A method for online identification of transceiver module numbers on digital active phased array antenna surfaces

Abstract

The present invention provides an online automatic identification method for the spatial position numbers of transceiver modules of a digital active phased array antenna array. The method digitizes and softwareizes the numbering information, places the numbering information in a work instruction data packet of the transceiver module using the original communication interface of the transceiver module for transmission, and flexibly adjusts the bit length of the numbering information according to the scale of the antenna array surface. The smaller-scale array surface can be arbitrarily selected and set within the existing array surface range, and multiple different array surfaces placed in fixed positions can be organized in a unified manner to achieve flexible configuration of aperture, multi-band and other functions. The method adapts to the digitalization, multi-function and software development direction of the phased array system, reduces the number of transceiver module control interfaces and the number of control cables within the antenna array surface without affecting the interchangeability of the transceiver modules within the antenna array surface, thereby improving the design integration of the two and enhancing the reliability and maintainability of the entire antenna array surface.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of digital active phased array antenna surface transceiver modules. Background Art

[0002] The active phased array antenna array beam scanning is achieved through phase shifting between the transmit and receive channels. In order to reduce interference, the radar system has certain requirements for the beam sidelobes of the antenna array and needs to perform beam forming, which can be achieved by adjusting the phase and amplitude between channels. Radar systems generally also have an AGC function (Radar Handbook, Third Edition, Electronic Industry Press, 2010, P153), which adjusts the transmit power and receive gain in real time according to the size of the target reflection energy. Therefore, the transmit and receive channels of the active array transceiver module have not only the phase shift function but also the channel gain control function. When the antenna array is working, the phase offset and gain control of each transmit and receive channel need to be adjusted in real time according to the beam control instructions. The specific value is determined by the physical position of the transmit and receive channel in the antenna array space.

[0003] The main function of the transceiver module is to provide high-power amplification of the transmitted signal and low-noise amplification of the received signal. To achieve beam steering, which controls the amplitude and phase of the transmitted and received signals, the transceiver modules are arranged in an orderly manner according to specific rules to form various corresponding arrays. The terminal's control signal controls the phase and amplitude of the signal radiated by each transceiver module to control the direction of the spatially synthesized beam, achieving electronic scanning (Research on Active Systems of C-Band Transceiver Subarrays, Xidian University, 2009).

[0004] A large-scale active phased array antenna array contains tens of thousands of transceiver modules. The transceiver modules are numbered and managed according to their corresponding physical locations in space, which facilitates the generation, transmission and control of beam control and other work instruction data packets.

[0005] Currently, phased array systems are complex, and upgrades often require complete system architecture changes and extensive hardware replacement. This results in long development cycles, a complex model range, and difficult maintenance and upgrades, making them unable to adapt to the rapid equipment upgrades required in modern warfare. To carry out their missions in complex and ever-changing combat environments, phased array systems must require minimal or no hardware replacement, achieving functional performance improvements through software upgrades and reconfigurations to rapidly respond to military needs. Open architectures, modular, universal components, and software-defined functional units are the future and are already a trend in modern advanced electronic system design. Therefore, in the latest phased array applications, digitalization, software-based systems, and multi-functionality are key development directions. This requires minimizing the number and type of control and communication interfaces in transceiver modules to reduce the complexity of the overall array design and improve reliability and maintainability. Furthermore, it requires that all designs be digitized and software-based to enable upgradeability and functional expansion. However, the existing patent CN 103915687A uses dedicated numbering control lines within the array to number the transceiver modules, which will result in excessive wiring of the transceiver modules, increasing the complexity of the array design and reducing the reliability and maintainability of the entire array. In addition, the numbering rules need to be reorganized when facing the integration and expansion of multiple arrays and functional expansion, which is not suitable for improvements and expansions in similar directions. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In response to the problems existing in the prior art, the present invention provides an online identification method for the spatial position numbering of transceiver modules, which can reduce the numbering control cables. The numbering information is digitized and software-based, and the numbering information is placed in its work instruction data packet via the original communication interface of the transceiver module for transmission, so that it can be implemented online. This avoids the use of the dedicated numbering control interface of the transceiver module and the dedicated numbering control cables inside the array surface. Without affecting the interchangeability of the transceiver modules inside the antenna array surface, the method reduces the number of transceiver module control interfaces and the number of control cables inside the antenna array surface, while improving the design integration of the transceiver module and the antenna array surface, thereby improving the reliability and maintainability of the entire antenna array surface.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the present invention is implemented through the following scheme:

