Multifunctional C-waveband dual-polarization phased-array antenna system

Abstract

The invention provides a multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased-array antenna system, and relates to the technical field of wireless signals. The system comprises an antenna array surface, a digital beam forming module, a monitoring network and a frequency source, wherein the antenna array surface adopts an upper, lower, left and right separated antenna structure, and the whole antenna system is composed of four independent sub-antennas; the antenna can generate sum and difference beams in the azimuth direction and the pitching direction, so that target monopulse tracking can be carried out while meteorological detection is carried out, and the device has the characteristic of multiple functions; a row of linear array of the antenna is divided into two sections which are symmetrical left and right, the length of a feeder line between the digital T / R assembly and the antenna unit is reduced, the stage number of a power divider is reduced by one stage, the feeder line loss is reduced, and the detection capability of the radar is improved. In addition, a two-stage fitting Taylor weighting method is also adopted to realize the low side lobe performance of the azimuth plane, so that the dual polarization consistency of the antenna is good in a broadband range, and the side lobe is lower than-35dB.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of wireless signals, in particular to a multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system. Background Art

[0002] With the advancement of science and technology and the development of the times, more and more monitoring technologies are used in meteorological monitoring and early warning; among them, the C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system is an advanced radar system that combines the advantages of C-band operating frequency, dual-polarization technology and phased array antenna. With its high resolution, versatility and strong anti-interference ability, it plays an important role in the field of meteorological monitoring and early warning.

[0003] The commonly used C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system at this stage uses a waveguide traveling wave array antenna, such as Fig.10 In the existing antenna system shown, each waveguide is interconnected with one channel of the digital T / R component. The waveguide traveling wave array antenna has frequency dispersion, and the dual polarization consistency is difficult to maintain in a wideband range. In addition, the actual azimuth pointing angle will change greatly when the beam is electronically scanned in elevation, which is not conducive to meteorological detection. At the same time, the antenna cannot be divided into left and right parts, so single pulse tracking of aerial targets cannot be achieved in azimuth.

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system to solve the technical problems that the existing C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system is difficult to maintain dual-polarization consistency and cannot perform single-pulse tracking of aerial targets. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and provide a multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system that is easy to operate, thereby solving the technical problems that the C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system is difficult to maintain dual-polarization consistency and cannot perform single-pulse tracking of aerial targets.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present application proposes a multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system, including an antenna array, a digital beamforming module, a monitoring network and a frequency source; wherein:

[0007] Antenna array surface: including a plurality of rows of dual-polarized linear arrays arranged in elevation, a plurality of digital T / R components and a feeder network; wherein a rectangular effective electrical aperture is formed by a plurality of rows of dual-polarized linear arrays, and the rectangular effective electrical aperture is evenly divided into a plurality of rectangular areas; the feeder network is composed of a plurality of power dividers and radio frequency cables, and is used to connect the dual-polarized linear arrays and the digital T / R components, and the digital T / R components receive and process horizontal polarization signals or vertical polarization signals through the feeder network;

[0008] Digital beamforming module: including a master DBF module and a slave DBF module; wherein the digital T / R component is divided into upper and lower halves according to the rectangular area of ​​the connected dual-polarization linear array, the master DBF module is connected to each digital T / R component in the upper half through a multimode optical cable component, and establishes a communication connection with the server to complete the antenna status, control instructions and IQ data interaction; the slave DBF module is connected to each digital T / R component in the lower half through a multimode optical cable component, and establishes a communication connection with the master DBF module;

[0009] Monitoring network: including a switch calibration component and a digital T / R component 57 connected to each other; wherein the switch calibration component is connected to each digital T / R component through a power divider and a coupler; the digital T / R component 57 is connected to the main DBF module;

[0010] Frequency source: provides clock signal and local oscillator signal for the whole machine, and distributes the clock signal and local oscillator signal to each digital T / R component through the power divider network composed of the power divider.

[0011] As a further solution, the dual-polarized linear array is composed of multiple antenna unit linear arrays arranged in azimuth directions; wherein,

[0012] The antenna unit linear array includes a row of 96 antenna units and is evenly divided into two sections, each section includes two groups of 8 antenna units and two groups of 16 antenna units; the 8 antenna units are connected via a one-to-eight power divider, and the 16 antenna units are connected via a one-to-sixteen power divider;

[0013] The feeder network consists of 448 one-to-four power splitters and 2240 radio frequency cables; the switch calibration component is connected to two one-to-seven power splitters through a one-to-two power splitter, the one-to-seven power splitter is connected to seven one-to-thirty-two power splitters, and the one-to-thirty-two power splitter is connected to thirty-two one-to-four power splitters through a coupler.

