JPH05281324A - Antenna direction controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control the direction of an antenna with a simple constitution by setting the antenna maintained at a prescribed elevation angle to the azimuth at which the signal intensity becomes maximum based on positional information after installing the antenna by correcting the inclination of the antenna from the horizontal plane and vertical line. CONSTITUTION:After an antenna system 6 is installed by correcting the inclination of the system 6 from the horizontal plane or/and the vertical line by means of an installation correcting means 7 before using the system 6, a central processing unit (elevation angle computing means) 2 decides the elevation angle of the antenna 6 based on positional information S1. An elevation angle controller 4 gives a prescribed elevation angle to the antenna 6 based on elevation angle information S2 from the unit 2. Then the unit (azimuth deciding means) 2 inputs receiving signal intensity information S8 which gives the maximum measurement result of a received signal intensity measuring instrument 9 obtained by the instrument 9 by measuring the signal intensity of received broadcasting signals S5 from the antenna 6 while the antenna 6 is rotated one turn in the horizontal direction and decides the azimuth corresponding to the information. Then the unit 2 controls the azimuth of the antenna 6 by giving rotation control information S3 to an azimuth controller 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Table of Contents] The present invention will be described in the following order. Field of Industrial Application Conventional Technology Problems to be Solved by the Invention Means for Solving the Problems (FIG. 1) Action (FIG. 1) Embodiments (FIGS. 1 to 5) Effects of the Invention

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an antenna direction control device, and in particular, it is suitable for application to an antenna direction control device of a ground terminal for individuals in a communication and broadcasting system using a geostationary satellite.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an antenna direction control device for receiving radio waves from an artificial satellite, which is mounted on a moving body such as a ship or an automobile, is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-61-20403.
As shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-44608 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-44608, the elevation angle and azimuth angle of the antenna are simultaneously adjusted so that radio waves can always be received even if the antenna direction changes as the moving body moves. A so-called automatic tracking type antenna direction control device that constantly controls is proposed.

Also, in an antenna direction control device which is fixedly used on the ground, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-148902, after the elevation angle of the antenna is once determined, the elevation angle is not affected by the inclination of the installation place. In order to obtain the azimuth angle at which the received radio wave becomes the strongest by providing a sensor to detect the direction of gravity and correcting the elevation angle fluctuation in response to the change in the azimuth angle of the antenna due to the signal of the sensor. A quasi-automatic tracking method for azimuth control has been proposed.

[0005]

In recent years, individuals who want to use a geostationary satellite for communication that constantly emits radio waves to perform data communication at the destination or easily receive broadcast radio waves from the geostationary satellite at the destination. There is a demand for ground terminal equipment for

In all of the above-mentioned antenna direction control devices, since the vertical direction and the horizontal direction are swung about the direction in which the received broadcast signal is the strongest to find the exact direction in which the received broadcast signal arrives, a more strict antenna direction is obtained. However, it is not necessary to set in the strict direction of the antenna for this purpose because it is sufficient for practical use that transmission / reception can be performed with sufficient sensitivity.

Further, even if the elevation angle control and the azimuth angle control of the antenna are sometimes performed as described above, a complicated and large-scale device is required, so that it is still insufficient to easily carry and use for personal use. ..

In addition, for personal use, it is more often used by installing it in a fixed place than by using it while moving.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and is a case where a conventional ground wave is received for an antenna of a ground terminal device which is installed at a fixed place at a destination and uses a geostationary satellite. The present invention intends to propose an antenna direction control device having a simpler structure that can be used with the same ease.

[0010]

In order to solve such a problem, according to the present invention, the positioning for measuring the position of the antenna 6 in the antenna direction control device 10 of the antenna 6 for receiving the radio wave transmitted from the geostationary satellite on the ground. An elevation angle calculating means 2 for outputting elevation angle information S2 based on the position information S1 input from the means 1, an elevation angle control means 4 for controlling the antenna 6 to an elevation angle according to the elevation angle information S2, and a radio wave transmitted from a geostationary satellite. Signal strength measuring means 9 for measuring the signal strength of the received signal S5 output from the antenna 6 which has received
And an azimuth angle determining means for determining the azimuth angle of the antenna 6 based on the measurement result S8 of the signal strength measuring means 9 by rotating the antenna 6 whose elevation angle is controlled by the elevation angle control means 4 once in the horizontal direction. 2 and the antenna 6 based on the azimuth angle
And an azimuth angle control means 5 for controlling.

