A phased-array-based multi-beam transmitting device and method

Abstract

The present invention discloses a transmitting multi-beam antenna device and method based on a phased array, including: dividing the transmitting array antenna of the phased array into multiple sub-arrays in advance, where any one of the sub-arrays includes M antenna elements arranged in sequence, one sub-array weight, M beam selectors, and N digital splitters. Any one of the data splitters is used to divide the input beam power into M paths and input the m-th path signal into the m-th beam selector, where 1 ≤ m ≤ M; obtaining a corresponding beam selection matrix by using any one of the sub-arrays, where the beam selection matrix is configured to describe at least one target transmitting beam; and based on the beam selection matrices of the respective sub-arrays, allocating the M antenna elements to the corresponding target transmitting beams.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of phased array technology, and in particular, to a transmitting multi-beam device and method based on a phased array. Background Art

[0002] Due to its flexible beam control ability, phased arrays have been widely used in fields such as radar, communication, reconnaissance, and countermeasure. Aircraft measurement and control belongs to a special application scenario of wireless communication: by formulating a communication protocol between the measurement and control station and the aircraft, the measurement and control station sends wireless signals that meet the measurement and communication needs to achieve the measurement of the angle, radial distance, and radial velocity of the aircraft, as well as the control of the aircraft and the acquisition of status data.

[0003] When continuous measurement and communication need to be performed on multiple aircraft targets simultaneously, multiple transmitting and receiving beams need to be formed simultaneously, and each pair of transmitting and receiving beams is used for the measurement and communication of one target. For a receiving digital phased array system, forming multiple receiving beams simultaneously is achieved by weighting the signals of each channel in the digital domain, and the gain of each receiving beam is the same. However, for a transmitting digital phased array, when multiple transmitting beams need to be formed in the airspace, the power of each transmitting beam is related to the total number of transmitting beams: according to the principle of energy conservation, when the total transmitting power of the system is constant, the more the number of transmitting beams, the smaller the power of each transmitting beam.

[0004] As Figure 1 shown, when the transmitting digital phased array system forms N transmitting beams, multiple transmitting signals can be weighted respectively and then sent into the same channel, and after synthesis, they are transmitted. The transmitting signals of the entire array surface complete beam synthesis in space. This multi-beam forming method for transmission will have the problem of multi-carrier intermodulation by sending multiple transmitting signals into the same power amplifier. To avoid the generation of intermodulation, a large back-off of the power amplifier is required, which will reduce the power amplifier efficiency and lead to excessive system heat dissipation under the condition of meeting the same transmitting power requirement. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Embodiments of the present invention provide a transmitting multi-beam device and method based on a phased array to achieve simultaneous multi-beam transmission and flexibly allocate the power ratio between beams.

[0006] Embodiments of the present invention provide a transmitting multi-beam method based on a phased array, including:

[0007] Dividing the transmitting array antenna of the phased array into multiple sub-arrays in advance, where any one sub-array includes M antenna units arranged in sequence, one sub-array weightor, M beam selectors, and N digital splitters. Any one data splitter is used to divide the input beam power into M paths and input the m-th path signal into the m-th beam selector, 1≤m≤M;

[0008] Obtain a corresponding beam selection matrix using any sub - array, where the beam selection matrix is configured to describe at least one target transmit beam;

[0009] Based on the beam selection matrices of each sub - array, allocate M antenna elements to the corresponding target transmit beams.

[0010] In some embodiments, the transmit array antenna operates in an equal - power mode or an unequal - power mode. In the equal - power mode, the EIRP of N target transmit beams is the same; in the unequal - power mode, the EIRP of N target transmit beams is allocated according to the externally input beam selection matrix.

[0011] In some embodiments, before obtaining the externally input beam selection matrix using any sub - array, the transmit multi - beam method further includes:

[0012] Construct a beam selection matrix based on the beam selection vectors corresponding to M beam selectors, satisfying:

[0013]

[0014] where, Λ represents the beam selection matrix, λ m,n ∈{0,1}, 1≤n≤N, and the beam selection vector input by the m - th beam selector is Λ m =[λ m,1 λ m,2 …λ m,N , satisfying

[0015] In some embodiments, in the equal - power operating mode, based on the number of target transmit beams that the transmit array antenna needs to form, adjust the beam selection matrix of any sub - array so that the corresponding columns of the adjusted beam selection matrix are adapted to the number of target transmit beams.

