JP2015179950A - Antenna device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an antenna device which can perform fine adjustment electronically in the transmission and reception direction of radio waves and can reduce manufacturing cost.SOLUTION: An array antenna 11 is formed by arranging a plurality of element antennas 11a on a plane. Rough adjustment means 12 is provided so as to be able to rotate the array antenna 11 in the elevation angle direction and the azimuth direction, thus controlling the direction of the array antenna 11. Fine adjustment means 13a is provided so as to be able to control the transmission and reception direction of radio waves, by generating a phase difference between respective element antennas 11a. The fine adjustment means 13a has a phase shifter 25 for adjusting the phase of transmission and reception signals for respective element antennas 11a.

Description

  The present invention relates to an antenna device.

  Conventionally, as an antenna device for performing communication with a satellite using linearly polarized waves, an array antenna having a plurality of element antennas arranged vertically and horizontally on a plane is provided, and the orientation of the array antenna is controlled by mechanical drive. Some are adjustable (see Non-Patent Document 1, for example). An example of such an antenna device is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5 (a), in order to align the direction of the array antenna 111 with the reception direction and transmission direction of the radio wave, the antenna device 110 is moved by the drive device 112a through the support shaft 112b. The direction of the array antenna 111 is rotated by rotating it in the (elevation) direction (the direction of the double-headed arrow V in FIG. 5 (a)) and the azimuth (azimuth) direction (the direction of the double-headed arrow H in FIG. 5 (a)). It comes to adjust. In addition, the array antenna 111 is rotated in a plane along the surface by the driving device 112a (in the direction of the double-headed arrow P in FIG. 5A), so that vertical (V) polarization and horizontal (H) polarization are obtained. The polarization angle can be adjusted.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, in this antenna device 110, for each element antenna 111a, a low-noise amplifier 122 for reception, an amplifier 123 for transmission, and the like are connected via a circulator 121, and a circulator 124 is further provided. To the combining / distributing circuit 126. The merging / distributing circuit 126 is composed of one, and is connected between all the element antennas 111a and the transmission / reception circuits 113b. The reception / transmission circuit 113b transmits the reception signal from each element antenna 111a to the transmission / reception circuit 113b. Is sent to each element antenna 111a. In the antenna apparatus 110 shown in FIG. 5, a high-frequency signal for transmission is fed to each element antenna 111a with equal phase and equal amplitude by the combining / distributing circuit 126 during transmission.

  Further, as a conventional antenna device, in order to avoid driving the entire array antenna when beam scanning is performed in a wide range in the elevation angle direction, each element antenna is driven in the elevation angle direction, or each element antenna is driven by a phase shifter. In some cases, fine adjustment in the elevation angle direction is performed by changing the phase of the transmission / reception signal (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Mitsuru Suganuma, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Nagoya Tsubasa, Misao Furukawa, Takashi Motohisa, “Research and development of a small earth station (VSAT) that can be installed with simple operation in the event of a disaster-Challenges to simplify the earth station installation work And its solutions ~ ", IEICE Technical Report, 2013-2, SAT2012-47

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-178313

  When performing highly accurate communication, it is necessary to align the direction of the antenna with the radio wave reception direction or the transmission direction with high accuracy. In the conventional antenna apparatus as shown in Non-Patent Document 1 and FIG. 5, the orientation of the array antenna is adjusted by mechanical drive, so the mechanism for performing fine adjustment with high accuracy becomes complicated, and the manufacturing cost increases. There was a problem. The antenna device described in Patent Document 1 can perform fine adjustment in the elevation direction electronically, not mechanically, but fine adjustment in the azimuth direction is mechanically driven and performs communication with high accuracy. Therefore, there is still a problem that the manufacturing cost increases.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an antenna device that can finely adjust the transmission / reception direction of radio waves electronically and reduce manufacturing costs. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, an antenna device according to the present invention includes an array antenna formed by arranging a plurality of element antennas on a surface, and the elevation direction and orientation of the array antenna so as to control the direction of the array antenna. Rough adjustment means provided rotatably in the angular direction and fine adjustment means provided so as to control the transmission / reception direction of radio waves by generating a phase difference between the element antennas.