[0014] As a further solution, the antenna array is provided with 112 rows of dual-polarized linear arrays and 56 digital T / R components; wherein,

[0015] The dual-polarized linear array is provided with 8 antenna unit linear arrays, the pitch spacing of the dual-polarized linear array is 37 mm, the azimuth spacing of the antenna unit linear array is 42.7 mm, the upper half is divided into 1 to 56 rows of dual-polarized linear arrays, and the lower half is divided into 57 to 112 rows of dual-polarized linear arrays;

[0016] The rectangular effective electrical aperture is evenly divided into four rectangular areas, namely, area A, area B, area C and area D. The digital T / R component is provided with 8 groups of transceiver channels, which are allocated corresponding to the four rectangular areas.

[0017] As a further solution, unequal power dividers are used for weighting inside the antenna unit linear array, and low sidelobe performance in azimuth is achieved through a two-stage fitting Taylor weighted network; wherein the two-stage fitting Taylor weighted network includes a first-stage weighted network and a second-stage weighted network; the first-stage weighted network is composed of a one-to-four power divider of a feeder network, and the second-stage weighted network is composed of a one-to-sixteen power divider and a one-to-eight power divider; wherein the one-to-sixteen power divider includes a type A one-to-sixteen power divider and a type B one-to-sixteen power divider; the one-to-eight power divider includes a type A one-to-eight power divider and a type B one-to-eight power divider.

[0018] As a further solution, antenna signal transmission is performed through the following process:

[0019] The master DBF module receives the working parameters and sends the parameters to the corresponding 28 digital T / R components, digital T / R component 57 and slave DBF modules in the upper half through the multimode optical cable assembly;

[0020] The working parameters are sent from the DBF module to the corresponding 28 digital T / R components in the lower half;

[0021] The digital T / R component and the digital T / R component 57 generate an intermediate frequency excitation signal according to the operating parameters, and then generate a high-power radio frequency signal through up-conversion and amplification;

[0022] The high-power RF signal output by the digital T / R component on the left side of the antenna array is divided into four paths through a one-to-four power divider and connected to the four corresponding antenna element linear arrays on the left side;

[0023] The high-power RF signal output by the digital T / R component on the right side of the antenna array is divided into four paths through a one-to-four power divider and connected to the four corresponding antenna element linear arrays on the right side;

[0024] Each antenna unit linear array distributes high-power RF signals to a row of 96 antenna units, and the radiated signals are synthesized in space to form a transmit beam;

[0025] Among them, in the antenna signal transmission, the phase of the digital T / R component is controlled by the digital beam synthesis module to realize the scanning, widening and beamforming of the transmission beam.

[0026] As a further solution, signal reception is performed through the following process:

[0027] Each antenna unit receives the RF echo signal, synthesizes it through the unequal power divider inside the antenna unit linear array, and outputs the horizontal polarization echo signal and the vertical polarization echo signal respectively;

[0028] The horizontal polarization echo signal on the left side of the antenna array is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the left side that processes the horizontal polarization signal;

[0029] The vertical polarization echo signal on the left side of the antenna array is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the left side that processes the vertical polarization signal;

[0030] The horizontal polarization echo signal on the right side of the antenna array is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the right side that processes the horizontal polarization signal;

[0031] The vertical polarization echo signal on the right side of the antenna array is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the right side that processes the vertical polarization signal;

[0032] Each digital T / R component samples the intermediate frequency echo signal and generates corresponding IQ data;

[0033] The IQ data generated by the upper part is transmitted to the main DBF module through the multimode optical cable assembly.

[0034] The IQ data generated corresponding to the lower half is transmitted to the slave DBF module through the multimode optical cable assembly, and the slave DBF module then transmits the IQ data to the master DBF module;

[0035] The main DBF module weights the IQ data according to the beam pointing coefficient, generates IQ data with different pointing directions and outputs it through the single-mode optical cable assembly for data analysis by other radar systems.

[0036] As a further solution, the transmission channel monitoring is carried out through the following process:

[0037] Step A1: Set the digital T / R component 57 of the monitoring network to the receiving state, and select the internal signal of the switch calibration component;

[0038] Step A2: Set the first channel of the digital T / R component in the current rectangular area to the transmitting state, and turn off the remaining channels of the digital T / R component and other digital T / R components;

[0039] Step A3: The first channel of the current digital T / R component outputs a high-power radio frequency signal, generates a transmission monitoring signal through a coupler of the feeder network, and inputs it into a one-to-thirty-two power splitter through a radio frequency cable, and the one-to-thirty-two power splitter then outputs the transmission monitoring signal;

[0040] Step A4: The transmission monitoring signal is input to the one-to-seven power splitter through the RF cable, then input to the one-to-two power splitter through the RF cable, and then output from the one-to-two power splitter is sent to the switch calibration component, and finally input to the digital T / R component 57;

[0041] Step A5: The digital T / R component 57 performs signal processing and analysis on the transmission monitoring signal, generates IQ data and outputs it to the main DBF module through the multimode optical cable component;

[0042] Step A6: The main DBF module outputs the IQ data through the single-mode optical cable assembly, and other radar systems calculate the amplitude and phase of the first channel of the current digital T / R assembly;

[0043] Step A7: changing the current rectangular area and the current digital T / R component, and repeating steps A2 to A6 to complete the amplitude and phase monitoring of the first channel of the four rectangular areas of area A, area B, area C and area D;

[0044] Step A8: Change the current digital T / R component and channel number, and repeat steps A2 to A7 to complete the monitoring of the transmission channels of 112 horizontal polarization lines and 128 vertical polarization lines.

