between face 1 and face 2, as shown in Figure 11 and Figure 12, the beam steering angle in the horizontal direction is 315°. In the fifth application scenario, the phase of the antenna unit 210-1 and the antenna unit 210-3 arranged on the surface 4 is 45°, and the phase of the antenna unit 210-3 and the antenna unit 210-4 arranged on the surface 5 is 0° , the main beam is located at the angle between face 4 and face 5 in the vertical direction, as shown in Figure 13 and Figure 14, the beam steering angle in the vertical direction is 23°.

In addition, in order to steer the beam at an oblique angle at the intersection of the three faces, the intersection of face 1 and face 2, face 5 can be achieved by activating the three antenna elements 210 closest to the edges of the adjacent three faces , the overlapping beams of the three antenna elements 210 can be represented by the balloon shape in FIG. 15 . As shown in FIG. 15 , FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 , in the sixth application scenario, when the antenna unit 210 - 1 of face 1 , the antenna unit 210 - 3 of face 2 and the antenna unit 210 - 2 of face 5 are in the active state , and set the phase of the antenna element 210-1 of the plane 1, the antenna element 210-3 of the plane 2, and the antenna element 210-2 of the plane 5 to the same phase (for example, 0°), and the main beam will be directed to the three planes. diagonal.

In addition, the diagonal beams can also be steered vertically by changing the phase of the antenna elements 210 of face 5. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 , in the seventh application scenario, when the phase of the antenna unit 210-2 of the plane 5 is 315°, the phase of the antenna unit 210-1 of the plane 1 is 0°, and the phase of the antenna unit 210-1 of the plane 2 is 0°. When the phase of the antenna unit 210-3 is 0°, the beam steering angle in the vertical direction is 24°, and the beam steering angle in the horizontal direction is 315°.

In addition, the step size of the driver can determine the resolution of the beam steering angle.

Further, the present application provides the following two application scenarios for manipulating the beams of the antenna array 200 of the second embodiment to illustrate.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the antenna array includes 17 antenna elements, and the 17 antenna elements are arranged to form a curved surface. When in use, the antenna unit 210-1 may be positioned towards the sky. And the angle between the antenna units 210-2, 210-4, 210-6, 210-8, 210-10, 210-11, 210-12 and 210-13 and the vertical line in their respective orientations is 45 degrees. Antenna elements 210-3, 210-5, 210-7, 210-9, 210-14, 210-15, 210-16 and 210-17 are directed to the respective ground/sea level. The distance between adjacent antenna elements is greater than half a wavelength and less than the entire wavelength separation at the center frequency of adjacent antenna elements 210 .

To steer a high gain beam in any given direction, at least 4 adjacent antenna elements 210 can be activated and the overlapping energy of the beams emitted by multiple antenna elements 210 can be maximized by adjusting the phase of the activated antenna elements 210 .

In an application scenario, the antenna units 210-1, 210-2, 210-4, 210-6 and 210-8 are activated, and the antenna units 210-1, 210-2, 210-4, 210-6 and 210 are The phases of -8 are set to 0°, 112.5°, 112.5°, 112.5° and 112.5°, respectively, to allow antenna elements 210-2, 210-4, 210-6 and 210-8 to have beam energies that overlap with 210-1 , so that the radiation direction of the main beam of the antenna array is the same as the facing direction of the antenna unit 210-1. If the phase of an antenna element is advanced relative to the adjacent antenna element, the energy of the beam of the antenna element will be directed in the direction of the adjacent antenna element. If the phase of an antenna element lags relative to an adjacent antenna element, the energy of the antenna element's beam will be steered away from the adjacent antenna element. And the larger the phase difference between adjacent antenna elements with overlapping beam energies, the larger the steering angle of the main beam. Thus, for 210-2, which has a 112.5° phase lead compared to 210-1, its north-facing beam (initially at a 45° angle from vertical) would be directed upwards toward the sky. Additionally, for 210-6, which has a phase lead of 112.5° compared to 210-1, its west-facing beam (which is also initially angled at 45° from vertical) is also directed upwards into the sky, resulting in 5 antenna elements 210-1, 210-2, 210-4, 210-6, and 210-8 are capable of sending high gain main beams directed skyward.

In another application scenario, the antenna units 210-1, 210-2, 210-6, 210-10 and 210-14 are activated, and the antenna units 210-1, 210-2, 210-6, 210-10 and The phases of 210-14 are set to 90°, 22.5°, 22.5°, 0°, and 22.5°, respectively, to allow antenna elements 210-2, 210-4, 210-6, and 210-8 to have overlapping beams with 210-1 energy to steer the main beam in the 210-10 direction (northwest at a 45-degree inclination from vertical).

