A multi-layer structure array antenna

Abstract

The present invention discloses a multi-layer structure array antenna, belonging to the field of antenna technology. It includes a surface substrate, a middle substrate, a bottom substrate and a feed network substrate arranged from top to bottom; the entire array antenna is divided into a plurality of antenna units, in each antenna unit, a hollow groove is arranged on the middle substrate, an upper radiation patch and a lower radiation patch are arranged on the upper surface of the surface substrate and the bottom substrate at positions corresponding to the hollow grooves, respectively, the lower surface of the bottom substrate has a metal stratum, a power division network is arranged on the feed network substrate, and a first metallized through hole for feeding is penetrated in the bottom substrate and the feed network substrate. The present invention has the advantages of excellent electrical performance, high degree of integration, low profile, simple processing flow, simple design, and convenient use.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of antenna technology, and in particular to a multi-layer structure array antenna. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, the rapid development of wireless communication technology has put forward higher and higher requirements for antennas. For example, antennas are required to have high gain, small size, low profile, wide bandwidth, high directivity, etc. It is usually difficult for a single antenna to meet these requirements, so array antennas are needed. Array antennas are widely used in radar, communication, navigation, measurement and control and other fields.

[0003] Microstrip patch antennas have the advantages of compact structure, light weight, low cost, and easy integration. Microstrip antennas are increasingly used in the design of array antennas. However, as the cross-sectional size of the patch antenna decreases, the antenna performance (such as relative bandwidth) will be affected.

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the cross-sectional height of the antenna and the performance of the antenna, so as to reduce the cross-sectional height of the antenna as much as possible while ensuring the performance of the antenna. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention proposes a multi-layer structure array antenna, which has a simple structure, good performance and is easy to process.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

[0007] A multi-layer structure array antenna comprises a surface substrate, a middle substrate, a bottom substrate and a feed network substrate arranged from top to bottom; the entire array antenna is divided into a plurality of antenna units, in each antenna unit, a hollow groove is arranged on the middle substrate, an upper radiation patch and a lower radiation patch are respectively arranged on the upper surfaces of the surface substrate and the bottom substrate at positions corresponding to the hollow grooves, the lower surface of the bottom substrate has a metal stratum, a power division network is arranged on the feed network substrate, and a first metallized through hole for feeding is penetrated through the bottom substrate and the feed network substrate.

[0008] Furthermore, the antenna units are separated by second metallized through holes penetrating the surface substrate and the middle substrate.

[0009] Furthermore, the power division network is a multi-stage Wilkinson power divider.

[0010] Furthermore, the first metallized through hole is located on a side of the lower radiation patch, and the top of the first metallized through hole is connected to the lower radiation patch via a metal strip.

[0011] Furthermore, the upper radiation patch and the lower radiation patch are squares with side lengths between 2.0 mm and 5.0 mm, and the hollow grooves are squares with side lengths less than 10 mm.

[0012] The beneficial effects achieved by the present invention through the adoption of the above technical solution are as follows:

[0013] 1. The array antenna of the present invention has a simple structure and is easy to process.

[0014] 2. The array antenna of the present invention is provided with a hollow groove on the middle substrate, so that an air layer is formed between the upper radiation patch and the lower radiation patch, thereby expanding the working bandwidth of the antenna.

[0015] 3. Furthermore, the present invention separates the antenna units by metallized through holes, which can effectively improve the mutual coupling between array elements and improve the active standing waves at each port of the array antenna.

[0016] 4. Furthermore, the present invention arranges the first metallized through hole on the side of the lower radiation patch, which can free up space at the bottom of the antenna unit and facilitate the arrangement of electrical components at the bottom of the antenna unit. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the array antenna in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the cross-sectional structure of a single antenna unit.

[0019] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the structure of the feeding network in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the lamination process of the array antenna in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 5 It is a port standing wave simulation curve diagram of the antenna unit in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 6 It is a gain simulation curve diagram of the array antenna in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The present invention is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0024] A multi-layer structure array antenna, the overall structure of which is realized by multi-layer printed circuit board processing, the array antenna includes multiple antenna units, each antenna unit is arranged according to a specified unit spacing, and each antenna unit includes a surface dielectric substrate, an intermediate dielectric substrate, a bottom dielectric substrate and a feed dielectric substrate. Among them, the upper surface of the surface dielectric substrate is provided with a metal patch, and the lower surface is exposed to the substrate without copper cladding; the upper and lower surfaces of the intermediate dielectric substrate are exposed to the substrate without copper cladding, and the middle of the intermediate dielectric substrate is hollowed out; the upper surface of the bottom dielectric substrate is provided with a metal patch, and the lower surface is provided with a metal floor; the feed dielectric substrate is provided with a feed network; the bottom dielectric substrate and the feed dielectric substrate are also provided with metalized through holes for feeding.

[0025] Furthermore, the surface dielectric substrate is made of TSM-DS3M, with a thickness of 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm, and the size of the square metal patch on the upper surface is 2.0 mm to 5.0 mm.

