A method for beamwidth control of metamaterial phased array antennas based on inverse phase coding

Abstract

This invention relates to a method for beamwidth control of a metamaterial phased array antenna based on inverse phase coding, comprising: obtaining the phase distribution of the reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna adjusted to a preset angle; obtaining the array size of the metamaterial phased array antenna that satisfies the target beamwidth according to the 3dB beamwidth expression of the metamaterial phased array antenna and the target beamwidth used for adjustment; based on the phase distribution, keeping the phase distribution of the reflecting elements in the obtained metamaterial phased array antenna array size unchanged, and performing inverse phase coding on the remaining reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna to complete the adjustment of the target beamwidth. The control method of this invention can accurately obtain the expected result by calculating the array size inversely based on the 3dB beamwidth expression of the entire antenna according to the required target beamwidth, and by retaining the phase distribution of the obtained array size and performing inverse phase coding on the remaining antenna reflecting elements.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of antennas, and more particularly to a method for beamwidth control of metamaterial phased array antennas based on inverse phase coding. Background Technology

[0002] With the explosive growth in demand for wireless communication, spectrum resources are becoming increasingly scarce. Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is a technology that enables radar detection and wireless communication to share various resources, including spectrum and hardware sharing, and has become an effective means to solve spectrum congestion problems and meet the needs of integrated sensing and communication. Typically, ISAC systems employ massively multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antennas for beamforming to utilize more spatial degrees of freedom. However, this leads to high cost, high power consumption, and high system complexity. Metamaterial phased array antennas, as an emerging technology, offer a new approach to solving this problem.

[0003] Metamaterial phased array antennas are typically composed of programmable metamaterials. By altering the encoded state of their unit structures through electronic, optical, or temperature control, the amplitude, phase, and polarization of incident electromagnetic waves can be manipulated. Therefore, they offer advantages such as low cost, low power consumption, ease of deployment, and high degree of freedom. Applying metamaterial phased array antennas to integrated detection and communication systems enables flexible control of the wireless propagation environment, thereby improving the system's detection and communication performance. Furthermore, the combination of metamaterial phased array antennas and integrated detection and communication technology can significantly reduce system cost and power consumption, meeting the needs of applications such as the Internet of Things, intelligent transportation, and highly integrated combat platforms.

[0004] In the above applications, the integrated detection and communication system requires the metamaterial phased array antenna to have the ability to switch between wide and narrow beam scanning, regardless of whether it is in detection mode, communication mode or positioning mode. This is because for detection mode and positioning mode, wide beam scanning detection and narrow beam positioning can complete the task quickly. For communication mode, wide beam searches for cooperative targets and narrow beam completes communication transmission with them, which can reduce the communication link establishment time between the two. For example, in reference [1], the system uses the metamaterial phased array antenna based on Nr phase shifter in a partitioned manner, and flexibly controls the antenna elements according to the working mode to change the beam width of the antenna. In detection mode, the system uses only a small number of antenna elements to achieve wide beam scanning detection, and the remaining antenna elements are used for communication. In positioning mode, the system first uses wide beam detection, and then uses more antenna elements to generate narrow beam positioning targets.

[0005] However, in existing technical solutions, although the switching between wide and narrow beams can be achieved by dividing the metamaterial phased array antenna into sections, this method has the problem of complex section control, and the beams of different sections will affect each other, which seriously limits the application of integrated detection and communication systems.

[0006] References:

[0007] [1]Sankar RSP, Deepak B, Chepuri S P.Joint communication and radarsensing with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces[C] / / 2021IEEE 22ndInternational Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in WirelessCommunications(SPAWC).IEEE,2021:471-475. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The purpose of this invention is to provide a method for beamwidth control of metamaterial phased array antennas based on inverse phase coding.

[0009] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, this invention provides a method for beamwidth control of a metamaterial phased array antenna based on inverse phase coding, comprising the following steps:

[0010] S1. Obtain the phase distribution of the reflective elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna when they are tuned to a preset angle;

[0011] S2. Based on the 3dB beamwidth expression of the metamaterial phased array antenna and the target beamwidth used for adjustment, obtain the metamaterial phased array antenna array size that satisfies the target beamwidth;

[0012] S3. Based on the phase distribution, keeping the phase distribution of the reflecting elements in the obtained metamaterial phased array antenna array unchanged, and performing inverse coding on the remaining reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna to complete the control of the target beamwidth.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present invention, step S1, the step of obtaining the phase distribution of the reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna adjusted to a preset angle, includes:

[0014] S11. Obtain the phase of any of the reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna with respect to the preset angle:

[0015] S12. Obtain the phase distribution of all reflecting units in the metamaterial phased array antenna based on the coding mode of the coding metamaterial in the metamaterial phased array antenna and the phase.