[0045] As a further solution, the receiving channel monitoring is performed through the following process:

[0046] Step B1: Set the digital T / R component 57 of the monitoring network to the transmitting state, and the switch calibration component selects the internal signal;

[0047] Step B2: Set all digital T / R components in area A and area C to receive mode, and turn off all digital T / R components in area B and area D;

[0048] Step B3: The digital T / R component of the monitoring network outputs a high-power radio frequency signal, which is input into the one-to-thirty-two power splitter through the one-to-two power splitter and the one-to-seven power splitter in sequence;

[0049] Step B4: The one-to-thirty-two power splitter distributes the high-power RF signal to all couplers, and the couplers generate receiving monitoring signals and input them into the digital T / R component to generate IQ data;

[0050] Step B5: The main DBF module receives the IQ data generated by the upper half, and the slave DBF module receives the IQ data generated by the lower half and forwards it to the main DBF module; the main DBF module outputs the IQ data through the single-mode optical cable assembly, and the other radar systems calculate the amplitude and phase of all receiving channels on the left side;

[0051] Step B6: Set all digital T / R components in area B and area D to receive mode, and turn off all digital T / R components in area A and area C; repeat steps B3 to B5 to complete the monitoring of all receiving channels of the right antenna.

[0052] As a further solution, when conducting meteorological detection: the main DBF module first digitally synthesizes the signals of the same row and the same polarization on the left and right sides of the antenna array to form horizontally polarized digital signals and vertically polarized digital signals, and then forms receiving beams with different directions through phase weighting.

[0053] As a further solution, when conducting meteorological detection: a sum / difference beam is formed by adding / subtracting adjacent and partially overlapping sub-beams in four rectangular areas; wherein, when the target is located on the tracking axis, the four sub-beams receive the same energy, and when the target deviates from the tracking axis in azimuth or pitch, the four sub-beams receive different energies; with the energy of the sum beam as a reference, the angle of the target is determined by the ratio of the sum / difference beams.

[0054] Compared with the related art, the multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system provided by the present invention has the following advantages:

[0055] 1. The present invention adopts an antenna structure with upper, lower, left and right separations. The entire antenna system consists of four independent sub-antennas. The antenna can generate sum and difference beams in azimuth and elevation directions. Therefore, it can perform single pulse tracking of targets while performing meteorological detection, and has multifunctional characteristics.

[0056] 2. The present invention divides a row of antenna arrays into two symmetrical sections, the feeder length between the digital T / R component and the antenna unit is reduced, the number of power dividers is reduced by one level, the feeder loss is reduced, and the detection capability of the radar is improved;

[0057] 3. The present invention adopts a two-stage fitting Taylor weighted method to achieve low sidelobe performance in the azimuth plane, so that the antenna dual polarization consistency is good in a wideband range and the sidelobe is lower than -35dB. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0058] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present application.

[0059] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the related technologies, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the related technical descriptions are briefly introduced below. Obviously, for ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative labor.

[0060] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the signal structure of a multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system provided by the present invention;

[0061] Figure 2A schematic diagram of the communication process of a multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system provided by the present invention;

[0062] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of four areas of effective electrical aperture of the antenna array provided by the present invention;

[0063] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the weighted receiving and transmitting amplitudes of the antenna azimuth provided by the present invention;

[0064] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the transmitting and receiving directions of the antenna azimuth provided by the present invention;

[0065] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the layout of the device box and high-frequency box on the back of the antenna provided by the present invention;

[0066] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the appearance of the antenna system provided by the present invention;

[0067] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the dimensions of the antenna system provided by the present invention;

[0068] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the dual-polarization linear array structure provided by the present invention;

[0069] Fig.10 Schematic diagram of the existing antenna system structure.

[0070] The purpose, features and advantages of this application will be further described in conjunction with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0071] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Generally, the components of the embodiments of the present invention described and shown in the drawings here can be arranged and designed in various different configurations.

