Digital phased array, signal transmission method, electronic equipment and storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a digital phased array, a signal transmission method, electronic equipment and a storage medium, which are applied to the field of communication and radar, the digital phased array can be applied to a receiving link, and the digital phased array comprises a radio frequency component and a digital beam forming DBF module; the radio frequency component is used for performing frequency conversion on the multiple paths of receiving signals by using a plurality of radio frequency local oscillators to obtain multiple paths of analog intermediate frequency signals; combining the multiple paths of analog intermediate-frequency signals to obtain one path of receiving intermediate-frequency signals; the DBF module is used for performing analog-to-digital conversion on one path of received intermediate frequency signal to obtain one path of digital intermediate frequency signal; and on the basis of one path of digital intermediate frequency signal, multiple paths of digital baseband signals are obtained by utilizing the plurality of digital local oscillators corresponding to the plurality of radio frequency local oscillators respectively. And the cost of the digital phased array can be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of communication and radar technology, and in particular to a digital phased array and a signal transmission method, an electronic device and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] Digital phased arrays have the advantages of flexible beam forming and strong scalability of beam number. With the improvement of sampling rate and working bandwidth of digital-to-analog / analog-to-digital conversion chips and the improvement of processing power of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) chips, digital phased arrays have developed rapidly and are increasingly used in the fields of communications and radar.

[0003] In the related art, digital phased arrays generally transmit signals through antennas, receiving components (or transmitting components), digital-to-analog conversion units, and digital beamforming units, wherein the transmitting components are used in the process of transmitting signals, and the receiving components are used in the process of receiving signals. Taking the process of receiving signals as an example, the antenna converts the electromagnetic waves received in the free space into high-frequency currents; the receiving component completes the amplification, filtering, and frequency conversion of the electrical signals received by the antenna to obtain analog intermediate frequency signals; the digital-to-analog conversion unit converts the analog intermediate frequency signals into digital signals; the digital beamforming unit completes the digital filtering of the signals and then multiplies the signals of each channel with the weighted values ​​corresponding to a certain beam and then outputs them together to obtain the received signals of the corresponding beams. The element-level digital phased array requires the ability to control the amplitude and phase of the received signals of each antenna unit. For example, for a receiving array with N elements, N analog-to-digital conversion channels are required. For large-scale arrays, a large number of analog-to-digital conversion channels are required, which will result in a high cost for digital phased arrays. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a digital phased array and a signal transmission method, an electronic device and a storage medium to reduce the cost of the digital phased array. The specific technical solution is as follows:

[0005] In a first aspect, a digital phased array is provided, which is applied to a receiving link, comprising: a radio frequency component and a digital beamforming DBF module;

[0006] The radio frequency component is used to use multiple radio frequency local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple received signals to obtain multiple analog intermediate frequency signals; and combine the multiple analog intermediate frequency signals to obtain one received intermediate frequency signal;

[0007] The DBF module is used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on the received intermediate frequency signal to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal; based on the digital intermediate frequency signal, multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to the multiple radio frequency local oscillators are used to obtain multiple digital baseband signals.

[0008] Optionally, the digital phased array further includes: a first frequency synthesis module, configured to generate multiple radio frequency local oscillators.

[0009] Optionally, the radio frequency component includes a plurality of;

[0010] The DBF module includes multiple analog-to-digital conversion channels, one of which is used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on the received intermediate frequency signal sent by a radio frequency component to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal; the number of analog-to-digital conversion channels included in the DBF module is the same as the number of the radio frequency components.

[0011] Optionally, the digital phased array further comprises: an antenna array, wherein the antenna array comprises a plurality of array elements;

[0012] The antenna array is used to receive radio frequency signals through the multiple array elements;

[0013] Each RF component is specifically used to perform frequency conversion on a first preset number of RF signals among the RF signals received by the multiple array elements to obtain a first preset number of analog intermediate frequency signals; and combine the first preset number of analog intermediate frequency signals to obtain a received intermediate frequency signal; wherein the product of the first preset number and the number of the RF components is the number of the multiple array elements included in the antenna array;

[0014] The DBF module is specifically used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on the one-way received intermediate frequency signal of each radio frequency component to obtain one-way digital intermediate frequency signal.

[0015] Optionally, the digital phased array further comprises: a calibration antenna; the DBF module further comprises a calibration unit;

[0016] The calibration antenna is used to transmit a radio frequency signal, wherein the radio frequency signal is obtained by converting a NOC point frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA; the radio frequency signal is received by the receiving channel to be tested and converted into a first digital signal;

[0017] The calibration unit is used to convert another NOC frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA into a second digital signal;

[0018] The FPGA is further used to calibrate the received signal according to the first digital signal and the second digital signal.

[0019] In a second aspect, a digital phased array signal transmission method is provided, which is applied to a receiving link, and the method comprises:

[0020] Receive a receiving intermediate frequency signal, wherein the receiving intermediate frequency signal is obtained by combining multiple analog intermediate frequency signals, and the multiple analog intermediate frequency signals are obtained by frequency converting multiple receiving signals using multiple radio frequency local oscillators;

[0021] Performing analog-to-digital conversion on the received intermediate frequency signal to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal;

[0022] Based on the one-channel digital intermediate frequency signal, multiple channels of digital baseband signals are obtained by utilizing multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to the multiple radio frequency local oscillators.

[0023] In a third aspect, a digital phased array signal transmission method is provided, which is applied to a receiving link, and the method comprises:

[0024] Using multiple RF local oscillators to convert the frequency of multiple received signals to obtain multiple analog intermediate frequency signals;

[0025] The multiple analog intermediate frequency signals are combined to obtain a received intermediate frequency signal, and the received intermediate frequency signal is used to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal through analog-to-digital conversion, so as to obtain multiple digital baseband signals based on the digital intermediate frequency signal and using multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to the multiple radio frequency local oscillators.

[0026] In a fourth aspect, a digital phased array is provided, which is applied to a transmit link, comprising: a radio frequency component and a digital beamforming DBF module;

[0027] The DBF module is used to use multiple digital local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple transmission signals to obtain multiple digital intermediate frequency signals; combine the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal, and perform digital-to-analog conversion on the one digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal;

[0028] The radio frequency component is used to obtain multiple radio frequency signals based on the one transmitted intermediate frequency signal and using multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to the multiple digital local oscillators.

[0029] Optionally, the digital phased array further includes: a second frequency synthesis module, used to generate multiple digital local oscillators.

[0030] Optionally, the radio frequency component includes a plurality of;

[0031] The DBF module includes multiple digital-to-analog conversion channels, one of which is used to perform digital-to-analog conversion on the digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain an analog intermediate frequency signal; the number of digital-to-analog conversion channels included in the DBF module is the same as the number of the RF components.

[0032] Optionally, the digital phased array further comprises: an antenna array, wherein the antenna array comprises a plurality of array elements;

[0033] The DBF module is used to perform frequency conversion on a second preset number of transmission signals respectively to obtain a second preset number of digital intermediate frequency signals; and to combine the second preset number of digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal; the product of the second preset number and the number of the RF components is the number of multiple array elements included in the antenna array.

[0034] Optionally, the digital phased array further comprises: a calibration antenna; the DBF module further comprises a calibration unit;

[0035] The calibration antenna is used to receive a radio frequency signal, where the radio frequency signal is obtained by converting a NOC point frequency digital signal generated by FPGA using the transmission channel to be tested;

[0036] The calibration unit is used to convert a radio frequency signal received by the calibration antenna into a first digital signal; and convert another NOC point frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA into a second digital signal;

[0037] The FPGA is further used to calibrate the transmission signal according to the first digital signal and the second digital signal.

[0038] In a fifth aspect, a digital phased array signal transmission method is provided, which is applied to a transmission link, and the method comprises:

[0039] Using multiple digital local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple transmission signals to obtain multiple digital intermediate frequency signals;

[0040] Combining the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal;

[0041] Perform digital-to-analog conversion on the digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a transmission intermediate frequency signal.

