An antenna module based on dielectric material

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of communication antenna technology, and specifically to an antenna module based on dielectric materials. It is formed by connecting a number of sub-array units, each of which includes a dielectric substrate and a radiating plate and a power divider arranged on the dielectric substrate. The dielectric substrate is evenly provided with a number of upper convex cavities protruding from the upper surface of the dielectric substrate and having a hollow bottom. The radiating plates are tightly arranged on the inner top surface of the upper convex cavity, and each of the radiating plates is connected by a one-to-many power divider arranged on the lower surface of the dielectric substrate. The radiating plate is arranged on the top wall of the upper convex cavity, which can realize energy transmission without coupling, has no coupling loss, and ensures high gain of the antenna.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of communication antennas, and in particular to an antenna module based on dielectric materials. Background Art

[0002] Faced with the explosive growth of users' data demand for mobile communication networks, the massive MIMO antenna array system with a network capacity thousands of times that of the 4G LTE system and extremely low latency of milliseconds is considered to be the most promising transmission technology for 5G. The design of large-scale, lightweight, high-gain antenna arrays is the first problem to be solved by 5G communication technology.

[0003] At present, the commonly used design of antenna modules adopts a structure in which the radiation patch is set on the outer surface of the convex cavity of the dielectric substrate to ensure the distance between the radiation piece and the bottom reflector. In order to achieve energy coupling, this design requires processing multiple "stem" or "P"-shaped ribs in the upper convex cavity, so that etching lines can be set on the end faces of the ribs through electroplating or LDS process, thereby realizing the transmission of energy to the radiation piece. Since this structure needs to form a complex rib structure in the upper convex cavity, the difficulty of processing the dielectric substrate is greatly increased. At the same time, since its energy needs to be coupled to be transmitted to the radiation piece on the other side of the dielectric substrate, it causes energy coupling loss, which affects the gain effect of the antenna. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to address the defects of the prior art and provide an antenna module based on dielectric materials that is simple to process and has low loss and high gain.

[0005] The present invention discloses an antenna module based on dielectric material, and its technical solution is as follows: it is formed by connecting a plurality of sub-array units, each of which includes a dielectric substrate and a radiating piece and a power divider arranged on the dielectric substrate, the dielectric substrate is evenly provided with a plurality of convex cavities protruding from the upper surface of the dielectric substrate and having a hollow bottom, the radiating piece is tightly arranged on the inner top surface of the convex cavity, and each of the radiating pieces is connected by a one-to-many power divider arranged on the lower surface of the dielectric substrate.

[0006] Preferably, a guide plate is provided at a position on the upper surface of the upward convex cavity corresponding to the radiation plate, and a conductive hole is provided on the guide plate.

[0007] Preferably, the radiation sheet and the one-to-many power divider are integrally formed by selective electroplating or LDS processing technology.

[0008] Preferably, a hollow structure is provided on the radiation sheet.

[0009] More preferably, the hollow structure includes at least two T-shaped hollow grooves evenly arranged around the center of the radiation plate, the rotation angle difference between adjacent T-shaped hollow grooves is 360° / N, N is the number of T-shaped hollow grooves, and one end of the T-shaped hollow groove facing the center of the radiation plate is connected to the disconnected hole in the center of the radiation plate.

[0010] Preferably, the side walls of the upward convex cavity are of a polygonal structure, and reinforcing columns perpendicular to the surface of the upward convex cavity are provided at the connection between adjacent side walls.

[0011] Preferably, adjacent sub-array units are fixedly connected via one or more connecting bridges to form an antenna module array.

[0012] Preferably, vertical reinforcing plates perpendicular to the surface of the dielectric substrate are provided on both sides of the dielectric substrate.

[0013] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0014] The radiation plate is set on the top wall of the upper convex cavity, which can realize energy transmission without coupling and has no coupling loss, ensuring high gain of the antenna. Based on this structure, a guide plate is set on the upper surface of the upper convex cavity to further improve the antenna gain. At the same time, this structure does not need to set coupling ribs in the cavity, the dielectric substrate is simple to process, the production efficiency is high, and the cost is low. The radiation plate adopts a hollow design, which can further improve the antenna gain. The radiation plate and power divider are integrally formed by selective electroplating and LDS processing. The number of oscillators of the sub-array can be changed as required, and the power divider can be changed to realize multi-unit sub-arrays. Multiple sub-arrays can be opened as one according to requirements, which can be used for the development of various frequency bands and has good universality. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the present invention from a first angle;

[0016] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure from a second angle of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 3 for Figure 2 A magnified schematic diagram of part A;

[0018] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the top view structure of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 5 It is a bottom view structural schematic diagram of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 6 for Figure 5 An enlarged schematic diagram of part B.