[0072] See also Figure 1 The embodiment of the present application provides a multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system, including an antenna array, a digital beamforming module, a monitoring network and a frequency source; wherein,

[0073] Antenna array surface: including a plurality of rows of dual-polarized linear arrays arranged in elevation, a plurality of digital T / R components and a feeder network; wherein a rectangular effective electrical aperture is formed by a plurality of rows of dual-polarized linear arrays, and the rectangular effective electrical aperture is evenly divided into a plurality of rectangular areas; the feeder network is composed of a plurality of power dividers and radio frequency cables, and is used to connect the dual-polarized linear arrays and the digital T / R components, and the digital T / R components receive and process horizontal polarization signals or vertical polarization signals through the feeder network;

[0074] Digital beamforming module: including a master DBF module and a slave DBF module; wherein the digital T / R component is divided into upper and lower halves according to the rectangular area of ​​the connected dual-polarization linear array, the master DBF module is connected to each digital T / R component in the upper half through a multimode optical cable component, and establishes a communication connection with the server to complete the antenna status, control instructions and IQ data interaction; the slave DBF module is connected to each digital T / R component in the lower half through a multimode optical cable component, and establishes a communication connection with the master DBF module;

[0075] Monitoring network: including a switch calibration component and a digital T / R component 57 connected to each other; wherein the switch calibration component is connected to each digital T / R component through a power divider and a coupler; the digital T / R component 57 is connected to the main DBF module;

[0076] Frequency source: provides clock signal and local oscillator signal for the whole machine, and distributes the clock signal and local oscillator signal to each digital T / R component through the power divider network composed of the power divider.

[0077] It should be noted that the antenna system provided in this embodiment is mainly composed of an antenna array, a digital beamforming module, a monitoring network and a frequency source; in addition, it also includes some basic equipment such as a power supply, an air conditioner, an antenna frame, and a tensioned membrane; Figure 6 As shown, the digital T / R components are installed in the high-frequency box in the middle of the antenna frame, the monitoring network, frequency source, power supply, DBF module and other equipment are installed in the equipment boxes on both sides of the antenna frame, and the indoor and outdoor units of the air conditioner are installed at the bottom of the antenna frame.

[0078] The antenna system looks like Figure 7 As shown, the antenna system size is Figure 8 As shown; the antenna array surface includes 112 rows of dual-polarization linear arrays, 56 digital T / R components and 1 set of feeder network. Each part is explained in detail below.

[0079] Dual-polarized linear array:

[0080] like Fig. 9As shown, the dual-polarized linear array is provided with 8 antenna unit linear arrays, the pitch spacing of the dual-polarized linear array is 37 mm, the azimuth spacing of the antenna unit linear array is 42.7 mm, the upper half is divided into 1 to 56 rows of dual-polarized linear arrays, and the lower half is divided into 57 to 112 rows of dual-polarized linear arrays.

[0081] like Figure 3 As shown, the effective electrical aperture of the antenna array is evenly divided into four areas: area A, area B, area C, and area D; among them, area A and area B correspond to the upper part of the antenna, and the dual-polarization linear arrays are numbered 1 to 56; area C and area D correspond to the lower part of the antenna, and the dual-polarization linear arrays are numbered 57 to 112.

[0082] Digital T / R Assembly:

[0083] The digital T / R component contains 8 groups of transceiver channels, which are mainly used to generate high-power RF signals, echo IF sampling, digital IF processing, etc. During transmission, DDS technology is used to generate IF excitation signals, and then up-conversion is used to generate RF excitation signals. The signal is power-amplified in the RF channel, and the amplified signal is output to the feeder network through a circulator;

[0084] During reception, the weak signal output by the feeder network enters the RF channel of the digital T / R component through the circulator, and is converted into an intermediate frequency signal through limiting low-noise amplification, filtering, down-conversion and other links, and is sampled and preprocessed by the digital intermediate frequency processor, and finally the data is output to the DBF module.

[0085] The digital T / R components are installed in the high-frequency box on the back of the antenna. Each high-frequency box is equipped with 4 digital T / R components, a power module and a fan, etc., of which 2 digital T / R components process horizontal polarization signals and 2 digital T / R components process vertical polarization signals.

[0086] Feeder network:

[0087] The feeder network consists of 448 1:4 power dividers and 2240 RF cables, connecting the antenna element linear array of the antenna array surface with the digital T / R components in the high-frequency box. The four antenna element linear arrays on the left are synthesized through two 1:4 power dividers, outputting one horizontal polarization signal and one vertical polarization signal, which are input to the digital T / R components in the high-frequency box on the left; similarly, the four antenna element linear arrays on the right are synthesized through two 1:4 power dividers, outputting one horizontal polarization signal and one vertical polarization signal, which are input to the digital T / R components in the high-frequency box on the right.

[0088] Digital beamforming module (DBF module):

[0089] The DBF module is installed on the antenna back frame and mainly completes the beam synthesis of 224 channels of signals. There are two DBF modules on the antenna array: one master DBF module and one slave DBF module.

[0090] The data of the upper part of the antenna is connected to the main DBF module through multimode optical fiber, and the data of the lower part of the antenna is connected to the slave DBF module through multimode optical fiber. The slave DBF module then transmits the data to the main DBF module through optical fiber.

[0091] The main DBF module communicates with the server to complete the antenna status, control instructions, and IQ data interaction; the data communication process of the antenna system is as follows: Figure 2 shown.

[0092] Other equipment:

[0093] The T / R DC switching power supply converts the AC 380V power supply into a 32V DC power supply, providing primary DC power to each device on the antenna. There are a total of 6 T / R DC switching power supplies on the antenna array, which are installed in the equipment box.