[0016] According to one aspect of the present invention, in step S11, the step of obtaining the phase of any one of the reflecting units in the metamaterial phased array antenna for the preset angle comprises:

[0017] Assume that the metamaterial phased array antenna has N×N reflecting units and is incident with a spherical wave;

[0018] Setting the reflection direction of the spherical wave to be deflected to a preset angle then the phase of the reflecting unit located in the m-th row and the n-th column in the metamaterial phased array antenna is expressed as:

[0019]

[0020] wherein, φ m,n represents the phase of the reflecting unit in the m-th row and the n-th column, k represents the free-space propagation vector, x m and y n respectively represent the coordinates of the array elements along the x and y directions, R m,n is the distance from the feed to the (x m , y n )-th reflecting unit, which can be expressed as:

[0021]

[0022] wherein, x f represents the position of the feed on the x-axis, y f represents the position of the feed on the y-axis, z f represents the height of the feed from the metamaterial phased array antenna.

[0023] According to one aspect of the present invention, in step S2, the 3dB beam width expression is expressed as:

[0024]

[0025] wherein, θ represents the 3dB beam width, λ represents the wavelength of the incident wave, D represents the aperture of the metamaterial phased array antenna, which is expressed as D=N×P, N represents the number of columns or rows of the array, and P represents the array element spacing.

[0026] According to one aspect of the present invention, in step S2, the obtained array scale of the metamaterial phased array antenna is n×n, and n<N, wherein n is expressed as:

[0027]

[0028] Where θ1 represents the target beamwidth used for control, and θ1 > θ.

[0029] According to one aspect of the present invention, in step S3, the step of performing inversion coding on the remaining reflective elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna is to perform inversion coding on adjacent reflective elements respectively, or to perform inversion coding in a manner in which multiple reflective elements are combined into a super-element.

[0030] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the present invention provides an electronic device, including at least one processor, at least one memory, and a data bus;

[0031] The processor and the memory communicate with each other via the data bus;

[0032] The memory stores program instructions that can be executed by the processor, which calls the program instructions to execute the aforementioned metamaterial phased array antenna beamwidth control method.

[0033] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the aforementioned metamaterial phased array antenna beamwidth control method.

[0034] According to one aspect of the present invention, the metamaterial phased array antenna beamwidth control method of the present invention can accurately and conveniently obtain the expected result by calculating the 3dB width expression of the entire antenna in reverse according to the required target beamwidth, and by retaining the phase distribution of the obtained array size and performing inverse phase coding (i.e., the abbreviation of inverse phase spacing coding) on ​​the remaining antenna reflection elements.

[0035] According to one aspect of the present invention, the beamwidth control method for metamaterial phased array antennas is effective for 1-bit encoded metamaterials and is equally effective for multi-bit encoded metamaterial phased array antennas.

[0036] According to one aspect of the present invention, after inversely determining the array size based on a given beamwidth, the desired array size can be randomly selected from the metamaterial phased array antennas, while maintaining its encoding mode unchanged, and the remaining antenna elements are inverted and encoded.

[0037] According to one aspect of the present invention, when performing phase inversion coding on unused metamaterial phased array antenna elements, phase inversion coding can be performed not only on adjacent elements, but also on adjacent super-elements composed of multiple elements.

[0038] According to one aspect of the present invention, the array size of the metamaterial phased array antenna can be flexibly controlled by simple inversion coding, thereby achieving accurate control of the beamwidth. Furthermore, since single-beam modulation is used, there is no problem of mutual interference between beams. Attached Figure Description

[0039] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a method for controlling the beamwidth of a metamaterial phased array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of beam control for a metamaterial phased array antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 3 This is a coding pattern diagram of a metamaterial phased array antenna deflected to (10°, 0°) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] Figure 4 This is the coding mode of a metamaterial phased array antenna when the target beamwidth is 3° according to one embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0043] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0044] In describing embodiments of the present invention, the terms "longitudinal," "lateral," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," and "outer" express orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the relevant drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, the above terms should not be construed as limitations on the present invention.

[0045] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. The embodiments cannot be described in detail here, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the following embodiments.