[0021] In the figure: 1- dielectric substrate 1, 2- upper convex cavity 2, 3- guide plate 3, 4- conductive hole, 5- reinforcing column, 6- reinforcing plate, 7- connecting bridge, 8- radiating plate, 9- one-to-many power divider, 10- hollow structure, 11- T-shaped hollow groove, 12- disconnect hole, 13- through hole DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments to facilitate a clear understanding of the present invention, but they do not constitute a limitation on the present invention.

[0023] like Figure 1-4 As shown, the present scheme is an antenna module based on dielectric material, which is formed by connecting a number of sub-array units, and each sub-array unit includes a dielectric substrate 1 and a radiating plate 8 and a power divider 9 arranged on the dielectric substrate 1. The dielectric substrate 1 is evenly provided with a number of convex cavities 2 protruding from the upper surface of the dielectric substrate 1 and having a hollow bottom. The dielectric substrate 1 and the convex cavity 2 thereon are integrally molded from insulating materials with the same dielectric constant. The radiating plate 8 is tightly arranged on the inner top surface of the convex cavity 2, and each radiating plate 8 is connected by a one-to-many power divider 9 arranged on the lower surface of the dielectric substrate 1. An integrated pin 11 is pre-buried at the bottom of the dielectric substrate 1, and the integrated pin 11 passes through the one-to-many power divider 9 and is connected to the feeding network.

[0024] The radiation sheet 8 and the one-to-many power splitter 9 can be fixed on the dielectric substrate 1 by metal patch, or can be integrally formed on the dielectric substrate 1 by selective electroplating or LDS processing. The specific method to realize the structure of the radiation sheet 8 and the one-to-many power splitter 9 can be selected according to production requirements, and all processes that can realize the close connection between the radiation sheet 8, the one-to-many power splitter 9 and the dielectric substrate 1 should be included in the protection scope of this solution.

[0025] This embodiment uses an example in which four vibrators are set in a sub-array unit for explanation. In order to connect four evenly distributed radiation plates 8, the one-to-multiple power divider 9 adopts a one-to-four power divider. And the input ends of the +45° polarization feeding circuits of the four vibrators are connected through a one-to-four power divider, and the input ends of the -45° polarization feeding circuits of the four vibrators are connected through another one-to-four power divider. That is, no matter how many radiation plates 8 there are, there are two one-to-multiple power dividers 9. Similarly, when a sub-array unit is provided with three vibrators, it has three evenly distributed radiation plates 8, and the one-to-multiple power divider 9 adopts a one-to-three power divider, and has two. The number of vibrators set in a specific sub-array unit is set according to production requirements, and a one-to-multiple power divider 9 is set accordingly.

[0026] In another embodiment, a plurality of one-way M power dividers (M<N) may be cascaded to form a one-way P power divider (P≥M), and then electrically connected to each input end of each feeding line of the N vibrators.

[0027] In order to further improve the antenna gain, a guide plate 3 may be provided on the upper surface of the upward convex cavity 2 at a position corresponding to the radiation plate 8 , and a conductive hole 4 is provided on the guide plate 3 .

[0028] The side wall of the upper convex cavity 2 is a polygonal structure, and a reinforcing column 5 perpendicular to the surface of the upper convex cavity 2 is provided at the connection of adjacent side walls. In this embodiment, the polygonal structure is a square, and the reinforcing column 5 is a cylinder arranged at the four corners of the square. The shape of the guide plate 3 and the shape of the radiation plate 8 should be consistent with the shape of the upper convex cavity 2 to achieve a high gain effect. For example, when the upper convex cavity 2 adopts a square structure, the shapes of the guide plate 3 and the radiation plate 8 should both adopt a square structure similar in size to the upper convex cavity 2, and the positions of the guide plate 3 and the radiation plate 8 should correspond to each other.

[0029] like Figure 5 As shown, in order to further enhance the gain of the antenna, a hollow structure 10 may be provided on the radiation sheet 8. The hollow structure may have a variety of shapes, such as a cross shape, a triangle, etc. All hollow forms that can enhance the gain may be adopted.