[0094] The frequency source provides 120MHz clock, one local oscillator signal and two local oscillator signals for the whole machine and is installed in the equipment box. The clock signal and local oscillator signal are distributed to 57 digital T / R components through the power divider network.

[0095] The monitoring network mainly consists of switch calibration components, digital T / R components, power dividers, power supplies, etc. The amplitude and phase of the 224 groups of transceiver channels of the detection system are installed in the equipment box.

[0096] The antenna system is equipped with two air conditioners, which are mainly used for cooling the digital T / R components and are installed at the bottom of the antenna.

[0097] The antenna frame is divided into two parts in the vertical direction, and the parts are connected by flanges and bolts. The tension membrane is pressed against the four sides of the frame with four mounting strips.

[0098] Furthermore, the phased array antenna system needs to achieve low sidelobe performance to the greatest extent possible, thereby suppressing the impact of clutter on weather detection. The periodic distribution of the general amplitude weighting coefficient will lead to more serious quantization lobes in the radiation pattern, which is difficult to meet the actual use requirements.

[0099] like Figure 1 As shown, the dual-polarized linear array is composed of antenna unit linear arrays arranged in multiple azimuth directions; wherein the antenna unit linear array includes a row of 96 antenna units and is evenly divided and arranged in two sections, each section includes two groups of 8 antenna units and two groups of 16 antenna units; the 8 antenna units are connected through a one-to-eight power divider, and the 16 antenna units are connected through a one-to-sixteen power divider;

[0100] The feeder network consists of 448 1-to-4 power splitters and 2240 RF cables; the switch calibration component is connected to two 1-to-7 power splitters through a 1-to-2 power splitter, the 1-to-7 power splitter is connected to seven 1-to-32 power splitters, and the 1-to-32 power splitter is connected to thirty-two 1-to-4 power splitters through a coupler.

[0101] In order to suppress the periodic side lobes caused by quantization, while considering engineering feasibility and tolerance, Figure 1 Based on this, a two-level fitting Taylor weighted method was designed.

[0102] The first-level weighting adopts a one-to-four power divider in the feeder network, and the output power division ratios of the power divider are: 0.052, 0.293, 0.293, and 0.361.

[0103] The second level of weighting uses the power divider in the antenna unit array, and the power division ratio is as follows:

[0104] The power splitting ratios of Type A one-to-sixteen power splitter are: 0.025, 0.025, 0.027, 0.029, 0.032, 0.036, 0.041, 0.046, 0.053, 0.062, 0.071, 0.082, 0.095, 0.109, 0.125, 0.142.

[0105] The output power division ratios of type B one-to-sixteen power divider B are: 0.028, 0.032, 0.036, 0.040, 0.044, 0.049, 0.053, 0.058, 0.063, 0.069, 0.074, 0.080, 0.085, 0.091, 0.096, 0.102.

[0106] The power splitting ratios of Type A 1:8 power splitter are: 0.107, 0.113, 0.118, 0.123, 0.128, 0.133, 0.137, 0.141.

[0107] The power splitting ratios of the Type B 1:8 power splitter are: 0.118, 0.121, 0.123, 0.125, 0.127, 0.128, 0.129, 0.129.

[0108] Through two-level weighting, the weighted results of the antenna azimuth receiving and transmitting amplitudes are as follows: Figure 4 As shown in the figure, the simulation results of the directional pattern are as follows Figure 5 As shown, the side lobes are below -35dB.

[0109] Furthermore, when transmitting antenna signals through this system:

[0110] The main DBF module receives the working parameters sent by other systems of the radar, and then sends the parameters to the 28 digital T / R components of the upper antenna, the digital T / R components of the detection extension and the slave DBF module through the multi-mode optical cable assembly. The slave DBF module then sends the parameters to the 28 digital T / R components of the lower antenna. Only 4 digital T / R components are drawn in the figure.

[0111] The digital T / R component first generates a 150MHz intermediate frequency excitation signal according to the parameters, and then generates a 5.3GHz5.7GHz high-power RF signal through up-conversion and amplification.

[0112] The high-power RF signal output by the digital T / R component on the left is divided into 4 paths through a one-to-four power divider and connected to the four antenna unit arrays on the left; the high-power RF signal output by the digital T / R component on the right is divided into 4 paths through a one-to-four power divider and connected to the four antenna unit arrays on the right.

[0113] The antenna unit linear array distributes high-power RF signals to a row of 96 antenna elements, and the radiated signals are synthesized in space to form a transmit beam.

[0114] During the above transmission process, the DBF module can control the phase of the T / R component to achieve scanning, broadening and other beamforming of the transmission beam.

[0115] Furthermore, when receiving a signal through this system:

[0116] The antenna unit receives the RF echo signal, synthesizes it through the power divider inside the antenna unit linear array, and outputs horizontal polarization and vertical polarization echo signals respectively.

[0117] The horizontal polarization echo signal of the left antenna is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the left that processes the horizontal polarization signal; the vertical polarization echo signal of the left antenna is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the left that processes the vertical polarization signal; the signal flow of the right antenna is similar.