  The antenna device according to the present invention performs coarse adjustment for roughly adjusting the direction of the array antenna by rotating the array antenna in the elevation angle direction and the azimuth direction by the coarse adjustment means when the array antenna is directed in the transmission / reception direction during communication. Then, the fine adjustment means can generate a phase difference between the element antennas to finely adjust the radio wave transmission / reception direction. Thereby, the transmission / reception direction of a radio wave can be adjusted with high accuracy, and highly accurate communication can be performed.

  The antenna device according to the present invention can finely adjust not only the elevation angle direction but also the azimuth angle direction by the fine adjustment means, and the transmission / reception direction of radio waves can be adjusted with high accuracy in all directions. Since the antenna device according to the present invention can finely adjust the radio wave transmission / reception direction electronically by the fine adjustment means, a complicated and expensive fine adjustment device driven by a mechanical drive is unnecessary, and the manufacturing cost is reduced. can do.

  In order to further reduce the cost, all adjustments can be made electronically. However, in that case, the orientation of the array antenna is often greatly deviated from the transmission / reception direction, and the gain of the transmission / reception signal is lowered. . Further, if the orientation of the array antenna is deviated during transmission, the beam angle of the transmission signal with respect to the surface of the array antenna becomes large, so that the side lobe of the transmission signal becomes large and may interfere with other systems. On the other hand, the antenna device according to the present invention can maintain the gain of the transmission / reception signal high by roughly adjusting the direction of the array antenna by the coarse adjustment means, and can suppress the formation of side lobes. Can prevent interference to the system.

  In the antenna device according to the present invention, it is preferable that the fine adjustment means has a phase shifter for adjusting the phase of the transmission / reception signal for each element antenna. In this case, the phase can be finely adjusted for each element antenna by each phase shifter, and the transmission / reception direction of radio waves can be adjusted with high accuracy.

  In the antenna device according to the present invention, each element antenna is divided into a plurality of subgroups including one or a plurality of element antennas, and the fine adjustment means sets the element antennas in the same subgroup to the same phase, It may be configured to generate a phase difference between the subgroups. The fine adjustment means preferably has a phase shifter for adjusting the phase of the transmission / reception signal for each subgroup. In this case, although the communication accuracy is lower than the case where the phases of all the element antennas are adjusted, members such as a phase shifter for generating a phase difference can be reduced, and the material cost can be reduced. . Each element antenna may be divided into subgroups as long as sufficient communication accuracy is obtained.

  Further, when dividing into this subgroup, for example, each element antenna is arranged in a lattice shape along the elevation direction and azimuth direction of the array antenna, and the element antennas arranged along the elevation direction or azimuth direction, Or you may divide | segment into each subgroup so that the element antennas in the rectangular block of a predetermined | prescribed magnitude | size may become the same subgroup. When communicating with satellites orbiting the earth over the equator, in order to prevent interference with other systems, it is necessary to adjust the position in the azimuth direction with higher accuracy than the position adjustment in the elevation direction. is there. For this reason, it is preferable that the element antennas arranged in the elevation angle direction are divided into the same subgroup so that fine adjustment in the azimuth angle direction can be performed with high accuracy. Thereby, communication with a satellite can be performed with high accuracy while reducing costs.

  The antenna device according to the present invention is configured to perform communication using linearly polarized waves, has a polarization adjusting unit, and each element antenna is provided with a pair capable of transmitting and receiving mutually orthogonal polarized waves. Preferably, the polarization adjusting means is configured to be able to adjust the amplitude between the respective feeding points for each element antenna. In this case, the polarization angle of the vertical (V) polarization and the horizontal (H) polarization can be electronically adjusted by adjusting the amplitude between the feeding points by the polarization adjusting means. Thereby, a complicated and expensive device for fine adjustment of the polarization angle by mechanical drive is unnecessary, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the antenna apparatus which can perform fine adjustment of the transmission / reception direction of an electromagnetic wave electronically and can reduce manufacturing cost can be provided.