[0008] A method for identifying the numbering of transceiver modules of a digital active phased array antenna surface. The digital active phased array includes an antenna surface 100 and a backend device 200. The antenna surface 100 includes a transceiver module 101. The backend device 200 includes a DBF module 201 and a beam control subsystem 202. The transceiver module 101 of the antenna surface 100 is connected to the DBF module 201 of the backend device 200 via a digital communication bus. The DBF module 201 of the backend device 200 is connected to the beam control subsystem 202 via a digital communication bus. The beam control subsystem 202 of the backend device 200 and the DBF module 201 are connected to the transceiver module 101 of the antenna surface 100 via a timing control bus. The method includes the following steps:

[0009] 1) When power is turned on, the back-end device 200 of the digital active phased array is powered first. Before the current working cycle, the beam control subsystem 202 in the back-end device 200 sequentially arranges the spatial positions of the transceiver channels of the transceiver module 101 inside the antenna array 100 to form a working instruction data packet for the entire antenna array 100 and sends it to the DBF module 201 in the back-end device 200;

[0010] 2) The DBF module 201 then caches the current work instruction data packet and, based on the table of correspondence between DBF module 201 ports and transceiver module 101 numbers, adds the transceiver module 101 number information to a fixed position in the work instruction data packet sent to the corresponding transceiver module 101 at the corresponding physical port. The work instruction data packet with the added transceiver module 101 number is then distributed to each transceiver module 101 within the antenna array 100 via each digital communication interface.

[0011] 3) After the antenna array 100 is powered on, each transceiver module 101 receives a work instruction data packet through the digital communication interface and reads the number information of the current transceiver module 101 from the specified position of the work instruction data packet;

[0012] 4) Each transceiver module 101 then decodes the work instruction according to the current number and the established rules to obtain the work control information of the current transceiver module 101, and completes the work instruction issuance under the control of the current work cycle timing pulse;

[0013] 5) After obtaining the current transceiver module 101 number, the transceiver module 101 packages the number within the current working cycle and sends it to the DBF module 201 during the idle period of the digital communication interface transmission channel. The DBF module 201 then performs a comparison and verification of the current transceiver module 101 number. If the comparison is incorrect, the DBF module 201 records a number decoding error in the current cycle. If a number decoding error occurs for three consecutive working cycles, the number decoding error of the current transceiver module 101 is reported, and the forwarding of the working instructions of the current port to the current transceiver module 101 is stopped. The DBF module 201 port and transceiver module 101 number correspondence table is formed based on the correspondence between the serial number of the physical port of the DBF module 201 in the back-end device 200 and the spatial position of the antenna unit of the antenna array 100 where the connected transceiver module 101 and its internal transceiver channel are located.

[0014] Preferably, the connection relationship of the digital communication bus between the transceiver module 101 and the DBF module 201 is that the transceiver module 101 has a digital communication interface, and each digital communication interface of the transceiver module 101 is connected to a fixed physical port of the DBF module 201 in the back-end device 200, and has a one-to-one correspondence with the physical port of the DBF module 201 in the back-end device 200;

[0015] Preferably, the working cycle refers to a timing cycle or a transceiver control cycle, and the beam control subsystem 202 generates a timing pulse or a transceiver control pulse and sends it to the DBF module 201 and the transceiver module 101 through the timing control bus;

[0016] Preferably, the transceiver modules 101 are equipped with internal control and management programs, which are automatically loaded when powered on, realize two-way communication of the digital communication interface, monitor the working status of the internal circuit, and issue work instructions according to the timing pulse: channel selection and switch electrical control, internal phase shifter and attenuator control, filter selection and transceiver channel switch control, internal monitoring data packets and digital intermediate frequency reception information transmission;

