WO2025026134A1 - Antenna assembly and antenna array - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed in the present application are an antenna assembly and an antenna array. The antenna assembly comprises a radiation unit and a metal member, wherein the radiation unit comprises a radiation sheet; and the metal member is arranged on the periphery of the radiation sheet and is configured to be excited by the radiation sheet. The present application aims to provide a wide-beam antenna.

Description

Antenna assembly and antenna array

Related Applications

This application claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202310960528.2 filed on July 31, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application.

Technical Field

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

Background Art

The integrated network of space, air and land has become an inevitable trend in the development of mobile communications in the future. Space-based satellite communication will be an important part of the integrated network of space, air and land. The goal of the integrated network of space, air and land is to achieve full coverage, so it is required to deploy enough satellites and require a single satellite to have a large enough coverage area. Satellites always remain in motion when they are in orbit, so satellite antennas are required to have beam scanning capabilities to generate staring beams and serve fixed areas. Therefore, satellite antennas need to have wide-angle (±60°) scanning capabilities. When the antenna array of traditional antennas scans to ±60°, the gain will drop by 4-5dB. In actual applications, since the signal propagation distance increases and the path loss increases when scanning at a large angle, it is expected that the gain will not decrease when scanning at a large angle, and it may even be higher than the 0° pointing gain to ensure the quality of satellite communication at a large angle.

Based on this, the present application proposes a wide-beam antenna, which effectively reduces the gain loss of the array at large angles by widening the unit beam width.

Summary of the invention

The main purpose of this application is to provide an antenna assembly and an antenna array.

To achieve the above object, the present application proposes an antenna assembly, wherein the antenna assembly comprises:

The radiation unit comprises a radiation sheet; and a metal piece arranged on the periphery of the radiation sheet to be excited by the radiation sheet.

The present application also proposes an antenna array, wherein the antenna array includes a plurality of antenna components arranged in an array, the antenna components include a radiation unit and a metal part, the radiation unit includes a radiation plate; the metal part is arranged on the periphery of the radiation plate to be excited by the radiation plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without paying any creative work.

FIG1 is a three-dimensional half-section schematic diagram of a first embodiment of an antenna assembly provided in the present application;

FIG2 is a perspective exploded schematic diagram of the antenna assembly in FIG1 ;

FIG3 is a three-dimensional half-section schematic diagram of a partial structure of a second embodiment of an antenna assembly provided in the present application;

FIG4 is a schematic exploded perspective view of a portion of the structure of the antenna assembly in FIG3 ;

FIG5 is a simplified three-dimensional diagram of the first embodiment of the metal body provided by the present application and some matching components;

FIG6 is a simplified three-dimensional diagram of a second embodiment of a metal body provided by the present application and some matching components;

FIG7 is a simplified three-dimensional diagram of a third embodiment of a metal body provided by the present application and some matching components;

FIG8 is a simplified three-dimensional diagram of a fourth embodiment of a metal body provided by the present application and some matching components;

FIG9 is a perspective schematic diagram of an embodiment of a radiation sheet provided by the present application;

FIG10 is a three-dimensional half-section diagram of the radiation sheet, the parasitic radiation sheet and the partial matching structure provided by the present application;

FIG11 is a perspective schematic diagram of an embodiment of a parasitic radiation sheet provided by the present application;

FIG12 is a three-dimensional half-section diagram of the first embodiment of the dielectric body provided by the present application and a partial matching structure;

FIG13 is a three-dimensional half-section diagram of a second embodiment of a dielectric provided by the present application and a partial matching structure;

FIG14 is a three-dimensional half-section diagram of the first embodiment of the dielectric cover provided by the present application and a partial matching structure;

FIG15 is a three-dimensional half-section diagram of a second embodiment of a dielectric cover provided by the present application and a partial matching structure;

FIG16 is a three-dimensional half-section diagram of a third embodiment of a dielectric cover provided by the present application and a partial matching structure;

FIG17 is a three-dimensional half-section diagram of a fourth embodiment of a dielectric cover provided by the present application and a partial matching structure;

FIG18 is a perspective schematic diagram of an antenna array according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG19 is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of an architecture connection method of an antenna array provided in the present application;

FIG20 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the architecture connection method of the antenna array provided in the present application;

FIG21 is a schematic diagram of a standing wave curve of the first embodiment of the antenna assembly provided in the present application;

FIG22 is a schematic diagram of a curve showing a change in axial ratio versus frequency of the first embodiment of the antenna assembly provided in the present application;

FIG23 is a schematic diagram of a directional pattern curve of the first embodiment of the antenna assembly provided in the present application;

FIG24 is a schematic diagram of a curve showing a change in axial ratio versus angle of the first embodiment of the antenna assembly provided in the present application;

FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of a directional pattern curve of the second embodiment of the antenna assembly provided in the present application.

Description of Figure Numbers:

The realization of the purpose, functional features and advantages of this application will be further explained in conjunction with embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

If the embodiments of the present application involve directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.), the directional indications are only used to explain the relative position relationship, movement status, etc. between the components under a certain specific posture (as shown in the accompanying drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

In addition, if there are descriptions involving "first", "second", etc. in the embodiments of the present application, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In addition, the meaning of "and/or" appearing in the full text includes three parallel schemes. Taking "A and/or B" as an example, it includes scheme A, or scheme B, or a scheme that satisfies both A and B. In addition, the technical solutions between the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the ability of ordinary technicians in the field to implement. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be implemented, it should be considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by this application.