[0042] In a sixth aspect, a digital phased array signal transmission method is provided, which is applied to a transmission link, and the method comprises:

[0043] Receive a transmission intermediate frequency signal; the transmission intermediate frequency signal is obtained by performing digital-to-analog conversion on a digital intermediate frequency signal, the digital intermediate frequency signal is obtained by combining multiple digital intermediate frequency signals, and the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals are obtained by frequency conversion of multiple transmission signals using multiple digital local oscillators;

[0044] Based on the one transmitted intermediate frequency signal, multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to the multiple digital local oscillators are used to obtain multiple radio frequency signals.

[0045] The present invention also provides an electronic device including a processor, a communication interface, a memory and a communication bus, wherein the processor, the communication interface and the memory communicate with each other via the communication bus;

[0046] Memory, used to store computer programs;

[0047] The processor is used to implement the method steps described in any one of the second aspect, the third aspect, the fifth aspect and the sixth aspect when executing the program stored in the memory.

[0048] The present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method steps described in any one of the second aspect, the third aspect, the fifth aspect and the sixth aspect are implemented.

[0049] An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute any of the above-mentioned digital phased array signal transmission methods.

[0050] Beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present invention:

[0051] In the embodiment of the present invention, multiple received signals are converted into one received intermediate frequency signal. One digital intermediate frequency signal can be obtained by performing analog-to-digital conversion on the one received intermediate frequency signal. Based on the one digital intermediate frequency signal, multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to multiple radio frequency local oscillators are used to obtain multiple digital baseband signals, so that the received signals can be restored at a low frequency. In the process of receiving signals, only one analog-to-digital conversion is required for the multiple received signals, so that the cost of the digital phased array can be reduced.

[0052] In an embodiment of the present invention, multiple transmission signals are converted into one digital intermediate frequency signal, and one digital intermediate frequency signal can be converted from digital to analog to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal. Based on one transmission intermediate frequency signal, multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to multiple digital local oscillators are used to obtain multiple radio frequency signals. In the process of transmitting signals, only one digital-to-analog conversion is required for the multiple transmission signals, thereby reducing the cost of the digital phased array.

[0053] Of course, it is not necessary to achieve all of the advantages described above at the same time to implement any product or method of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0054] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other embodiments can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0055] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of a digital phased array applied to a receiving link provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0056] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a digital phased array applied to a transmission link provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0057] Figure 3 A block diagram of the composition of a digital phased array provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0058] Figure 4 for Figure 3 Block diagram of the RF components in the figure;

[0059] Figure 5 It is a block diagram of a DBF module in a transmission link according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0060] Figure 6 A block diagram of a DBF module in a receiving link according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0061] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of transmission link calibration in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0062] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of receiving link calibration in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0063] Fig. 9 A flow chart of a signal transmission method for a digital phased array applied to a receiving link provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0064] Fig.10 Another flow chart of a signal transmission method of a digital phased array applied to a receiving link provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0065] Fig.11 A flow chart of a signal transmission method for a digital phased array applied to a transmission link provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0066] Fig.12 Another flow chart of a signal transmission method of a digital phased array applied to a transmission link provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0067] Fig.13 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0068] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field based on this application belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0069] Phased array antennas can achieve agile deflection of beam pointing by controlling the phase of array elements; by using multiple groups of beamforming networks, each group of beamforming networks corresponds to a group of amplitude and phase weighting values, multiple beams can be independently deflected and agile, which is called a multi-beam phased array antenna. The beamforming network can be implemented using digitally controlled phase shifters, attenuators and multi-channel power division networks. The phased array using this method is called an analog multi-beam phased array; the beamforming network can also be converted to digital and perform multiple groups of amplitude and phase weighting processing in the digital domain. The phased array using this method is called a digital phased array.

[0070] The digital phased array provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to technical fields such as wireless communications and radar.

[0071] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of a digital phased array applied to a receiving link provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 1 As shown, it includes: a radio frequency component 101 and a digital beamforming DBF module 102;

[0072] The RF component 101 is used to convert the frequency of multiple received signals using multiple RF local oscillators to obtain multiple analog intermediate frequency signals; combine the multiple analog intermediate frequency signals to obtain one received intermediate frequency signal; and send the one received intermediate frequency signal to the DBF module 102;

[0073] The DBF module 102 is used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on one received intermediate frequency signal to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal; based on one digital intermediate frequency signal, multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to multiple radio frequency local oscillators are used to obtain multiple digital baseband signals.

[0074] Among them, the receiving link can also be understood as the process of receiving signals, and the digital phased array applied to the receiving link can be understood as the digital phased array in the process of receiving signals.

[0075] The frequency of the radio frequency signal involved in the embodiment of the present invention is higher than the frequency of the intermediate frequency signal, and the frequency of the intermediate frequency signal is higher than the frequency of the baseband signal.

[0076] For each received signal, the frequency of the received signal minus the corresponding RF local oscillator equals the frequency of the analog intermediate frequency signal. The frequencies of one received intermediate frequency signal and one digital intermediate frequency signal are the same as the analog intermediate frequency signal. The frequency of the digital intermediate frequency signal minus the digital local oscillator can be obtained.

[0077] In the receiving link, multiple antenna array elements receive multiple receiving signals. Usually, the multiple receiving signals are multiple RF signals. The frequencies of the multiple RF signals received by the multiple antenna array elements are the same. After the multiple RF signals are frequency-converted, the frequencies of the multiple digital baseband signals finally obtained are also the same. For each signal, there is a corresponding relationship between the RF local oscillator and the digital local oscillator. The RF local oscillator and the digital local oscillator can be selected according to actual needs or experience to ensure that the frequencies of the multiple digital baseband signals finally obtained by processing the multiple receiving signals with the same frequency are the same.

[0078] The following is an example of how to select the RF local oscillator and digital local oscillator in the receiving link:

[0079] When the frequency of the selected RF local oscillator is less than the frequency of the RF signal, for each RF signal (i.e., the received signal), the sum of the frequency value of the RF local oscillator and the frequency value of the digital local oscillator is a constant. For example, there are a total of 3 RF signals with a frequency of 1.5 GHz. In one implementable manner, the sum of the frequency value of the RF local oscillator and the frequency value of the digital local oscillator is 1.4 GHz. When the selected 3 RF local oscillators are 1 GHz, 1.1 GHz, and 1.2 GHz, respectively, the digital local oscillators corresponding to these 3 RF local oscillators are 0.4 GHz, 0.3 GHz, and 0.2 GHz, respectively, and the frequencies of the 3 digital baseband signals obtained in this way are 0.1 GHz. In another implementable manner, the sum of the frequency value of the RF local oscillator and the frequency value of the digital local oscillator is 1.6 GHz. When the selected 3 RF local oscillators are 1 GHz, 1.1 GHz, and 1.2 GHz, respectively, the digital local oscillators corresponding to these 3 RF local oscillators are 0.6 GHz, 0.5 GHz, and 0.4 GHz, respectively, and the frequencies of the 3 digital baseband signals obtained in this way are 0.1 GHz.

[0080] When the frequency of the selected RF local oscillator is greater than the frequency of the RF signal, for each signal, the difference between the frequency value of the RF local oscillator and the frequency value of the digital local oscillator is a constant. For example, there are a total of 3 RF signals with a frequency of 1.5 GHz. In one implementable manner, the difference between the frequency value of the RF local oscillator and the frequency value of the digital local oscillator is 1.4 GHz. When the selected 3 RF local oscillators are 2 GHz, 1.9 GHz, and 1.8 GHz, respectively, the digital local oscillators corresponding to these 3 RF local oscillators are 0.6 GHz, 0.5 GHz, and 0.4 GHz, respectively. The frequency of the 3 digital baseband signals obtained in this way is 0.1 GHz. In another implementable manner, the difference between the frequency value of the RF local oscillator and the frequency value of the digital local oscillator is 1.6 GHz. When the selected 3 RF local oscillators are 2 GHz, 1.9 GHz, and 1.8 GHz, respectively, the digital local oscillators corresponding to these 3 RF local oscillators are 0.4 GHz, 0.3 GHz, and 0.2 GHz, respectively. The frequency of the 3 digital baseband signals obtained in this way is 0.1 GHz.

