A Wide-Beam Dual-Polarized Dielectric Resonator Antenna

Abstract

The present invention discloses a wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna. A square metal patch with metallized vias is placed at a position near the vertex of a square cavity substrate integrated dielectric resonator, which can suppress non-radiating modes and provide an electric field opposite to that of the resonator, thereby improving the matching and expanding the E-plane beamwidth of the antenna. Finally, a wide-beam dielectric resonator antenna is obtained, which has structural characteristics such as simple structure, planar implementation, processability by printed circuit board technology, and substrate integration, as well as performance characteristics such as dual-polarized operation and beamwidth broadening for both polarizations.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an antenna, and particularly to a wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna. Background Art

[0002] In wireless applications, the half-power beam width of an antenna is widely concerned as an important indicator. Since the wide-beam antenna has a larger coverage area, it can obtain a higher gain at a low elevation angle and is suitable for fields such as satellite communication and intelligent transportation. When used as a phased array unit, the wide-beam antenna can increase the scanning range and is suitable for related applications that require wide-angle scanning. In base station applications, the wide-beam antenna is beneficial to reducing the number of sectors. At the same time, in the fields of satellite antennas, base station antennas, synthetic aperture radars, etc., while obtaining a wider beam, the antenna also needs to operate in dual polarization to increase the system capacity. In a dual-polarized wide-beam antenna, a metal oscillator antenna is often used in the low-frequency microwave band. When operating at high frequencies, its high conductor loss will reduce the radiation efficiency and gain; the conductor loss of the dielectric resonator antenna will be greatly reduced, and the radiation efficiency will increase, which can ensure high efficiency and gain when operating at high frequencies. Therefore, the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna has certain research significance and engineering value.

[0003] The main design methods of the current wide-beam dielectric resonator antenna are to bend a rectangular dielectric resonator, stack multiple layers of cylindrical ceramic dielectric sheets, place a comb-shaped metal structure or a ring-shaped metal structure at intervals around or on both sides of the rectangular dielectric resonator, use an irregular-shaped dielectric resonator to integrate multiple modes, embed a short-column structure or a mushroom-shaped structure with an eight-shaped radiation in the rectangular dielectric resonator, use an irregular rectangular dielectric resonator or a cylindrical dielectric resonator loaded with a folded vertical metal plate, etc. On the one hand, none of the above design methods consider the influence of the dielectric environment during printed circuit board implementation and the treatment measures; on the other hand, due to reasons such as dielectric bending, non-regular dielectric structures, and loading of non-planar parasitic structures, the complex structures cannot be integrated on a substrate using printed circuit board technology, resulting in low integration. At the same time, the above antenna structures are non-centrally symmetric and can only achieve a single-polarized working state and cannot achieve a dual-polarized working state. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Object of the Invention: Aiming at the above-mentioned prior art, a wide-beam radiation dielectric resonator antenna with dual polarization and planar integration characteristics is proposed.

[0005] Technical Solution: A wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna, the structure of the antenna is centrally symmetric, and successively includes a top metal structure, an upper high-dielectric-constant substrate, a metal ground, a lower low-dielectric-constant substrate, and a bottom metal structure from top to bottom;

[0006] The top metal structure is composed of a square-ring-shaped metal structure and four square metal patches. The four square metal patches are respectively located at the four inner vertices of the square-ring-shaped metal structure, and there is a gap between the four square metal patches and the square-ring-shaped metal structure. A circle of metallized vias is provided along the inner edge of the square-ring-shaped metal structure, and a pair of metallized via pairs is provided on each square metal patch. The circle of metallized vias and the metallized via pairs connect the top metal structure and the metal ground.

[0007] Four rectangular grooves that are centrosymmetric about the center and arranged in a square shape are provided on the metal ground. The bottom metal structure is four metal strip lines arranged in a cross shape, which are respectively located directly below the corresponding rectangular grooves.