[0017] Preferably, the designated position of the number of the transceiver module 101 is the position after the work instruction packet data header (2 bytes), which is generally initialized to "0000"H when the beam control subsystem 202 generates the work instruction, and can achieve a maximum of 2 4×4 -1 transceiver module 101 spatial position information description, each transceiver module 101 contains M transceiver channels, the maximum (2 4 ×4 -1)×M spatial position information description of the transceiver channels. If the number of transceiver modules 101 in the current antenna array 100 exceeds N, it can be expanded according to the actual scale, and the maximum number of expansions is 2. 4×6 -1 times;

[0018] Preferably, the encoding and decoding rule refers to a rule for obtaining the working instruction information of the current transceiver module 101, which is calculated according to the formula: the position of the instruction packet of the working instruction information of the transceiver module (101) with a serial number of X (X is an integer greater than 0) is the relevant information of bytes within (Y+Z+1+(X-1)×A×M) to (Y+Z+X×A×M); wherein Y is the number of bytes occupied by the data header, Z is the number of bytes occupied by the number, and A is the number of bytes occupied by each channel control instruction.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages:

[0020] 1. The transceiver module reduces the hardware access points for numbered cables and uses its original communication port to implement software-based spatial position numbering of the transceiver module, thus streamlining the number of external hardware interfaces of the transceiver module and improving the integration and reliability of the transceiver module.

[0021] 2. The number of dedicated numbered cables and numbered hardware circuits between the transceiver module and the array surface is reduced, which reduces the design complexity of the array surface, improves the integration and reliability of the entire array surface, and improves the maintainability of the entire array surface.

[0022] 3. The spatial position number of the transceiver module is software-coded into a piece of data and placed in a fixed position in the work instruction package of the communication link. It is loaded online, eliminating the debugging time of the numbering hardware circuit. This can reduce the debugging time of the array surface and the entire phased array system, improve the testability and debugging of the system, improve the work efficiency of the entire system, and shorten the construction time of the array surface and the entire phased array system.

[0023] 4. The software-based transceiver module numbering and online loading method allows users to customize the numbering information bit length, freely change the numbering information bit length to expand its numbering range, and can be flexibly adjusted according to the scale of the transceiver modules in the antenna array without involving changes to the transceiver modules and antenna array hardware.

[0024] 5. By feeding back the transceiver module numbers separately, centrally comparing and discovering transmission or other errors, and transmitting multiple times, abnormal errors caused by communication errors are reduced, thereby improving the testability and reliability of the present invention when implemented.

[0025] 6. Online adjustment of the transceiver module numbering brings unprecedented flexibility and scalability to the phased array system: it can realize the flexible configuration of the antenna array surface usage scale, and can unify multiple different array surfaces placed in fixed positions to achieve flexible configuration of aperture, multi-band and other functions, adapting to the digitalization, multi-function and software development direction of the phased array system.

[0026] 7. The digital transceiver module can be replaced and applied to the antenna array of a digital active phased array that includes any type of digital receiving module, digital transmitting module or both. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] Figure 1 This is a block diagram of the principle of spatial position numbering of the digital active phased array antenna array transceiver modules;

[0028] Figure 2 Flow chart of the steps of embodiment 1 of the method for identifying the number of the transceiver module;

[0029] Figure 3 Flow chart of the steps of embodiment 2 of the method for identifying the number of the transceiver module.

[0030] In the figure: 100, antenna array; 200, back-end equipment; 101, transceiver module; 201, DBF module; 202, beam control subsystem. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0032] Example 1

