Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to solve the technical problem of providing a phased array antenna motion control device and a control method thereof, which are used for realizing the rapid tracking without scanning blind areas by combining the mechanical motion of a phased array antenna and a traditional communication-in-motion antenna.
The invention adopts the technical scheme that the motion control device of the phased array antenna comprises a phased array antenna main body and a mechanical execution unit, wherein the phased array antenna main body is arranged on the mechanical execution unit; the phased array antenna main body comprises an antenna feeder unit, a control unit and a first motion sensing unit; the mechanical execution unit comprises an antenna mounting structure and a base, and a second motion sensing unit is arranged on the base; the phased array antenna main body is fixedly arranged on a base through an antenna mounting structure, the base is arranged on a movable carrier, and the movable carrier is a vehicle, a ship or an airplane; the antenna feeder unit, the first motion sensing unit, the second motion sensing unit and the mechanical execution unit are electrically connected with the control unit.
Furthermore, the antenna feeder unit is used for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves for satellite communication, the control unit controls the mechanical execution unit to adjust the posture and the direction of the phased array antenna main body through electromagnetic energy information received by the antenna feeder unit, and controls the antenna feeder unit to adjust the phase and further adjust the pointing direction of the phased array antenna main body; the first motion sensing unit and the second motion sensing unit feed back real-time state information of the phased array antenna main body and the moving carrier to the control unit.
Furthermore, the first motion sensing unit and the second motion sensing unit both comprise a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetometer and a three-axis gyroscope; the first motion sensing unit detects real-time attitude and azimuth information of the phased array antenna main body, and the second motion sensing unit detects real-time attitude and azimuth information of the mobile carrier.
Furthermore, the antenna mounting structure of the mechanical execution unit comprises a small pitching-azimuth turntable, and the antenna mounting structure drives the phased array antenna main body to perform pitching motion and horizontal-azimuth rotation motion relative to the base and the mobile carrier; the pitching motion angle range of the phased array antenna main body is 0-90 degrees, and the rotation angle range of the phased array antenna main body in the horizontal direction is 0-360 degrees.
Another technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve the above technical problem is to provide a control method for a phased array antenna motion control apparatus, including the steps of: s1, scanning in full airspace to search satellite signals, and recording the position with the strongest signal energy, namely the position of the satellite; s2, the control unit controls the mechanical execution unit to adjust the posture and the orientation of the phased array antenna main body, so that the strongest orientation falls into the electric scanning range of the phased array antenna; s3, the control unit controls the phase of the antenna feed system to make the antenna beam aim at the satellite direction to realize the satellite signal capture; s4: with the movement of the satellite and the mobile carrier, the space domain near the satellite position at the previous moment is scanned by adopting multiple approximation scanning, and the phase of a mechanical execution unit or an antenna is coordinately controlled, so that the wave beam of the phased array antenna always points to the position of the strongest signal of electromagnetic energy, and the tracking and locking of the satellite signal are realized.
Further, the full spatial domain scanning in step S1 includes the following steps: s11: dividing a sky airspace into a plurality of grid partitions; s12: electrically scanning the grid subareas in the electric scanning area of the phased array antenna; s13: the control unit controls the mechanical execution unit to adjust the pitching angle and the azimuth angle to perform mechanical scanning on the grid subareas outside the electric scanning area of the phased array antenna, so that the grid subareas originally outside the electric scanning area of the phased array antenna are converted into the grid subareas inside the electric scanning area of the phased array antenna; s14: repeating the steps S32-S33 until the scanning of all the grid partitions in the nearby airspace is finished; s15: and the control unit compares the electromagnetic energy obtained by scanning, and the square grid with the maximum energy value is the square grid with the strongest signal, namely the azimuth of the satellite.
Furthermore, the electric scanning means that the antenna feed unit changes the beam direction of the antenna by adjusting the phase to scan the electromagnetic energy of each grid partition of the electric scanning area; the mechanical scanning means that the mechanical execution unit changes the posture of the antenna main body by adjusting a pitch angle and an azimuth angle, and then changes an electric scanning area; the antenna feeder unit performs electrical scanning in a conical airspace within the range of +/-60 degrees, the electrical scanning area is a circular area of the airspace projected by the conical airspace, and the electrical scanning area is a range of transmitting or receiving electromagnetic wave beams.
Further, the electrical scanning scans electromagnetic energy of each grid partition of the electrical scanning area in a traversing manner, where the traversing manner is a manner of rotating outward from a central point, or a serpentine row-by-row/column-by-row manner.
Further, the multiple approximation scan in step S4 specifically includes: s41: along with the movement of the satellite and the mobile carrier, in order to continuously track the satellite signal, the near airspace taking the satellite azimuth at the previous moment as a central point is electrically scanned, and the range of the near airspace is determined according to the movement speed of the satellite and the movement speed of the carrier; s42: respectively carrying out primary electric scanning on the upper direction, the lower direction, the left direction and the right direction of a circular area determined by a nearby airspace; s43: the control unit compares the electromagnetic energy obtained by scanning, confirms the azimuth with the maximum energy value, takes the azimuth as a new central point and electrically scans the airspace near the azimuth as a new central point; s44: when the nearby airspace exceeds the electric scanning range, the mechanical execution unit adjusts the pitching angle and the azimuth angle to change the posture of the phased array antenna main body, so that the nearby airspace falls into the electric scanning range; s45: and repeating the steps S42-S44 until the azimuth with the maximum energy is found, namely the azimuth of the satellite at the current moment.
