Active antenna and manufacturing method

By combining phased array antennas and dielectric lenses in 5G millimeter wave active antennas, beam sharpening and gain improvement are achieved, and the problems of high cost and high power consumption are solved, the array scale is reduced and the direction accuracy and power consumption are improved. efficiency.

CN111541028BActive Publication Date: 2024-12-27BEIJING HIGH WAY TELECOMMUNICTION TECH CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202010408644.X
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Patents(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2020-05-14
Publication Date
2024-12-27
Estimated Expiration
2040-05-14

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

The existing 5G millimeter wave active antennas have high cost and high power consumption, making it difficult to meet market demand.

Method used

Using a combined structure of phased array antenna and dielectric lens, beam sharpening is achieved in the horizontal direction through dielectric lens, reducing the number of microband oscillators in the horizontal direction of phased array antenna, reducing power consumption, and forming a sharpened radiation direction diagram through dielectric lens radiation , improve the gain in the vertical direction.

Benefits of technology

The beam direction accuracy and beam side lobe suppression capability of phased array antennas are realized, which reduces power consumption and array size, ensuring that the array size can be reduced by half while the gain in the scanning angle domain remains unchanged, and in the same gain situation The number of microstrip vibrators in the vertical direction is reduced.

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Abstract

The present invention discloses an active antenna and a manufacturing method to solve the problems of high cost and high power consumption of existing antennas. An active antenna comprises: a phased array antenna and a dielectric lens; the antenna array of the phased array antenna is a microstrip circuit, a microstrip dipole radiation unit is provided on one side facing the dielectric lens, and the other side is a metal ground, the number of microstrip dipoles in the horizontal direction is 8 to 64, and the number of microstrip dipoles in the vertical direction is 1 to 8, the beam of the phased array antenna is scanned at least in the horizontal direction; the dielectric lens realizes beam sharpening in the horizontal plane. The method is used to manufacture the active antenna. The present invention realizes a low-power, low-cost 5G communication millimeter-wave phased array antenna.
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of mobile communications, and in particular to an active antenna. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid rise of 5G millimeter wave communications and broadband low-orbit satellite communications, millimeter wave active antennas have begun unprecedented development and are expected to dominate the market in the next few years. Millimeter waves bring large bandwidth and high speed. The maximum bandwidth available for 4G LTE cellular systems based on the Sub-6GHz band is 100MHz, and the data rate does not exceed 1Gbps; in the millimeter wave band, the maximum bandwidth available for mobile applications is 400MHz, and the data rate is as high as 10Gbps or even more. Traditional base stations can accommodate two to eight antennas, while 5G base stations need to arrange 64 to hundreds of antennas in a "massive MIMO" configuration to provide the necessary data rate.

[0003] In 5G communications, the advantage of active phased array antennas is that they use microwave integration methods to integrate chips such as phase shifters, filters, attenuators, power amplifiers, and low-noise amplifiers, achieving miniaturization and lightweight of the equipment, with high beam pointing accuracy and certain beam sidelobe suppression capabilities; the disadvantage is that the phased array is expensive and consumes a lot of power. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present invention provides an active antenna and a manufacturing method, which solve the problems of high cost and high power consumption of the existing antenna.

[0005] An embodiment of the present invention provides an active antenna, comprising: a phased array antenna and a dielectric lens; the antenna array of the phased array antenna is a microstrip circuit, a microstrip dipole radiation unit is provided on one side facing the dielectric lens, and the other side is a metal ground, the number of microstrip dipoles in the horizontal direction is 8 to 64, and the number of microstrip dipoles in the vertical direction is 1 to 8, and the beam of the phased array antenna is scanned at least in the horizontal direction; the dielectric lens realizes beam sharpening in the horizontal plane.

[0006] Preferably, the dielectric lens has a multi-layer concentric circle structure, the base material of each layer is a foam material with a dielectric constant of 1 to 2, the thickness of each layer is 1 to 3 mm, and a perturbation material is distributed on the surface of each layer.

[0007] Preferably, the dielectric lens is a dielectric cylindrical lens or a dielectric spherical lens.