[0033] In this example, Figure 1As shown: the digital active phased array includes an antenna array 100 and a back-end device 200. The antenna array 100 is composed of 8 transceiver modules 101, which are arranged in sequence in the horizontal direction. The back-end device 200 includes a DBF module 201 and a beam control subsystem 202. The transceiver module 101 of the antenna array 100 is connected to the DBF module 201 of the back-end device 200 through an optical fiber. The DBF module 201 of the back-end device 200 is connected to the beam control subsystem 202 through an optical fiber. The beam control subsystem 202 of the back-end device 200 is connected to the DBF module 201 and the transceiver module 101 of the antenna array 100 through a timing control bus. The transceiver module 101 is composed of 8 transceiver channels, which are arranged in sequence in the elevation direction. Each transceiver channel has a phase shifter and a gain control attenuator. The back end is connected to an 8-power splitter and an intermediate frequency transceiver switch as well as an ADC and a DAC. The transceiver module 101 has a pair of optical fibers. The bidirectional transceiver communication interfaces are all connected to the fixed optical fiber interfaces of the DBF module 201 in the back-end device 200, and have a one-to-one correspondence: M1 corresponds to optical fiber port 1, M2 corresponds to optical fiber port 2, M3 corresponds to optical fiber port 3, M4 corresponds to optical fiber port 4, M5 corresponds to optical fiber port 5, M6 corresponds to optical fiber port 6, M7 corresponds to optical fiber port 7, and M8 corresponds to optical fiber port 8. The beam control subsystem 202 generates a transceiver control pulse (a high level represents the transmit control state, a low level represents the receive control state) and sends it to the DBF module 201 and the transceiver module 101 via the timing control bus. The transceiver module 101 has its own internal control and management program, which is automatically loaded at power-up to achieve bidirectional communication of the digital communication interface, monitor the working status of the internal circuit, and issue working instructions based on the transceiver control pulse: channel selection and switch electrical control, internal phase shifter and attenuator control, filter selection and transceiver channel switch control, and internal monitoring data packet and digital intermediate frequency reception information transmission. The specific implementation method includes the following steps:

[0034] First, according to the number N of transceiver modules 101 in the antenna array 100, the bit length that satisfies the number identification information of the transceiver module 101 is determined. In this embodiment, 8 is less than 65535. The default setting under normal conditions meets the requirements. Therefore, when the beam control subsystem 202 generates a work instruction, this segment of information is generally initialized to "0000"H and placed after the work instruction packet data header "95BC"H (2 bytes); the beam control instruction length of each internal channel of the transceiver module 101 is 3 bytes, and the beam control instruction length of the 8 internal channels of each transceiver module 101 is 3×8 bytes. The total length of the control instruction of the transceiver module 101 of the entire antenna array 100 is 3×8×8 bytes, and the total length of the work instruction sent to the transceiver module 101 is 2+2+3×8×8 bytes.

[0035] After determining the bit length of the transceiver module 101 identification information, a table is created based on this bit length and the actual number of transceiver modules 101, corresponding to the DBF module 201 ports and transceiver module 101 numbers. This table is formed based on the correspondence between the serial numbers of the physical ports of the DBF module 201 in the backend device 200 and the spatial locations of the antenna elements of the antenna array 100 where the connected transceiver modules 101 and their internal transceiver channels are located. In this example, the eight transceiver modules 101 are numbered "0001"H, "0002"H, "0003"H, ..., "0008"H.

[0036] The next steps are as follows Figure 2 As shown, when the system is powered on, the back-end device 200 is powered first. Before the current transceiver cycle, the beam control subsystem 202 in the back-end device 200 sequentially arranges the spatial positions of the transceiver channels of the transceiver module 101 inside the antenna array 100 to form a work instruction data packet with a total length of 2+2+3×8×8 bytes for the transceiver module 101 of the entire antenna array 100 and sends it to the DBF module 201 in the back-end device 200.

[0037] The DBF module 201 then caches the current work instruction data packet. Based on the table of correspondence between the DBF module 201 port and the transceiver module 101 number, the transceiver module 101 number information is added to a fixed position in the work instruction data packet sent to the corresponding transceiver module 101 at the physical port with the corresponding serial number. The work instruction data packet with the added transceiver module 101 number is then distributed to each transceiver module 101 within the antenna array 100 via each digital communication interface. The above steps are also implemented before the transceiver cycle of this instruction.