[0016] In some embodiments, in the equal - power operating mode, adjusting the beam selection matrix based on the number of target transmit beams that the transmit array antenna needs to form includes:

[0017] When the transmit array antenna jointly forms 1 target transmit beam, set all elements of the first column of the beam selection matrix to 1 and all other elements to 0;

[0018] When the transmit array antenna jointly forms 2 target transmit beams, set all elements except the first to second columns of the beam selection matrix to 0, and

[0019] When the transmit array antenna jointly forms 3 target transmit beams, set all elements except the first to third columns of the beam selection matrix to 0, and

[0020] When the transmitting array antennas jointly form 4 target transmitting beams, all elements of the beam selection matrix except the first to fourth columns are set to zero, and

[0021] In some embodiments, in the unequal power mode and when the transmitting array antennas jointly form n transmitting beams, it further includes:

[0022] Configuring the transmitting beam power ratio as [P1 P2…P n , n ≤ N;

[0023] Calculating the parameter Performing the following steps:

[0024] Setting the first column of the beam selection matrix of m consecutive sub - arrays to 1 and the remaining elements to zero;

[0025] Setting the second column of the beam selection matrix of m consecutive sub - arrays to 1 and the remaining elements to zero;

[0026] And so on, setting the i - th column of the beam selection matrix of m consecutive sub - arrays to 1 and the remaining elements to zero, where i ≤ n, represents taking the largest integer not greater than x.

[0027] An embodiment of the present application also provides a transmitting multi - beam antenna device based on a phased array, including a processor and a memory. A computer program is stored on the memory, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the foregoing transmitting multi - beam method based on a phased array are implemented.

[0028] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer - readable storage medium. A computer program is stored on the computer - readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the foregoing transmitting multi - beam method based on a phased array are implemented.

[0029] In the embodiment of the present invention, the transmitting digital array antenna is divided into multiple sub - arrays with the same number of antenna elements as the granularity, so as to flexibly configure the EIRP of multiple transmitting beams through an externally input beam selection matrix.

[0030] The above description is only an overview of the technical solution of the present invention. In order to be able to understand the technical means of the present invention more clearly, it can be implemented according to the content of the specification. And in order to make the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the following specific embodiments of the present invention are specifically exemplified. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0031] By reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, various other advantages and benefits will become clear to those of ordinary skill in the art. The drawings are only for the purpose of showing the preferred embodiments and are not considered a limitation of the present invention. Also, throughout the drawings, the same reference symbols are used to represent the same components. In the drawings:

[0032] Figure 1 is the existing transmission scheme of the transmitting digital phased array system;

[0033] Figure 2 is the basic flowchart of the transmitting multi-beam antenna control method according to the embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 3 is an example of a subarray divided by the transmitting multi-beam antenna according to the embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 4 is an example of the structure of the subarray according to the embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 5 is an example of the configuration result of transmitting two target beams according to the embodiment of the present application. Specific Embodiments

[0037] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure can be more thoroughly understood and the scope of the present disclosure can be fully conveyed to those skilled in the art.

[0038] The embodiment of the present invention provides a transmitting multi-beam method based on a phased array, as Figure 2 shown, including:

[0039] In step S101, the transmitting array antenna of the phased array is pre-divided into a plurality of subarrays, where as Figure 3 shown, any subarray includes M antenna units arranged in sequence, one subarray weight, M beam selectors, and N digital splitters. Any data splitter is used to divide the input beam power into M paths and input the m-th path signal into the m-th beam selector, 1 ≤ m ≤ M. As Figure 3 shown, the transmitting array antenna is divided into P subarrays, Figure 3 in this case, there are 4 subarrays (32, 33, 34, 35), and each subarray includes a plurality of antenna units 31. As Figure 4As shown, each sub-array consists of 41M transmitting antenna elements, 42M transmitting power amplifiers, 1 sub-array weightor, 44M beam selectors, and 45N digital splitters. After each beam enters the sub-array, it is power-divided into M paths by the digital splitter, and the m-th path signal of each digital splitter is sent to the m-th beam selector, where m ≤ M.

[0040] In step S102, any one of the sub-arrays is used to obtain a corresponding beam selection matrix, where the beam selection matrix is configured to describe at least one target transmitting beam.

[0041] In step S103, based on the beam selection matrices of the sub-arrays, M antenna elements are allocated to the corresponding target transmitting beams. In this example, the control of each sub-array of the entire transmitting array antenna is achieved through the externally input beam selection matrix, so as to meet the requirements of flexible configuration and avoid the intermodulation problem caused by multiple beam data entering the same channel.