[0026] The material of the middle dielectric substrate is TSM-DS3M, with a thickness of 1.0mm to 1.5mm, a square hollow size of less than 10mm, and no copper cladding design on both sides of the dielectric substrate. The hollow design in the middle can effectively improve the bandwidth of the antenna.

[0027] The bottom dielectric substrate is made of TSM-DS3M with a thickness of 0.1mm to 0.5mm. The size of the square patch on the upper surface is 2.0mm to 5.0mm. The lower surface is fully copper-clad, but the copper and the metallized holes are separated by a non-metallized ring to form a coaxial feeding structure.

[0028] Furthermore, metallized through holes are arranged around the antenna unit, which can effectively improve the mutual coupling between array elements and improve the active standing waves at each port of the array antenna. The metallized through hole penetrates the surface dielectric substrate and the middle dielectric substrate, and can also penetrate the bottom dielectric substrate if it does not affect the bottom feed layer circuit.

[0029] Furthermore, the feeding through hole is located on the side of the lower radiation patch, and the top of the feeding through hole is connected to the lower radiation patch through a metal strip.

[0030] The feeding network can be in microstrip form or stripline form. If the microstrip form is adopted, the feeding network is a layer of dielectric substrate. If the stripline form is adopted, the feeding network is two layers of dielectric substrate and buried resistor process. The dielectric substrate material is TSM-DS3M, and the thickness is 0.1mm to 0.3mm. In order to improve the isolation between the array element antennas, the feeding network can be implemented by Wilkinson power divider.

[0031] Figure 1The figure shows a 4×4 scale array antenna. The antenna array includes multiple array antennas with the same structure. Each antenna adopts a three-layer structure, which is composed of a surface dielectric substrate, a middle dielectric substrate, and a bottom dielectric substrate from top to bottom. In order to expand the working bandwidth of the antenna, a double-layer radiating metal patch design is adopted, and the middle dielectric substrate is used to form air between the metal patches. In this way, the implementation of the multi-layer printed circuit board process can be facilitated.

[0032] The size of the double-layer radiation patch can be designed according to the working frequency band of the antenna. Specifically, the surface dielectric substrate can be TSM-DS3M with a thickness of 1.016mm, the upper radiation patch size is 4.66mm, the middle dielectric substrate is TSM-DS3M with a thickness of 1.016mm, the bottom dielectric substrate is TSM-DS3M with a thickness of 0.508mm, and the lower radiation patch size is 4.44mm. The antenna feed port adopts coaxial feeding. The diameter of the metallized through hole in the coaxial feeding structure is 0.3mm. The lower surface of the bottom dielectric substrate has a non-metallized ring surrounding the feed metallized through hole, and its outer diameter is 1.3mm.

[0033] like Figure 3 As shown, the feeding network in this example adopts a one-to-two Wilkinson power divider, and the output port of the sum path adopts a surface-mount SMP interface.

[0034] like Figure 4 As shown, the array antenna can be manufactured by laminating twice. The first lamination completes the lamination and metallization drilling of the antenna surface substrate and the middle substrate, and the lamination and metallization drilling of the antenna bottom substrate and the feed network layer substrate. Then, the two laminated sheets obtained by the first lamination are laminated for the second time to obtain the final printed board.

[0035] Figure 5 The figure shows the port standing wave simulation curve of the above antenna unit, which has good standing wave characteristics in a wider frequency band. Figure 6 The figure shows the gain simulation curve of the above 4×4 array. The antenna array has good gain performance.

[0036] The array antenna of the present invention is composed of antenna units arranged at a specific interval. Each antenna array element is composed of a three-layer dielectric substrate. The middle part of the intermediate dielectric substrate is hollowed out to form a cavity. The feeding network can be in the form of a microstrip transmission line. The overall structure of the present invention is realized by a multi-layer printed circuit board processing technology. Through two laminations, the complexity of the printed circuit board drilling process is reduced. In addition, metallized through holes are provided between the array elements to improve the isolation between the array elements. In short, the present invention has the advantages of excellent electrical performance, high degree of integration, low profile, simple processing flow, simple design, and easy use, and is an important improvement on the prior art.

Claims

1. A multi-layer array antenna, characterized in that: It includes a surface substrate, a middle substrate, a bottom substrate and a feed network substrate arranged from top to bottom; The entire array antenna is divided into a plurality of antenna units. In each antenna unit, a hollow groove is provided on the middle substrate, an upper radiation patch and a lower radiation patch are respectively provided on the upper surfaces of the surface substrate and the bottom substrate at positions corresponding to the hollow groove, a metal layer is provided on the lower surface of the bottom substrate, a power division network is provided on the feed network substrate, and a first metallized through hole for feeding is penetrated through the bottom substrate and the feed network substrate; The antenna units are separated by second metallized through holes penetrating the surface substrate and the middle substrate; The first metallized through hole is located on the side of the lower radiation patch, and the top of the first metallized through hole is connected to the lower radiation patch through a metal strip.

2. The multi-layer structure array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The power division network is a multi-stage Wilkinson power divider.

3. The multi-layer structure array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upper radiation patch and the lower radiation patch are squares with side lengths between 2.0 mm and 5.0 mm, and the hollow grooves are squares with side lengths less than 10 mm.

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