[0008] Furthermore, on each square metal patch, the metallized via pairs are respectively located at the edges of the non-adjacent sides of the square metal patch and the square-ring-shaped metal structure, and the four pairs of metallized via pairs are centrosymmetric about the antenna center.

[0009] Furthermore, the side lengths of the four square metal patches are between 0.13λ0 and 0.16λ0, and the gaps between the edges and the inner sides of the square-ring-shaped metal structure are between 0.01λ0 and 0.02λ0.

[0010] Beneficial effects: For existing wide-beam dielectric resonator antennas, due to the lack of consideration of the dielectric environment impact and treatment measures during printed circuit board implementation, as well as the complex antenna structure and other reasons, a substrate-integrated wide-beam dielectric resonator antenna cannot be realized. At the same time, due to the non-centrosymmetric structure, dual polarization cannot be achieved. Aiming at the shortcomings of the existing technology, the wide-beam dielectric resonator antenna proposed by the present invention can be realized by substrate integration using printed circuit board technology, thereby reducing installation errors and improving the yield. In terms of performance, it solves the problems that existing similar designs cannot achieve dual-polarization operation and cannot achieve beam broadening on both polarizations.

[0011] Specifically, the present invention places square metal patches with metallized vias at the near-vertex positions of a square-backcavity substrate-integrated dielectric resonator, which can suppress non-radiating modes and provide an electric field opposite to that of the resonator, thereby improving the matching and expanding the E-plane beam width of the antenna. Finally, a wide-beam dielectric resonator antenna is obtained, which has structural characteristics such as simple structure, planar realization, processability by printed circuit board technology, and substrate integration, as well as performance characteristics such as dual-polarization operation and beam broadening on both polarizations.

[0012] The side lengths of the four square metal patches are between 0.13λ0 and 0.16λ0, and they are located at the four vertex positions of the dielectric resonator. There is a gap between the edges and the inner sides of the square-ring-shaped metal structure. The metallized vias are located at the edges of the non-adjacent sides of the square metal patch and the square-ring-shaped metal structure. The combination of the square metal patch and the metallized via can, on the one hand, suppress On the one hand, the mold generates an electric field opposite to that in the dielectric resonator within the gap, effectively broadening the beam width of the two polarized E-plane radiations.

[0013] A pair of vertical rectangular slots and a pair of horizontal rectangular slots are symmetrically distributed at the center on the metal ground. The electrical length is between 0.15λ0 and 0.17λ0, and the spacing is between 0.22λ0 and 0.26λ0. When excited by the differential excitation of the corresponding microstrip line, a co-directional electric field is formed, and under the action of the dielectric resonator, a resonant point that supports edge radiation can be provided to broaden the operating bandwidth.

[0014] A pair of horizontal microstrip feed lines and a pair of vertical microstrip feed lines can differentially excite the vertical rectangular slots and the horizontal rectangular slots respectively, forming a dual-polarized differential feeding structure. Combining with the orthogonal modes excited by the dielectric resonator, the antenna can obtain a high port isolation and a low cross-polarization level.

[0015] Arrange a circle of metallized vias inside the square-ring metal structure to form an equivalent metal back cavity structure, which is used to isolate the inside and outside structures of the dielectric resonator, avoid the influence of the outside structure on the working characteristics of the inside main part in the substrate integrated environment, and can improve the gain to a certain extent. Description of the Drawings

[0016] Figure 1 It is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 It is a schematic top-view structure diagram of the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the middle-layer metal structure of the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the bottom-layer metal structure of the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 5 It is the matching and isolation simulation result of the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 6 It is the simulated gain of the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 7 It is the E-plane half-power beam width of the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 8 It is the simulated radiation pattern of the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention at 18.8 GHz when operating in horizontal polarization;

[0024] Figure 9 This is the simulated radiation pattern at 19.6 GHz when the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention operates in horizontal polarization.