The above application example of steering beams shows how the antenna array 200 optimizes the area of overlapping beams by controlling the phase of the adjacent antenna elements 210, so as to expand the coverage of the beams emitted by the antenna array 200, so that the coverage of the beams emitted by the antenna array 200 can be increased. The range is increased, even to omnidirectional space.

Further, the corresponding relationship between the phase of the antenna unit 210 and the beam steering angle of the antenna array 200 can be obtained through measurement data or through electronic simulation, and the corresponding relationship between the phase of the antenna unit 210 and the beam steering angle of the antenna array 200 can be obtained. Stored in a calibration lookup table within the controller. During the use of the antenna array 200, the target beam steering angle can be determined first, and then the antenna unit 210 corresponding to the target beam steering angle and the phase of each antenna unit 210 can be found in the calibration look-up table, and then the controller will match the target beam steering angle to the target beam steering angle. The antenna units 210 corresponding to the beam steering angle are activated, and the phases of these antenna units 210 are set to steer the beam to the optimum receiving angle, that is, to the target beam steering angle. Compared with the mechanical steering technology, the antenna array 200 of the present application can switch the beam steering instantaneously, especially for mobile applications such as marine vessels.

In addition, the present application also discloses an antenna unit, and the above-mentioned antenna array can be formed by a plurality of the antenna units. Please refer to FIG. 20 , which is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the antenna unit 400 of the present application. As shown in FIG. 20 , the antenna unit 400 includes a first radiator 410 , a second radiator 420 and a feeder. The first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 both adopt a dipole structure and are provided with a plurality of slots, the feeder includes a first output port 430 and a second output port 440, and the first output port 430 is coupled to the first radiation The body 410, the second output port 440 is coupled to the second radiator 420, and the phase difference between the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 is 90°.

In this embodiment, both the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 adopt a dipole structure, and each of the dipole structures is provided with multiple slots, so that multiple resonances can be generated, and the frequency response can be adjusted to achieve higher bandwidth, providing wide-bandwidth radiation; in addition, the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 are respectively coupled to the first output port 430 and the second output port 440, and the space between the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 The phase difference is 90°, the phase difference between the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 is 90°, and a right-handed circularly polarized wave can be generated, and the phase between the second radiator 420 and the first radiator 410 The difference is 90°, which can produce left-handed circularly polarized waves.

In this embodiment, the dipole structures of the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 may be tapered dipoles, that is, the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 adopt a gradually widening structure, which can obtain more Wide impedance matching, thus enabling higher bandwidth, the fractional bandwidth of the structure can exceed 10% in each polarization.

In addition, different bandwidth increasing effects can be achieved by controlling the size, position and shape of the grooves opened on the dipole structure. For example, the slots can be designed in different shapes, such as rectangular, circular, oval, polygonal, and the like. Of course, the grooves can also be designed in irregular shapes.

Optionally, the patterns of the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 are symmetrical, so that electrical walls can be generated between orthogonal planes, which improves the isolation between polarizations.

Optionally, both the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 may be disposed on the first substrate 460 . Specifically, the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420 may be directly printed on the first substrate 460 . The first substrate 460 may be a printed circuit board or a stamped board.

In this embodiment, the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 may be connected to the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420, respectively, through a semi-rigid RF cable.

One of the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 may include a 90° phase-shifted delay line 431 that utilizes the time delay difference of the signal between the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 to obtain the 90° phase. shift. The delay line 431 with a 90° phase shift is equivalent to a 90° phase shift of the center frequency of the antenna unit 400 . And, the other of the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 may include a quarter wavelength line 441 . The quarter wavelength line 441 may be a shorted quarter wavelength line 441, such that at the operating bandwidth of the antenna (~10% fractional bandwidth), there may be a gap between the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 The phase difference is stabilized at 90°, resulting in a wide axial ratio bandwidth, which can be better than 3dB. Specifically, one end of the quarter-wavelength line 441 can be grounded, so that the quarter-wavelength line 441 is a short-circuit transmission line, but of course it is not limited to this. Specifically, both ends of the other of the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 may contain shorted quarter wave lines.

Further, the impedance of the quarter wavelength line 441 may be 1.5 times the impedance of the output port to which it belongs.

In this embodiment, the power feeder may further include an input port 450 and a power divider. The power divider is distributedly coupled to the input port 450 , the first output port 430 and the second output port 440 . The power divider can divide the energy of one electromagnetic wave input signal into two output signals, input one of the two output signals to the first radiator 410 through the first output port 430, and pass the other of the two output signals through the The second output port 440 is input to the second radiator 420 . The power divider may be a Wilkinson type power divider.

