Radiating unit

Abstract

The radiation unit (100) comprises a first radiation structure (101), and the first radiation structure (101) and the grounding layer (103) are arranged at an interval; a second radiation structure (105), wherein the second radiation structure (105) and the first radiation structure (101) are arranged at an interval; and a passive structure (107), which is arranged between the first radiation structure (101) and the second radiation structure (105) and is used for introducing a selected phase time delay into a propagation field between the first radiation structure (101) and the second radiation structure (105).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to radiating elements for antenna structures. Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to modification of phase relationships between layers of a radiating element. Background Art

[0002] To meet the needs of the next generation of mobile communications, the network needs to be upgraded. For example, traditional antenna arrays can be upgraded to take advantage of the benefits provided by multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas. In fact, massive MIMO (mMIMO), which uses a large number of antennas, provides all the benefits of traditional MIMO, but on a larger scale.

[0003] However, the upgrade of many antenna sites is hampered by the need to comply with local regulations in terms of antenna size, etc. That is, the new antenna is usually required to be of the same size as the legacy product. In addition, in order to be able to maintain the mechanical support structure, the wind load of the new antenna should be comparable to that of the old antenna. These factors lead to strict restrictions on aspects such as antenna width.

[0004] The directivity of an antenna is limited by its aperture and therefore by the width of the antenna. This effect becomes very severe when multiple arrays are placed in the same housing, such as in mMIMO. Therefore, antenna arrays placed in small reflectors usually exhibit a wide horizontal beamwidth. This can lead to bandwidth limitations as well as directivity issues of the radiated beam.

[0005] To overcome some of these drawbacks, current approaches implement the radiating elements of an antenna array in the form of a double-layer dipole, where a pair of radiating elements is arranged in a normal direction relative to the antenna reflector. Typically, the pair of radiating elements are fed to each other at the same frequency. However, the provided signal is affected by the applied phase shift, so that each radiating element is affected by a phase difference (α). The amplitude relationship between the radiating elements can be used as a degree of freedom.

[0006] Providing phase shifts in the signals provided to the radiating elements can increase the directivity of the combined antenna element, which can enable miniaturization of the antenna reflector or increase the coverage and signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) provided by the antenna system. The associated degrees of freedom (phase and amplitude distribution between radiating elements) can also be used to improve the front-to-back and cross-polarization discrimination of the combined antenna element.

[0007] As the fields propagate from the radiating elements, the phase of the radiated and incident fields on each layer can be controlled, for example by changing the relative positions of the radiating elements, resulting in constructive and destructive superposition. For the fields to add constructively, the phase (α) radiated from the first layer (closest to the ground plane) must be carefully chosen and depends on the frequency and the distance to the second layer, making it difficult to achieve in practice. In addition, the input impedances of stacked radiators vary widely, and the combination of stacked radiators produces a combined radiator that is difficult to match to a specific bandwidth and phase difference (α). This is particularly relevant when it is desired to introduce a large phase between radiators in order to maximize antenna directivity, as the impedance seen from the feed point may become more significant. Summary of the invention

[0008] The purpose of the present disclosure is to increase the impedance bandwidth for a given directivity of the combination of layers of a multilayer antenna structure.

[0009] These and other objects are achieved by the features claimed in the independent claims.

[0010] Further implementations are apparent from the dependent claims, the description and the drawings.

[0011] A first aspect of the present invention provides a radiation unit, which includes a first radiation structure, which is spaced apart from a ground layer; a second radiation structure, which is spaced apart from the first radiation structure; and a passive structure, which is arranged between the first radiation structure and the second radiation structure, and is used to introduce a selected phase delay into a propagation field between the first radiation structure and the second radiation structure.

[0012] For example, by increasing the phase difference between the layers of the radiating element, the directivity of a specific impedance bandwidth can be increased. For example, the phase difference between the first layer and the second layer can be increased by the additional phase difference introduced by the passive structure.

[0013] In an implementation of the first aspect, the passive structure may include at least one metasurface. The passive structure may include multiple stacked metasurfaces. The passive structure may include an integral material block with a high relative dielectric constant. The passive structure may include a metamaterial structure.

[0014] In one example, the radiating element further comprises at least one port for providing a feed signal to the first radiating structure and / or the second radiating structure. At least one port may be provided for receiving a phase shifted signal. A phase shifter may be provided for modifying the phase of the feed signal of at least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure. An amplifier may be provided for modifying the amplitude of the signal of at least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure. At least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure may comprise a dipole. At least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure may be dual polarized. At least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure may be a planar structure.