[0046] like Figure 1 As shown, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling the beamwidth of a metamaterial phased array antenna based on inverse phase coding includes the following steps:

[0047] S1. Obtain the phase distribution of the reflective elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna when they are tuned to a preset angle;

[0048] S2. Based on the 3dB beamwidth expression of the metamaterial phased array antenna and the target beamwidth used for adjustment, obtain the array size of the metamaterial phased array antenna that satisfies the target beamwidth;

[0049] S3. Based on the phase distribution, keep the phase distribution of the reflective elements in the obtained metamaterial phased array antenna array unchanged, and implement inverse phase coding on the remaining reflective elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna to complete the control of the target beamwidth.

[0050] like Figure 2 As shown, according to one embodiment of the present invention, step S1, the step of obtaining the phase distribution of the reflecting element in the metamaterial phased array antenna adjusted to a preset angle, includes:

[0051] S11. Obtain the phase of any reflecting element in the metamaterial phased array antenna with respect to a preset angle: where, including:

[0052] Assume that the metamaterial phased array antenna has N×N reflecting elements and is incident with spherical waves;

[0053] The setting deflects the direction of the spherical wave reflection to a preset angle. The phase of the reflecting element located in the m-th row and n-th column of the metamaterial phased array antenna is expressed as:

[0054]

[0055] Where, φ m,n Let x represent the phase of the reflecting element in the m-th row and n-th column, k represent the free space propagation vector, and x represent the phase of the reflecting element in the m-th row and n-th column. m and y n R represents the coordinates of the array element along the x and y directions, respectively. m,n For the feed source to the (x)th m ,y n The distance between ) reflecting units can be expressed as:

[0056]

[0057] Where, x f Indicates the position of the feed source on the x-axis, y f Indicates the position of the feed source on the y-axis, z f This indicates the height of the feed source from the metamaterial phased array antenna.

[0058] S12. Obtain the phase distribution of all reflecting units in the metamaterial phased array antenna based on the coding mode and phase of the coding metamaterial in the metamaterial phased array antenna. In this embodiment, the coding mode of the coding metamaterial in the metamaterial phased array antenna can be 1-bit coding or multi-bit coding. Furthermore, based on the coding mode of the coding metamaterial, the phase expression formula of the reflecting units obtained above can be used to encode the entire metamaterial phased array antenna, so as to obtain the phase distribution (i.e., coding mode) of the metamaterial phased array antenna for a preset angle.

[0059] According to an embodiment of the present invention, in step S2, the expression of 3dB beamwidth is expressed as:

[0060]

[0061] wherein, θ represents the 3dB beamwidth, λ represents the wavelength of the incident wave, D represents the aperture of the metamaterial phased array antenna, which is expressed as D=N×P, N represents the number of columns or rows of the array, and P represents the array element spacing.

[0062] According to an embodiment of the present invention, in step S3, in the step of obtaining the array size of the metamaterial phased array antenna that satisfies the target beamwidth, the array size satisfying the required target beamwidth can be inversely derived based on the aforementioned 3dB beamwidth expression, wherein assuming that the obtained target beamwidth is θ₁ and θ₁>θ, the obtained array size is: n×n, and n<N, wherein n is expressed as:

[0063]

[0064] wherein, θ₁ represents the target beamwidth for regulation, and θ₁>θ.

[0065] According to an embodiment of the present invention, in step S3, keeping the phase distribution of the reflecting units in the array size of the metamaterial phased array antenna unchanged, inverse phase coding is implemented on the remaining reflecting units in the metamaterial phased array antenna to complete the regulation of the target beamwidth. In this embodiment, for the determined array size (i.e., n×n reflecting units), the phase distribution for the aforementioned preset angle is kept unchanged (i.e., the coding mode remains unchanged), and then 0° and 180° spaced coding is performed on the remaining reflecting units around the array size, that is, inverse phase coding is implemented thereon, which aims to achieve phase cancellation, so that the metamaterial array antenna is changed to the target array size.

[0066] In this embodiment, in step S3, in the step of implementing inverse phase coding on the remaining reflecting units in the metamaterial phased array antenna, inverse phase coding can be performed on adjacent reflecting units respectively.

[0067] In another implementation, inversion coding is performed by forming a supercell from multiple reflective elements. The number of reflective elements forming the supercell can be determined based on the number of remaining reflective elements in the actual metamaterial phased array antenna, so that the number of supercells is an integer. For example, if two reflective elements form a supercell, then inversion coding is performed on the supercell as a whole during the inversion coding process.