[0008] Preferably, the antenna array of the phased array antenna is a microstrip circuit arranged on a curved surface, the curved surface is parallel to the outer surface of the dielectric lens, and the microstrip elements are arranged on the contour lines of the periphery of the dielectric lens.

[0009] Preferably, each microstrip oscillator is an independently fed half-wave oscillator, the maximum unit spacing along the horizontal direction is 0.6 to 0.65 wavelengths, and the maximum unit spacing along the vertical direction is 0.85 to 0.9 wavelengths.

[0010] Furthermore, the phased array antenna adopts a tile-type packaging structure, the microstrip circuit includes a feeding structure connected to the chip layer, the chip layer includes a CaAs or CaN amplifier circuit, a CMOS intermediate frequency channel processing circuit and a radio frequency processing circuit, and the antenna array, the radio frequency processing circuit and the intermediate frequency channel processing circuit are packaged together.

[0011] Furthermore, it also includes: a mounting body with a dielectric shell; the packaging structure of the phased array antenna and the dielectric lens are fixed inside the mounting body and are led out through a coaxial head feed line.

[0012] Furthermore, the horizontal cross section of the dielectric cylindrical lens has a multi-layer concentric circle structure, and the equivalent dielectric constant gradually changes from the center to the surface between 2.05 and 1.05.

[0013] Preferably, the distance between the antenna array of the phased array antenna and the dielectric lens maximizes the antenna gain.

[0014] Preferably, the antenna array of the phased array antenna includes a plurality of sub-arrays distributed along a circumferential direction, each sub-array faces the axis of the lens, and each sub-array includes a plurality of microstrip dipole units.

[0015] An embodiment of the present invention also provides an active antenna manufacturing method, which is used to manufacture the active antenna, and includes the following steps: manufacturing an equivalent dielectric constant dielectric layer; manufacturing an artificial dielectric lens; active phased array antenna array and active phased array antenna packaging; maximum radiation characteristic adjustment and overall installation.

[0016] The beneficial effects of the present invention include: the active antenna of the present invention adopts a structural design combining a phased array antenna and a dielectric lens, the dielectric lens has the advantages of small side lobes and back lobes and good directional patterns, the phased array antenna has high beam pointing accuracy and a certain beam sidelobe suppression capability, the beam formed by the active antenna of the present invention through the phased array antenna can be radiated through the dielectric lens, so that the horizontal plane radiation pattern is sharpened, the number of horizontal direction oscillators of the phased array can be reduced, and the power consumption can be reduced; in addition, the gain of the traditional phased array antenna will decrease by about 5dB at ±60°, and the active antenna of the present invention can increase the antenna array gain by about 3dB in the ±60° angular domain, so that it can be ensured that the array size can be reduced by half when the array gain remains unchanged in the scanning angle domain; compared with the traditional phased array antenna, the active antenna of the present invention has a reduced number of vertical direction oscillators under the same gain condition. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention and constitute a part of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute an improper limitation of the present invention. In the drawings:

[0018] Figure 1 An active antenna embodiment;

[0019] Figure 2 An embodiment of an artificial medium cylindrical lens structure;

[0020] FIG3( a ) is an antenna array of an embodiment of a phased array antenna;

[0021] FIG3( b ) is an antenna subarray of an embodiment of a phased array antenna;

[0022] Figure 4 An embodiment of a phased array antenna control circuit;

[0023] Figure 5 An embodiment of a phased array antenna packaging structure;

[0024] Figure 6 The invention discloses a method for manufacturing an active antenna. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the specific embodiments of the present invention and the corresponding drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0026] The innovative points of the present invention are as follows: the present invention combines the traditional phased array antenna with a dielectric lens. The phased array antenna is distributed axially. The dielectric lens is used to sharpen the horizontal plane radiation pattern, reduce the number of horizontal oscillators of the phased array antenna, and reduce power consumption.

[0027] The technical solutions provided by various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0028] Figure 1 This is an active antenna embodiment, which can be used for a millimeter wave antenna for 5G communication. As an embodiment of the present invention, an active antenna includes: a phased array antenna 1, a dielectric lens 2, and a mounting body 3, and the phased array antenna includes an antenna array 11.