[0015] A second aspect of the present disclosure provides an antenna array, the antenna array comprising a plurality of radiating elements provided according to the first aspect. The plurality of radiating elements may form a massive multiple-input and multiple-output (mMIMO) antenna array.

[0016] A third aspect of the present invention provides a method for introducing a phase delay into a propagation field between a first radiating structure and a second radiating structure of a radiating unit, the method comprising providing a passive structure arranged between the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure, wherein the passive structure is selected to introduce a selected first phase delay into the propagation field.

[0017] These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from one or more of the embodiments described below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] In order to make the present invention more easily understood, embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0019] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a radiating unit according to an example;

[0020] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a passive structure according to an example;

[0021] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an antenna array according to an example;

[0022] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a method for introducing a phase delay into a propagation field between a first radiating structure and a second radiating structure of a radiating element according to an example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The exemplary embodiments are described below in sufficient detail to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to implement and practice the systems and processes described herein.It is important to understand that the embodiments may be provided in many alternative forms and should not be construed as limited to only the examples described herein.

[0024] Therefore, although the embodiments may be modified in various ways and take various alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and described in detail below as examples. It is not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed. On the contrary, all modifications, equivalents and alternatives within the scope of the appended claims should be included. In all drawings and appropriate specific embodiments, the elements of the exemplary embodiments are consistently represented by the same reference numerals.

[0025] The terms used herein to describe the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope. The articles "a" and "the" are singular forms because they have only one referent, but the use of the singular form herein should not exclude the presence of multiple referents. In other words, unless the context otherwise clearly indicates, the elements mentioned in the singular form can be one or more in number. It should be further understood that the term "comprising" used herein is used to illustrate the presence of the features, items, steps, operations, elements and / or parts, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, items, steps, operations, elements, parts and / or combinations thereof.

[0026] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in this article should be interpreted as customary usage in the art. It should also be understood that unless explicitly defined in this article, terms in common usage should also be interpreted as customary usage in the relevant art, and should not be interpreted as idealized or overly formal meanings.

[0027] According to one example, a two-layer dipole structure including a pair of radiating elements is provided. A passive structure disposed between the radiating elements adds an arbitrary phase change (β) in the propagation field from the bottom layer to the top layer of the combined dipole. The introduced phase change (β) can supplement the defined phase change (α) to increase the total phase or reduce the required amount of α. In this way, the impedance bandwidth of the specified directivity of the combination of the dipole layers is increased by utilizing the change in mutual impedance and the reduction of α. By increasing the phase difference between the layers, for example, increasing the phase difference α by an amount of β, the directivity of the specified impedance bandwidth is increased.

[0028] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a radiating unit according to an example. Figure 1In an example, the radiation unit 100 includes a first radiation structure 101 spaced apart from a ground layer 103 and a second radiation structure 105 spaced apart from the first radiation structure 101. A passive structure 107 is disposed between the first radiation structure 101 and the second radiation structure 105. In an example, the passive structure 107 is used to introduce a selected phase delay (β) into a propagation field between the first radiation structure 101 and the second radiation structure 105.

[0029] Feed lines 109 and 111 provide feed signals to the first radiation element 101 and the second radiation element 105, respectively. In an example, the feed signal 109 provided to the first radiation element 101 is an input signal 113 having a given frequency and phase. The phase shifter 115 can modify the phase of the input signal 113, thereby providing a phase-shifted signal 117 to the second radiation element 105. The phase difference between the phases of the input signal 113 and the signal 117 is α. In other words, the phase shifter 115 can introduce a phase shift α into the feed signal 111.

[0030] According to an example, the passive structure 107 introduces a phase delay β into the propagation field between the first radiating element 101 and the second radiating element 105. In the example of the figure, the phase change (β) introduced by the passive structure 107 complements the defined phase change (α) introduced by the phase shifter 115. Therefore, the total phase (α+β) will increase and the required phase amount α will decrease.

[0031] According to one example, the passive structure 107 may include a metasurface. According to one example, the metasurface may include a two-dimensional periodic scattering unit array, for example, the two-dimensional periodic scattering unit array is in the form of a conductive pattern on a surface of a dielectric substrate, etc., wherein the size and period of a single unit constituting the conductive pattern are smaller than the operating wavelength of the radiation unit. Therefore, the passive structure 107 may include a planar surface including sub-wavelength metal (or dielectric) units. In one example, the structure 107 is passive because its properties cannot be adjusted after manufacturing. The passive structure 107 changes the phase of the propagating electromagnetic field between the first radiation unit 101 and the second radiation unit 105.