[0011]

After the antenna 6 is installed by correcting the inclination with respect to the horizontal plane and / or the vertical line by the installation correcting means 7, the elevation angle is calculated by the elevation angle calculating means 2 based on the position information S1 and the antenna is determined. 6, the elevation angle control means 4 controls the antenna 6 to the above elevation angle, and then the signal strength measuring means 9 measures the signal strength of the received signal S5 to rotate the antenna 6 once in the horizontal direction. The azimuth angle that maximizes the measurement result S8 is determined by the azimuth angle determination means 2, and the antenna 6 is controlled to the azimuth angle.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 indicates a satellite communication ground terminal device as a whole, and the central processing unit 2 to which the position information S1 is given by the position information determining device 1 is a position information S1.
When the elevation angle is calculated on the basis of the elevation angle information, elevation angle information S2 is given to the antenna control device 3.

The antenna control device 3 comprises an elevation angle control device 4 and an azimuth angle control device 5, and the elevation angle control device 4 gives a predetermined elevation angle to the antenna device 6 based on the elevation angle information S2 given from the central processing unit 2. Has been done. Further, the azimuth control device 5 controls the start and stop of the horizontal rotation of the antenna device 6 based on the rotation control information S3 given to the central processing unit 2, and also responds to the horizontal rotation angle of the antenna device 6. The rotational position information S4 is supplied to the central processing unit 2.

Before use, the antenna device 6 is installed by correcting the inclination with respect to the horizontal plane and / or the vertical line by the installation correcting means 7 in advance, and receives the radio wave transmitted from the geostationary satellite. Then, the received broadcast signal S5 is sent to the transmitter / receiver 8.
Is designed to supply.

When the transmission / reception device 8 enters the reception state according to the reception switching information S6 sent from the central processing unit 2,
The received broadcast signal S5 supplied from the antenna device 6 is amplified and the measured broadcast signal S7 is supplied to the received signal strength measuring device 9.

The reception signal strength measuring device 9 measures the signal strength of the broadcast signal S7 to be measured supplied from the transmitting / receiving device 8 to generate reception signal strength information S8, and supplies it to the central processing unit 2 so that the central processing unit 2 receives the information. The computing device 2 uses the rotational position information S4.
Also, an appropriate azimuth angle can be determined based on the received signal strength information S8 and the rotation control information S3 can be given to the azimuth angle control device 5.

In the above configuration, the satellite communication ground terminal device 10 operates according to the antenna control procedure shown in FIG.

That is, in step SP1, the satellite communication ground terminal device 10 inputs the current position of the satellite communication ground terminal device 10 to the central processing unit 2 as latitude and longitude information S1 by the position information determining device 1, and then in step SP2. Then, the central processing unit 2 calculates the elevation angle to be given to the antenna device 6 based on the latitude / longitude information S1.

As shown in FIG. 3, the center of the earth is O,
When the radius of the earth is r, the altitude of the geostationary satellite is R, the latitude of the satellite communication ground terminal device is θ ₁ , and the elevation angle of the antenna is φ, and there is no longitude difference between the position X of the satellite communication ground terminal device and the position S of the satellite. (1) in OSX

[Equation 1] The relationship is established.

In case of geostationary satellite, r = 6000 [km], R = 3600
Since it becomes 0 [km], using this value to transform equation (1), equation (2)

[Equation 2] Is obtained.

Therefore, the elevation angle φ of the antenna is determined only from the latitude θ ₁ . However, θ ₁ ≠ 0 °, and when θ ₁ = 0 °, φ = 90 °.

The same parts as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals,
Considering a general case where the longitude difference is θ ₂ and there is a longitude difference between the satellite communication ground terminal device and the satellite as shown in FIG. 4, ΔOAX has a length of the side OA of the formula (3).