The integrated network of space, air and land has become an inevitable trend in the development of mobile communications in the future. Space-based satellite communication will be an important part of the integrated network of space, air and land. The goal of the integrated network of space, air and land is to achieve full coverage, so it is required to deploy enough satellites and require a single satellite to have a large enough coverage area. Satellites always remain in motion when they are in orbit, so satellite antennas are required to have beam scanning capabilities to generate staring beams and serve fixed areas. Therefore, satellite antennas need to have wide-angle (±60°) scanning capabilities. When the antenna array of traditional antennas scans to ±60°, the gain will drop by 4-5dB. In actual applications, since the signal propagation distance increases and the path loss increases when scanning at a large angle, it is expected that the gain will not decrease when scanning at a large angle, and it may even be higher than the 0° pointing gain to ensure the quality of satellite communication at a large angle.

Based on this, the present application proposes a wide-beam antenna, which effectively reduces the gain loss of the array at large angles by widening the unit beam width.

In view of this, the present application provides an antenna assembly. Figures 1 to 16 are embodiments of the antenna assembly provided by the present application. The antenna assembly will be described below in conjunction with specific drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 1 . The antenna assembly 100 includes a radiation unit 1 and a metal component 2 . The radiation unit 1 includes a radiation sheet 11 . The metal component 2 is disposed on the periphery of the radiation sheet 11 to be excited by the radiation sheet 11 .

In the technical solution of the present application, the metal part 2 is arranged on the periphery of the radiation plate 11 of the radiation unit 1, and the metal part 2 is stimulated by the electromagnetic wave radiated by the radiation plate 11, so that the metal part 2 can generate a directional pattern that is convex toward the radiation direction of the radiation plate 11 on the periphery of the radiation plate 11, and the radiation plate 11 itself generates a directional pattern that is convex toward its radiation direction. The directional pattern generated by the metal part 2 is superimposed on the directional pattern generated by the radiation plate 11 to increase the beam width of the radiation plate 11 toward the side of the metal part 2 to form a wide beam directional pattern. When applied to satellite antennas, it meets the requirements of low gain loss for large-angle scanning and ensures the satellite communication quality when the satellite antenna is scanning at large angles. In the present application, the radiation unit 1 can be a circularly polarized radiation unit 1 or a linearly polarized radiation unit 1. The polarization characteristic of the antenna is defined by the spatial orientation of the electric field intensity vector of the electromagnetic wave radiated by the antenna in the maximum radiation direction. The types of polarization are divided into linear polarization, circular polarization and elliptical polarization according to the motion trajectory of the electric field intensity vector end. Linear polarization is further divided into horizontal polarization and vertical polarization. Circular polarization is divided into left-hand circular polarization and right-hand circular polarization. When the axial ratio of elliptical polarization is infinite, it is linear polarization, and when the axial ratio is 1, it is circular polarization. In the actual setting process, the axial ratio is difficult to reach 1, so the circularly polarized antenna described in this field is generally an elliptical polarized antenna with a better axial ratio characteristic. The radiation unit 1 described in the present application can obtain the beneficial effects brought by the structure of the antenna assembly 100 proposed in the present application whether it is circularly polarized or linearly polarized. However, the purpose of the present application is satellite applications. When electromagnetic waves pass through the ionosphere, Faraday rotation will occur. In order to avoid polarization mismatch, satellite communications mostly use circular polarization. The radiation unit 1 described in the present application mainly uses a circularly polarized radiation unit 1. Therefore, the following structural function description mainly uses the radiation unit 1 as a circularly polarized radiation unit 1 for specific explanation.

The metal part 2 can achieve the above-mentioned technical effect by being arranged on the periphery of the radiation plate 11, so the arrangement form of the metal part 2 can be various, including but not limited to at least one metal body 21 arranged on the periphery of the radiation plate 11 and a metal ring 22 arranged around the radiation plate 11. The present application provides four embodiments of the metal part 2. Referring to FIG5 , in the first embodiment of the metal part 2, the metal part 2 includes a plurality of metal bodies 21 arranged along the periphery of the radiation plate 11. The plurality of metal bodies 21 can be distributed along the circumference of the radiation plate 11, or can be arranged only on one side of the radiation plate 11, depending on the actual use requirements. In order to ensure that the radiation pattern of the antenna assembly 100 is spatially symmetrical, the plurality of metal bodies 21 are arranged as a uniformly distributed structure as shown in FIG5 . In addition, the structure and shape of the metal part 2 are not limited, and it can be a metal patch or a metal cylinder, and the cross-sectional shape of the metal part 2 can be It can be a circular, square or polygonal structure. In this embodiment, that is, the first implementation of the metal part 2, the metal part 2 adopts a cylindrical structure so that the radiation pattern generated by the metal part 2 after being excited by the radiation plate 11 is spatially symmetrical.

Referring to Fig. 6, in the second embodiment of the metal member 2, the metal member 2 includes a metal ring 22 extending along the circumference of the radiation sheet 11. There is always a gap between the multiple metal bodies 21, that is, the radiation pattern generated by the radiation sheet 11 does not overlap with the radiation pattern generated by the metal body 21 after being excited at the gap, that is, the beam width at this place does not increase. To improve this situation, the gap between the multiple metal bodies 21 can be set smaller, but it is obviously complicated in structure and high in molding cost, which is not practical. In this embodiment, the metal part 2 is directly set as a metal ring 22 extending along the circumference of the radiation piece 11, and the metal ring 22 is set in a closed ring to completely cover the circumference of the radiation piece 11, so that the metal ring 22 generates a circular convex direction diagram with a concave middle part after being stimulated, which is superimposed with the direction diagram of the middle convexity generated by the radiation piece 11 to generate a wide beam direction diagram in the circumference of the radiation piece 11, meeting the use requirements. At the same time, for the case where the circular polarization radiation of the radiation piece 11 excites the metal ring 22 to generate the circular polarization radiation of the metal ring 22, a good axial ratio characteristic can be achieved within a wide angle (±60°). The shape of the metal ring 22 is also not limited, and can be circular, square, or polygonal. In this embodiment, it is set to be circular, which is consistent with the above effect and also produces a spatially symmetrical direction diagram.