It is the (a) perspective view which shows the antenna device of embodiment of 1st this invention, (b) The circuit diagram of a transmitter / receiver. It is (a) perspective view which shows the antenna device of embodiment of 2nd this invention, (b) It is a circuit diagram of a transmitter / receiver. It is a perspective view of the modification which divided | segmented each element antenna of the array antenna of the antenna apparatus shown in FIG. 2 into the subgroup along (a) elevation angle direction and (b) azimuth angle direction. It is the (a) front view of an array antenna which shows the antenna device of embodiment of 3rd this invention, (b) It is a circuit diagram of a polarized-wave adjustment means. It is the (a) perspective view which shows the conventional antenna apparatus, (b) It is a circuit diagram of a transmitter / receiver.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an antenna apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the antenna device 10 is configured to communicate with a satellite or the like using linearly polarized waves, and includes an array antenna 11, a coarse adjustment unit 12, and a transceiver 13.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the array antenna 11 has a rectangular plate shape, and has a plurality of element antennas 11a on one surface. The element antennas 11 a are arranged in a lattice pattern along the vertical direction and the horizontal direction of the array antenna 11.

  The coarse adjustment means 12 has a drive device 12a and a support shaft 12b extending upward from the drive device 12a, and the array antenna 11 is attached to the tip of the support shaft 12b. The coarse adjustment means 12 causes the drive device 12a to drive the array antenna 11 through the support shaft 12b in the elevation angle (elevation) direction (the direction of the double arrow V in FIG. 1A) and the azimuth angle (azimuth) direction (FIG. The direction of the array antenna 11 is adjusted by rotating it in the direction of the double arrow H in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1B, the transceiver 13 includes fine adjustment means 13a and a transmission / reception circuit 13b. The fine adjustment means 13a is disposed between each element antenna 11a and the transmission / reception circuit 13b so as to electrically connect each element antenna 11a and the transmission / reception circuit 13b. The fine adjustment means 13a includes, for each element antenna 11a, a first circulator 21, a low noise amplifier 22, a transmission amplifier 23, a second circulator 24, and a phase shifter 25, which are connected in series. . The first circulator 21 is connected to the feeding point of the element antenna 11a. The low noise amplifier 22 and the transmission amplifier 23 are connected in parallel between the first circulator 21 and the second circulator 24. The phase shifter 25 is connected to the second circulator 24 so that the phase of the transmission / reception signal can be adjusted. Further, the fine adjustment means 13a includes one combining / distributing circuit 26 for connecting each phase shifter 25 and the transmission / reception circuit 13b between the plurality of phase shifters 25 corresponding to each element antenna 11a and the transmission / reception circuit 13b. Have.

  When transmitting / receiving, the transmitter / receiver 13 divides the transmission signal from the transmission / reception circuit 13b into transmission signals for each element antenna 11a by the combining / distributing circuit 26, adjusts the phase of the transmission signal by each phase shifter 25, and then transmits the transmission signal. The signal is sent to the transmission amplifier 23 by the second circulator 24, amplified by the transmission amplifier 23, then sent to the element antenna 11a via the first circulator 21, and transmitted from each element antenna 11a. At this time, each phase shifter 25 generates a phase difference in each transmission signal to control the transmission direction of the transmission signal. In addition, when receiving and receiving, the transceiver 13 sends the reception signal received by each element antenna 11 a to the low noise amplifier 22 by the first circulator 21, amplifies it by the low noise amplifier 22, and then transfers the signal via the second circulator 24. After being sent to the phase shifter 25 and the phases of the received signals from the element antennas 11a are made uniform by the phase shifters 25, the received signals are combined by the combining / distributing circuit 26 and sent to the transmitting / receiving circuit 13b. At this time, a phase difference is generated in each received signal by each phase shifter 25 according to the direction in which the received signal is received, so that the phase of each received signal is aligned and the receiving direction is controlled.

  The transceiver 13 is configured not to generate a phase difference between the element antennas 11a by the phase shifters 25 when the transmission / reception direction is perpendicular to the surface of the array antenna 11. Further, when the transmission / reception direction is deviated from the vertical direction with respect to the surface of the array antenna 11, the transceiver 13 causes each element antenna to be delayed by the phase shifter 25 so that the phase of the element antenna 11a on the deviated direction is delayed. The phase difference between 11a is adjusted.