[0032] According to one example, the passive structure 107 may include one or more metasurfaces. The metasurface may be used to control the spatial phase of the electric field passing through the metasurface. Therefore, the phase of the propagation field from the first radiation element 101 may be changed when the propagation field passes through the passive structure 107 without reflecting power.

[0033] exist Figure 1In some examples, at least one port 119 is provided for providing an input signal 113 to the first radiating structure 101 in the form of a feed signal 109. In some examples, the port 119 may be used to provide the input signal 113 to the second radiating structure 105. A second port 123 may be provided for providing a phase shifted signal 117 to the second radiating structure 105 in the form of a feed signal 111. In some examples, an amplifier 121 may be provided for modifying the amplitude of the input signal 113 to at least one of the first radiating structure 101 and the second radiating structure 105.

[0034] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a passive structure 107 according to an example. Figure 2 In the example of FIG. 1 , a two-layer passive structure 107 is described. Figure 2 In the example of FIG. 2 , layers 201 and 203 define a metasurface. Layers 201 and 203 include a substrate on which a unit 205 is disposed or otherwise provided. For example, unit 205 may be in the form of a metal patch, such as Figure 2 The cells 205 may be shaped or contoured in any number of different ways, and Figure 2 The examples are not intended to be limiting. Layers 201 and 203 may include a monolithic block of material with a high relative dielectric constant, such as a dielectric material. In one example, layers 201 and 203 will be as thin as possible and have as low a loss as possible. For example, layers 201 and 203 may be isolated or air-isolated using a foam material (e.g., a foam material with a very low dielectric constant).

[0035] According to an example, at least one of the first radiating structure 101 and the second radiating structure 105 comprises a dipole. At least one of the first radiating structure 101 and the second radiating structure 105 may be dual-polarized.

[0036] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an antenna array according to an example. Figure 2 In the example of FIG. 3 , the antenna array 300 includes a plurality of radiating elements 100. The radiating elements 100 are arranged in a tiled configuration, for example, as part of an mMIMO antenna array. Figure 3 Although not depicted, each radiating element 100 may be spaced apart from adjacent radiating elements of the array 300 .

[0037] Figure 44 is a schematic diagram of a method for introducing a phase delay into a propagation field between a first radiating structure and a second radiating structure of a radiating element according to an example. In block 401, a passive structure 107 is disposed between the first radiating structure 101 and the second radiating structure 105. According to an example, the passive structure 107 is selected to introduce a selected first phase delay 401 (β) into the propagation field.

[0038] The above description is provided to enable those skilled in the art to best utilize the various aspects of the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein. This exemplary description is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to any precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered illustrative and not restrictive in all aspects. When determining the scope of the present invention, reference should be made to the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A radiation unit, characterized in that: include: a first radiating structure, wherein the first radiating structure is spaced apart from the ground layer; a second radiation structure, wherein the second radiation structure is spaced apart from the first radiation structure; A passive structure is disposed between the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure, and is used to introduce a selected phase delay into a propagation field between the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure.

2. The radiation unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The passive structure includes at least one metasurface.

3. The radiation unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The passive structure includes a plurality of stacked metasurfaces.

4. The radiation unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The passive structure comprises a monolithic block of material having a high relative permittivity.

5. The radiation unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The passive structure includes a metamaterial structure.

6. The radiation unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: It also includes at least one port, wherein the at least one port is used to provide a feeding signal to the first radiating structure and / or the second radiating structure.

7. The radiation unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: Also included is at least one port for receiving a phase-shifted signal.

8. The radiation unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: The radiation unit further includes a phase shifter, which is used to modify the phase of the feeding signal of at least one of the first radiation structure and the second radiation structure.

9. The radiation unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: Also included is an amplifier for modifying the amplitude of the signal of at least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure.

10. The radiation unit according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that At least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure comprises a dipole.

11. The radiation unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that At least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure is dual-polarized.

12. The radiation unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that At least one of the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure is a planar structure.

13. An antenna array, characterized in that: Comprising a plurality of radiation units according to any one of the preceding claims.

14. The antenna array according to claim 13, characterized in that: The multiple radiating elements form a massive multiple-input and multiple-output (mMIMO) antenna array.

15. A method for introducing a phase delay into a propagation field between a first radiating structure and a second radiating structure of a radiating element, It is characterized in that The method comprises: A passive structure is provided disposed between the first radiating structure and the second radiating structure, wherein the passive structure is selected to introduce a selected first phase delay into the propagating field.

Images