[0081] In one possible implementation, there is a correspondence between the multiple RF local oscillators and the multiple digital local oscillators, which can be generated in advance. When the RF local oscillators and digital local oscillators are used, the correspondence can be searched to obtain the digital local oscillator corresponding to each RF local oscillator.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present invention, the DBF module 102 may include an FPGA processing unit and an analog-to-digital conversion channel. The FPGA processing unit performs an operation of obtaining multiple digital baseband signals based on one digital intermediate frequency signal using multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to multiple radio frequency local oscillators. The analog-to-digital conversion channel performs analog-to-digital conversion on one received intermediate frequency signal to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal.

[0083] The analog-to-digital conversion channel can be implemented by an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) chip. For example, an analog-to-digital conversion chip can have one or more analog-to-digital conversion channels.

[0084] In the embodiment of the present invention, multiple received signals are converted into one received intermediate frequency signal. One digital intermediate frequency signal can be obtained by performing analog-to-digital conversion on the one received intermediate frequency signal. Based on the one digital intermediate frequency signal, multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to multiple radio frequency local oscillators are used to obtain multiple digital baseband signals, so that the received signals can be restored at a low frequency. In the process of receiving signals, only one analog-to-digital conversion channel is required for the multiple received signals, thereby reducing the cost of the digital phased array.

[0085] In an optional embodiment, the digital phased array further includes: a first frequency synthesis module, configured to generate a plurality of radio frequency local oscillators.

[0086] In an optional embodiment, the radio frequency component includes a plurality of;

[0087] The DBF module includes multiple analog-to-digital conversion channels, one analog-to-digital conversion channel is used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on a received intermediate frequency signal sent by a radio frequency component to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal; the number of analog-to-digital conversion channels included in the DBF module is the same as the number of radio frequency components.

[0088] For example, if there are Q RF components, the DBF module includes Q analog-to-digital conversion channels.

[0089] It can be understood that the embodiments of the present invention use modular RF components, and each RF component can use multiple RF local oscillators to convert the frequency of multiple received signals to obtain multiple analog intermediate frequency signals; combine the multiple analog intermediate frequency signals to obtain one received intermediate frequency signal. Multiple RF components obtain multiple received intermediate frequency signals.

[0090] In an optional embodiment, the digital phased array further includes: an antenna array, the antenna array including a plurality of array elements;

[0091] An antenna array, for receiving radio frequency signals through a plurality of array elements;

[0092] Each RF component is specifically used to perform frequency conversion on a first preset number of RF signals among the RF signals received by the multiple array elements to obtain a first preset number of analog intermediate frequency signals; and combine the first preset number of analog intermediate frequency signals to obtain a received intermediate frequency signal; wherein the product of the first preset number and the number of RF components is the number of the multiple array elements included in the antenna array;

[0093] The DBF module is specifically used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on one channel of received intermediate frequency signal of each radio frequency component to obtain one channel of digital intermediate frequency signal.

[0094] If the number of array elements is N, there are Q TR components, that is, Q = N / P.

[0095] In an embodiment of the present invention, the digital phased array includes Q RF components, and N array elements receive RF signals, that is, receive N receive signals. The N receive signals are divided into Q groups, one RF component corresponds to one group, and each group contains P receive signals, where P is the first preset number in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0096] Each RF component uses P RF local oscillators to convert the frequency of P received signals to obtain P analog intermediate frequency signals; the P signals are combined to obtain one received intermediate frequency signal, that is, each RF component can obtain one received intermediate frequency signal to obtain Q received intermediate frequency signals.

[0097] The DBF module performs analog-to-digital conversion on Q received intermediate frequency signals respectively, and obtains one data intermediate frequency signal for each received intermediate frequency signal, thus obtaining Q digital intermediate frequency signals; and for each digital intermediate frequency signal, using the P digital local oscillators corresponding to the above-mentioned P RF local oscillators, obtain P digital baseband signals corresponding to the digital intermediate frequency signal, and the Q digital intermediate frequency signals obtain corresponding P×Q=N digital baseband signals, that is, N digital baseband signals corresponding to N received signals, which can be understood as recovering the received signals.

[0098] In the embodiment of the present invention, the bandwidth of the ADC chip can be fully utilized. Through a group of multiple different RF local oscillator frequencies and digital local oscillator frequencies, the signals received by multiple antennas are converted to different analog intermediate frequency frequencies and combined, and then converted into digital signals by the ADC chip. The corresponding digital local oscillator frequency is then used to restore the received signal of each antenna.

[0099] Compared with the related art that requires N ADC channels for N received signals received by N array elements, the embodiments of the present invention only require Q ADC channels for N received signals received by N array elements, where Q=N / P, which is significantly smaller than N. That is, it can be understood that the embodiments of the present invention can reduce the number of ADC channels in the digital phased array during the signal reception process, thereby reducing the cost of the digital phased array. The digital phased array in the embodiments of the present invention has both the scanning accuracy and flexibility of the element-level digital beam phased array and the advantages of low cost and low power consumption of the sub-array-level digital beam phased array.

[0100] In addition, for large-scale arrays, the relevant technology needs to use a large number of ADC channels, which not only increases the cost, but also significantly increases the power consumption. In addition, for L and S band arrays, because the wavelength is longer than the millimeter wave band, the physical size of the L and S band arrays is also larger under the same number of array elements. Therefore, the receiving components and the digital-to-analog conversion units are often connected by cables. When the array scale increases, the weight of a large number of RF cables cannot be ignored. For application scenarios that have high requirements for the weight, power consumption, and cost of phased arrays, the digital phased arrays of traditional architectures cannot meet the requirements. The digital phased arrays provided by the embodiments of the present invention can not only reduce costs, but also reduce power consumption, and also reduce the physical size of the array, as well as the number of RF cables.

[0101] An embodiment of the present invention also provides a digital phased array applied to a transmission link.

[0102] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a digital phased array applied to a transmission link provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 2 As shown, it includes: a radio frequency component 101 and a DBF module 102;

[0103] The DBF module 102 is used to use multiple digital local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple transmission signals to obtain multiple digital intermediate frequency signals; combine the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal, and perform digital-to-analog conversion on one digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal; and the transmission intermediate frequency signal can be sent to the radio frequency component;

[0104] The radio frequency component 101 is used to obtain multiple radio frequency signals based on a transmitting intermediate frequency signal and using multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to multiple digital local oscillators.

[0105] The multi-channel transmission signal here can be understood as a multi-channel transmission baseband signal, and the multi-channel radio frequency signal can be understood as a transmission radio frequency signal. The transmission intermediate frequency signal can also be called an analog intermediate frequency signal.

[0106] In the transmission link, the transmission signal can also be understood as a digital baseband signal. The frequencies of multiple digital baseband signals are the same, and the frequencies of multiple RF signals obtained by frequency conversion of multiple digital baseband signals are also the same. For each signal, there is a corresponding relationship between the digital local oscillator and the RF local oscillator. The RF local oscillator and the digital local oscillator can be selected according to actual needs or experience to ensure that the frequencies of multiple RF signals obtained by processing multiple transmission signals with the same frequency are the same.

[0107] For each digital baseband signal (that is, the above-mentioned transmitting signal), the frequency of the digital baseband signal plus the digital local oscillator is equal to the frequency of the above-mentioned digital intermediate frequency signal, and the above-mentioned transmitting intermediate frequency signal (that is, the analog intermediate frequency signal) is the same as the frequency of the digital intermediate frequency signal. The frequency of the transmitting intermediate frequency signal plus the RF local oscillator is the sum of the frequency of the transmitting RF signal.