In addition, based on the second embodiment of the metal part 2, the present application also proposes a third embodiment, please refer to FIG7, it has been described above that the metal ring 22 structure has a higher circumferential coverage of the radiation plate 11 than the multiple metal bodies 21, and the metal ring 22 structure is set as a closed ring structure in the second embodiment of the metal part 2 to achieve the best effect, and the manufacturing cost is low, but it is undeniable that there may be a design need to design the metal ring 22 into an open ring structure, that is, as shown in the third embodiment of the metal part 2 in FIG7, the metal ring 22 is provided with a partition in the circumference, which can also achieve the effect of widening the beam width required by the present application. Therefore, the above-mentioned embodiments of the metal part 2 can all meet the effect of widening the beam width required by the present application, and the actual selection is mainly based on demand and is not limited here.

In addition, based on the structure of the metal ring 22, a groove 23 can be opened on the metal ring 22, which does not separate the metal ring 22 so as not to affect the corresponding directional pattern generated by the metal ring 22 when stimulated. Please refer to Figure 8 for details. The present application also proposes a fourth embodiment of the metal part 2, which is based on the metal ring 22. The groove 23 is opened. On the basis of not affecting the directional pattern generated by the metal ring 22, the material of the metal ring 22 is reduced, the cost is reduced, and the mass of the metal ring 22 is reduced, so as to reduce the satellite load in accordance with the satellite use environment, which is more practical.

In addition, the edge of the radiation sheet 11 is provided with a first slot 111 extending toward the middle thereof. The shape and structure of the radiation sheet 11 are not limited, that is, the radiation sheet 11 can be set to be circular, square, polygonal, etc. Referring to FIG. 9 , in this embodiment, the radiation sheet 11 is set to be circular to generate a spatially symmetrical directional pattern. On this basis, the edge of the radiation sheet 11 is provided with the first slot 111 so that the path of the current flowing along the edge of the radiation sheet 11 becomes longer, which is equivalent to the larger size of the radiation sheet 11 without the first slot 111, so as to achieve the effect of increasing the current path without increasing the size of the radiation sheet 11, and realize the miniaturization of the radiation sheet 11. The number and shape of the first slot 111 are not limited, and the effect of increasing the current path can be achieved. For example, the first slot 111 can be set to a cross shape, a T shape, etc., and the number can also be set to only one or more. In this embodiment, a plurality of the first slots 111 are provided along the circumference of the radiation plate 11. On the one hand, providing more first slots 111 can further increase the current path. On the other hand, providing a plurality of first slots 111 and evenly distributing the plurality of first slots 111 along the circumference of the radiation plate 11 can also ensure that the radiation plate 11 produces a spatially symmetrical radiation pattern.

In addition, the molding and installation method of the radiation sheet 11 are not limited in the present application, and it is sufficient to ensure that the metal part 2 is located at the periphery of the radiation sheet 11, and the radiation sheet 11 can radiate electromagnetic waves normally, and meet the functional requirements. In the first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100, referring to Figures 1 to 2, the radiation unit 1 also includes a first substrate 12, and the radiation sheet 11 includes a first metal layer 11a provided on the first substrate 12, and the radiation sheet 11 is supported and installed on the first substrate 12, wherein the radiation sheet 11 can be set as an independent metal sheet structure, which is fixed to the first substrate 12 by an additional fixing structure, and the fixing structure includes a supporting structure or an adhesive structure, and a metal plating process can also be used to plate a metal plating layer on the surface of the first substrate 12 to form the radiation sheet 11. In this embodiment, the first substrate 12 is set as a plastic material, and its light weight is obtained by integrated injection molding. While having excellent chemical properties, it can be used as a plating substrate to meet the requirements of plating process, and the radiation plate 11 is manufactured by plastic surface metallization process, and its specific implementation process includes but is not limited to LDS (Laser Direct Structurin) chemical plating process, selective electrochemical plating process, magnetron sputtering vacuum plating process, LAP (Laser Activating Plating, metal plating after laser activation) process and plastic surface metal foil coating process, etc. The overall structure is simple, easy to shape and has lightweight characteristics, so it is suitable for large-scale array antennas for satellite communication antennas, which can reduce the load of satellite launch stage and thus reduce launch cost.

In the second embodiment of the antenna assembly 100, referring to Figures 3 and 4, the substrate is not provided in the radiation unit 1, the radiation plate 11 is provided as an independent metal sheet structure, and the radiation plate 11 is suspended between the metal parts 2 through a fixed structure. The above-mentioned fixed structure can be a bracket installed between the metal part 2 and the radiation plate 11, or a bracket installed between the radiation plate 11 and structures in other directions. The above-mentioned bracket is not specifically shown in the figure, and is not actually limited here, and it is sufficient to ensure the function of the radiation plate 11.

In addition, referring to Fig. 10, the radiation unit 1 further includes a parasitic radiation piece 13 located on the radiation side of the radiation piece 11, and the parasitic radiation piece 13 is spaced apart from and coupled to the radiation piece 11. With such a configuration, the radiation piece 11 and the parasitic radiation piece 13 in the laminated structure can respectively generate a resonant frequency, and by tuning the size of the parasitic radiation piece 13, the parasitic radiation piece 13 and the radiation piece 11 can resonate at different frequencies, thereby achieving a widened frequency band characteristic; the parasitic radiation piece 13 is excited by the radiation piece 11 and maintains the same polarization mode as the radiation piece 11, so that for the circularly polarized radiation mode, a good axial ratio characteristic can be maintained within a wider impedance bandwidth.

The metal member 2 extends to the periphery of the parasitic radiation plate 13 so as to be excited by the parasitic radiation plate 13. The metal member 2 can be excited by the radiation plate 11 alone, that is, the height of the metal member 2 does not need to extend to the periphery of the parasitic radiation plate 13, and the directional pattern generated by the metal member 2 being excited can be superimposed on the directional pattern generated by the radiation plate 11 to widen the beam width. In this embodiment, when the metal member 2 is extended to the periphery of the parasitic radiation plate 13, it can be excited by the parasitic radiation plate 13 at the same time to increase the coupling amount between the metal member 2 and the radiation unit 1, so as to increase the effect produced by the metal member 2.