[0042] In some embodiments, the transmitting array antenna operates in an equal power mode or an unequal power mode. In the equal power mode, the EIRP of N target transmitting beams is the same; in the unequal power mode, the EIRP of N target transmitting beams is allocated according to the externally input beam selection matrix.

[0043] In some embodiments, before using any one of the sub-arrays to obtain a corresponding beam selection matrix, the multi-beam transmitting method further includes:

[0044] Based on the beam selection vectors corresponding to M beam selectors, a beam selection matrix of any one of the sub-arrays is constructed, satisfying:

[0045]

[0046] where Λ represents the beam selection matrix, λ m,n ∈{0,1}, 1 ≤ n ≤ N, and the beam selection vector input by the m-th beam selector is Λ m =[λ m,1 λ m,2 …λ m,N , satisfying 1 ≤ m ≤ M

[0047] In some embodiments, in the equal power operating mode, based on the number of target transmitting beams required to be formed by the transmitting array antenna, the beam selection matrix is adjusted so that the corresponding columns of the adjusted beam selection matrix are adapted to the number of target transmitting beams.

[0048] In some embodiments, in the equal power operating mode, adjusting the beam selection matrix of any one of the sub-arrays based on the number of target transmitting beams required to be formed by the transmitting array antenna includes:

[0049] When the transmitting array antennas jointly form one target transmitting beam, all elements in the first column of the beam selection matrix are set to 1, and the remaining elements are all set to zero, that is where 2 ≤ n ≤ N, and T represents the transpose operation of the matrix.

[0050] When the transmitting array antennas jointly form two target transmitting beams, all elements of the beam selection matrix except the first to second columns are set to zero, and it can be implemented by configuring the corresponding pseudo-random integer vector.

[0051] The specific method for the antenna elements to allocate to the two beams is as follows:

[0052] Generate the vector

[0053] For 1 ≤ m ≤ M

[0054] case λ m,0 = 1

[0055]

[0056] Case λ m,0 = 2

[0057]

[0058] End case

[0059] End For

[0060] where randi(imax, M) represents generating a pseudo-random integer vector with M rows, and the element values in the vector satisfy a uniform distribution between [1, imax].

[0061] When the transmitting array antennas jointly form three target transmitting beams, all elements of the beam selection matrix except the first to third columns are set to zero, and

[0062] The specific method for the antenna elements to allocate to the three beams is as follows:

[0063] Generate the vector

[0064] For 1 ≤ m ≤ M

[0065] case λ m,0 = 1

[0066]

[0067] Case λ m,0 = 2

[0068]

[0069] Case λ m,0 = 3

[0070]

[0071] End case

[0072] End For

[0073] When the transmitting array antennas jointly form 4 target transmitting beams, all elements of the beam selection matrix except the first to fourth columns are set to zero, and

[0074] The specific allocation method of the antenna elements to the 4 beams is as follows:

[0075] Generate vector

[0076] For 1 ≤ m ≤ M

[0077] case λ m,0 = 1

[0078]

[0079] Case λ m,0 = 2

[0080]

[0081] Case λ m,0 = 3

[0082]

[0083] Case λ m,0 = 4

[0084]

[0085] End case

[0086] End For

[0087] In some embodiments, in the unequal power mode, when the transmitting array antennas jointly form n transmitting beams, it further includes:

[0088] Configure the transmitting beam power ratio as [P1 P2…P n , n ≤ N;

[0089] Calculation parameters Perform the following steps:

[0090] Set the first column of the beam selection matrix of consecutive subarrays to 1 and the remaining elements to 0;

[0091] Set the second column of the beam selection matrix of consecutive subarrays to 1 and the remaining elements to 0;

[0092] And so on, set the i-th column of the beam selection matrix of consecutive subarrays to 1 and the remaining elements to 0, where i ≤ n, represents the largest integer not greater than x.

[0093] An embodiment of this application also proposes an implementation case of a transmit multi-beam method based on a phased array. A certain transmit phased array system consists of P = 4 subarrays, and each subarray contains 4×4 antenna elements, that is, each subarray contains M = 16 antenna elements, and the system can form at most N = 4 beams. The array surface is as Figure 3 shown. When the system needs to form a single beam, the beam selection matrix of each subarray is:

[0094]

[0095] When the system needs to form 2 beams, for the first subarray, generate a random vector Then the beam selection matrix of the first subarray:

[0096]

[0097] According to the beam selection matrices of the 4 subarrays, as Figure 5 shown, the array surface is divided into 2 parts, where represents the antenna elements participating in forming beam 1, represents the antenna elements participating in forming beam 2.