[0108] The following is an example of the selection of digital local oscillator and RF local oscillator in the transmission link:

[0109] When the frequency of the selected digital local oscillator is greater than the frequency of the digital baseband signal, for each signal, the sum of the frequency value of the digital local oscillator and the frequency value of the radio frequency local oscillator is a constant. For example, a total of 3 digital baseband signals with a frequency of 0.1 GHz are used. In one implementable manner, the sum of the frequency value of the digital local oscillator and the frequency value of the radio frequency local oscillator is 1.9 GHz. When the selected 3 digital local oscillators are 0.5 GHz, 0.4 GHz, and 0.3 GHz, respectively, the radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to these 3 digital local oscillators are 1.4 GHz, 1.5 GHz, and 1.6 GHz, respectively, and the frequencies of the 3 radio frequency signals obtained in this way are 2 GHz. In another implementable manner, the sum of the frequency value of the digital local oscillator and the frequency value of the radio frequency local oscillator is 2.1 GHz. When the selected 3 digital local oscillators are 0.6 GHz, 0.5 GHz, and 0.4 GHz, respectively, the radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to these 3 digital local oscillators are 1.5 GHz, 1.6 GHz, and 1.7 GHz, respectively, and the frequencies of the 3 radio frequency signals obtained in this way are 2 GHz.

[0110] In the embodiment of the present invention, the DBF module 102 may include an FPGA processing unit and a digital-to-analog conversion channel. The FPGA processing unit uses multiple digital local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple transmission signals to obtain multiple digital intermediate frequency signals; combines the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal; and the digital-to-analog conversion channel performs digital-to-analog conversion on one digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal.

[0111] Among them, the transmission link can also be understood as the process of transmitting signals, and the digital phased array used in the transmission link can be understood as the digital phased array in the process of transmitting signals.

[0112] In an embodiment of the present invention, multiple transmission signals are converted into one digital intermediate frequency signal, and one digital intermediate frequency signal can be converted from digital to analog to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal. Based on the one transmission intermediate frequency signal, multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to multiple digital local oscillators are used to obtain multiple radio frequency signals. In the process of transmitting signals, only one digital-to-analog conversion channel is required for the multiple transmission signals, thereby reducing the cost of the digital phased array.

[0113] In an optional embodiment, the digital phased array may further include: a second frequency synthesizer module, used to generate multiple digital local oscillators.

[0114] The second frequency synthesis module may be another frequency synthesis module independent of the first frequency synthesis module, or the first frequency synthesis module and the second frequency synthesis module may be modules in the same frequency synthesis module.

[0115] In an optional embodiment, the radio frequency component includes a plurality of;

[0116] The DBF module includes multiple digital-to-analog conversion channels, one of which is used to perform digital-to-analog conversion on a digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain an analog intermediate frequency signal; the number of digital-to-analog conversion channels included in the DBF module is the same as the number of RF components.

[0117] For example, if there are Q RF components, the DBF module includes Q digital-to-analog conversion channels.

[0118] It can be understood that a modular RF component is adopted in the embodiment of the present invention. One digital-to-analog conversion channel included in the DBF module corresponds to one RF component. Each digital-to-analog conversion channel uses multiple digital local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple transmission signals to obtain multiple digital intermediate frequency signals. Each digital-to-analog conversion channel combines the obtained multiple digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal. Multiple digital-to-analog conversion channels obtain a corresponding number of digital intermediate frequency signals. One digital-to-analog conversion channel performs digital-to-analog conversion on the obtained digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal. Based on the one transmission intermediate frequency signal, one RF component uses multiple RF local oscillators corresponding to multiple digital local oscillators to obtain multiple RF signals corresponding to the one transmission intermediate frequency signal.

[0119] The digital-to-analog conversion channel may be located on a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) chip. The digital-to-analog conversion channel may be implemented by a (Digital-to-Analog Converter, DAC) chip, such as a digital-to-analog conversion chip may have one or more digital-to-analog conversion channels.

[0120] In an optional embodiment, the digital phased array further includes: an antenna array, the antenna array including a plurality of array elements;

[0121] The DBF module is used to perform frequency conversion on a second preset number of transmission signals respectively to obtain a second preset number of digital intermediate frequency signals; and to combine the second preset number of digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal; the product of the second preset number and the number of radio frequency components is the number of multiple array elements included in the antenna array.

[0122] If the number of array elements is N, there are Q TR components, that is, Q = N / P.

[0123] In an embodiment of the present invention, a digital phased array includes Q RF components. When N transmission signals are transmitted through N array elements, the N transmission signals can be divided into Q groups, one RF component corresponds to one group, and each group includes P transmission signals, where P is the second preset number in the embodiment of the present invention. The value of the second preset number can be the same as or different from the value of the first preset number.

[0124] For each group of P transmission signals, the DBF module performs frequency conversion on the P transmission signals to obtain P digital intermediate frequency signals; and combines the P digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal, thus obtaining Q digital intermediate frequency signals. Perform digital-to-analog conversion on each digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal corresponding to the digital intermediate frequency signal, thus obtaining Q transmission intermediate frequency signals.

[0125] Each of the Q transmitting components processes a transmitted intermediate frequency signal, and uses multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to multiple digital local oscillators to obtain P radio frequency signals corresponding to the transmitted intermediate frequency signal. In this way, the Q group of transmitting components obtains Q×P=N radio frequency signals, which are transmitted through N array elements.

[0126] In the embodiment of the present invention, the bandwidth of the DAC chip can be fully utilized. Through a set of multiple different digital local oscillator frequencies and RF local oscillator frequencies, the baseband signals to be transmitted by multiple antennas are converted to different digital intermediate frequency frequencies and combined. Then, the DAC chip converts them into analog signals, that is, analog intermediate frequency signals. Then, the corresponding RF local oscillator frequencies are used to obtain multi-channel RF signals corresponding to the multiple transmission signals, which can also be understood as restoring the transmission signals of each antenna.

[0127] Compared with the related art that requires N DAC channels for N transmit signals, the embodiment of the present invention only requires Q DAC channels for N transmit signals, Q=N / P, which is significantly smaller than N. That is, it can be understood that the embodiment of the present invention can reduce the number of DAC channels in the digital phased array during the transmission process, thereby reducing the cost of the digital phased array. The digital phased array in the embodiment of the present invention has both the scanning accuracy and flexibility of the element-level digital beam phased array and the advantages of low cost and low power consumption of the sub-array-level digital beam phased array.

[0128] In addition, for large-scale arrays, the relevant technology requires the use of a large number of DAC channels, which not only increases costs but also significantly increases power consumption. In addition, for L and S band arrays, because the wavelength is longer than the millimeter wave band, the physical size of the L and S band arrays is also larger under the same number of array elements. Therefore, cables are often used to connect the transmitting components and the digital-to-analog conversion units. When the array scale increases, the weight of a large number of RF cables cannot be ignored. For application scenarios that have high requirements for the weight, power consumption, and cost of phased arrays, the digital phased arrays of traditional architectures cannot meet the requirements. The digital phased arrays provided by the embodiments of the present invention can not only reduce costs, but also reduce power consumption, and also reduce the physical size of the array, as well as the number of RF cables.

[0129] In a specific embodiment, a new digital phased array architecture is provided to reduce the number of digital-to-analog conversion channels or analog-to-digital conversion channels used, thereby reducing costs, while also reducing power consumption and weight.

[0130] Figure 3 A block diagram of a digital phased array according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 3 As shown, the hardware of the digital phased array provided in the embodiment of the present invention includes: an antenna array, a radio frequency component (including a duplexer), a frequency synthesizer module, a power module, and a digital beamforming (DBF) module.