In addition, referring to FIG. 11 , the shape and structure of the parasitic radiating plate 13 are also not limited, that is, the parasitic radiating plate 13 can also be set to be circular, square, polygonal, etc. In this embodiment, the parasitic radiating plate 13 is correspondingly set to be circular to generate a spatially symmetrical directional pattern. On this basis, the edge of the parasitic radiating plate 13 is also provided with a second slot 131 extending toward the middle thereof. In essence, the second slot 131 on the parasitic radiating plate 13 has the same structure and function as the first slot 111 on the radiating plate 11. Based on the specific structural and functional description of the first slot 111 on the radiating plate 11, the structural function of the second slot 131 on the parasitic radiating plate 13 is not described in detail here, and reference is made to the first slot 111 on the radiating plate 11. Of course, the specific slot shapes and the number of the first slot 111 and the second slot 131 do not need to be set to be the same, and they only need to have their required functions.

In addition, the antenna assembly 100 also includes a dielectric 3, which is located on the radiation side of the radiation sheet 11. The dielectric 3 is an electrical insulator that can be polarized by an external electric field. The dielectric 3 is loaded to change the transmission phase of electromagnetic waves in different radiation directions. After the electromagnetic waves in different angle directions emitted by the radiation sheet 11 pass through the dielectric 3, the electromagnetic waves in different angle directions have different phases due to the inconsistent path lengths of the electromagnetic waves passing through the dielectric 3, and finally superimpose in free space to produce wide beam radiation characteristics. In addition, the loading of the dielectric 3 has no effect on polarization. For the circularly polarized radiation mode, a good axial ratio characteristic is maintained within a wide angle range. The dielectric 3 is a dielectric material, specifically a plastic material, including but not limited to PPS modified materials, PPO modified materials, LCP modified materials, PEI modified materials, etc. The specific structure of the dielectric 3 is not limited, and it is sufficient to ensure that it has a radiation direction located in the radiation sheet 11 to achieve the above functions.

Referring to FIG. 12 , in the first embodiment of the dielectric body 3, the dielectric body 3 can be configured as a dielectric plate covering the end of the metal member 2 away from the radiation sheet 11, which is mainly supported by the metal member 2 to achieve the installation and fixation of the dielectric body 3, so as to achieve the above-mentioned technical effects of the dielectric body 3. In addition, referring to FIG. 13 , in the second embodiment of the dielectric body 3, the dielectric body 3 includes a dielectric cover 31, and the dielectric cover 31 is covered on the radiation sheet 11. The dielectric cover 31 mainly realizes the above-mentioned required functions by the dielectric layer on its top. The above-mentioned dielectric layer supports the dielectric cover 31 through the side wall, and does not need to be fixedly installed on the metal part 2. Even vice versa, the metal part 2 can be set as the second metal layer 2a located on the side wall of the dielectric cover 31, so as to support the metal part 2 through the relatively lightweight dielectric cover 31, so as to reduce the mass of the metal part 2 as much as possible, that is, to form the second metal layer 2a located on the side wall of the dielectric cover 31, so as to reduce the overall mass of the antenna assembly 100, which is suitable for the lightweight requirements of satellite communications. And the dielectric cover 31 is arranged on the radiation sheet 11 to facilitate the positioning of the dielectric cover 31, so as to facilitate the installation operation of the dielectric body 3. The cross-sectional shape of the dielectric cover 31 can be set to square, polygonal, etc., which can achieve the required functions, and is not limited here. In this embodiment, the dielectric cover 31 is set in a cylindrical shape, which is also to ensure the symmetry of the directional pattern and to achieve wide beam characteristics in all directions.

The molding and installation method of the second metal layer 2a can be set to be consistent with or inconsistent with the molding and installation method of the first metal layer 11a described above, that is, the second metal layer 2a can also be set to an independent metal sheet structure, fixed to the dielectric cover 31 by an additional fixing structure, the fixing structure includes a supporting structure or an adhesive structure, the second metal layer 2a can also be formed by plating a metal coating on the side wall surface of the dielectric cover 31 using a metal plating process. The dielectric cover 31 is set to be a plastic material as described above, so that it has lightweight characteristics, and at the same time, as a plating substrate, it meets the requirements of the plating process. The second metal layer 2a is manufactured by a plastic surface metallization process, and its specific implementation process includes but is not limited to LDS (Laser Direct Structuring) electrochemical plating process, selective electrochemical plating process, magnetron sputtering vacuum plating process, LAP (Laser Activating Plating, laser activated metal plating) process and plastic surface metal foil coating process, etc. The overall structure is simple and easy to form and has lightweight characteristics, so that it can be further applied to large-scale array antennas for satellite communication antennas, reduce the load during the satellite launch phase, and thus reduce the launch cost. The second metal layer 2a can be arranged on the inner side or outer side of the dielectric cover 31, and its functional effect will not be affected. In this embodiment, the second metal layer 2a is arranged on the inner side of the dielectric cover 31, and the dielectric cover 31 can form a protection for the second metal layer 2a.