Furthermore, in the full airspace scanning for realizing satellite initial signal capture and multiple approach scanning for realizing satellite signal tracking and locking, when the mobile carrier shakes, changes the motion direction or changes the attitude, the second motion sensing unit transmits the measured real-time attitude and azimuth information of the mobile carrier to the control unit, the control unit calculates to obtain the attitude angle and the azimuth angle of the phased array antenna main body to be compensated, the phase adjustment is carried out through the antenna feed unit to compensate the phased array beam direction, and when the compensated attitude angle and the azimuth angle calculated by the control unit exceed the electric scanning range, the mechanical execution unit adjusts the pitching angle and the azimuth angle to compensate the exceeded part.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects: the invention provides a phased array antenna motion control device and a control method thereof, which realize non-blind area scanning by combining mechanical adjustment of a mechanical execution unit with phase adjustment of a phased array antenna main body; the electric scanning speed of the phased array antenna main body is high, and the tracking speed is ensured; the pitching angle and the azimuth angle of the phased array antenna main body are fed back through the first motion sensing unit, and closed-loop control of mechanical adjustment is achieved; the attitude compensation of the phased array antenna main body is carried out on the measured real-time attitude and azimuth information of the mobile carrier through the second motion sensing unit, so that the tracking accuracy is ensured; the full-space scanning method for signal capture and the multiple approximation scanning method for signal tracking ensure the real-time and accuracy of tracking.
Detailed Description
The invention is further described below with reference to the figures and examples.
Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an architecture of a motion control device for a phased array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 1, a phased array antenna motion control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a phased array antenna main body and a mechanical execution unit, where the phased array antenna main body is mounted on the mechanical execution unit; the phased array antenna main body comprises an antenna feeder unit, a control unit and a first motion sensing unit; the mechanical execution unit comprises an antenna mounting structure and a base, and a second motion sensing unit is arranged on the base; the phased array antenna main body is fixedly arranged on a base through an antenna mounting structure, the base is arranged on a movable carrier, and the movable carrier is a vehicle, a ship or an airplane; the antenna feeder unit, the first motion sensing unit, the second motion sensing unit and the mechanical execution unit are electrically connected with the control unit.
Specifically, in the phased array antenna motion control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the antenna feeder unit is configured to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves for satellite communication, and the control unit controls the mechanical execution unit to adjust the attitude and the orientation of the phased array antenna main body through electromagnetic energy information received by the antenna feeder unit, and controls the antenna feeder unit to adjust the phase, thereby further adjusting the pointing direction of the phased array antenna main body; the first motion sensing unit and the second motion sensing unit feed back real-time state information of the phased array antenna main body and the mobile carrier to the control unit; the first motion sensing unit and the second motion sensing unit comprise a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetometer and a three-axis gyroscope; the first motion sensing unit detects real-time attitude and azimuth information of the phased array antenna main body, and the second motion sensing unit detects real-time attitude and azimuth information of the mobile carrier.
Preferably, in the phased array antenna motion control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the antenna mounting structure of the mechanical execution unit includes a small pitch-azimuth turntable, and the antenna mounting structure drives the phased array antenna main body to perform pitch motion and horizontal rotation motion with respect to the base and the mobile carrier; the pitching motion angle range of the phased array antenna main body is 0-90 degrees, and the rotation angle range of the phased array antenna main body in the horizontal direction is 0-360 degrees.
The control method of the phased array antenna motion control device provided by the embodiment of the invention comprises the following steps:
s1, scanning in full airspace to search satellite signals, and recording the position with the strongest signal energy, namely the position of the satellite;
s2, the control unit controls the mechanical execution unit to adjust the posture and the orientation of the phased array antenna main body, so that the strongest orientation falls into the electric scanning range of the phased array antenna;
s3, the control unit controls the phase of the antenna feed system to make the antenna beam aim at the satellite direction to realize the satellite signal capture;
s4: with the movement of the satellite and the mobile carrier, the space domain near the satellite position at the previous moment is scanned by adopting multiple approximation scanning, and the phase of a mechanical execution unit or an antenna is coordinately controlled, so that the wave beam of the phased array antenna always points to the position of the strongest signal of electromagnetic energy, and the tracking and locking of the satellite signal are realized.
The phased array antenna body scanning mode comprises electrical scanning and mechanical scanning. The electric scanning means that the antenna feeder unit changes the direction of the antenna by adjusting the phase to scan the electromagnetic energy in an electric scanning area; the mechanical scanning means that the mechanical execution unit changes the direction of the antenna by adjusting the pitch angle and the azimuth angle to scan the space of a nearby airspace; the antenna feeder unit performs electric scanning in a conical airspace within the range of +/-60 degrees, the electric scanning area is a circular area in which the conical airspace is projected to a nearby airspace, the electric scanning area is an electromagnetic wave beam coverage range, and the range is determined by the beam width of the phased array antenna body. In the electric scanning blind area, the mechanical actuating mechanism outputs extra pitch angle and azimuth angle for adjustment, thereby carrying out full airspace scanning.