[0131] The antenna array is used to transmit radio frequency signals and / or receive radio frequency signals.

[0132] RF components can down-convert RF signals into intermediate frequency signals; RF components have functions such as amplification, filtering, and mixing.

[0133] The frequency synthesis module can generate RF local oscillators, for example, a transmit local oscillator is generated during transmission and a receive local oscillator is generated during reception.

[0134] Power module, used to power the digital phased array.

[0135] The DBF module transmits intermediate frequency signals and / or receives intermediate frequency signals, and may specifically include digital-to-analog conversion channels and / or analog-to-digital conversion channels, DBF beamforming, clock and synchronization management, etc.

[0136] The element-level digital phased array requires amplitude and phase control of each receiving or transmitting channel to improve beam pointing accuracy and reduce beam jump. The traditional method is to perform ADC conversion on each receiving channel or DAC conversion on each transmitting channel to achieve element-level control of the transceiver channel. This method requires the same number of ADC or DAC conversion channels as the number of array elements, so for large-scale arrays, power consumption and cost are high.

[0137] In the transmission link of the embodiment of the present invention, digital intermediate frequency signals with different frequencies in P paths are first combined and then converted into analog intermediate frequencies through a DAC channel. Then, the signals with P frequencies are filtered out through an intermediate frequency bandpass filter, and then the intermediate frequency signals with different frequencies in the P paths are converted to the same radio frequency through the corresponding transmission local oscillator.

[0138] In the receiving link of the embodiment of the present invention, the same radio frequency is converted to different intermediate frequencies through P receiving local oscillators of different frequencies, and then the P analog intermediate frequencies are combined, and a digital intermediate frequency signal is obtained after ADC channel conversion, and then converted to zero intermediate frequency through different NOC frequencies to obtain P receiving signals.

[0139] Compared with the traditional method, the method of the embodiment of the present invention requires only 1 / P of the number of DAC channels or ADC channels of the traditional method. Therefore, compared with the traditional method, the power consumption is lower and the device cost is also reduced. At the same time, since the number of cables between the RF front end and the digital-to-analog conversion module is reduced, the weight is also lighter than the traditional method.

[0140] Figure 4 for Figure 3 For a block diagram of the RF components in Figure 4 , for detailed description of RF components:

[0141] Unlike the traditional digital phased array, the embodiment of the present invention adopts modular RF components, each RF component (TR component) contains P transmission channels and P receiving channels, and is connected to P antenna units through P duplexers. The frequency synthesis module can generate P different transmission local oscillators and P different reception local oscillators. Specifically, in the process of transmitting signals, that is, when applied to the transmission link, the frequency synthesis module generates P different RF local oscillators. In this case, the RF local oscillator is called the transmission local oscillator; in the process of receiving signals, that is, when applied to the reception link, the frequency synthesis module generates P different RF local oscillators. In this case, the RF local oscillator is called the reception local oscillator.

[0142] P transmit local oscillators, which up-convert P transmit analog intermediate frequency signals of different frequency bands into RF signals of the same frequency through different transmit local oscillators inside the TR component;

[0143] P receiving local oscillators are connected to a TR component, and P receiving RF signals of the same frequency band are down-converted into P receiving intermediate frequency signals of different frequencies through different receiving local oscillators.

[0144] If the number of array elements is N, there are Q TR components, that is, Q = N / P.

[0145] For the receiving link, that is, during the signal receiving process, the TR component also includes a synthesis circuit. Each TR component will use P different local oscillator frequencies (where i = 1, 2, ..., P, R x Indicates receiving) down-conversion to obtain different receiving intermediate frequencies of P channels (where i = 1, 2, ..., P, R x The combined circuit is also called a combiner.

[0146] That is, for N antenna array elements: antenna 1 ... antenna P ... antenna N, for each P received signals among the N received signals received, P RF local oscillators are used to perform frequency conversion on the P received signals to obtain P analog intermediate frequency signals; the P analog intermediate frequency signals are combined to obtain one received intermediate frequency signal. For example, TR component 1 uses P RF local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on the P received signals from antenna 1 to antenna P to obtain P analog intermediate frequency signals; the P analog intermediate frequency signals are combined to obtain the first received intermediate frequency signal, ..., TR component Q uses P RF local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on the P received signals from antenna N-P+1 to antenna N to obtain P analog intermediate frequency signals; the P analog intermediate frequency signals are combined to obtain the Qth received intermediate frequency signal.

[0147] For the transmission link, that is, during the transmission process, the TR component also includes a power splitter and a filter circuit to split the analog intermediate frequency signal input by the DBF module (one transmission intermediate frequency signal) into P paths, such as through a splitter to perform power division, and then filter out through a bandpass filter respectively. (where i = 1, 2, ..., P, T x Represents the intermediate frequency signal of the transmission), and then uses P different local oscillator frequencies (where i = 1, 2, ..., P, T x represents transmission) is up-converted to obtain a transmission signal with the same frequency as the P-channel, that is, the P-channel RF signal.

[0148] The following is a specific implementation example of the selection of the transmission intermediate frequency and local oscillator signal frequency. For example, if the transmission RF signal is 1.5GHz, is 50MHz, then the transmitting local oscillator 1.45GHz can be selected; if transmitting intermediate frequency signal is 80MHz, then the transmitting local oscillator The optional value is 1.42 GHz. In this way, the RF frequency output by each transmission channel can be the same. In the above example, the transmission frequency, that is, the frequency of the transmitted RF signal, is 1.5 GHz.

[0149] The frequency selection for receiving intermediate frequency and local oscillator signals is similar to that for transmitting.

[0150] The embodiment of the present invention provides a novel digital phased array architecture, which adopts modular TR components. During the transmission process, a group of P local oscillator frequencies are used to convert an input 1-channel intermediate frequency signal containing multiple frequencies into P radio frequency signals with the same frequency; during the reception process, a group of P local oscillator frequencies are used to convert the input P-channel radio frequency signals into P intermediate frequency signals with different frequencies and then combine them into 1 output.

[0151] Below Figure 3 The DBF module is described in detail in the

[0152] The DBF module is mainly composed of an FPGA processing unit, a digital-to-analog conversion channel, a clock and synchronization management unit, and a calibration unit.

[0153] The FPGA processing unit mainly completes the digital beamforming;

[0154] The digital-to-analog conversion channel / analog-to-digital conversion channel realizes the conversion between digital intermediate frequency signals and analog intermediate frequency signals;

[0155] The clock and synchronization management unit completes the distribution and management of system clock signals and sampling synchronization signals;

[0156] The calibration unit completes the amplitude and phase calibration of each signal.

[0157] Unlike traditional digital phased arrays, the FPGA processing unit inside the DBF module performs operations similar to those of the TR component, i.e., the Q-channel receiving intermediate frequency signals from the TR component are converted into digital intermediate frequency signals after analog-to-digital conversion, and digital down-converted through P different NOC frequencies (digital oscillation frequencies) to obtain Q×P=N-channel zero intermediate frequency receiving baseband signals, which can also be understood as the above-mentioned digital baseband signals; or the N-channel transmitting baseband signals are digitally up-converted through P different NOC frequencies, combined and converted into N / P=Q-channel analog intermediate frequency signals through the DAC channel, which are output to the TR component as the transmitting signal, i.e. the transmitting intermediate frequency signal.

[0158] In the embodiment of the present invention, the digital phased array adopts a superheterodyne architecture; the RF channel adopts a modular TR component. Each TR component includes P transmitting channels and P receiving channels. If the number of antenna units (array elements) is N and the number of modular TR components is Q, then N = P × Q.