[0029] The antenna array of the phased array antenna is a microstrip circuit, a microstrip dipole radiation unit is provided on one side facing the dielectric lens, and the other side is a metal ground. The number of microstrip dipoles in the horizontal direction is 8 to 64, and the number of microstrip dipoles in the vertical direction is 1 to 8. The beam of the phased array antenna scans at least in the horizontal direction.

[0030] It should be noted that the phased array antenna may be a one-dimensional phased array antenna that scans only in the horizontal direction, or a two-dimensional phased array antenna that scans in both the horizontal and vertical directions, and the horizontal scanning range is not less than 120°.

[0031] In the embodiment of the present invention, the dielectric lens is used to achieve beam sharpening in the horizontal plane. It should be noted that when the dielectric lens is a dielectric spherical or cylindrical lens, beam sharpening can also be achieved in the vertical plane.

[0032] Due to the different specific structures of the microstrip oscillator, horizontal polarization, vertical polarization, and cross-polarization electromagnetic wave radiation and reception can be achieved.

[0033] The present invention is a millimeter wave antenna, which adopts a structure of a combination of a phased array antenna and a dielectric lens. The dielectric lens has the following advantages: small side lobes and back lobes, so the radiation pattern is better. In the application of the present invention, the role of the dielectric lens is to form a sharp beam in the horizontal direction (the direction perpendicular to the lens axis).

[0034] A dielectric lens is a three-dimensional structure that can pass electromagnetic waves and whose refractive index is not equal to 1. Spherical waves or cylindrical waves emitted by a point source or a line source can be transformed into plane waves through a lens, thereby obtaining a pencil-shaped or fan-shaped beam. The refractive index of the lens may be a function of the position.

[0035] The shape of the lens determines its aperture field distribution. The lens can be expressed by its refractive index n z It can be made of natural medium with a value greater than 1, or it can be an artificial medium structure composed of metal grids or metal sheets (n z >1 or n z <1), n z =c / (v φ ), where c is the speed of light, v φ is the phase velocity in the medium.

[0036] For example, the dielectric lens is a dielectric spherical lens, and the function of the refractive index varying with the radius is:

[0037]

[0038] Among them, n z is the refractive index, R is the radius of the dielectric sphere, r is the radial distance from the center of the sphere to the ray, and C is the set coefficient.

[0039] For another example, in an embodiment of the present invention, the dielectric lens is a dielectric cylindrical lens having a multi-layer concentric circle structure, the phased array antenna is a cylindrical conformal phased array antenna, and the phased array antenna and the dielectric lens have a common focal plane, that is, the center of the phased array antenna is located at the focal plane of the dielectric lens, which can maximize the gain of the active antenna.

[0040] Preferably, the antenna array of the phased array antenna is a microstrip circuit arranged on a curved surface, and the curved surface is parallel to the outer surface of the dielectric lens, that is, the microstrip vibrators are arranged on the contour lines of the periphery of the dielectric lens, and the distance between any point on each vibrator unit of the antenna array of the phased array antenna and the outer surface of the dielectric lens is equal.

[0041] It should be noted that the phased array antenna is not limited to being conformal to a curved surface, and may also be a planar phased array antenna, which is not particularly limited here.

[0042] Furthermore, the antenna array of the phased array antenna is located at the focal plane of the dielectric lens. At this time, the distance between the antenna array and the dielectric lens is such that the antenna gain is maximized, which can maximize the gain of the active antenna of the present invention.

[0043] In the embodiment of the present invention, the packaging structure 18 of the phased array antenna and the dielectric lens are fixed inside the mounting body and led out through the coaxial head feed line 14. The mounting body includes a dielectric shell and a foam plastic liner, such as polymethacrylimide. It should be noted that the mounting body can also fix the position of the dielectric lens and the antenna array of the phased array antenna in other ways.

[0044] In the embodiment of the present invention, the dielectric lens is a dielectric cylindrical lens, has a diameter of about 40 cm and a height of about 30 cm, and the distance between the antenna array surface of the phased array antenna and the cylindrical surface of the dielectric lens is about 8 cm.

