JP2993510B2 - Phased array antenna device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to an active type phased array antenna device using, for example, a transmitting / receiving module for each radiating element.

(Prior Art) As is well known, in an active-type phased array antenna device, the phase of excitation of a transmission signal to a large number of radiating elements arranged in an array and a reception signal from each element are controlled to achieve a desired phase. The transmission pattern and the reception pattern are formed. In this case, the excitation phase of the transmission system and the reception system is digitally controlled by a digital phase shifter in a transmission / reception module provided for each radiating element. FIG. 4 shows a configuration of a general active type phased array antenna device, and FIG. 5 shows a configuration of a transmission / reception module for performing conventional digital phase control.

In FIG. 4, a transmission signal output from a transmitter (exciter) 11 is divided into n signals by a transmission system power supply circuit 12, and after transmission / reception modules 131 to 13n perform excitation phase control corresponding to a predetermined transmission pattern, respectively. , Radiating element 141
Sent to ~ 14n. Further, the respective reception signals obtained by the radiating elements 141 to 14n are subjected to excitation phase control corresponding to a predetermined reception pattern by the transmission / reception modules 131 to 13n, respectively, and then combined by the reception system power supply circuit 15 to be transmitted to the receiver 16. Sent.

Here, the digital phase shifters in the transmission / reception modules 131 to 13n are independently controlled by the control signals from the scanning controller 17, respectively. That is, the scanning controller 17 determines a desired transmission pattern, a phase amount of each of the modules 131 to 13n according to the reception pattern, generates a corresponding control signal, and further changes the control signal according to the scanning range. , Desired transmission patterns and reception patterns can be formed, and scanning can be performed in an arbitrary range.

In FIG. 5, reference numerals 21 and 22 denote switches for selecting transmission and reception. When each of the switches 21 and 22 is switched to the transmission side, a transmission signal from a transmitter supplied to a terminal 23 is transmitted to a digital phase shifter. 24, where the excitation phase is controlled.
The signal is sent from the terminal 27 to the corresponding radiating element via 26. When the switches 21 and 22 are switched to the receiving side, the terminal 27
The signal from the radiating element supplied to the circulator 26,2
The signal is amplified by the low-noise amplifier 29 via 8 and supplied to the digital phase shifter 24, where the excitation phase is controlled and sent from the terminal 30 to the receiver.

By the way, the above-mentioned phased array antenna device is often used for a radar system. In this system, the signal is often processed with a higher reception quality than a transmission quality. In order to lower the antenna side lobe and improve the quality of the reception signal, the excitation amplitude distribution at the antenna aperture is exclusively used. For such a radar system,
In the above-mentioned antenna device, especially in the transmission / reception module, for example, when a 4-bit digital phase shifter is used, a quantization phase error of ± 11.25 degrees occurs due to digital control, and the antenna sidelobe is deteriorated by this error, It is difficult to improve the quality of the received signal. In order to improve this, it is necessary to increase the number of bits. However, as described above, in the conventional antenna device, since the digital phase shifter is shared between the transmission system and the reception system particularly in the transmission / reception module, the digital phase shifter is used. Increasing the number of bits in the equipment will spread to the transmission system where signal quality does not need to be increased, resulting in material costs, measurement and
Unnecessary costs are incurred for the costs for the test.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional phased array antenna apparatus, if the number of bits of the receiving system is increased in order to lower the side lobe of the transmission pattern and improve the quality of the received signal, the reception is increased. The number of bits in the transmission system as well as the transmission system must be increased, and the transmission pattern will be extended to unnecessary transmission patterns, resulting in an increase in cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a phased array antenna device capable of minimizing cost increase and reducing only a side lobe of a reception pattern without affecting a transmission pattern. The purpose is to provide.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, a phased array antenna device according to the present invention includes: (1) a plurality of radiating elements arranged in an array and transmission to each element; In a phased array antenna device that generates an arbitrary transmission pattern and a reception pattern by controlling the phase of a signal and a reception signal from each element, the excitation phase is controlled with different numbers of bits in the transmission system and the reception system. (2) In the configuration according to the first feature, the transmission system and the reception system are configured using a common transmission / reception module for each radiating element, and the digital transmission / reception modules have a bit number Two different digital phase shifters are provided. One digital phase shifter controls the excitation phase of the transmission system, and the other digital phase shifter controls the excitation phase of the reception system. Are the second characteristics. (3) In a phased array antenna apparatus in which a plurality of radiating elements are arranged in an array, and a transmission signal to each element and a reception signal from each element are phase-controlled to generate an arbitrary transmission pattern and reception pattern, A third feature is that the excitation phase is controlled by different numbers of bits in the transmission system and the reception system, and the excitation amplitude is controlled by different numbers of bits in the transmission system and the reception system. In the configuration according to the third feature, the transmission system and the reception system are configured using a common transmission / reception module for each radiating element, and the transmission / reception module includes two digital phase shifters and two digital phase shifters having different numbers of bits from each other. One digital attenuator, one digital phase shifter controls the excitation phase of the transmission system, the other digital phase shifter controls the excitation phase of the reception system, and one digital phase shifter The excitation amplitude of the transmission system controlled by Tteneta, and fourth control means controls the excitation phase of the receiving system on the other digital attenuator.