[0025] Figure 10 This is the simulated radiation pattern at 20.4 GHz when the wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna of the present invention operates in horizontal polarization. Detailed implementation manners

[0026] The following further explains the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] As Figures 1 to 4 shown, a wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna has a centrosymmetric structure and is composed of a top-layer metal structure 1, an upper high-dielectric-constant substrate 2, a metal ground 3, a lower low-dielectric-constant substrate 4, a bottom-layer metal structure 5, a ring of metallized vias 6 connecting the top-layer metal structure 1 and the metal ground 3, and four pairs of metallized via pairs 7.

[0028] The top-layer metal structure 1 is composed of a square-ring metal structure 11 and four square metal patches 12. The side length of the inner opening of the square-ring metal structure 11 is between 0.62λ0 and 0.68λ0, where λ0 is the free-space wavelength corresponding to the center frequency. The side lengths of the four square metal patches 12 are between 0.13λ0 and 0.16λ0 and are respectively located at the four inner vertices of the square-ring metal structure 11, and the distance between the patches and the sides of the square-ring metal structure 11 is between 0.01λ0 and 0.02λ0. The metallized vias 6 are arranged at the inner edge of the square-ring metal structure 11, dividing the upper high-dielectric-constant substrate 2 into an inner dielectric radiator part 21 and an outer dielectric structure 22. Each pair of metallized via pairs 7 has two metallized vias, which are respectively located at the edges of the non-adjacent sides of the square metal patch 12 and the square-ring metal structure 11, and the four pairs of metallized via pairs 7 are centrosymmetric about the antenna center.

[0029] Four rectangular slots 31 - 34 with lengths between 0.15λ0 and 0.17λ0 are etched on the metal ground 3. Two vertical rectangular slots 31, 32 and two parallel rectangular slots 33, 34 are centrosymmetric about the center and the distance between them is between 0.22λ0 and 0.26λ0. The bottom-layer metal structure 5 is four metal strip lines 51 - 54 with lengths between 0.38λ0 and 0.41λ0, all located directly below the corresponding rectangular slots and orthogonal to the corresponding rectangular slot respectively.

[0030] The top metal structure 1, the upper high-dielectric-constant substrate 2, the metal ground 3, a ring of metallized vias 6, and four pairs of metallized via pairs 6, 7 form a square cavity substrate integrated dielectric resonator, which serves as the radiating part of the antenna. The bottom metal structure 5, the lower low-dielectric-constant substrate 4, and the metal ground 3 form a pair of horizontal microstrip feed lines and a pair of vertical microstrip feed lines, corresponding to two pairs of differential ports respectively.

[0031] For the proposed wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna, when the antenna operates, the signal is coupled to the corresponding rectangular slots through the microstrip differential feed line pair, and forms a wide-beam dual-polarized end-fire radiation under the action of the square cavity substrate integrated dielectric resonator.

[0032] In this process, taking the horizontal polarization operation as an example, the two vertical rectangular slots are fed by the horizontal differential microstrip and present the same-direction horizontal electric field, which can support the end-fire type horizontal polarization radiation. This same-direction horizontal electric field can excite the mode of the square cavity substrate integrated dielectric resonator, and this mode also supports the end-fire type horizontal polarization radiation. The four square metal patches located at the vertex positions of the resonator can effectively suppress the mode that cannot support the end-fire type radiation, so that the vertical slot and the mode of the dielectric resonator constitute the working frequency band of the horizontal polarization. On the other hand, the combination of the four square metal patches and a pair of metallized vias at their respective edges can generate an electric field opposite to that inside the dielectric resonator in the gap between the square patch and the inner side of the square-ring metal structure, and this opposite electric field appears throughout the working frequency band. Therefore, it can effectively broaden the beam width of the horizontal polarization E-plane radiation throughout the working frequency band; among them, placing each pair of metallized vias near the center of the two side edges of the square metal patch facing the center of the whole antenna is beneficial to enhancing the intensity of this opposite field, so that the beam width throughout the working frequency band is increased to more than 100°.