[0159] Figure 5: is a block diagram of the DBF module in the transmission link. During the transmission process, the DBF module implements the amplitude and phase weighting of the beamforming process (implemented by the weight generation unit), and up-converts N transmission baseband signals (transmission signal 1...transmission signal P...transmission signal N-P+1...transmission signal N) through P different NOC digital local oscillator frequencies (NOC_1...NOC_P) and then combines them into N / P=Q signals. The N transmission baseband signals undergo N-way digital up-conversion (digital up-conversion 1...digital up-conversion P...digital up-conversion N -P+1...digital up-conversion N), N-channel transmitting baseband signals are divided into Q groups, each group adopts P different NOC digital local oscillator frequencies (NOC_1...NOC_P) for up-conversion, and each group is combined after up-conversion, so as to obtain Q-channel transmitting intermediate frequency signals, which are digital intermediate frequency signals, and then converted into analog intermediate frequency through DAC channel, that is, transmitting intermediate frequency signals, and transmitting the transmitting intermediate frequency signals to the RF component. The processing process of the transmitting intermediate frequency signals by the RF component has been explained in the above embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0160] For the transmission link, the signal flow is as follows: The DBF module receives the baseband signal from the external baseband processing module. If there are M beams and N array units, the array amplitude and phase weighting values ​​are represents the weighted value of the nth antenna element in the mth beam; let the baseband signal be (where m = 1, 2, ..., M, Tx represents transmission), the DBF module completes the amplitude and phase weighted calculation of N signals according to the weighted value of the beam, and outputs signal, (where n = 1, 2, ..., N, m = 1, 2, ..., M, Tx stands for transmit) represents the transmit signal of the nth antenna. Divided into Q groups, each group contains P signals, N = P × Q, the NOC inside the FPGA generates P digital local oscillators, and the P signals in each group are converted to P different digital intermediate frequency signals through digital up-conversion;

[0161] Then the P different intermediate frequency signals are combined into one channel and converted into an analog intermediate frequency signal through the DAC channel. The number of DAC channels required is Q, and the number of DAC channels used is reduced to 1 / P of the traditional method. The DAC channel outputs Q intermediate frequency signals to Q TR components. Each TR component divides the input intermediate frequency signal into P channels, and each channel uses a bandpass filter to filter out the intermediate frequency signal of the corresponding number. For example, channel 1 retains the intermediate frequency Channel 2# retains the intermediate frequency P# channel retains intermediate frequency The frequency synthesis module generates P transmitting local oscillators of different frequencies. Each transmit channel in the TR component will use Up-convert to the same transmit RF Tx , after being amplified and filtered, it is radiated outward by the antenna.

[0162] Figure 6 This is a block diagram of the DBF module in the receiving link. During the receiving process, the DBF module completes the analog-to-digital conversion of the analog intermediate frequency signal, processes the Q-path signal through P different NOC digital local oscillators, and obtains P×Q=N-path signals. After DBF beamforming processing, the baseband signals of multiple beams are obtained. The DBF module implements the amplitude and phase weighting of the beamforming process (implemented by the weight generation unit). Among them, each ADC channel receives a receiving intermediate frequency signal of a RF component (the 1st receiving intermediate frequency signal...the Qth receiving intermediate frequency signal), and the receiving intermediate frequency signal is an analog intermediate frequency signal. For each ADC channel, the received receiving intermediate frequency signal is converted into a digital signal to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal. It can be divided into P digital intermediate frequency signals through Q-path branching, and each branch divides the obtained digital intermediate frequency signal into P digital intermediate frequency signals. The P digital intermediate frequency signals obtained by each branch are down-converted through P NOC digital local oscillators (digital down-conversion 1...digital down-conversion P...digital down-conversion N-P+1...digital down-conversion N). In this way, the Q-path branch obtains P×Q=N receiving signals (receiving signal 1...receiving signal P...receiving signal N-P+1...receiving signal N).

[0163] The receiving process can be regarded as the reverse process of the transmitting process, and its signal flow is as follows:

[0164] The signal received by the antenna enters the receiving channel through the duplexer. Each receiving channel amplifies, filters and down-converts the received signal. Similar to the transmission process, the local oscillator module generates P receiving local oscillators of different frequencies. The P receiving channels in each TR component are used The same receiving radio frequency RF Rx Downconvert to The P analog IF signals in the same TR component are combined and output. Q TR components output Q IF signals to the ADC channel in the DBF module. The ADC channel converts the analog IF signal into a digital IF signal, which is then down-converted by P different digital receiving local oscillator signals, and finally P×Q=N signals are restored. (where n = 1, 2, ..., N, Rx represents receiving), digital beamforming processing is performed, then (where n=1, 2, ..., N, m=1, 2, ..., M, and Rx stands for receive) represents the received signal of the mth beam.

[0165] In the embodiment of the present invention, multiple receiving local oscillators and transmitting local oscillators are used. In order to make the initial phases of the multiple local oscillators consistent each time they are powered on, the frequency synthesis in the present method adopts a digital NOC. The initial phase can be set to ensure that the initial phases of each receiving local oscillator are the same, and the initial phases of each transmitting local oscillator are the same, thereby ensuring that the power-on and power-off process of the frequency synthesis does not affect the relative phase difference between the channels.

[0166] An embodiment of the present invention provides a novel digital phased array architecture, including a DBF module. During the transmission process, the DBF module converts the input P-channel baseband signals into P different intermediate frequency signals through a group of P digital local oscillator frequencies and then combines them for output; during the reception process, the DBF module converts the input 1-channel digital intermediate frequency signal into a zero intermediate frequency to obtain a P-channel baseband signal through a group of P digital local oscillator frequencies.

[0167] Embodiments of the present invention may also include a calibration process.

[0168] The digital phased array applied to the receiving link may further include: a calibration antenna; the DBF module further includes a calibration unit;

[0169] The calibration antenna is used to transmit a radio frequency signal, where the radio frequency signal is obtained by converting a NOC point frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA; the radio frequency signal is received by the receiving channel to be tested and converted into a first digital signal;

[0170] A calibration unit, used for converting another NOC frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA into a second digital signal;

[0171] The FPGA is also used to calibrate the received signal according to the first digital signal and the second digital signal.

[0172] The digital phased array applied to the transmission link further includes: a calibration antenna; the DBF module further includes a calibration unit;

[0173] The calibration antenna is used to receive a radio frequency signal, which is obtained by converting a NOC point frequency digital signal generated by FPGA using the transmission channel to be tested;

[0174] The calibration unit is used to convert a radio frequency signal received by the calibration antenna into a first digital signal; and convert another NOC point frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA into a second digital signal;

[0175] The FPGA is also used to calibrate the transmission signal according to the first digital signal and the second digital signal.

[0176] The embodiment of the present invention uses external calibration to calibrate the receiving channel and the transmitting channel. The number of calibration antennas to be used is selected according to the size of the array and the signal-to-noise ratio requirements. The calibration antennas can be placed at the edge of the array, such as at the four corners of the array; they can also be placed inside the array without affecting the array layout.

[0177] The embodiment of the present invention calibrates the entire channel, that is, includes digital processing and analog links. The digital phased array antenna in the embodiment of the present invention includes a calibration unit.

[0178] The transmission calibration process can also be understood as calibrating the transmission link, such as Figure 7 As shown in the figure, the calibration unit inside the DBF module consists of a reference link and an integrated tranceiver (transceiver) chip. The reference link consists of a DAC channel and a reference transmit channel, where the reference transmit channel and the transmit channel to be tested use the same design. The function of the integrated tranceiver is to amplify and convert the signals received by the reference link and the calibration antenna into analog-to-digital signals. Figure 7 , the process is as follows: through the field programmable gate array FPGA control, open the channel to be calibrated, the FPGA generates a NOC point frequency digital signal, which is converted into an analog intermediate frequency signal by the DAC channel of the channel to be calibrated, and then fed into the antenna through the TR component of the channel to be calibrated for transmission. The calibration antenna located on the array receives the electromagnetic wave signal radiated by the antenna of the channel to be calibrated, and the tranceiver chip of the calibration unit receives the RF signal, converts the analog to digital signal, and sends the signal to the FPGA. Similarly, the FPGA simultaneously generates a reference signal, which is converted into an analog intermediate frequency signal by the DAC channel in the calibration unit, and then fed into the tranceiver chip through the reference transmission channel. The tranceiver chip receives the RF signal, converts the analog to digital signal, and sends the reference signal to the FPGA. The reference signal and the test signal are both unmodulated point frequency signals, which are generated inside the FPGA. The role of the reference signal is as a reference for amplitude comparison. Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) is performed on the digital signals of the calibration channel and the reference channel inside the FPGA to find the frequency at the maximum amplitude. Let the complex value of the reference signal at this frequency be A Tx 0, the complex value of the calibration channel signal is A Tx n ,but (where n = 1, 2, ..., N), is the calibration coefficient. Suppose the signal to be transmitted is (where n = 1, 2, ..., N, Tx represents transmission), then (where n=1, 2, ..., N), which is the calibrated transmission signal.