(Operation) In the configuration having the first feature, the transmission phase and the reception system are controlled by using different numbers of bits in the transmission system and the reception system to make the transmission system and the reception system independent, and only the reception system sets the excitation phase with a high bit number. By controlling, the side lobe of the reception pattern is lowered, and the reception quality is improved.

According to the second feature, in the digital transmission / reception module, two digital phase shifters having different numbers of bits are assigned to the transmission system and the reception system, and the two are made independent, and the digital phase shifter having the larger number of bits is used. The excitation phase of the reception system is controlled to reduce the side lobe of the reception pattern and improve the reception quality.

In the configuration having the third characteristic, the transmission system and the reception system are controlled by using different numbers of bits in the transmission system and the reception system so that the transmission system and the reception system are independent. By controlling the excitation amplitude, the side lobe of the reception pattern is reduced, and the reception quality is improved.

According to the fourth feature, in the digital transmission / reception module, the two digital phase shifters having different numbers of bits are assigned to the transmission system and the reception system of the two digital attenuators so that the two are independent from each other. The excitation phase of the reception system is controlled by the digital phase shifter, and the excitation amplitude of the reception system is controlled by the digital attenuator having the larger number of bits, thereby reducing the side lobe of the reception pattern and improving the reception quality.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a transmission / reception module suitable for the active type phased array antenna device shown in FIG. This module includes first and second digital phase shifters 31 and 32 having different numbers of bits from each other, and a digital phase shifter having a smaller number of bits (here, 4 bits).
31 is used for a transmission system, and a digital phase shifter (here, 6 bits) 32 having a larger number of bits is used for a reception system.
That is, the transmission signal supplied to the terminal 33 is controlled by a first digital phase shifter 31 to control the excitation phase with 4 bits, and after the power is amplified by the power amplifier 34, the circulator
Via a terminal 35, it is led from the terminal 36 to the radiating element. Also,
The received signal from the radiating element supplied to the terminal 36 is supplied to the low noise amplifier 38 through the circulators 35 and 37,
Here, the second phase is amplified and the excitation phase is controlled by 6 bits.
Is supplied to the digital phase shifter 32, and is controlled in phase.

That is, in this digital transmission / reception module, the transmission system and the reception system are completely separated, and the phase control has a 4-bit configuration in the transmission system and a 6-bit configuration in the reception system. For this reason, the control of the excitation phase is higher in the receiving system than in the transmitting system, and can be controlled more finely than in the transmitting system. Therefore, in forming a reception pattern, antenna side lobes can be reduced without affecting the transmission system, thereby improving reception quality. In this configuration, two digital phase shifters are required, but a switch for switching between transmission and reception is not required, so that the number of parts is reduced, and as a result, the cost of the entire antenna device is reduced, and Can be suppressed.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment according to the present invention, and shows a configuration of a transmission / reception module suitable for the active type phased array antenna device also shown in FIG. 2, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. This module includes first and second digital phase shifters 3 having different numbers of bits from each other.
1 and 32, and first and second digital attenuators 40 and 41 having different numbers of bits from each other, and a digital attenuator (4 bits in this case) 31 having a smaller number of bits.
Is used for the transmission system, and the digital attenuator 32 (here, 6 bits) having the larger number of bits is used for the reception system.

In this way, the transmission system and the reception system are made independent, and by increasing the number of bits of the reception system including the digital attenuator, the excitation amplitude control and the excitation amplitude control can be finely controlled at the same time as the excitation phase control. It is possible to achieve a reduction and further improve the reception quality.

Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the application to the transmitting / receiving module as described above. For example, as shown in FIG.
A bit digital phase shifter is provided and the received signal obtained by the receiving system is sent to the beamformer 42, where each module
By performing digital phase control and digital amplitude control on the signals from 131 to 13n, an arbitrary reception pattern can be formed and transmitted to the receiver 16.
Also in this case, the transmission system and the reception system are independent and the number of bits can be increased only in the reception system, so that it is possible to reduce antenna side lobes and improve reception quality.
As described above, the digital phase shifter and the digital attenuator do not necessarily have to be built in the module. Further, for example, it is not necessary to perform phase control and amplitude control at the RF (high frequency band) stage, and at least a beam pattern is formed. It should be done just before. This is the same for the transmission system.

In addition to the above, a transmitting module and a receiving module are separately provided to configure an antenna device, or a transmitting / receiving module,
The same applies to the case where the antenna device is configured by combining all of the transmission module and the reception module, or by mixing them. Further, for the amplitude control, for example, the digital attenuator may not be built in the transmitting / receiving module, but may be removed and interposed somewhere in the transmitting system or the receiving system. In addition, the same effect can be obtained by controlling the amplitude of the power amplifier of the transmission system and the gain control of the low noise amplifier of the reception system without using the digital attenuator.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to minimize the increase in cost and reduce only the side lobe of the reception pattern without affecting the transmission pattern, thereby improving the reception quality. A phased array antenna device that can be improved can be provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing a configuration of a transmission / reception module of a phased array antenna device according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a configuration of a transmission / reception module according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram showing a configuration of a phased array antenna device according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a block circuit diagram showing a configuration of a conventional phased array antenna device, and FIG. 5
The figure is a block circuit diagram showing the configuration of the transmitting and receiving module used in the antenna device of FIG. 11 ... Transmitter (exciter), 12 ... Transmission system power supply circuit, 131
~ 13n ... Transceiver module, 141 ~ 14n ... Radiation element, 1
5 ... Reception system power supply circuit, 16 ... Receiver, 17 ... Scan controller, 21,22 ... Digital switch, 24 ... Digital phase shifter, 25 ... Digital power amplifier, 26,28 ... Circulator , 29… Low noise amplifier, 31, 32… Digital phase shifter, 34… Digital power amplifier, 35, 37… Circulator, 38… Low noise amplifier, 40, 41… Digital attenuator, 42… Beam forming vessel.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Yoshitaka Sasaki, Inventor No. 1 Komukai Toshiba-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Toshiba Komukai Plant (72) Inventor Yoshihiko Tanaka Komukai Toshiba-cho, Sai-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa No. 1 In the Komukai Plant, Toshiba Corporation (72) Inventor Yuji Shitomi No. 1, Komukai Toshiba Town, Koyuki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture (58) Investigation area (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) ) H01Q 3/00-3/46 H01Q 21/00-21/30 G01S 7/00-7/28

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] A phased array antenna device in which a plurality of radiating elements are arranged in an array, and a transmission signal to each element and a reception signal from each element are controlled in phase to generate an arbitrary transmission pattern and a reception pattern. A phased array antenna device wherein an excitation phase is controlled by different numbers of bits in a transmission system and a reception system. 2. The transmitting system and the receiving system are configured by using a common transmitting / receiving module for each radiating element. The transmitting / receiving module includes two digital phase shifters having different numbers of bits from each other. 2. The phased array antenna device according to claim 1, wherein an excitation phase of a transmission system is controlled by a shifter, and an excitation phase of a reception system is controlled by the other digital phase shifter. 3. A phased array antenna device in which a plurality of radiating elements are arranged in an array, and a transmission signal to each element and a reception signal from each element are phase-controlled to generate an arbitrary transmission pattern and reception pattern. A phased array antenna device, wherein an excitation phase is controlled by different numbers of bits in a transmission system and a reception system, and an excitation amplitude is controlled by different numbers of bits in a transmission system and a reception system. 4. The transmitting system and the receiving system are configured by using a common transmitting / receiving module for each radiating element, and the transmitting / receiving module includes two digital phase shifters and two digital attenuators having different numbers of bits from each other. One digital phase shifter controls the excitation phase of the transmission system, the other digital phase shifter controls the excitation phase of the reception system, one digital attenuator controls the excitation amplitude of the transmission system, and the other digital 4. The phased array antenna device according to claim 3, wherein an excitation phase of the receiving system is controlled by the attenuator.