Next, the operation will be described.
When the antenna device 10 directs the array antenna 11 in the transmission / reception direction during communication, first, the coarse adjustment means 12 rotates the array antenna 11 in the elevation angle direction and the azimuth direction to roughly adjust the direction of the array antenna 11. Make coarse adjustments. Thereafter, the fine adjustment means 13a can generate a phase difference between the element antennas 11a to finely adjust the radio wave transmission / reception direction. Thereby, the transmission / reception direction of a radio wave can be adjusted with high accuracy, and highly accurate communication can be performed.

  The antenna device 10 can perform fine adjustment not only in the elevation angle direction but also in the azimuth angle direction by the fine adjustment means 13a, and the transmission / reception direction of radio waves can be adjusted with high accuracy in all directions. Since the antenna device 10 can finely adjust the radio wave transmission / reception direction electronically by the fine adjustment means 13a, a complicated and expensive device for fine adjustment by mechanical drive is unnecessary, and the manufacturing cost is reduced. Can do.

  The antenna device 10 can maintain the gain of the transmission / reception signal high by roughly adjusting the direction of the array antenna 11 with the coarse adjustment means 12, and can suppress the formation of side lobes and interfere with other systems. Can be prevented.

2 and 3 show an antenna apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the antenna device 30 includes an array antenna 11, a coarse adjustment unit 12, and a transceiver 13. In the following description, the same components as those of the antenna device 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, each element antenna 11a is divided into a plurality of subgroups 31 including one or a plurality of element antennas 11a. In the example shown in FIG. 2A, each subgroup 31 is formed by four element antennas 11 a that are surrounded by a square and that are adjacent in the vertical and horizontal directions. In FIG. 2A, the boundary of each subgroup 31 is indicated by a broken line.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, the fine adjustment means 13a includes, for each subgroup 31, a first circulator 21, a low noise amplifier 22, a transmission amplifier 23, a second circulator 24, and a phase shifter 25. Have. Further, the fine adjustment means 13a includes, for each subgroup 31, a sub merging / distributing circuit 32 that connects the first circulator 21 and each element antenna 11a between the first circulator 21 and each element antenna 11a. Yes. Thereby, the fine adjustment means 13 a makes the element antennas 11 a in the same subgroup 31 have the same phase and generates a phase difference between the subgroups 31.

Next, the operation will be described.
Although the communication accuracy of the antenna device 10 is lower than that in the case of adjusting the phases of all the element antennas 11a, the phase shifter 25, the first circulator 21, the low noise amplifier 22, the transmission for generating the phase difference are transmitted. Members such as the amplifier 23 and the second circulator 24 can be reduced, and the material cost can be reduced.

  Each element antenna 11a may be divided into subgroups 31 as long as sufficient communication accuracy is obtained. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the element antennas 11 a arranged along the elevation angle direction may be divided into the same subgroup 31. In this case, since the position adjustment in the azimuth direction can be performed with higher accuracy than the position adjustment in the elevation angle direction, the position adjustment in the azimuth direction greatly affects the communication accuracy, for example, the earth over the equator. It is effective for communication with satellites that orbit around the satellite. Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, the element antennas 11 a arranged along the azimuth direction may be divided into the same subgroup 31. In this case, the position adjustment in the elevation angle direction can be performed with higher accuracy than the position adjustment in the azimuth angle direction. In FIGS. 3A and 3B, the boundary of each subgroup 31 is indicated by a broken line.

FIG. 4 shows an antenna apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
In the following description, the same components as those of the antenna device 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention or the antenna device 30 according to the second embodiment of the present invention are denoted by the same reference numerals and overlapped. Description is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, in the antenna device of the third embodiment of the present invention, each element antenna 11a is provided so as to be able to generate electric fields orthogonal to each other, and generates electric power for generating the electric fields orthogonal to each other. It has a pair of feeding points 41 and 42 for supplying. Thereby, each element antenna 11a can transmit and receive polarized waves orthogonal to each other.