[0068] According to one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic device is provided, including at least one processor, at least one memory, and a data bus. In this embodiment, the processor and the memory communicate with each other via the data bus; the memory stores program instructions executable by the processor, and the processor invokes the program instructions to execute the aforementioned metamaterial phased array antenna beamwidth control method.

[0069] In this embodiment, the memory may be, but is not limited to, Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), etc.

[0070] In this embodiment, the processor can be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. The processor can be a general-purpose processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), etc.; it can also be a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components.

[0071] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the aforementioned supersonic flow field simulation method.

[0072] To further illustrate this plan, it will be further explained in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0073] Example 1

[0074] In this embodiment, a 48×48 metamaterial phased array antenna is taken as an example. Assuming the wavelength of the incident wave is λ and the element spacing is λ / 2, the coding mode that deflects the beam to (10°, 0°) is as follows: Figure 3 As shown.

[0075] Based on the aforementioned steps, the 3dB width of the beam formed by this antenna can be obtained as follows:

[0076] 51*λ / (48*λ / 2*cos10°)=2.16°.

[0077] Furthermore, if the target beamwidth for modulation is obtained as 3°, that is, a beam with a beamwidth of 3° is obtained, then based on the aforementioned steps, the array size of the corresponding reflective unit is obtained as 34×34.

[0078] Furthermore, by keeping the phase distribution of the 34×34 reflector array unchanged (i.e., the coding mode unchanged), and then performing phase inversion coding on the remaining reflector elements (i.e., 0° and 180° interval coding), a beamwidth of 3° can be achieved. The coding mode is as follows: Figure 4 As shown.

[0079] The above description is merely an example of a specific solution of the present invention. For any devices and structures not described in detail herein, it should be understood that they are implemented using common devices and methods already available in the art.

[0080] The above description is merely one embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention can be modified and varied in various ways. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, or improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for beamwidth control of a metamaterial phased array antenna based on inverse phase coding, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: S1. Obtain the phase distribution of the reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna when they are tuned to a preset angle; wherein: S11. Obtain the phase of any of the reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna with respect to the preset angle: wherein, including: Assuming the metamaterial phased array antenna has N × N One reflecting unit, with spherical waves incident; The direction of the spherical wave reflection is set to deflect to a preset angle. θ i , φ i ), then in the metamaterial phased array antenna, it is located at the first m Line number n The phase of the reflecting unit in the column is expressed as: in, φ m,n Indicates the first m Line number n The phase of the reflective unit of the column, k Represents the free space propagation vector. x m and y n Representing the array elements along x and y Coordinates in direction R m,n For the feed to the ( x m , y n The distance between ) reflecting units can be expressed as: in, x f Indicates that the feed source is at x The position of the axis y f Indicates that the feed source is at y Position on the axis z f This indicates the height of the feed source from the metamaterial phased array antenna; S12. Based on the encoding method of the encoded metamaterial in the metamaterial phased array antenna and the phase, obtain the phase distribution of all reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna; S2. Based on the 3dB beamwidth expression of the metamaterial phased array antenna and the target beamwidth used for adjustment, obtain the metamaterial phased array antenna array size that satisfies the target beamwidth; wherein, the 3dB beamwidth expression is expressed as: in, θ Indicates 3dB beamwidth. λ Indicates the wavelength of the incident wave. D The aperture of a metamaterial phased array antenna is represented as: D = N × P , N Indicates the number of columns or rows in the array. P Indicates the spacing between array elements; S3. Based on the phase distribution, keeping the phase distribution of the reflecting elements in the obtained metamaterial phased array antenna array unchanged, and performing inverse coding on the remaining reflecting elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna to complete the control of the target beamwidth.

2. The method for controlling the beamwidth of a metamaterial phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S2, the size of the obtained metamaterial phased array antenna array is: n × n ,and n < N ,in, n Represented as: in, θ 1 represents the target beamwidth used for modulation, and θ 1> θ .

3. The method for controlling the beamwidth of a metamaterial phased array antenna according to claim 2, characterized in that, In step S3, the step of performing inverse coding on the remaining reflective elements in the metamaterial phased array antenna involves performing inverse coding on adjacent reflective elements respectively, or performing inverse coding by forming a super-element with multiple reflective elements.

4. An electronic device, characterized in that, Includes at least one processor, at least one memory, and a data bus; The processor and the memory communicate with each other via the data bus; The memory stores program instructions that can be executed by the processor, which invokes the program instructions to execute the metamaterial phased array antenna beamwidth control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the metamaterial phased array antenna beamwidth control method as described in any one of claims 1 to 3.

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