[Equation 3] The length of the side OX is formula (4)

[Equation 4] Since it is an isosceles triangle, the coordinate of the point O is (0, 0, 0) point if the positional relationship of the points O, A, and X in FIG. 4 is moved to the Cartesian coordinate system xyz shown in FIG. The coordinates of point A are (r
cos θ ₂ , rsin θ ₂ , 0), and the coordinate of point X is (rcos θ 2
₁ , rsin θ ₁ ), the length of side XA is expressed by equation (5).

[Equation 5] And, according to the second cosine law of the triangle, equation (6)

[Equation 6] Is satisfied, the equation (7) is transformed by substituting the equations (3) to (5) into the equation (6).

[Equation 7] Becomes

The elevation angle φ at the position X of the satellite communication ground terminal device in FIG. 4 is such that when the earth is a perfect sphere, the position X of the satellite communication ground terminal device in FIG. 3 is from latitude θ ₁ to latitude ∠X.
Since it is the same as the elevation angle φ when it is moved to OA,
Substituting ∠XOA obtained by the equation (7) into θ ₁ of the equation (2) obtained from the positional relationship of FIG. 3, that is, the equation (8)

[Equation 8] By substituting into the equation (2), the elevation angle φ of the antenna at the position X of the satellite communication ground terminal device in FIG. 4 can be obtained.

Since the earth is not a perfect sphere in reality, the numerical value obtained by this calculation is an approximate value, but since the directional antenna covers a certain range, the error in the calculation falls within this range. Be absorbed.

Next, the central processing unit 2 moves to step SP3 to set the antenna device 6 to the elevation angle φ by giving the elevation angle information S2 to the elevation angle control device 4, and then to step SP4.
Move on to.

Here, the central processing unit 2 gives rotation control information S3 to the azimuth angle control unit 5 so that the antenna unit 6 rotates 360 ° in the horizontal direction while maintaining the elevation angle φ, and the transmission / reception unit 8 switches reception. By providing the information S6, the reception broadcast signal S5 is received from the antenna device 6 and the reception signal strength measuring device 9 is supplied with the measurement target broadcast signal S7.

At this time, the azimuth control device 5 continues to send the rotational position information S4 representing the rotation angle of the antenna device 6 to the central processing unit 2 while the antenna device 6 is being rotated in the horizontal direction.

When the azimuth controller 5 starts to rotate the antenna device 6 in the horizontal direction, the central processing unit 2 simultaneously rotates the rotational position information S supplied from the azimuth controller 5.
4 and the reception signal strength information S8 supplied from the reception signal strength measurement device 9, the antenna device 6 moves horizontally.
The azimuth controller 5 detects the rotation position at which the received signal strength is maximum until it rotates 360 °, moves to step SP5, and when the antenna device 6 finishes rotating 360 ° in the horizontal direction.
The rotation control information S3 is given to the antenna device 6 to stop the antenna device 6 at the rotation position where the received signal strength becomes maximum.

Thus, the central processing unit 2 ends the antenna control processing procedure.

According to the above configuration, the antenna device 6 is
The position information S1 is obtained by correcting the inclination of the horizontal plane and / or the vertical line by the installation correction means 7 so that the elevation angle does not change due to the inclination of the installation place when the rotation is given in the horizontal direction, and then the position information S1 is obtained.
Based on the above, the elevation angle of the antenna device 6 is determined by calculation using the central processing unit 2, so that the antenna device can always be set to the optimum elevation angle once.

Further, by measuring the signal strength during one rotation of the antenna device 6 in the horizontal direction and detecting the azimuth angle at which the signal strength is maximized, the antenna device 6 is always set to the optimum azimuth angle. Can be set.

Thus, since the directional antenna can cover a certain range and the elevation angle and the azimuth angle can be simply set by one operation, the directional antenna is installed and used at the destination for use in the satellite communication ground terminal device. The antenna direction control device for the antenna can be realized with a much simpler configuration than the conventional one.