The full airspace scanning is to divide the airspace into a plurality of grid partitions, wherein the large circle represents a nearby airspace, the small circle represents an electric scanning area, and the full airspace scanning specifically comprises: electrically scanning the grid subareas in the electric scanning area in a nearby airspace; the mechanical execution unit adjusts the pitching angle and the azimuth angle to perform mechanical scanning; within the small circle range of the solid line in fig. 2, each square is directly scanned electrically; outputting an attitude angle and an azimuth angle by a mechanical execution unit outside a small circle range in an electric scanning blind area figure 2 to enable the blind area to enter the electric scanning range, such as a dotted line small circle in the figure 2, then performing electric scanning on each square in the range, and changing the original blind area into an reachable range of the electric scanning after the mechanical execution unit outputs an attitude angle and an azimuth angle; and repeating the electrical scanning and the mechanical scanning until the scanning control unit of all the grid partitions of the nearby airspace compares the electromagnetic energy obtained by scanning, wherein the grid with the largest energy value is the grid with the strongest signal, namely the direction of the satellite, and finishing the signal acquisition.
The mechanical scanning is used in conjunction with the electrical scanning to traverse each square in the near airspace in a manner that rotates outward from the center point, or in a serpentine column-by-column/row-by-row manner, such as in the direction of the directional lines of fig. 3 or 4.
In the signal capturing stage, when the mobile carrier shakes, the motion direction changes or the attitude changes, attitude compensation of the phased array antenna main body is carried out in the full airspace scanning process, the second motion sensing unit transmits the measured real-time attitude and azimuth information of the mobile carrier to the control unit, the control unit calculates and obtains the attitude angle and the azimuth angle of the phased array antenna main body needing compensation, phase adjustment is carried out through the antenna feed unit to compensate the direction of the phased array main body, and when the compensation attitude angle and the azimuth angle calculated by the control unit exceed the electric scanning range, the mechanical execution unit adjusts the pitching angle and the azimuth angle to compensate the exceeding part.
After the signals are captured, due to the movement of the carrier and the satellite, the wave beam of the phased array antenna body still stays in the direction of the satellite at the previous moment, so that the actual satellite is deviated, the phased array antenna body then carries out multiple approaching scanning on a nearby airspace and points to the maximum value of the signals, and the signal tracking is realized.
Referring to fig. 5, in the control method of the phased array antenna motion control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the large circle of the solid line represents a near airspace, the small circle of the dotted line represents a beam coverage of the phased array antenna body, the five-pointed star of the dotted line represents a satellite at a previous time, and the five-pointed star of the solid line represents a satellite at a current time. The phased array antenna body performs one electrical scanning in a nearby airspace, for example, as shown in fig. 5, signal energy detection is performed sequentially from top to bottom, from left to right, and the detected electromagnetic energy is sent to the control unit for judgment, so that the orientation of the satellite can be further locked, as shown by a small solid line circle in fig. 5. Performing multiple electrical scans in this manner gradually reduces the range and obtains the direction of the satellite at the current time.
The multiple approximation scan specifically includes:
s41: along with the movement of the satellite and the mobile carrier, in order to continuously track the satellite signal, the near airspace taking the satellite azimuth at the previous moment as a central point is electrically scanned, and the range of the near airspace is determined according to the movement speed of the satellite and the movement speed of the carrier;
s42: respectively carrying out primary electric scanning on the upper direction, the lower direction, the left direction and the right direction of a circular area determined by a nearby airspace;
s43: the control unit compares the electromagnetic energy obtained by scanning, confirms the azimuth with the maximum energy value, takes the azimuth as a new central point and electrically scans the airspace near the azimuth as a new central point;
s44: when the nearby airspace exceeds the electric scanning range, the mechanical execution unit adjusts the pitching angle and the azimuth angle to change the posture of the phased array antenna main body, so that the nearby airspace falls into the electric scanning range;
s45: and repeating the steps S42-S44 until the azimuth with the maximum energy is found, namely the azimuth of the satellite at the current moment.
In summary, the phased array antenna motion control apparatus and the control method thereof according to the embodiments of the present invention implement blind-area-free scanning by combining mechanical adjustment of the mechanical execution unit with phase adjustment of the phased array antenna main body; the electric scanning speed of the phased array antenna main body is high, and the tracking speed is ensured; the pitching angle and the azimuth angle of the phased array antenna main body are fed back through the first motion sensing unit, and closed-loop control of mechanical adjustment is achieved; carrying out attitude compensation on the phased array antenna main body through the second motion sensing unit according to the measured real-time attitude and azimuth information of the mobile carrier; the tracking accuracy is ensured; the full-space scanning method for signal capture and the multiple approximation scanning method for signal tracking ensure the real-time and accuracy of tracking.
Although the present invention has been described with respect to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.