[0118] The digital T / R component filters, amplifies, and down-converts the signal, samples the 150MHz intermediate frequency echo signal, and then performs digital filtering, digital orthogonal down-conversion, pulse compression, and other operations to generate IQ data. The IQ data of the upper antenna is transmitted to the main DBF module through the multi-mode optical cable assembly, and the IQ data of the lower antenna is transmitted to the slave DBF module through the multi-mode optical cable assembly. The slave DBF module then transmits the IQ data to the main DBF module.

[0119] The main DBF module weights the IQ data according to the beam pointing coefficient to generate IQ data with different pointing directions. These IQ data are output through the single-mode optical cable assembly and analyzed by other radar systems.

[0120] Furthermore, when monitoring signals through this system, the transmission channel monitoring is performed through the following process:

[0121] Step A1: Set the digital T / R component 57 of the monitoring network to the receiving state, and select the internal signal of the switch calibration component;

[0122] Step A2: Set the first channel of the digital T / R component in the current rectangular area to the transmitting state, and turn off the remaining channels of the digital T / R component and other digital T / R components;

[0123] Step A3: The first channel of the current digital T / R component outputs a high-power radio frequency signal, generates a transmission monitoring signal through a coupler of the feeder network, and inputs it into a one-to-thirty-two power splitter through a radio frequency cable, and the one-to-thirty-two power splitter then outputs the transmission monitoring signal;

[0124] Step A4: The transmission monitoring signal is input to the one-to-seven power splitter through the RF cable, then input to the one-to-two power splitter through the RF cable, and then output from the one-to-two power splitter is sent to the switch calibration component, and finally input to the digital T / R component 57;

[0125] Step A5: The digital T / R component 57 performs signal processing and analysis on the transmission monitoring signal, generates IQ data and outputs it to the main DBF module through the multimode optical cable component;

[0126] Step A6: The main DBF module outputs the IQ data through the single-mode optical cable assembly, and other radar systems calculate the amplitude and phase of the first channel of the current digital T / R assembly;

[0127] Step A7: changing the current rectangular area and the current digital T / R component, and repeating steps A2 to A6 to complete the amplitude and phase monitoring of the first channel of the four rectangular areas of area A, area B, area C and area D;

[0128] Step A8: Change the current digital T / R component and channel number, and repeat steps A2 to A7 to complete the monitoring of the transmission channels of 112 horizontal polarization lines and 128 vertical polarization lines.

[0129] Furthermore, when monitoring signals through this system, the receiving channel monitoring is performed through the following process:

[0130] Step B1: Set the digital T / R component 57 of the monitoring network to the transmitting state, and the switch calibration component selects the internal signal;

[0131] Step B2: Set all digital T / R components in area A and area C to receive mode, and turn off all digital T / R components in area B and area D;

[0132] Step B3: The digital T / R component of the monitoring network outputs a high-power radio frequency signal, which is input into the one-to-thirty-two power splitter through the one-to-two power splitter and the one-to-seven power splitter in sequence;

[0133] Step B4: The one-to-thirty-two power splitter distributes the high-power RF signal to all couplers, and the couplers generate receiving monitoring signals and input them into the digital T / R component to generate IQ data;

[0134] Step B5: The main DBF module receives the IQ data generated by the upper half, and the slave DBF module receives the IQ data generated by the lower half and forwards it to the main DBF module; the main DBF module outputs the IQ data through the single-mode optical cable assembly, and the other radar systems calculate the amplitude and phase of all receiving channels on the left side;

[0135] Step B6: Set all digital T / R components in area B and area D to receive mode, and turn off all digital T / R components in area A and area C; repeat steps B3 to B5 to complete the monitoring of all receiving channels of the right antenna.

[0136] The C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system provided in this embodiment can simultaneously detect meteorological targets and track aerial vehicles; wherein,

[0137] Weather Detection

[0138] The main DBF module first digitally synthesizes the signals of the same row and the same polarization in the left and right antennas to form 112 rows of horizontally polarized digital signals and 112 rows of vertically polarized digital signals, and then forms receiving beams in different directions through phase weighting. It can output beam data in up to 40 directions.

[0139] Target Tracking

[0140] As mentioned above, the effective electrical aperture of the antenna array is evenly divided into four areas: area A, area B, area C, and area D. The sum and difference beams are formed by adding and subtracting these four adjacent and partially overlapping sub-beams. The energy received by the four sub-beams can be expressed as F A 、F B 、F C 、F D .

[0141] The sum beam energy expression is:

[0142] F Σ =F A +F B +F C +F D

[0143] The expression of azimuth difference beam energy is:

[0144] FΔθ =(F A +F C )-(F B +F D )

[0145] The expression of the elevation difference beam energy is:

[0146] F Δφ =(F A +F B )-(F C +F D )

[0147] When the target is on the antenna tracking axis, the four sub-beams receive the same energy. When the target deviates from the tracking axis in azimuth or elevation, the four sub-beams receive different energies. The energy of the sum beam is used as a reference, and the angle of the target is determined by the ratio of the sum and difference beams.