The power feeding part may be provided on the second substrate 470 . The second substrate 470 may be a printed circuit board or a stamped board. And the second substrate 470 may include a ground surface as a reflector of the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420, and the reflector may focus the antenna beams generated by the first radiator 410 and the second radiator 420, so that the antenna can be increased gain. The ground surface as the reflector can be made of metal.

Further, by controlling the distance between the first substrate 460 and the second substrate 470, the gain can be maximized while maintaining a compact structure. Specifically, the distance between the first substrate 460 and the second substrate 470 may be 18-23mm. Wherein, the optimal distance between the first substrate 460 and the second substrate 470 may be 20 mm, so that a high gain higher than 9 dBic can be obtained at 1.6 GHz while maintaining a compact structure.

The above are only the embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the scope of the patent of the present application. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made by using the contents of the description and drawings of the present application, or directly or indirectly applied in other related technical fields, All are similarly included in the scope of patent protection of the present application.

Claims

An antenna array, characterized in that the antenna array comprises:

A plurality of antenna units, the antenna units are arranged to form at least n-1 faces of an n-hedron, n is an integer greater than or equal to 4, and each of the at least n-1 faces is provided with at least two Antenna units, the distance between the adjacent antenna units on the same plane is smaller than the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna units; and

A controller connected to the antenna unit, the controller is used to control the start, stop and phase of each of the antenna units.
The antenna array according to claim 1, wherein four of the antenna elements are provided on each of the at least n-1 surfaces.
The antenna array according to claim 1, wherein the distance between the adjacent antenna elements on the same plane is greater than 0.5 times the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna elements.
The antenna array according to claim 1, wherein the antenna array further comprises:

a switch, the controller is connected to each of the antenna units through the switch, and is used to control the start and stop of the antenna unit;

A driver, the controller is connected with each of the antenna units through the driver, and is used for controlling the phase of the antenna unit.
The antenna array according to claim 1, wherein the controller stores the correspondence between the phase of the antenna element and the beam steering angle.
The antenna array according to claim 1, wherein the n-hedron is a hexahedron.
An antenna array, characterized in that the antenna array comprises:

a plurality of antenna units, the antenna units are arranged to form an arc surface, and the distance between the adjacent antenna units is smaller than the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the antenna units; and

A controller connected to the antenna unit, the controller is used to control the start, stop and phase of each of the antenna units.
The antenna array according to claim 7, wherein the arc surface is at least partially spherical or at least partially ellipsoidal.
The antenna array according to claim 7, wherein the antenna array further comprises:

a switch, the controller is connected to each of the antenna units through the switch, and is used to control the start and stop of the antenna unit;

A driver, the controller is connected with each of the antenna units through the driver, and is used for controlling the phase of the antenna unit.
The antenna array according to claim 7, wherein the controller stores the corresponding relationship between the phase of the antenna element and the beam steering angle.
The antenna array according to any one of claims 1-10, wherein the antenna unit comprises:

A first radiator, a second radiator and a feeder, wherein the first radiator and the second radiator both adopt a dipole structure and are provided with a plurality of slots, and the feeder includes a first output port and a second output port, the first output port is coupled to the first radiator, the second output port is coupled to the second radiator, the first output port and the second output port are The phase difference between them is 90°.
The antenna array according to claim 11, wherein,

The patterns of the first radiator and the second radiator are symmetrical.
The antenna array according to claim 11, wherein,

One of the first output port and the second output port includes a 90° phase-shifted delay line, and the other includes a quarter-wavelength line.
The antenna array of claim 13, wherein:

The impedance of the quarter wavelength line is 1.5 times the impedance of the output port to which it belongs.
The antenna array according to claim 11, wherein,

The power feeder further includes an input port and a power divider distributedly coupled to the input port, the first output port and the second output port.
The antenna array according to claim 11, wherein,

The shape of the groove includes at least one of a rectangle, a circle, an ellipse and a polygon.
The antenna array of claim 11, wherein the antenna unit further comprises a first substrate and a second substrate;

The first radiator and the second radiator are provided on the first substrate, the feeder is provided on the second substrate, and the second substrate includes as the first radiator and the the ground surface of the reflector of the second radiator.
The antenna array of claim 17, wherein:

The distance between the first substrate and the second substrate is 20 mm.
The antenna array of claim 17, wherein:

The first substrate and the second substrate are printed circuit boards or stamped boards.