[0179] The receiving calibration process can also be understood as calibrating the receiving link. The calibration unit inside the DBF module consists of a tranceiver chip and a reference link. The reference link consists of a reference receiving channel and an ADC channel. The reference receiving channel and the receiving channel to be tested use the same design. The function of the integrated tranceiver is to amplify the test signal and realize the conversion of digital signal to RF signal. Figure 8 The process is as follows: through the control of the field programmable gate array FPGA, the receiving channel to be calibrated is opened, and the NOC point frequency digital signal is generated by the FPGA, which is converted into an RF signal through the integrated tranceiver chip. One path is fed to the calibration antenna for transmission, and the other is used as a reference signal. The signal transmitted by the calibration antenna is received by the antenna of the receiving channel to be calibrated, fed into the TR component of the receiving channel to be calibrated, and then converted into a digital signal by the ADC channel of the receiving channel to be calibrated and transmitted to the FPGA; the other reference signal is output from the tranceiver chip, passes through the reference receiving channel, and is converted into a digital signal by the ADC channel in the calibration unit and transmitted to the FPGA. Perform FFT transformation on the digital signals of the calibration channel and the reference channel inside the FPGA to find the frequency at the maximum amplitude. Let the complex value of the reference signal at this frequency be A Rx 0, the complex value of the calibration channel signal is A Rx n ,but (where n = 1, 2, ..., N), which is the calibration coefficient. Before digital beamforming, the received signal is (where n = 1, 2, ..., N, and Rx represents receiving), then (where n=1, 2, ..., N), which is the calibrated received signal.

[0180] When using the traditional external calibration method, the relative positions of the array elements and the calibration antenna are different, which will introduce amplitude and phase differences caused by the relative position differences. In the embodiment of the present invention, the amplitude and phase of each transmitting and receiving channel of the antenna are first leveled through near-field calibration before the phased array antenna leaves the factory, and then the calibration antenna is used to obtain the initial amplitude and phase of each channel relative to the calibration antenna according to the above-mentioned transmission and reception calibration process. In the subsequent long-term operation of the phased array, the amplitude and phase of the channel change due to device aging, temperature drift, physical deformation and other reasons. The digital phased array in the embodiment of the present invention can use an external calibration method to obtain the amplitude and phase values ​​of each channel measured by the calibration antenna in the new state, and perform complex division on the amplitude and phase values ​​measured at the factory to obtain the calibration coefficient in the new state.

[0181] The embodiment of the present invention adopts the method of air interface calibration of the array antenna, and can calibrate the amplitude and phase of each channel each time it is turned on or works for a long time.

[0182] The digital phased array architecture provided by the embodiment of the present invention can reduce the number of digital-to-analog / analog-to-digital conversion units to 1 / P of the traditional digital phased array solution, which has advantages in reducing costs, reducing power consumption, and reducing the connection cables between the RF front end and the digital processing module. Compared with the internal calibration method, the calibration method proposed in the embodiment of the present invention reduces a large number of coupling circuits and power division networks, and has a simpler structure; at the same time, for the case where the frequency synthesis module does not use a digital NOC, but obtains the local oscillator signal through an analog phase-locked loop, since the initial phase of the phase-locked loop locking signal is different after each power-on, the initial phases of P local oscillator signals will be different, resulting in changes in the phase of the channels in the TR component after frequency conversion, and each channel needs to be phase calibrated at each power-on. The use of this calibration method has the advantage of convenient calibration.

[0183] Compared with the internal calibration method, the calibration scheme proposed by this method reduces a large number of coupling circuits and power division networks, has a simpler structure, and can calibrate the amplitude and phase of each channel each time it is turned on or after long-term operation.

[0184] The embodiment of the present invention also provides a digital phased array signal transmission method, which is applied to a receiving link, such as Fig. 9 As shown, the signal transmission method includes:

[0185] S901, receiving a receiving intermediate frequency signal, wherein the receiving intermediate frequency signal is obtained by combining multiple analog intermediate frequency signals, and the multiple analog intermediate frequency signals are obtained by frequency converting multiple receiving signals using multiple radio frequency local oscillators;

[0186] S902, performing analog-to-digital conversion on a received intermediate frequency signal to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal;

[0187] S903, based on one digital intermediate frequency signal, using multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to multiple radio frequency local oscillators, to obtain multiple digital baseband signals.

[0188] The execution subject of the signal transmission method may be a digital phased array, specifically, a DBF module in the digital phased array.

[0189] The embodiment of the present invention also provides a digital phased array signal transmission method, which is applied to a receiving link, such as Fig.10 As shown, the signal transmission method includes:

[0190] S1001, using multiple radio frequency local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple received signals to obtain multiple analog intermediate frequency signals;

[0191] S1002, combining multiple analog intermediate frequency signals to obtain one receiving intermediate frequency signal, the one receiving intermediate frequency signal is used to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal through analog-to-digital conversion, so as to obtain multiple digital baseband signals based on the one digital intermediate frequency signal and using multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to multiple radio frequency local oscillators.

[0192] The execution subject of the signal transmission method may be a digital phased array, specifically, a radio frequency component in the digital phased array.

[0193] The signal transmission method of the digital phased array provided in the embodiment of the present invention is based on the same inventive concept as the digital phased array applied to the receiving link. The signal transmission method of the digital phased array provided in the embodiment of the present invention is similar to the above-mentioned digital phased array embodiment. The details can be referred to the above-mentioned digital phased array embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0194] The embodiment of the present invention also provides a digital phased array signal transmission method, which is applied to a transmission link, such as Fig.11 As shown, the signal transmission method includes:

[0195] S1101, using multiple digital local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple transmission signals to obtain multiple digital intermediate frequency signals;

[0196] S1102, combining multiple digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal;

[0197] S1103, performing digital-to-analog conversion on one digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal.

[0198] The execution subject of the signal transmission method may be a digital phased array, specifically, a DBF module in the digital phased array.

[0199] The embodiment of the present invention also provides a digital phased array signal transmission method, which is applied to a transmission link, such as Fig.12 As shown, the signal transmission method includes:

[0200] S1201, receiving a transmitting intermediate frequency signal; the transmitting intermediate frequency signal is obtained by performing digital-to-analog conversion on a digital intermediate frequency signal, the digital intermediate frequency signal is obtained by combining multiple digital intermediate frequency signals, and the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals are obtained by frequency converting multiple transmitting signals using multiple digital local oscillators;

[0201] S1202, based on a transmitting intermediate frequency signal, using multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to multiple digital local oscillators to obtain multiple radio frequency signals.

[0202] The execution subject of the signal transmission method may be a digital phased array, specifically, a radio frequency component in the digital phased array.

[0203] The signal transmission method of the digital phased array provided in the embodiment of the present invention is based on the same inventive concept as the digital phased array applied to the transmission link mentioned above. The signal transmission method of the digital phased array provided in the embodiment of the present invention is similar to the above-mentioned digital phased array embodiment. The details can be referred to the above-mentioned digital phased array embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0204] The embodiment of the present invention further provides an electronic device, such as Fig.13 As shown, it includes a processor 1301, a communication interface 1302, a memory 1303 and a communication bus 1304, wherein the processor 1301, the communication interface 1302, and the memory 1303 communicate with each other through the communication bus 1304.