Referring to FIG. 14 , the radiation unit 1 further includes a parasitic radiation sheet 13 located on the radiation side of the radiation sheet 11, the parasitic radiation sheet 13 and the radiation sheet 11 are spaced apart and coupled with each other; the parasitic radiation sheet 13 includes a third metal layer 13a provided on the top wall of the dielectric cover 31. The installation method of the parasitic radiation sheet 13 is similar to that of the radiation sheet 11, that is, the parasitic radiation sheet 13 is supported and installed on the dielectric cover 31, wherein the parasitic radiation sheet 13 can be set as an independent metal sheet structure, fixed to the dielectric cover 31 by an additional fixing structure, and the fixing structure includes a supporting structure or an adhesive structure; the parasitic radiation sheet 13 set as a metal sheet structure can also be embedded in the dielectric cover 31 by embedding; the radiation sheet 11 can also be formed by plating a metal coating on the surface of the dielectric cover 31 by a metal plating process. In this embodiment, the dielectric cover 31 is set as a plastic material as described above, and its lightweight characteristics are obtained. At the same time, as a plated substrate, it meets the requirements of the plating process, and the parasitic radiation sheet 13 is manufactured by a plastic surface metallization process, and its specific implementation process includes but is not limited to LDS (Laser Direct Structuring) chemical plating process, selective electrochemical plating process, magnetron sputtering vacuum plating process, LAP (Laser Activating Plating, laser activated metal plating) process and plastic surface metal foil coating process, etc. The overall structure is simple and easy to shape and has lightweight characteristics, so it is suitable for large-scale array antennas for satellite communication antennas, reducing the load during the satellite launch phase, and thus reducing the launch cost. The parasitic radiation sheet 13 can be plated on the outside of the dielectric cover 31 or on the inside of the dielectric cover 31, but when it is plated on the inside of the dielectric cover 31, the electromagnetic waves emitted by the parasitic radiation sheet 13 stimulated by the radiation sheet 11 will also pass through the dielectric cover 31 to have a wide beam radiation characteristic, so this embodiment mainly adopts the form of plating the parasitic radiation sheet 13 on the inside of the dielectric cover 31.

In addition, when the parasitic radiation plate 13 is fixed by a fixed structure, it does not have to be fixed to the dielectric cover 31, and can also be suspended and fixed to the metal part 2 by the fixed structure. However, it is obviously more complicated than the above-mentioned plating process, and the structure molding and installation are difficult, and the practicality is poor.

A protruding area 311 is formed in the middle of the inner side of the top wall of the dielectric cover 31, and the third metal layer 13a is arranged in the protruding area 311. In order to facilitate the installation of the parasitic radiation plate 13, the protruding area 311 is formed in the middle of the inner side of the top wall of the dielectric cover 31. The structural form of the protruding area 311 is not limited. It can be a partial structural protrusion or a whole protrusion to form a boss as the protruding area 311. Even when the partial structure is protruding, the protruding area 311 can be arranged along the periphery of the parasitic radiation plate 13 to clamp the parasitic radiation plate 13 with a metal sheet structure. The protruding area 311 can limit the parasitic radiation plate 13 and play a role in assisting the installation and molding of the parasitic radiation plate 13. It is not limited here, and is based on the actual structure of the parasitic radiation plate 13 and the overall assembly setting of the antenna assembly 100.

Please refer to FIG. 15 . In the second embodiment of the dielectric cover 31 , an annular groove 312 is formed at the inner peripheral edge of the top wall of the dielectric cover 31 , so that the protruding area 311 is formed at the inner middle part of the top wall of the dielectric cover 31 . In this embodiment, the parasitic radiation sheet 13 is formed by metal plating, so the annular groove 312 is opened at the inner peripheral edge of the top wall of the dielectric cover 31 to form the protruding area 311 with a raised middle part, so that there is a height difference between the edge of the protruding area 311 and the bottom of the annular groove 312 , so that the parasitic radiation sheet 13 is plated and formed in the protruding area 311 , and adjusting the area of the protruding area 311 is equivalent to adjusting the size of the parasitic radiation sheet 13 , and the structure is simple and the effect is good. Of course, when the parasitic radiation sheet 13 is set as a metal sheet structure, the protruding area 311 in this embodiment can also play a role in edge positioning of the parasitic radiation sheet 13 , which has the effect of facilitating the positioning and installation of the parasitic radiation sheet 13 .

In addition, the metal member 2 is disposed on the inner side of the side wall of the dielectric cover 31 and extends to the annular groove 312. The metal member 2 is disposed on the inner side of the side wall of the dielectric cover 31 and the metal member 2 extends to the outer periphery of the parasitic radiation sheet 13 as described above, and will not be described one by one here. Based on the annular groove 312 opened to form the protruding area 311, the metal member 2 can be further extended into the annular groove 312 to exceed the height of the parasitic radiation sheet 13, on the one hand, to ensure the coupling between the parasitic radiation sheet 13 and the metal member 2, and to ensure that the metal member 2 can be excited by the parasitic radiation sheet 13; on the other hand, the coupling amount between the parasitic radiation sheet 13 and the metal member 2 is increased.

The metal member 2 includes a second metal layer 2a disposed on the side wall of the dielectric cover 31, and the second metal layer 2a extends to the annular groove 312. The configuration of the metal part 2 as the second metal layer 2a has also been described in detail above and will not be repeated here. In this embodiment, the second metal layer 2a is extended into the annular groove 312 to achieve the above-mentioned function of ensuring the coupling between the metal part 2 and the parasitic radiation plate 13 and improving the coupling amount.