In the above embodiment, a user input device and / or a latitude / longitude confirmation means such as GPS or Loran C is used as the position information determination device 1, and based on the latitude / longitude information S1 input in the central processing unit 2. Although the case where the elevation angle φ is calculated has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and the elevation angle φ previously calculated from the latitude / longitude information is stored in the storage device as table data associated with the latitude / longitude information, Latitude / longitude information S1 input by the central processing unit 2
Based on the above, the elevation angle φ may be determined with reference to the above table data.

Further, when the position information determination device 1 is a user input device, table data in which a typical elevation angle φ is set so that a country and / or a region and / or a city falls within the coverage of the directional antenna is stored in the storage device. Alternatively, a representative elevation angle φ may be obtained by referring to the table data by inputting a country name, a region name, and / or a city name.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the antenna control device 3 mechanically rotates the antenna device 6 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the central processing unit 2 or the antenna control device 3 is controlled to have an elevation angle. A display device for displaying φ is provided, and the antenna device 6 is manually set to the displayed elevation angle φ. Similarly, the central processing unit or the antenna control device 3 is provided with a received signal strength display device for displaying the signal strength. While viewing, the antenna device 6 may be manually rotated once in the horizontal direction to match the azimuth angle at which the signal strength display is maximized.

If the antenna device 6 can electronically control the directivity, the elevation angle φ and / or the azimuth angle may be electronically controlled and set.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the satellite communication ground terminal device having the transmitting / receiving device 8 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a receiving-only device instead of the transmitting / receiving device 8. It is also applicable to a satellite broadcasting receiving ground terminal device having.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the antenna device is installed by previously correcting the inclination of the horizontal plane and / or the vertical line by the installation correcting means, and then the elevation angle calculating means is operated based on the position information. The optimum elevation angle can be given at one time by using and determining by calculation and controlling the antenna device.

Further, the antenna device holding a predetermined elevation angle is rotated once in the horizontal direction while measuring the signal strength of the received signal to measure the signal strength distribution, and the azimuth angle having the maximum signal strength is detected. The antenna device can always be set to the optimum azimuth angle.

Thus, since the directional antenna can cover a certain range and both the elevation angle and the azimuth angle can be set by a simple one-time operation, the terrestrial satellite which uses the geostationary satellite at a fixed place at the moving destination is used. The antenna direction control device for the terminal device antenna can be realized with a much simpler configuration than before.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a satellite communication ground terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an antenna control procedure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing positions of geostationary satellites having no longitude difference from the satellite communication ground terminal device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing positions of geostationary satellites having a longitude difference from the satellite communication ground terminal device.

5 is a schematic diagram showing Cartesian coordinates xyz in which the positional relationship of ΔOAX in FIG. 4 is transferred as it is.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Position information determination device, 2 ... Central processing unit, 3 ...
Antenna control device, 4 ... Elevation control device, 5 ... Azimuth control device, 6 ... Antenna device, 7 ... Installation correction device,
8 ... Transceiver, 9 ... Received signal strength measuring device, 10
...... Satellite communication ground terminal device, S1 …… Position information, S2 ・ ・ ・
... elevation information, S3 ... rotation control information, S4 ... rotation position information, S5 ... reception broadcast signal, S6 ... reception switching information, S7 ... measurement target broadcast signal, S8 ... reception signal strength information.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masami Abe 6-735 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An antenna direction control device for an antenna for receiving radio waves transmitted from a geostationary satellite on the ground, elevation angle calculation for outputting elevation angle information based on position information input from a positioning means for measuring the position of the antenna. Means, an elevation angle control means for controlling the antenna to an elevation angle according to the elevation angle information, and a signal strength measuring means for measuring a signal strength of a reception signal output from the antenna which receives a radio wave transmitted from the geostationary satellite. And an azimuth angle determining unit that determines the azimuth angle of the antenna based on the measurement result of the signal strength measuring unit by rotating the antenna whose elevation angle is controlled by the elevation angle controlling unit once in the horizontal direction. And an azimuth angle control means for controlling the antenna based on the azimuth angle.