[0205] Memory 1303, used for storing computer programs;

[0206] The processor 1301 is used to implement the steps of the digital phased array signal transmission method when executing the program stored in the memory 1303.

[0207] The communication bus mentioned in the above electronic device can be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The communication bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used in the figure, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0208] The communication interface is used for communication between the above electronic device and other devices.

[0209] The memory may include a random access memory (RAM) or a non-volatile memory (NVM), such as at least one disk memory. Optionally, the memory may also be at least one storage device located away from the aforementioned processor.

[0210] The above-mentioned 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, discrete hardware components.

[0211] In another embodiment of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of any of the above-mentioned digital phased array signal transmission methods are implemented.

[0212] In another embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product including instructions is provided. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer executes any one of the digital phased array signal transmission methods in the above embodiments.

[0213] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present invention is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state hard disk Solid State Disk (SSD)), etc.

[0214] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprise a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0215] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a related manner, and the same or similar parts between the embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the method, electronic device, and storage medium embodiments, since they are basically similar to the digital phased array embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the partial description of the digital phased array embodiment.

[0216] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention are included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A digital phased array, characterized in that: Applied to the receiving link, including: RF components and digital beamforming DBF modules; The radio frequency component is used to use multiple radio frequency local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple received signals to obtain multiple analog intermediate frequency signals; and combine the multiple analog intermediate frequency signals to obtain one received intermediate frequency signal; The DBF module is used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on the received intermediate frequency signal to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal; based on the digital intermediate frequency signal, multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to the multiple radio frequency local oscillators are used to obtain multiple digital baseband signals.

2. The digital phased array according to claim 1, characterized in that: The digital phased array also includes: a first frequency synthesis module, which is used to generate multiple radio frequency local oscillators.

3. The digital phased array according to claim 1, characterized in that: The radio frequency components include a plurality of; The DBF module includes multiple analog-to-digital conversion channels, one of which is used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on the received intermediate frequency signal sent by a radio frequency component to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal; the number of analog-to-digital conversion channels included in the DBF module is the same as the number of the radio frequency components.

4. The digital phased array according to claim 3, characterized in that: The digital phased array further comprises: an antenna array, wherein the antenna array comprises a plurality of array elements; The antenna array is used to receive radio frequency signals through the multiple array elements; Each RF component is specifically used to perform frequency conversion on a first preset number of RF signals among the RF signals received by the multiple array elements to obtain a first preset number of analog intermediate frequency signals; and combine the first preset number of analog intermediate frequency signals to obtain a received intermediate frequency signal; wherein the product of the first preset number and the number of the RF components is the number of the multiple array elements included in the antenna array; The DBF module is specifically used to perform analog-to-digital conversion on the one-way received intermediate frequency signal of each radio frequency component to obtain one-way digital intermediate frequency signal.

5. The digital phased array according to claim 1, characterized in that: The digital phased array further comprises: a calibration antenna; the DBF module further comprises a calibration unit; The calibration antenna is used to transmit a radio frequency signal, wherein the radio frequency signal is obtained by converting a NOC point frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA; the radio frequency signal is received by the receiving channel to be tested and converted into a first digital signal; The calibration unit is used to convert another NOC frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA into a second digital signal; The FPGA is further used to calibrate the received signal according to the first digital signal and the second digital signal.

6. A digital phased array signal transmission method, characterized in that: Applied to a receiving link, the method comprises: Receive a receiving intermediate frequency signal, wherein the receiving intermediate frequency signal is obtained by combining multiple analog intermediate frequency signals, and the multiple analog intermediate frequency signals are obtained by frequency converting multiple receiving signals using multiple radio frequency local oscillators; Performing analog-to-digital conversion on the received intermediate frequency signal to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal; Based on the one-channel digital intermediate frequency signal, multiple channels of digital baseband signals are obtained by utilizing multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to the multiple radio frequency local oscillators.

7. A digital phased array signal transmission method, characterized in that: Applied to a receiving link, the method comprises: Using multiple RF local oscillators to convert the frequency of multiple received signals to obtain multiple analog intermediate frequency signals; The multiple analog intermediate frequency signals are combined to obtain a received intermediate frequency signal, and the received intermediate frequency signal is used to obtain a digital intermediate frequency signal through analog-to-digital conversion, so as to obtain multiple digital baseband signals based on the digital intermediate frequency signal and using multiple digital local oscillators corresponding to the multiple radio frequency local oscillators.

8. A digital phased array, characterized in that: Applied to the transmission link, including: RF components and digital beamforming DBF modules; The DBF module is used to use multiple digital local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple transmission signals to obtain multiple digital intermediate frequency signals; combine the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal, and perform digital-to-analog conversion on the one digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain one transmission intermediate frequency signal; The radio frequency component is used to obtain multiple radio frequency signals based on the one transmitted intermediate frequency signal and using multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to the multiple digital local oscillators.

9. The digital phased array according to claim 8, characterized in that: The digital phased array also includes: a second frequency synthesis module, which is used to generate multiple digital local oscillators.

10. The digital phased array according to claim 8, characterized in that: The radio frequency components include a plurality of; The DBF module includes multiple digital-to-analog conversion channels, one of which is used to perform digital-to-analog conversion on the digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain an analog intermediate frequency signal; the number of digital-to-analog conversion channels included in the DBF module is the same as the number of the RF components.

11. The digital phased array according to claim 10, characterized in that: The digital phased array further comprises: an antenna array, wherein the antenna array comprises a plurality of array elements; The DBF module is used to perform frequency conversion on a second preset number of transmission signals respectively to obtain a second preset number of digital intermediate frequency signals; and to combine the second preset number of digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal; the product of the second preset number and the number of the RF components is the number of multiple array elements included in the antenna array.

12. The digital phased array according to claim 8, characterized in that: The digital phased array further comprises: a calibration antenna; the DBF module further comprises a calibration unit; The calibration antenna is used to receive a radio frequency signal, where the radio frequency signal is obtained by converting a NOC point frequency digital signal generated by FPGA using the transmission channel to be tested; The calibration unit is used to convert a radio frequency signal received by the calibration antenna into a first digital signal; and convert another NOC point frequency digital signal generated by the FPGA into a second digital signal; The FPGA is further used to calibrate the transmission signal according to the first digital signal and the second digital signal.

13. A digital phased array signal transmission method, characterized in that: Applied to a transmission link, the method comprises: Using multiple digital local oscillators to perform frequency conversion on multiple transmission signals to obtain multiple digital intermediate frequency signals; Combining the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain one digital intermediate frequency signal; Perform digital-to-analog conversion on the digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a transmission intermediate frequency signal.

14. A digital phased array signal transmission method, characterized in that: Applied to a transmission link, the method comprises: Receive a transmission intermediate frequency signal; the transmission intermediate frequency signal is obtained by performing digital-to-analog conversion on a digital intermediate frequency signal, the digital intermediate frequency signal is obtained by combining multiple digital intermediate frequency signals, and the multiple digital intermediate frequency signals are obtained by frequency conversion of multiple transmission signals using multiple digital local oscillators; Based on the one transmitted intermediate frequency signal, multiple radio frequency local oscillators corresponding to the multiple digital local oscillators are used to obtain multiple radio frequency signals.

15. An electronic device, characterized in that: It includes a processor, a communication interface, a memory and a communication bus, wherein the processor, the communication interface and the memory communicate with each other through the communication bus; Memory, used to store computer programs; A processor, for implementing the method steps described in any one of claims 6-7 or 13-14 when executing a program stored in a memory.

16. 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, the method steps described in any one of claims 6-7 or 13-14 are implemented.

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