[0038] After the antenna array 100 is powered on, the FPGA running the internal control and management program of each transceiver module 101 starts up, receives a work instruction data packet through the optical fiber interface, and reads the number information of the current transceiver module 101 from the third and fourth bytes of the work instruction data packet. Then, each transceiver module 101 decodes the work instruction based on the current number X to the instruction packet position starting from 2+2+1+(X-1)×3×8 bytes to 2+2+(X)×3×8 bytes to obtain the work control information of the current transceiver module 101. Under the control of the current work cycle transceiver pulse, the transmission state and reception state work instructions are respectively issued: the transmission state channel attenuation control and phase shift control code start internal instruction transmission at the rising edge of the transmission and reception control pulse and complete the instruction layout within 0.1us. The reception state channel attenuation control and phase shift control code start internal instruction transmission at the falling edge of the transmission and reception control pulse and complete the instruction layout within 0.1us.

[0039] After obtaining the number of the current transceiver module 101, the transceiver module 101 packages it within the current working cycle and sends it to the DBF module 201 when the digital communication interface sending channel is idle. The DBF module 201 then compares and verifies the number of the current transceiver module 101. If the comparison is wrong, the DBF module 201 records a number decoding error in the current cycle. If a number decoding error occurs for three consecutive working cycles, the number decoding error of the current transceiver module 101 is reported, and the forwarding of the working instructions of the current port to the current transceiver module 101 is stopped.

[0040] Example 2

[0041] In this embodiment, the composition of the digital active phased array and the connection relationship of the internal modules remain unchanged. Figure 1 As shown, only the steps of the number identification method of the transceiver module are changed, the coding software is cancelled, and the hardware connection relationship between the DBF module of the back-end device and the bidirectional optical fiber interface of the transceiver module is continued to be determined in a one-to-one correspondence manner; the specific execution steps are as follows Figure 3 As shown:

[0042] When the system is powered on, the backend device 200 is powered first. Before the current transceiver cycle, the beam control subsystem 202 in the backend device 200 sequentially arranges the spatial positions of the transceiver channels of the transceiver module 101 inside the antenna array 100 to form a work instruction data packet with a total length of 2+2+3×8×8 bytes for the transceiver module 101 of the entire antenna array 100 and sends it to the DBF module 201 in the backend device 200.

[0043] The DBF module 201 then caches the current work instruction data packet and reads relevant information from the table of correspondence between the DBF module 201 port and the transceiver module 101 number and the current transceiver module number X to the instruction packet position starting from 2+2+1+(X-1)×3×8 bytes to 2+2+(X)×3×8 bytes, thereby obtaining the work instruction data sent to the corresponding transceiver module 101 at the physical port with the corresponding serial number. The work instruction data is then distributed to each transceiver module 101 in the antenna array 100 through each digital communication interface. The above steps are also implemented before the transmission and reception cycle of this instruction.

[0044] After the antenna array 100 is powered on, the FPGA of each transceiver module 101 running the internal control and management program starts, receives work instruction data through the optical fiber interface, decodes the work instruction to obtain the current work control information of the transceiver module 101, and completes the issuance of the transmission state and reception state work instructions respectively under the control of the transceiver pulse of the current work cycle: the transmission state channel attenuation control and phase shift control code start internal instruction transmission at the rising edge of the transceiver control pulse and complete the instruction layout within 0.1us, and the reception state channel attenuation control and phase shift control code start internal instruction transmission at the rising edge of the transceiver control pulse and complete the instruction layout within 0.1us;

[0045] After obtaining the working instruction data of the current transceiver module 101, the transceiver module 101 packages it within the current working cycle and sends it to the DBF module 201 during the idle period of the digital communication interface sending channel. The DBF module 201 compares and verifies the working instruction data of the current transceiver module 101. If the comparison is wrong, the DBF module 201 records the instruction decoding error of the current cycle once. If the instruction decoding error occurs for three consecutive working cycles, the instruction decoding error of the current transceiver module 101 is reported, and the forwarding of the working instructions of the current port to the current transceiver module 101 is stopped.