In addition, the dielectric 3 has a dielectric 3 body arranged opposite to the radiation sheet 11, and the dielectric 3 body is arranged in a concave shape in the middle area corresponding to the radiation sheet 11. The above text describes the specific function of the dielectric 3 in detail, that is, after the electromagnetic waves in different angular directions emitted by the radiation sheet 11 pass through the dielectric 3, the path lengths of the electromagnetic waves passing through the dielectric 3 are inconsistent, so that the phases of the electromagnetic waves in different angular directions are different, and finally the wide beam radiation characteristics are superimposed in the free space. For example, when the electromagnetic wave emitted by the radiation sheet 11 perpendicular to the dielectric 3 passes through the dielectric 3, its path is the shortest and is the thickness of the dielectric 3, while the electromagnetic wave emitted by the radiation sheet 11 with a certain angle passing through the dielectric 3 must exceed the above-mentioned electromagnetic wave perpendicular to the dielectric 3 to form a wave path difference, resulting in the above-mentioned difference in the phases of the electromagnetic waves in different angular directions, and finally superimposed in the free space to produce the effect of wide beam radiation characteristics. However, when the size of the dielectric 3 is slightly different from that of the radiation sheet 11, the electromagnetic waves emitted by the radiation sheet 11 are almost all perpendicular to the dielectric 3, or are electromagnetic waves that pass through the dielectric 3 at a certain angle, and the angle deviation between the two is small, resulting in a small difference in the path length between the two, so that the effect of superimposing to generate wide-beam radiation is poor or even unable to widen the beam. Therefore, in the present application, a depression is provided in the middle area of the dielectric 3 to form a first area located in the middle of the dielectric 3 and a second area located outside the first area, so that the thickness of the first area is smaller than the thickness of the second area. At this time, even if the angle difference of the electromagnetic waves passing through the first area and the second area is small, the path length difference of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the radiation sheet 11 through the two areas can be increased to ensure the desired effect of widening the beam. The middle depression of the main body of the dielectric body 3 can be on the side facing the radiation sheet 11, specifically refer to the third embodiment of the dielectric cover 31 in Figure 16, or on the side away from the radiation sheet 11, specifically refer to the fourth embodiment of the dielectric cover 31 in Figure 17, which is not limited here, and all can achieve the required functions. However, when the parasitic radiation sheet 13 is set as a metal plating layer, it is necessary to ensure that the side of the main body of the dielectric body 3 facing the radiation sheet 11 is flat, so as to facilitate the plating and molding of the parasitic radiation sheet 13. Therefore, this application mainly selects the depression on the side of the main body of the dielectric body 3 away from the radiation sheet 11. The above-mentioned depression structure may not be limited, but in order to ensure that the generated directional diagram is spatially symmetrical, the above-mentioned depression needs to be set as an annular structure. In specific implementation, it can be a conical hollowing, a parabolic hollowing, a curved hollowing composed of an exponential gradient, etc.

In addition, the radiation unit 1 also includes a ground plate 14 and a feeding system 15 located on the side of the ground plate 14 facing away from the radiation sheet 11. The feeding system 15 is connected to the feed point 112 of the radiation sheet 11 through a connector 16, and the connector 16 is passed through the ground plate 14. The ground plate 14 and the feeding system 15 are inherent structures required by the radiation unit 1, and the spatial position between the two may not be limited. In the present application, the feeding system 15 is arranged on the side of the ground plate 14 facing away from the radiation sheet 11, and the ground plate 14 is passed through the connector 16 to connect the radiation sheet 11. On the one hand, the feeding system 15, the ground plate 14 and the radiation sheet 11 are stacked to reduce the spatial size, so as to reduce the volume of the antenna assembly 100. On the other hand, the feeding system 15 and the radiation sheet 11 are separated by the ground plate 14 to avoid interference between the two and improve the accuracy of the antenna assembly 100.

A second substrate 17 is provided between the feed system 15 and the ground plate 14, and the feed system 15 includes a fourth metal layer 15a provided on the second substrate 17. In the first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100, please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the second substrate 17 is provided between the feed system 15 and the ground plate 14, and the feed system 15 is provided as the fourth metal layer 15a attached to the second substrate 17. The installation and molding method of the fourth metal layer 15a is similar to that of the first metal layer 11a, the second metal layer 2a and the third metal layer 13a. It can also be provided as an independent metal sheet structure fixed by an additional fixing structure, or it can be provided as a metal coating layer plated on the second substrate 17. In this embodiment, the fourth metal layer 15a is plated on the second substrate 17 to achieve the same lightweight effect, which is suitable for satellite communication use requirements.

At least two feeding points 112 are arranged on the radiation sheet 11, and the feeding system 15 is respectively connected to the two feeding points 112 via the two connecting members 16. By providing a plurality of the feeding points 112, the stability of the phase center can be improved.

Due to the characteristics of circular polarization itself, the antenna needs to use circular polarization of different rotation directions for transmission and reception, so the antenna assembly 100 needs to be designed with dual circular polarization. In view of the dual circular polarization design requirements, a plurality of feed points 112 are provided on the radiation plate 11 to facilitate the dual circular polarization design. In this way, the use of dual circular polarization can make the transmission and reception share the same antenna and reduce the antenna size. The feeding system 15 is a 3dB bridge, which can realize dual circular polarization radiation. When the signal is input by one of the feed points 112, the antenna assembly 100 is in the first circular polarization radiation mode; when the signal is input by another feed point 112, the antenna assembly 100 is in the second circular polarization radiation mode to form a dual circular polarization design. The first circular polarization radiation mode and the second circular polarization radiation mode adopt different circular polarization modes in order to distinguish between transmission and reception. For example, when the first circular polarization radiation mode is a left-hand circular polarization mode, the second circular polarization radiation mode is a right-hand circular polarization mode; when the first circular polarization mode is a right-hand circular polarization mode, the second circular polarization radiation mode is a left-hand circular polarization mode. The transmission and reception of the antenna assembly 100 adopt different circular polarization modes, that is, when the transmission adopts a left-hand circular polarization mode, the reception adopts a right-hand circular polarization mode; when the transmission adopts a right-hand circular polarization mode, the reception adopts a left-hand circular polarization mode.