[0148] The above are only some embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the patent scope of the present application. All equivalent structural changes made using the contents of the present application specification and drawings under the technical concept of the present application, or direct / indirect application in other related technical fields are included in the patent protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system, characterized in that: It includes antenna array, digital beamforming module, monitoring network and frequency source; among which, Antenna array surface: including a plurality of rows of dual-polarized linear arrays arranged in elevation, a plurality of digital T / R components and a feeder network; wherein a rectangular effective electrical aperture is formed by a plurality of rows of dual-polarized linear arrays, and the rectangular effective electrical aperture is evenly divided into a plurality of rectangular areas; the feeder network is composed of a plurality of power dividers and radio frequency cables, and is used to connect the dual-polarized linear arrays and the digital T / R components, and the digital T / R components receive and process horizontal polarization signals or vertical polarization signals through the feeder network; Digital beamforming module: including a master DBF module and a slave DBF module; wherein the digital T / R component is divided into upper and lower halves according to the rectangular area of ​​the connected dual-polarization linear array, the master DBF module is connected to each digital T / R component in the upper half through a multimode optical cable component, and establishes a communication connection with the server to complete the antenna status, control instructions and IQ data interaction; the slave DBF module is connected to each digital T / R component in the lower half through a multimode optical cable component, and establishes a communication connection with the master DBF module; Monitoring network: including a switch calibration component and a digital T / R component 57 connected to each other; wherein the switch calibration component is connected to each digital T / R component through a power divider and a coupler; the digital T / R component 57 is connected to the main DBF module; Frequency source: provides clock signal and local oscillator signal for the whole machine, and distributes the clock signal and local oscillator signal to each digital T / R component through the power divider network composed of the power divider.

2. A multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The dual-polarized linear array is composed of multiple antenna unit linear arrays arranged in azimuth directions; wherein, The antenna unit linear array includes a row of 96 antenna units and is evenly divided into two sections, each section includes two groups of 8 antenna units and two groups of 16 antenna units; the 8 antenna units are connected via a one-to-eight power divider, and the 16 antenna units are connected via a one-to-sixteen power divider; The feeder network consists of 448 one-to-four power splitters and 2240 radio frequency cables; the switch calibration component is connected to two one-to-seven power splitters through a one-to-two power splitter, the one-to-seven power splitter is connected to seven one-to-thirty-two power splitters, and the one-to-thirty-two power splitter is connected to thirty-two one-to-four power splitters through a coupler.

3. The multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The antenna array is provided with 112 rows of dual-polarized linear arrays and 56 digital T / R components; wherein, The dual-polarized linear array is provided with 8 antenna unit linear arrays, the pitch spacing of the dual-polarized linear array is 37 mm, the azimuth spacing of the antenna unit linear array is 42.7 mm, the upper half is divided into 1 to 56 rows of dual-polarized linear arrays, and the lower half is divided into 57 to 112 rows of dual-polarized linear arrays; The rectangular effective electrical aperture is evenly divided into four rectangular areas, namely, area A, area B, area C and area D. The digital T / R component is provided with 8 groups of transceiver channels, which are allocated corresponding to the four rectangular areas.

4. The multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 3, characterized in that: Unequal power dividers are used for weighting inside the antenna unit linear array, and low sidelobe performance in azimuth is achieved through a two-stage fitting Taylor weighted network; wherein the two-stage fitting Taylor weighted network includes a first-stage weighted network and a second-stage weighted network; the first-stage weighted network is composed of a one-to-four power divider of a feeder network, and the second-stage weighted network is composed of a one-to-sixteen power divider and a one-to-eight power divider; wherein the one-to-sixteen power divider includes a type A one-to-sixteen power divider and a type B one-to-sixteen power divider; the one-to-eight power divider includes a type A one-to-eight power divider and a type B one-to-eight power divider.

5. The multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 4, characterized in that: Antenna signal transmission is performed through the following process: The master DBF module receives the working parameters and sends the parameters to the corresponding 28 digital T / R components, digital T / R component 57 and slave DBF modules in the upper half through the multimode optical cable assembly; The working parameters are sent from the DBF module to the corresponding 28 digital T / R components in the lower half; The digital T / R component and the digital T / R component 57 generate an intermediate frequency excitation signal according to the operating parameters, and then generate a high-power radio frequency signal through up-conversion and amplification; The high-power RF signal output by the digital T / R component on the left side of the antenna array is divided into four paths through a one-to-four power divider and connected to the four corresponding antenna element linear arrays on the left side; The high-power RF signal output by the digital T / R component on the right side of the antenna array is divided into four paths through a one-to-four power divider and connected to the four corresponding antenna element linear arrays on the right side; Each antenna unit linear array distributes high-power RF signals to a row of 96 antenna units, and the radiated signals are synthesized in space to form a transmit beam; Among them, in the antenna signal transmission, the phase of the digital T / R component is controlled by the digital beam synthesis module to realize the scanning, widening and beamforming of the transmission beam.