[0045] It should be noted that in the present application document, "approximately" is in the range of ±10% based on the present number. Therefore, the diameter of the dielectric lens is 36cm to 44cm, the height is 27cm to 33cm, and the distance between the antenna array surface of the phased array antenna and the cylindrical surface of the dielectric lens is 7.2cm to 8.8cm.

[0046] The active antenna implemented in the embodiment of the present invention can achieve the following technical indicators: frequency range Ka band, number of oscillator units 4 vertical × 8 horizontal = 32, EIRP ≥ 50dBmi, scanning angle + / -60deg, beam width 13deg (normal), side lobe level <-15dB, beamforming time 8us, interface Ethernet, RS232; power interface Single24VDC (<20W).

[0047] Experiments were conducted on the active antenna implemented in the embodiment of the present invention. The experiments showed that the gain of the classic microstrip phased array antenna would drop by about 5 dB at a large scanning angle of ±60°. By using the reconfigurable pattern antenna of the present invention as the radiating unit of the active phased array antenna, the antenna array gain in the ±60° angular domain can be improved by about 3 dB. This ensures that the array size can be reduced by half while the array gain remains unchanged in the scanning angle domain.

[0048] Figure 2 This is an embodiment of an artificial dielectric cylindrical lens structure, which can be used for a dielectric lens of an active antenna of the present invention, and includes a dielectric layer 21 and a perturbation material 22.

[0049] In an embodiment of the present invention, the dielectric lens is a dielectric cylindrical lens, which is made of a layered structure. The substrate is a foam material with a dielectric constant between 1 and 2, preferably polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene. The substrate is a layered medium, and a perturbation material is distributed on the surface of each layer of the material, such as graphite or ceramic particles.

[0050] When the dielectric lens is a dielectric cylindrical lens, the horizontal cross section has a multi-layer concentric circle structure, including n concentric layers with different equivalent dielectric constants, the central cylindrical layer is the first layer, and the second to nth layers are stacked one by one around the central cylindrical layer toward the outer shell, and each concentric layer is assembled into a multi-layer cylinder, and the equivalent dielectric constant of the n concentric layers gradually changes from the first layer to the nth layer, for example, gradually changes between 2.05 and 1.05.

[0051] It should be noted that the dielectric constants in the application documents of the present invention are all relative dielectric constants.

[0052] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the longitudinal section of the artificial medium cylindrical lens. The enlarged part shows that the perturbation material is distributed on the surface of each layer. When the substrate of the i-th layer is the same as the substrate of the j-th layer, the distribution density of the perturbation material of the i-th layer ≥ the distribution density of the perturbation material of the j-th layer, where i <j。

[0053] The embodiment of the present invention proposes a dielectric lens with a multi-layer concentric circle structure. When a dielectric cylindrical lens is used, the axis is vertical, and the function is to form a sharp beam in the horizontal direction (the direction perpendicular to the axis of the lens), and the formed beam has small side lobes and back lobes.

[0054] FIG. 3( a ) is an antenna array of an embodiment of a phased array antenna, and FIG. 3( b ) is an antenna subarray of an embodiment of a phased array antenna, which can be used for the phased array antenna of the active antenna of the present invention.

[0055] In the antenna array of the phased array antenna of FIG. 3( a ), the antenna array 11 includes: a microstrip dipole 15 and a feeding structure 16 .

[0056] In an embodiment of the present invention, a radiation unit is provided on one side of the microstrip circuit facing the lens, and the other side is a metal ground. The microstrip circuit includes a feeding structure connected to the chip layer 10. The chip layer is provided with a control circuit for a phased array antenna, including a radio frequency processing circuit and an intermediate frequency channel processing circuit.

[0057] In the antenna array of the phased array antenna in FIG. 3( b ), the antenna array includes a plurality of antenna subarrays 17 , and each antenna subarray includes a microstrip element 15 and a feeding structure 16 .

[0058] In an embodiment of the present invention, if the phased array antenna is a cylindrical conformal structure, the multiple subarrays of the antenna array are distributed along the circumferential direction, each subarray is facing the axis of the lens, and each antenna subarray includes multiple microstrip dipole units. When an antenna array includes multiple antenna subarrays, the multiple antenna subarrays are arranged horizontally. The horizontal arrangement of the subarrays can enable the phased array antenna to achieve beam scanning in the horizontal direction.