Claims

1. A method for online identification of transceiver module numbers on a digital active phased array antenna face, characterized by: The digital active phased array comprises an antenna array surface (100) and a back-end device (200), wherein the antenna array surface (100) comprises a transceiver module (101), and the back-end device (200) comprises a DBF module (201) and a beam control subsystem (202); the transceiver module (101) of the antenna array surface (100) and the DBF module (201) of the back-end device (200) are connected via a digital communication bus, and the transceiver modules (101) are each provided with a digital communication interface, and each digital communication interface of the transceiver module (101) is The DBF module (201) in the back-end device (200) is connected to a fixed physical port of the DBF module (201) and corresponds one-to-one to the physical port of the DBF module (201) in the back-end device (200). The DBF module (201) in the back-end device (200) is connected to the beam control subsystem (202) via a digital communication bus. The beam control subsystem (202) in the back-end device (200) is connected to the DBF module (201) and the transceiver module (101) of the antenna array (100) via a timing control bus. 1) When power is turned on, power is first supplied to the back-end device (200) of the digital active phased array. Before the current working cycle, the beam control subsystem (202) in the back-end device (200) sequentially arranges the spatial positions of the transceiver channels of the internal transceiver module (101) of the antenna array surface (100) to form a working instruction data packet of the entire antenna array surface (100) and sends it to the DBF module (201) in the back-end device (200). The working cycle refers to a timing cycle or a transceiver control cycle. The beam control subsystem (202) generates a timing pulse or a transceiver control pulse and sends it to the DBF module (201) and the transceiver module (101) via a timing control bus. 2) The DBF module (201) caches the current work instruction data packet, adds the number information of the transceiver module (101) to a fixed position of the work instruction data packet sent to the corresponding transceiver module (101) at the physical port of the corresponding serial number according to the corresponding table of the DBF module (201) port and the transceiver module (101) number, and then distributes the work instruction data packet with the added transceiver module (101) number to each transceiver module (101) of the antenna array surface (100) through each digital communication interface. The number corresponding table is formed according to the corresponding relationship between the serial number of the physical port of the DBF module (201) in the back-end device (200) and the spatial position of the antenna unit of the antenna array surface (100) where the connected transceiver module (101) and its internal transceiver channel are located; 3) After the antenna array (100) is powered on, each transceiver module (101) receives a work instruction data packet through a digital communication interface, and reads the number information of the current transceiver module (101) from a specified position of the work instruction data packet. The specified position of the number is the position after the data header of the work instruction packet. When the beam control subsystem (202) generates the work instruction, it is generally initialized to "0000"H, which can realize the spatial position information description of a maximum of 65535 transceiver modules (101). Each transceiver module (101) contains M transceiver channels, so the spatial position information description of a maximum of 65535*M transceiver channels can be realized. If the number N of transceiver modules (101) in the current antenna array (100) exceeds, it can be expanded according to the actual scale, and the expansion is two digits, and the maximum number is expanded to 16777215 transceiver modules (101); 4) Each transceiver module (101) decodes the work instruction according to the established rules based on the current number to obtain the work control information of the current transceiver module (101), and completes the work instruction release in the current work cycle. The decoding rule refers to the rule for obtaining the work instruction information of the current transceiver module (101), which is calculated by the following formula: the position of the instruction packet of the work instruction information of the transceiver module (101) with the serial number X is located at: (Y+Z+1+(X-1)*A*M) to (Y+Z+X*A*M) bytes of related information; wherein X is an integer greater than 0, Y is the number of bytes occupied by the data header, Z is the number of bytes occupied by the serial number, and A is the number of bytes occupied by each channel control instruction; 5) After obtaining the number of the current transceiver module (101), the transceiver module (101) packages the data within the current working cycle and sends the data to the DBF module (201) during the idle period of the digital communication interface transmission channel. The DBF module (201) performs a comparison and verification of the number of the current transceiver module (101). If the comparison is wrong, the DBF module (201) records the current cycle number decoding error once. If the number decoding error occurs for three consecutive working cycles, the number decoding error of the current transceiver module (101) is reported, and the forwarding of the working instructions of the current port to the current transceiver module (101) is stopped.

2. The method for online identification of transceiver module numbers of a digital active phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that: The transceiver modules (101) are equipped with internal control and management programs, which are automatically loaded when powered on, realize two-way communication of the digital communication interface, monitor the working status of the internal circuit, and issue work instructions according to the timing pulse: channel selection and switch electrical control, internal phase shifter and attenuator control, filter selection and transceiver channel switch control, internal monitoring data packets and the sending of digital intermediate frequency reception information.

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