[0033] The proposed antenna has a centrosymmetric structure, and the working principle in the case of vertical polarization is the same as that in the case of horizontal polarization, only the directions are orthogonal. The E-plane beam width of the vertical polarization radiation can also be increased to more than 100° throughout the working frequency band. In addition, the dual-polarized differential feeding formed by the combination of a pair of horizontal microstrip feed lines and a pair of vertical microstrip feed lines and the four centrosymmetric rectangular slots, combined with the orthogonal modes excited by the dielectric resonator, can enable the antenna to obtain a high port isolation and a low cross-polarization level.

[0034] Structurally, the antenna is centrosymmetric and planar integrable, can be realized by printed circuit board technology, can reduce the assembly error, and improve the yield and reliability.

[0035] A specific embodiment of the present invention is listed below, and the schematic diagram of the antenna structure is as Figures 1 to 4As shown. In this embodiment, the design adopts the combination of RT6010 substrate and RO4003C substrate, and the overall size of the antenna unit is 0.9λ0×0.9λ0×0.07λ0. The simulation results of the matching and isolation response of this embodiment are as Figure 5 shown. It can be seen that the operating frequency band of the antenna covers 18.5 GHz to 20.9 GHz, and the relative bandwidth is 12.2%. The differential mode isolation between ports within the operating frequency band is good. The simulated gain of this embodiment is as Figure 6 shown. The maximum gain within the operating frequency band is 5.9 dBi. The simulated E-plane half-power beamwidth is as Figure 7 shown. The half-power beamwidth within the operating frequency band is between 100° and 141°. Figures 8 to 10 They are the simulated radiation patterns of the antenna in the horizontal polarization at 18.8 GHz, 19.6 GHz, and 20.4 GHz respectively. The E-plane half-power beamwidths are 124.5°, 102.4°, and 105.9°, and the H-plane half-power beamwidths are 82.9°, 77.6°, and 71.9°. The cross polarization is good. Due to the symmetry of the antenna structure and mode, the vertical polarization performance of the antenna corresponds to the horizontal polarization performance.

[0036] Compared with the existing design, the wide-beam dielectric resonator antenna proposed by the present invention has structural advantages such as simple structure, planar realization, processability by printed circuit board technology, and substrate integration, as well as performance advantages such as dual-polarization operation and beam broadening for both polarizations.

[0037] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be noted that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principle of the present invention, several improvements and refinements can be made, and these improvements and refinements should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna, characterized in that, The structure of the antenna is centrosymmetric, and successively includes a top-layer metal structure (1), an upper high-dielectric-constant substrate (2), a metal ground (3), a lower low-dielectric-constant substrate (4), and a bottom-layer metal structure (5) from top to bottom; The top-layer metal structure (1) is composed of a square-ring-shaped metal structure (11) and four square metal patches (12). The four square metal patches (12) are respectively located at the four inner vertices of the square-ring-shaped metal structure (11), and there is a gap between the four square metal patches (12) and the square-ring-shaped metal structure (11). A circle of metallization vias (6) is arranged along the inner edge of the square-ring-shaped metal structure (11). A pair of metallization via pairs (7) is arranged on each square metal patch (12). The circle of metallization vias (6) and the metallization via pairs (7) connect the top-layer metal structure (1) and the metal ground (3); Four rectangular slots (31 - 34) which are centrosymmetric about the center and arranged in a square shape are arranged on the metal ground (3); The bottom-layer metal structure (5) is four metal strip lines (51 - 54) arranged in a cross shape and respectively located directly below the corresponding rectangular slots.

2. The wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, On each square metal patch (12), the metallization via pairs (7) are respectively located at the edges of the non-adjacent sides of the square metal patch (12) and the square-ring-shaped metal structure (11), and the four pairs of metallization via pairs (7) are centrosymmetric about the center of the antenna.

3. The wide-beam dual-polarized dielectric resonator antenna according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The side lengths of the four square metal patches (12) are between 0.13λ0 and 0.16λ0, and the gap between the edges and the inner side of the square-ring-shaped metal structure (11) is between 0.01λ0 and 0.02λ0.

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