[0059] In an embodiment of the present invention, when the antenna array or antenna subarray is composed of a planar microstrip circuit, the planar microstrip circuit is tangent to the cylinder, the antenna array includes multiple columns of microstrip elements, and the antenna subarray includes one or more columns of microstrip elements.

[0060] Optimally, each dipole is an independently fed half-wave dipole.

[0061] When the microstrip antenna array or subarray of the phased array antenna is planar, in the millimeter wave frequency band of the 5G system, the maximum value of the lateral unit spacing W is 0.55 wavelengths, and the maximum value of the longitudinal unit spacing H is 0.8 wavelengths. The curved microstrip antenna array of the phased array antenna included in this application has a maximum value of the lateral unit spacing W of 0.6 to 0.65 wavelengths, and a maximum value of the longitudinal unit spacing H of 0.85 to 0.9 wavelengths in the millimeter wave frequency band of the 5G system.

[0062] An embodiment of the present invention proposes an antenna array arrangement of a phased array antenna, which can be as shown in Figure 3(a), where each microstrip dipole unit is individually controlled, or as shown in Figure 3(b), where multiple microstrip dipole units form an antenna subarray, and each subarray is individually controlled. The cylindrical conformal phased array antenna not only has the advantages of high precision and fast scanning of the phased array antenna, but the cylindrical conformal form can also increase the effective aperture of the antenna and effectively utilize the volume space.

[0063] Figure 4It is an embodiment of a phased array antenna control circuit, which can be used for the control circuit of the phased array antenna of the present invention. A typical active phased array antenna mainly includes an antenna array surface, a TR component, a feeding network, a wave controller, a power supply, a signal modulator, and structural parts such as a heat dissipation device. As an embodiment of the present invention, the phased array antenna includes: an antenna array or an antenna subarray, a radio frequency processing circuit 12, an intermediate frequency channel processing circuit 13, and a digital processing circuit 14.

[0064] When the phased array antenna radiates signals outward, the digital processing circuit is used to generate a reference clock signal and an analog baseband signal for the control circuit; the intermediate frequency channel processing circuit is used to receive the analog baseband signal, output a radio frequency transmission signal after up-conversion; the radio frequency processing circuit is used to receive the radio frequency transmission signal, implement beam steering solution according to a preset beam pointing angle, and amplify the radio frequency transmission signal according to the beam steering solution result and output it to the antenna array or antenna subarray.

[0065] When the phased array antenna receives a spatial echo signal, the RF processing circuit is used to receive the spatial echo signal at a preset beam pointing angle, and output the RF echo signal after amplification; the intermediate frequency channel processing circuit is used to receive the RF echo signal, mix, amplify, and filter it with a received local oscillator signal, and output an analog echo signal; receive a baseband local oscillator signal, and output the received local oscillator signal after up-conversion; the digital processing circuit is used to generate a baseband local oscillator signal, generate a reference clock signal and send it to the intermediate frequency channel processing circuit; receive the analog echo signal, and implement digital signal processing after analog-to-digital conversion.

[0066] Specifically, the embodiment of the present invention provides a design block diagram of a typical digital array phased array antenna, which includes an array antenna, a radio frequency processing circuit, an intermediate frequency channel processing circuit, and a digital processing circuit. The radio frequency processing circuit includes multiple digital TR components to form a multifunctional chip component, and each multifunctional chip includes a switch, a power amplifier, and a low noise amplifier. The input signal of the direct digital synthesizer (DDS) mainly includes three binary control signals of frequency, phase, and amplitude, and a reference clock signal.

[0067] During transmission, the digital baseband signal generated by the DDS is converted into an analog signal through a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and then generates a transmitting excitation signal for the phased array antenna after an up-converter, which is then transmitted to the antenna unit through the power amplifier of the digital TR component. Finally, the radiation signals of each antenna unit are synthesized in space to form the required transmission pattern.