[0030] The hollow structure used in this scheme is as follows Figure 6 As shown, the hollow structure 10 includes at least two T-shaped hollow grooves 11 uniformly arranged around the center of the radiation sheet 8, and the rotation angle difference between adjacent T-shaped hollow grooves 11 is 360° / N, where N is the number of T-shaped hollow grooves 11, and one end of the T-shaped hollow groove 11 facing the center of the radiation sheet 8 is connected to the disconnection hole 12 in the center of the radiation sheet 8. In this embodiment, N is 4, so that the T-shaped hollow groove 11 is in a cross shape in the four directions of the disconnection hole 12. The conductive hole 4 of the guide plate 3, the through hole 13 opened on the surface of the upper convex cavity 2 and the disconnection hole 12 of the radiation sheet 8 are interconnected to form a through hole. The through hole can be located at any position of the radiation sheet 8. In this scheme, in order to achieve a better gain effect by combining it with the hollow structure 10, the hole position is set at the center of the radiation sheet 8. At the same time, in order to achieve the isolation of the radiation sheet 8 from the guide sheet 3, the inner diameter of the disconnection hole 12 set at the corresponding position of the radiation sheet 8 and the guide sheet 3 should be larger than the through hole 13.

[0031] The dielectric substrate 1 of the present solution is a long strip substrate, and a plurality of dielectric substrates 1 are neatly arranged along the width direction of the dielectric substrate 1, and are fixedly connected by one or more connecting bridges 7 between adjacent sub-array units to form an antenna module array. When there is one connecting bridge 7, it is set at the center position and has a sufficient length. When there are multiple connecting bridges 7, they are evenly distributed in the length direction of the dielectric substrate 1, and the length of each connecting bridge 7 is relatively short. In this embodiment, three shorter connecting bridges 7 are used to achieve connection. When the shape of the dielectric substrate 1 changes, in order to make the overall size and shape of the antenna module array meet the requirements, the arrangement direction and connection method of each dielectric substrate 1 can be adjusted. How to set the connecting bridge 7 and the arrangement direction of the dielectric substrate 1 depends on actual production needs.

[0032] At the same time, since the bottom of the dielectric substrate 1 needs to be connected to a reflector, in order to improve the support effect of the entire antenna module, this solution provides vertical reinforcing plates 6 perpendicular to the surface of the dielectric substrate 1 on both sides of each dielectric substrate 1, so that the cross section of the dielectric substrate 1 forms an I-shaped structure, thereby effectively preventing longitudinal deformation.

[0033] The contents not described in detail in this specification belong to the prior art known to professional and technical personnel in this field.

Claims

1. An antenna module based on dielectric material, formed by connecting a plurality of sub-array units, each sub-array unit comprising a dielectric substrate (1) and a radiation sheet (8) and a power divider (9) arranged on the dielectric substrate (1), characterized in that: The dielectric substrate (1) is evenly provided with a plurality of convex cavities (2) protruding from the upper surface of the dielectric substrate (1) and having a hollow bottom, the radiation sheet (8) being tightly arranged on the inner top surface of the convex cavity (2), and each of the radiation sheets (8) being connected via a one-to-many power divider (9) arranged on the lower surface of the dielectric substrate (1); The radiation sheet (8) is provided with a hollow structure (10).

2. The dielectric material-based antenna module according to claim 1, characterized in that: A guide plate (3) is provided on the upper surface of the upper convex cavity (2) at a position corresponding to the radiation plate (8), and a conductive hole (4) is provided on the guide plate (3).

3. The dielectric material-based antenna module according to claim 1, characterized in that: The radiation sheet (8) and the one-to-many power divider (9) are integrally formed by selective electroplating or LDS processing technology.

4. The dielectric material-based antenna module according to claim 1, characterized in that: The hollow structure (10) comprises at least two T-shaped hollow grooves (11) uniformly arranged around the center of the radiation plate (8), the rotation angle difference between adjacent T-shaped hollow grooves (11) is 360° / N, N is the number of T-shaped hollow grooves (11), and one end of the T-shaped hollow groove (11) facing the center of the radiation plate (8) is connected to the disconnection hole (12) at the center of the radiation plate (8).

5. The dielectric material-based antenna module according to claim 1, characterized in that: The side walls of the upward convex cavity (2) are in a polygonal structure, and a reinforcing column (5) perpendicular to the surface of the upward convex cavity (2) is provided at the connection between adjacent side walls.

6. The dielectric material-based antenna module according to claim 1, characterized in that: Adjacent sub-array units are fixedly connected via one or more connecting bridges (7) to form an antenna module array.

7. The dielectric material-based antenna module according to claim 1, characterized in that: Vertical reinforcing plates (6) perpendicular to the plate surface of the dielectric substrate (1) are provided on both sides of the dielectric substrate (1).

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