  As shown in FIG. 4 (b), the antenna device according to the third embodiment of the present invention has polarization adjusting means 43. The polarization adjusting unit 43 includes a pair of input / output terminals 51 and 52, a pair of power distributors 53 and 54, a pair of combiners 55 and 56, and a phase inverter 57 for each element antenna 11a. ing. The input / output terminal 51 is for horizontal polarization, and the input / output terminal 52 is for vertical polarization. The power distributors 53 and 54 are connected to different input / output terminals 51 and 52, respectively, and have a first divided terminal 58 and a second divided terminal 59. Each of the power distributors 53 and 54 divides the power from the input / output terminals 51 and 52 into the first divided terminal 58 and the second divided terminal 59 at a ratio of a: a-1 (0 ≦ a ≦ 1), respectively. And output it. Each of the power distributors 53 and 54 combines the power input from the first divided terminal 58 and the second divided terminal 59 at a ratio of a: a-1 (0 ≦ a ≦ 1), respectively. The data is output to the corresponding input / output terminals 51 and 52.

  The synthesizers 55 and 56 are connected to different feeding points 41 and 42, respectively. The combiner 55 is connected to the first divided terminal 58 of the power distributor 53 and the second divided terminal 59 of the power distributor 54, combines the power from each terminal, and outputs the combined power to the feed point 41. The electric power from 41 is divided | segmented and output to each terminal. The combiner 56 is connected to the first divided terminal 58 of the power distributor 54 and the second divided terminal 59 of the power distributor 53, combines the power from each terminal, and outputs the combined power to the feeding point 42. The electric power from the feeding point 42 is divided and outputted to each terminal. The phase inverter 57 is provided between the second split terminal 59 of the power distributor 54 and the combiner 55, and inverts the phase of power from one side and outputs it to the other side. Thereby, the polarization adjusting means 43 can adjust the amplitude between the feeding points 41 and 42 for each element antenna 11a.

  The fine adjustment means 13a is composed of a pair, and one fine adjustment means 13a is connected to the input / output terminals 51 for horizontal polarization of all element antennas 11a, and the other fine adjustment means 13a is connected to all elements. The input / output terminal 52 for vertical polarization of the antenna 11a is connected. Each fine adjustment means 13a is connected to the transmission / reception circuit 13b, and the polarization angle is adjusted by the transmission / reception circuit 13b.

Next, the operation will be described.
In the antenna device according to the third embodiment of the present invention, the polarization adjusting means 43 adjusts the amplitude between the feed points 41 and 42 to electronically make vertical (V) polarization and horizontal (H) polarization. The polarization angle of the wave can be adjusted. Thereby, a complicated and expensive device for fine adjustment of the polarization angle by mechanical drive is unnecessary, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Antenna apparatus 11 Array antenna 11a Element antenna 12 Coarse adjustment means 12a Drive apparatus 12b Support shaft 13 Transceiver 13a Fine adjustment means 21 1st circulator 22 Low noise amplifier 23 Transmission amplifier 24 2nd circulator 25 Phase shifter 26 Combined distribution circuit 13b Transceiver circuit

30 Antenna device 31 Sub group 32 Sub combining / distributing circuit

41, 42 Feeding point 43 Polarization adjusting means 51, 52 Input / output terminals 53, 54 Power divider 55, 56 Synthesizer 57 Phase inverter 58 First divided terminal 59 Second divided terminal

Claims (6)

An array antenna formed by arranging a plurality of element antennas on the surface;
Coarse adjustment means provided to rotate the array antenna in an elevation direction and an azimuth direction so as to control the direction of the array antenna;
Fine adjustment means provided to control the transmission / reception direction of radio waves by generating a phase difference between each element antenna,
An antenna device comprising:   2. The antenna apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fine adjustment unit includes a phase shifter for adjusting a phase of a transmission / reception signal for each element antenna. Each element antenna is divided into a plurality of subgroups including one or more element antennas,
The antenna apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fine adjustment unit is configured to set the element antennas in the same subgroup to have the same phase and generate a phase difference between the subgroups.   Each element antenna is arranged in a lattice pattern along the elevation direction and azimuth direction of the array antenna, and is divided into each subgroup so that the element antennas arranged along the elevation direction are in the same subgroup. The antenna device according to claim 3.   5. The antenna apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the fine adjustment unit includes a phase shifter for adjusting a phase of a transmission / reception signal for each subgroup. It is configured to communicate using linearly polarized waves,
Having polarization adjustment means;
Each element antenna has a pair of feeding points provided so that polarized waves orthogonal to each other can be transmitted and received,
The antenna device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the polarization adjusting unit is configured to be able to adjust an amplitude between the feeding points for each element antenna.

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