On the basis that the feeding system 15 is set as a 3dB bridge, the feeding system 15 includes two input ports 151 and two output ports 152. The two input ports 151 are used to access digital channels, and the two output ports 152 are respectively connected to the two feeding points 112 on the radiation plate 11 through the connecting member 16. Thus, when the antenna assembly 100 is in a transmitting working mode, a signal enters from one of the two input ports 151, and after power distribution and phase shifting by the feeding system 15, a set of orthogonal signals with a phase difference of 90° is generated, which are output by the two output ports 152, and then fed to the radiation plate 11 through the connector 16 so that the radiation unit 1 emits electromagnetic waves, thereby realizing spatial propagation of the signal; when the antenna assembly 100 is in a receiving working mode, the electromagnetic wave signal in the free space is received by the radiation unit 1, mainly by the radiation plate 11, and transmitted to the output port 152 of the feeding system 15 through the connector 16, and after signal synthesis by the feeding system 15, the final signal is output from the input port 151 to the RF link.

In summary of the above structural description, the present application mainly proposes two embodiments of the antenna assembly 100. Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 for a first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100, and refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 for a second embodiment of the antenna assembly 100.

In the first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100, the first substrate 12, the dielectric cover 31 and the second substrate 17 are made of plastic materials, which have the advantage of being lightweight. The radiation sheet 11, i.e., the first metal layer 11a, the parasitic radiation sheet 13, i.e., the third metal layer 13a, the metal member 2, i.e., the second metal layer 2a and the fourth metal layer 15a of the feed network are realized by a plastic surface metallization process. Some dimensions selected in this embodiment include: the distance between the radiation sheet 11 and the parasitic radiation sheet 13 is 0.1λ, and a bottom plate attached to the first substrate 12 is formed at the bottom of the dielectric cover 31 to ensure the installation stability of the dielectric cover 31. The side length of the bottom plate is 0.5λ, and the height of the dielectric cover 31 is 0.25λ and the diameter is 0.45λ; the height of the second metal layer 2a inside the dielectric cover 31 is 0.2λ, wherein the side length of the bottom plate of the dielectric cover 31 is 0.5λ, which can ensure that the aperture size of the antenna assembly 100 is 0.5λ, so that the antenna array 1000 can be arrayed at a spacing of 0.5λ, and the directional diagram of the antenna array 1000 does not generate grating lobes; the height of the dielectric cover 31 is 0.25λ and the diameter is 0.45λ, in order to achieve wide beam characteristics, determine the phase difference at different angles, and then determine the geometric shape of the dielectric cover 31. Dimensions; The height of the second metal layer 2a inside the dielectric cover 31 is 0.2λ, which is the optimal height determined according to the directional pattern characteristics and the impedance matching characteristics. The above dimensions are a set of implementation schemes given in this embodiment, and are not intended to limit the actual dimensions. On the basis of meeting the technical effects required by this application, the above dimensions can be adjusted to a certain extent, and are not limited here.

The test was conducted on the basis of the first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100 proposed in the present application. This embodiment achieves an impedance bandwidth of 15% by adopting a laminated structure of the radiation plate 11 and the parasitic radiation plate 13, and the standing wave curve is shown in FIG21. And within the impedance bandwidth, the axial ratio is less than 2dB, and the axial ratio variation curve with frequency is shown in FIG22. The first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100 proposed in the present application realizes ultra-wide beam radiation characteristics through the loading of the dielectric cover 31 and the metal part 2, and its directional diagram curve is shown in FIG23. The 1.5dB beam width in the 2GHz frequency band reaches about 168°, and the 3dB beam width reaches about 195°. The 1.5dB beam width in the 2.18GHz frequency band reaches about 190°, and the 3dB beam width reaches about 214°. In the range of ±60°, the axial ratio is less than 3dB, and the axial ratio variation curve with angle is shown in FIG24. The first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100 proposed in the present application has an ultra-wide beam characteristic, which can effectively reduce the gain drop when the array is scanned at a large angle and ensure a good axial ratio characteristic within a wide angle range.

Compared with the first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100, the second embodiment of the antenna assembly 100 eliminates the dielectric materials such as the first substrate 12, the second substrate 17 and the dielectric body 3, and adopts an all-metal structure. The metal member 2 and the ground plate 14 enclose a radiation cavity, and the radiation plate 11 and the parasitic radiation plate 13 are fixed to the metal member 2 through the fixing structure described above to be suspended in the radiation cavity. The radiation plate 11 is electrically connected to the feeding system 15 arranged on the back side of the ground plate 14 through the connecting member 16. The connecting member 16 and the feeding system 15 are not shown in Figures 3 or 4. The specific differences between the second embodiment of the antenna assembly 100 and the first embodiment of the antenna assembly 100 are as follows: (1) the dielectric cover 31 is not loaded in the second embodiment, so the beam width is not as wide as that in the first embodiment; (2) the radiation plate 11 is suspended in the second embodiment, which has higher radiation efficiency than the radiation plate 11 attached to the first substrate 12 in the first embodiment; (3) the radiation plate 11 in the second embodiment is provided with the first slot 111 to achieve miniaturization of the radiation plate 11; (4) the metal part 2 in the second embodiment is directly connected to the ground plate 14, compared with the first embodiment in which the metal part 2 and the ground plate 14 are separated by the first substrate 12 dielectric, the structure in the second embodiment has a lower gain drop when performing large angle scanning. The directional pattern curve of the second embodiment of the antenna assembly 100 is shown in FIG. 25.

Please refer to Fig. 18. The present application also proposes an antenna array 1000, which includes a plurality of antenna components 100 arranged in an array. The specific structure of the antenna components 100 is referred to the above embodiment. Since the antenna array 1000 adopts all the technical solutions of all the above embodiments, it has at least all the beneficial effects brought by the technical solutions of the above embodiments, which will not be described one by one here.

Please refer to FIG. 19 . The radiation unit 1 includes a feeding system 15 . The feeding system 15 is connected to the feeding point 112 on the radiation plate 11 through a connector 16 . The feeding system 15 includes two input ports 151 and two output ports 152 . The two input ports 151 of the feeding system 15 of at least one antenna assembly 100 are connected to a digital channel through a radio frequency link. FIG. 19 illustrates the connection method of the first embodiment of the antenna array 1000 architecture. The two input ports 151 of each antenna assembly 100 are connected to a radio frequency link respectively, and the two input ports 151 are connected to a transmitting and receiving link or a receiving and transmitting link respectively. N antenna assemblies 100 correspond to N transmitting and receiving radio frequency links, and the N radio frequency links are connected to digital channels. The number of digital channels is mainly based on actual application requirements and is not limited here.