[0098] Based on the method of this application, 3 beams and 4 beams can also be formed, which will not be elaborated here.

[0099] The method of this application divides the digital phased array - transmit digital array antenna system into multiple subarrays with the same number of antenna elements as the granularity, and designs the system working mode as an equal power meter unequal power mode. In the unequal power mode, the EIRP of multiple transmit beams can be flexibly allocated according to external input.

[0100] An embodiment of the present application also provides a phased-array based transmit multi-beam antenna device, including a processor and a memory, where a computer program is stored on the memory, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the aforementioned phased-array based transmit multi-beam method are implemented.

[0101] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the aforementioned phased-array based transmit multi-beam method are implemented.

[0102] It should be noted that in this article, the term "including", "comprising" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not expressly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. Without further limitation, an element defined by the statement "including one..." does not exclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or device including that element.

[0103] The serial numbers of the above embodiments of the present invention are only for description and do not represent the advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments.

[0104] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above embodiment methods can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform. Of course, they can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk), and includes several instructions for causing a terminal (which can be a mobile phone, computer, server or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of the present invention.

[0105] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above specific embodiments. The above specific embodiments are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the inspiration of the present invention, those of ordinary skill in the art can also make many forms without departing from the purpose and scope protected by the claims of the present invention, and these all belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A transmitting multi-beam method based on a phased array, characterized in that, Including: Pre-divide the transmitting array antenna of the phased array into multiple sub-arrays, where each sub-array includes M antenna elements arranged in sequence, one sub-array weight, M beam selectors, and N digital splitters. The digital splitter is used to divide the input beam power into M paths and input the m-th path signal into the m-th beam selector, where 1 ≤ m ≤ M; Use the sub-array to obtain the corresponding beam selection matrix, where the beam selection matrix is configured to describe at least one target transmitting beam; Based on the beam selection matrices of each sub-array, allocate the M antenna elements to the corresponding target transmitting beams; The transmitting array antenna operates in an unequal power mode. In the unequal power mode, the EIRP of N target transmitting beams is allocated according to the externally input beam selection matrix; Before using the sub-array to obtain the corresponding beam selection matrix, the method further includes: Based on the beam selection vectors corresponding to the M beam selectors, construct the beam selection matrix of the sub-array, satisfying: Among them, represents the beam selection matrix, , 1 ≤ n ≤ N, and , the beam selection vector input by the m-th beam selector is , satisfying ; In the unequal power mode, and when the transmitting array antenna forms q transmitting beams in total, it further includes: Configure the transmit beam power ratio as , where q ≤ N; Calculation parameter , perform the following steps: Set the first column of the beam selection matrix of consecutive subarrays to 1 and the remaining elements to 0; Set the second column of the beam selection matrix of consecutive sub-arrays to 1 and the remaining elements to 0; And so on, set the \(i\)-th column of the beam selection matrix of consecutive sub-arrays to 1 and the rest of the elements to 0, where \(i\leq q\), denotes taking the largest integer not greater than .

2. The phased-array based multi-beam transmitting method according to claim 1, wherein The transmitting array antenna also operates in an equal power mode. In the equal power operating mode, based on the number of target transmitting beams that the transmitting array antenna needs to form, adjust the beam selection matrix of the sub-array so that the corresponding columns of the adjusted beam selection matrix are adapted to the number of target transmitting beams.

3. The phased-array based multi-beam transmitting method according to claim 2, wherein In the equal power operating mode, adjusting the beam selection matrix of the sub-array based on the number of target transmitting beams that the transmitting array antenna needs to form includes: When the transmitting array antenna jointly forms 1 target transmitting beam, set all elements in the first column of the beam selection matrix to 1 and all other elements to 0; When the transmitting array antennas jointly form two target transmitting beams, all elements of the beam selection matrix except the first to second columns are set to zero, and ; When the transmitting array antennas jointly form three target transmitting beams, all elements of the beam selection matrix except the first to third columns are set to zero, and ; When the transmitting array antennas jointly form four target transmitting beams, all elements of the beam selection matrix except the first to fourth columns are set to zero, and .

4. A phased-array based transmit multi-beam antenna device, characterized in that, Including a processor and a memory, a computer program is stored on the memory, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the steps of the phased array-based multi-beam transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, A computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the steps of the phased array-based multi-beam transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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