[0068] During reception, the DDS generates a baseband local oscillator signal, which is converted into a receiving local oscillator signal after passing through the DAC and up-converter. It is mixed with the RF signal of the antenna unit received by the low-noise amplifier of the digital TR component to obtain an intermediate frequency signal. The intermediate frequency signal is then converted through an intermediate frequency amplifier, filter, and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to obtain an analog echo signal, which is finally transmitted to the user terminal through digital beam forming (DBF).

[0069] The core device of the wave controller is FPGA, whose main function is to calculate the terminal control command into the level of the phase shifter in the TR component and generate the phase shift code, so as to change the phase factor of the antenna array signal and complete the rapid beam scanning of the active phased array antenna. In addition, the wave controller can also have the function of power distribution, so as to realize power supply to the chip in the TR component.

[0070] Figure 5 The present invention is a phased array antenna packaging structure embodiment, which can be used for the phased array antenna packaging of the active antenna of the present invention.

[0071] In an embodiment of the present invention, the phased array antenna adopts a tile-type packaging structure, the microstrip circuit includes a feeding structure, which is connected to the chip layer, the chip layer includes a CaAs or CaN amplifier circuit, a CMOS intermediate frequency channel processing circuit and a radio frequency processing circuit, and the antenna array or subarray, the radio frequency processing circuit and the intermediate frequency channel processing circuit are packaged together.

[0072] Tile technology can significantly reduce the number of printed circuit boards and connectors, and can reduce the cost of active phased array antennas through large-scale microwave manufacturing technology and packaging processes, even to only 1 / 5 of the cost of brick-type circuit layout design technology.

[0073] In the embodiment of the present invention, the radio frequency processing module is designed using a silicon-based process, and a gallium arsenide or gallium nitride amplifier chip is used as the final amplifier.

[0074] The design cost can be further reduced through silicon-based technology (CMOS). The CMOS technology can integrate functional modules such as analog circuits, digital circuits, and radio frequency circuits on the same chip. In order to increase the output power of CMOS and reduce the noise of the receiving channel, gallium arsenide or gallium nitride amplifier chips are used as the final amplifier to improve the transmission power or receiving capability of the active phased array antenna.

[0075] For example, in an embodiment of the present invention, a power amplifier, a low-noise amplifier, a radio frequency switch, a phase shifter, and a digital control circuit are integrated through a multifunctional chip component, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing the number of chips, interconnection processes and connections of the active phased array antenna, reducing the chip circuit area and simplifying the chip peripheral circuit. At the same time, by adopting a silicon-based heterogeneous integration process, multiple channels are integrated on a wafer-level chip, thereby improving the integration and comprehensive performance of the TR component and greatly reducing the cost of the active phased array antenna.

[0076] In the embodiment of the present invention, the system on chip (SOC) and system-level packaging (SOP) technologies can also be used to realize the simplified structural design of the phased array antenna, reduce multiple packaging, interfaces, connecting cables and structural assembly, reduce material consumption and reduce costs.

[0077] The embodiment of the present invention provides a phased array antenna packaged in a tile-type structure, which has the advantage of being small in size.

[0078] Figure 6 A flow chart of the active antenna fabrication method is given.

[0079] The embodiment of the present application also includes a method for manufacturing an artificial dielectric lens and an active antenna, comprising the following steps:

[0080] Step 100: manufacturing an equivalent dielectric constant dielectric layer (or dielectric body);

[0081] In the embodiment shown in FIG3 , a dielectric layer is prepared with a substrate, and the perturbation material is evenly distributed in a dielectric layer with a thickness of 1 to 3 mm, and the equivalent dielectric constant is tested. Multiple dielectric layers evenly distributed with perturbation materials are stacked as a dielectric body, and the equivalent dielectric constant is tested. The distribution density of the perturbation material is determined according to the required dielectric constant value. The perturbation material is preferably ceramic and graphite particles, and the use of metal objects will deteriorate the performance.

[0082] Step 200: manufacturing an artificial dielectric lens, such as a dielectric spherical lens or a dielectric cylindrical lens;

[0083] like Figure 2 In the illustrated embodiment, the distribution density of the perturbation material in the dielectric body is arranged according to the required dielectric constant distribution, and the dielectric body obtained in step 100 is layered and bonded to contain dielectric spheres or dielectric cylindrical lenses that meet the required dielectric constant distribution.