6. The multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 4, characterized in that: Signal reception is performed through the following process: Each antenna unit receives the RF echo signal, synthesizes it through the unequal power divider inside the antenna unit linear array, and outputs the horizontal polarization echo signal and the vertical polarization echo signal respectively; The horizontal polarization echo signal on the left side of the antenna array is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the left side that processes the horizontal polarization signal; The vertical polarization echo signal on the left side of the antenna array is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the left side that processes the vertical polarization signal; The horizontal polarization echo signal on the right side of the antenna array is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the right side that processes the horizontal polarization signal; The vertical polarization echo signal on the right side of the antenna array is synthesized into one channel through a one-to-four power divider and input into the digital T / R component on the right side that processes the vertical polarization signal; Each digital T / R component samples the intermediate frequency echo signal and generates corresponding IQ data; The IQ data generated by the upper part is transmitted to the main DBF module through the multimode optical cable assembly. The IQ data generated corresponding to the lower half is transmitted to the slave DBF module through the multimode optical cable assembly, and the slave DBF module then transmits the IQ data to the master DBF module; The main DBF module weights the IQ data according to the beam pointing coefficient, generates IQ data with different pointing directions and outputs it through the single-mode optical cable assembly for data analysis by other radar systems.

7. The multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The transmission channel is monitored through the following process: Step A1: Set the digital T / R component 57 of the monitoring network to the receiving state, and select the internal signal of the switch calibration component; Step A2: Set the first channel of the digital T / R component in the current rectangular area to the transmitting state, and turn off the remaining channels of the digital T / R component and other digital T / R components; Step A3: The first channel of the current digital T / R component outputs a high-power radio frequency signal, generates a transmission monitoring signal through a coupler of the feeder network, and inputs it into a one-to-thirty-two power splitter through a radio frequency cable, and the one-to-thirty-two power splitter then outputs the transmission monitoring signal; Step A4: The transmission monitoring signal is input to the one-to-seven power splitter through the RF cable, then input to the one-to-two power splitter through the RF cable, and then output from the one-to-two power splitter is sent to the switch calibration component, and finally input to the digital T / R component 57; Step A5: The digital T / R component 57 performs signal processing and analysis on the transmission monitoring signal, generates IQ data and outputs it to the main DBF module through the multimode optical cable component; Step A6: The main DBF module outputs the IQ data through the single-mode optical cable assembly, and other radar systems calculate the amplitude and phase of the first channel of the current digital T / R assembly; Step A7: changing the current rectangular area and the current digital T / R component, and repeating steps A2 to A6 to complete the amplitude and phase monitoring of the first channel of the four rectangular areas of area A, area B, area C and area D; Step A8: Change the current digital T / R component and channel number, and repeat steps A2 to A7 to complete the monitoring of the transmission channels of 112 horizontal polarization lines and 128 vertical polarization lines.

8. The multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The receiving channel is monitored through the following process: Step B1: Set the digital T / R component 57 of the monitoring network to the transmitting state, and the switch calibration component selects the internal signal; Step B2: Set all digital T / R components in area A and area C to receive mode, and turn off all digital T / R components in area B and area D; Step B3: The digital T / R component of the monitoring network outputs a high-power radio frequency signal, which is input into the one-to-thirty-two power splitter through the one-to-two power splitter and the one-to-seven power splitter in sequence; Step B4: The one-to-thirty-two power splitter distributes the high-power RF signal to all couplers, and the couplers generate receiving monitoring signals and input them into the digital T / R component to generate IQ data; Step B5: The main DBF module receives the IQ data generated by the upper half, and the slave DBF module receives the IQ data generated by the lower half and forwards it to the main DBF module; the main DBF module outputs the IQ data through the single-mode optical cable assembly, and the other radar systems calculate the amplitude and phase of all receiving channels on the left side; Step B6: Set all digital T / R components in area B and area D to receive mode, and turn off all digital T / R components in area A and area C; repeat steps B3 to B5 to complete the monitoring of all receiving channels of the right antenna.

9. The multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 4, characterized in that: When performing meteorological detection: the main DBF module first digitally synthesizes the signals of the same row and the same polarization on the left and right sides of the antenna array to form horizontally polarized digital signals and vertically polarized digital signals, and then forms receiving beams with different directions through phase weighting.

10. The multifunctional C-band dual-polarization phased array antenna system according to claim 4, characterized in that: When performing meteorological detection: a sum / difference beam is formed by adding / subtracting adjacent and partially overlapping sub-beams in four rectangular areas; when the target is on the tracking axis, the four sub-beams receive the same energy, and when the target deviates from the tracking axis in azimuth or pitch, the four sub-beams receive different energies; the energy of the sum beam is used as a reference, and the angle of the target is determined by the ratio of the sum / difference beams.

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