Please refer to FIG. 20 , the radiation unit 1 includes a feeding system 15, and the feeding system 15 is connected to the feed point 112 on the radiation plate 11 through a connector 16, and the feeding system 15 includes two input ports 151 and two output ports 152; the input ports 151 corresponding to the feeding systems 15 of at least two of the antenna assemblies 100 are connected to a radio frequency link through a phase shifting network system for integration and then connected to a digital channel. The corresponding input ports 151 in a plurality of the antenna assemblies 100 are connected to a phase shifting network, so that M phase shifting networks are connected to a transmitting or receiving radio frequency link, and N transmitting and receiving radio frequency links are connected to a digital channel, that is, a plurality of the antenna assemblies 100 are integrated into a radio frequency link after phase shifting through a phase shifting network, and the number of radio frequency links and digital channels is mainly based on actual application requirements and is not limited here.

The above description is only an optional embodiment of the present application, and does not limit the patent scope of the present application. All equivalent structural transformations made by using the contents of the present application specification and drawings under the inventive concept of the present application, or direct/indirect application in other related technical fields are included in the patent protection scope of the present application.

Claims (30)

An antenna assembly, comprising: a radiation unit, comprising a radiation sheet; and The metal piece is arranged on the periphery of the radiation piece and is used to be excited by the radiation piece. The antenna assembly according to claim 1, wherein the metal member comprises a plurality of metal bodies arranged along the periphery of the radiation plate. The antenna assembly according to claim 1, wherein the metal member comprises a metal ring extending along a circumference of the radiation plate. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the metal ring is arranged in a closed ring. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the metal ring is provided with a slot. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the edge of the radiation plate is provided with a first slot extending toward the middle thereof. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 6, wherein a plurality of the first slots are provided along the circumference of the radiation plate. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the radiation unit further comprises a first substrate, and the radiation plate comprises a first metal layer provided on the first substrate. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the radiation unit further comprises a parasitic radiation plate located on a radiation side of the radiation plate, the parasitic radiation plate being spaced apart from and coupled to the radiation plate. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 9, wherein the metal member extends to the periphery of the parasitic radiation plate to be excited by the parasitic radiation plate. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 9, wherein the edge of the parasitic radiation plate is provided with a second slot extending toward the middle thereof. The antenna assembly according to claim 11, wherein a plurality of the second slots are provided along the circumference of the parasitic radiation plate. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the antenna assembly further comprises a dielectric body, wherein the dielectric body is located on a radiation side of the radiation plate. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein the dielectric body comprises a dielectric cover, and the dielectric cover is disposed on the radiation plate. The antenna assembly of claim 14, wherein the metal member comprises a second metal layer disposed on a side wall of the dielectric cover. The antenna assembly according to claim 14, wherein the radiating unit further comprises a parasitic radiating plate located on a radiating side of the radiating plate, the parasitic radiating plate being spaced apart from and coupled to the radiating plate; The parasitic radiation plate includes a third metal layer disposed on the top wall of the dielectric cover. The antenna assembly of claim 16, wherein the third metal layer is disposed on an inner side of a top wall of the dielectric cover. The antenna assembly according to claim 17, wherein a protruding area is formed in the middle of the inner side of the top wall of the dielectric cover, and the third metal layer is disposed in the protruding area. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 18, wherein an annular groove is formed at the inner periphery of the top wall of the dielectric cover, so that the protruding area is formed in the inner middle portion of the top wall of the dielectric cover. The antenna assembly of claim 19, wherein the metal member is disposed inside a side wall of the dielectric cover and extends to the annular groove. The antenna assembly of claim 20, wherein the metal member comprises a second metal layer disposed on a side wall of the dielectric cover, the second metal layer extending to the annular groove. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein the dielectric body has a dielectric body main body arranged opposite to the radiation plate, and the dielectric body main body is recessed in a middle area corresponding to the radiation plate. The antenna assembly of claim 1, wherein the radiating element comprises a circularly polarized radiating element. The antenna assembly as described in claim 1, wherein the radiating unit further includes a ground plate and a feeding system located on a side of the ground plate facing away from the radiating plate, the feeding system is connected to a feeding point of the radiating plate through a connecting member, and the connecting member is passed through the ground plate. The antenna assembly according to claim 24, wherein a second substrate is provided between the feed system and the ground plate, and the feed system includes A fourth metal layer is provided on the second substrate. The antenna assembly as claimed in claim 24, wherein at least two feeding points are provided on the radiation plate, and the feeding system connects the two feeding points respectively through the two connecting members. The antenna assembly as described in claim 26, wherein the feeding system includes two input ports and two output ports, the two input ports are used to access digital channels, and the two output ports are respectively connected to the two feeding points on the radiation plate through one of the connecting members. An antenna array, comprising a plurality of antenna components arranged in an array, wherein the antenna components are the antenna components as described in any one of claims 1-27. The antenna array according to claim 28, wherein the radiating unit comprises a feeding system, the feeding system is connected to a feeding point on the radiating plate through a connector, and the feeding system comprises two input ports and two output ports; The two input ports of the feeding system of at least one of the antenna assemblies are respectively connected to a digital channel via a radio frequency link. The antenna array according to claim 28, wherein the radiating unit comprises a feeding system, the feeding system is connected to a feeding point on the radiating plate through a connector, and the feeding system comprises two input ports and two output ports; The input ports corresponding to the feeding systems of at least two of the antenna assemblies are connected to a radio frequency link through a phase shift network system for integration and then connected to a digital channel.