[0084] Step 300: Active phased array antenna array and active phased array antenna packaging;

[0085] like Figures 4-5 In the illustrated embodiment, the active phased array antenna array or sub-array and the chip layer form a package.

[0086] Step 400: Maximum radiation characteristic adjustment and overall installation.

[0087] like Figure 1 In the embodiment shown, the positional relationship between the antenna array or each sub-array and the artificial dielectric lens is adjusted to maximize the radiation gain. The relative positional relationship can also be adjusted to make the radiation pattern direction tilt downward.

[0088] like Figure 1In the illustrated embodiment, the packaging body and the artificial dielectric lens are fixed in a mounting body with a dielectric shell.

[0089] The active antenna manufacturing method provided in an embodiment of the present invention can be used to manufacture the 5G millimeter wave phased array antenna in the present invention, and has the advantages of low power consumption and low cost.

[0090] It should be noted that the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, commodity or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, commodity or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, commodity or device including the elements.

[0091] The above description is only an embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent substitution, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An active antenna, characterized in that: Includes: phased array antenna, dielectric lens; The antenna array of the phased array antenna is a microstrip circuit, a microstrip dipole radiation unit is provided on one side facing the dielectric lens, and a metal ground is provided on the other side. The number of microstrip dipoles in the horizontal direction is 8 to 64, and the number of microstrip dipoles in the vertical direction is 1 to 8. The beam of the phased array antenna is scanned at least in the horizontal direction. The dielectric lens realizes beam sharpening in the horizontal plane, and the dielectric lens has a multi-layer concentric circle structure, and the equivalent dielectric constant gradually changes from the center to the surface; The antenna array of the phased array antenna is a microstrip circuit arranged on a curved surface, the curved surface is parallel to the outer surface of the dielectric lens, and the distance between any point on each array unit of the antenna array of the phased array antenna and the outer surface of the dielectric lens is equal.

2. The active antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The base material of each layer of the dielectric lens is a foam material with a dielectric constant of 1 to 2, each layer has a thickness of 1 to 3 mm, and a perturbation material is distributed on the surface of each layer of the material.

3. The active antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The dielectric lens is a dielectric cylindrical lens or a dielectric spherical lens.

4. The active antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each microstrip oscillator is an independently fed half-wave oscillator, the maximum unit spacing along the horizontal direction is 0.6 to 0.65 wavelengths, and the maximum unit spacing along the vertical direction is 0.85 to 0.9 wavelengths.

5. The active antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The phased array antenna adopts a tile-type packaging structure, the microstrip circuit includes a feeding structure connected to the chip layer, the chip layer includes a CaAs or CaN amplifier circuit, a CMOS intermediate frequency channel processing circuit and a radio frequency processing circuit, and the antenna array, the radio frequency processing circuit and the intermediate frequency channel processing circuit are packaged together.

6. The active antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also included: a mounting body with a dielectric housing; The packaging structure of the phased array antenna and the dielectric lens are fixed inside the mounting body and are led out through a coaxial head feed line.

7. The active antenna according to claim 3, characterized in that: The horizontal cross section of the dielectric cylindrical lens has a multi-layer concentric circle structure, and the equivalent dielectric constant gradually changes from the center to the surface between 2.05 and 1.

05.

8. The active antenna according to claim 2, characterized in that: The distance between the antenna array of the phased array antenna and the dielectric lens maximizes the antenna gain.

9. The active antenna according to claim 3, characterized in that: The antenna array of the phased array antenna includes a plurality of sub-arrays distributed along a circumferential direction, each sub-array faces the axis of the lens, and each sub-array includes a plurality of microstrip dipole units.

10. A method for manufacturing an active antenna, used for manufacturing the active antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Manufacturing of equivalent dielectric constant dielectric layer; manufacturing of artificial dielectric lens; active phased array antenna array and active phased array antenna packaging; maximum radiation characteristic adjustment and overall installation.

Citation Information

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