Unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure

Abstract

The present application relates to unmanned aerial vehicle wireless communication ground terminal technical field, especially to a kind of unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure, including phased array antenna, main reflector and sub-reflector.The plane where phased array antenna is located is horizontally arranged;Main reflector is obliquely arranged above the side of phased array antenna;Sub-reflector is arranged above the other side of phased array antenna.Phased array antenna, main reflector and sub-reflector are arranged in a specific layout, compared with the form of only using phased array antenna or only using reflector antenna to communicate, when unmanned aerial vehicle passes overhead, direct communication link is formed between phased array antenna and unmanned aerial vehicle.When unmanned aerial vehicle drives to the scanning angle outside phased array antenna, phased array antenna is used as feed source, phased array antenna, main reflector and sub-reflector constitute reflector antenna, and high-gain communication link is formed between unmanned aerial vehicle.Such, unmanned aerial vehicle can be always stably oriented and tracked, and the stability of communication quality is guaranteed.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicle wireless communication ground terminal, and particularly relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle ground measurement and control terminal antenna structure. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the development and maturity of unmanned aerial vehicle technology, military and civilian unmanned aerial vehicles have been widely applied, which brings some real problems to be solved for the development and application of unmanned aerial vehicle measurement and control and data transmission technology. In order to meet the requirements of wideband and high speed of unmanned aerial vehicle data transmission, and meet the requirements of flexible and rapid deployment of ground communication system, the unmanned aerial vehicle radio communication ground terminal should have higher signal gain, more accurate tracking pointing and more flexible beam adjustment capability. As the front-end equipment of radio communication, the performance index of the antenna has an important influence on the unmanned aerial vehicle radio communication ground terminal.

[0003] At present, a reflector antenna or a phased array antenna can be used for line-of-sight communication with the unmanned aerial vehicle. The reflector antenna, as a narrow-beam antenna, is usually installed on a high-precision two-axis or three-axis turntable, and the reflector antenna is driven to rotate through a servo control system, so that the maximum gain of the reflector antenna is always aligned with the target, so as to ensure the stability of the communication link. The phased array antenna quickly forms an electrically scanned beam through spatial beam synthesis, and the tracking process does not need to be driven by a servo control system, has the ability of beam agility and multiple beams, and can track multiple targets at the same time.

[0004] Since the relative distance between the unmanned aerial vehicle and the antenna is always changing during the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the communication link between the ground communication terminal and the unmanned aerial vehicle is always in dynamic change. For the reflector antenna, when the unmanned aerial vehicle passes overhead, it is easy to lose tracking of the unmanned aerial vehicle. For the phased array antenna, limited by the scanning angle, when the unmanned aerial vehicle drives to the outside of the scanning angle, it is easy to lose tracking of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Therefore, how to stably track the unmanned aerial vehicle becomes a technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides an unmanned aerial vehicle ground measurement and control terminal antenna structure to solve the problem of how to ensure that the communication quality is always in a stable state.

[0006] The present application provides an unmanned aerial vehicle ground measurement and control terminal antenna structure, comprising:

[0007] The phased array antenna is horizontally arranged on the surface;

[0008] The main reflector is obliquely arranged above one side of the phased array antenna;

[0009] The auxiliary reflector is arranged above the other side of the phased array antenna.

[0010] In some embodiments, the sub-reflector is arranged in an inclined manner or in a vertical manner.

[0011] In some embodiments, the main reflector has an inclination angle of less than 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane.

[0012] In some embodiments, the phased array antenna has a beam scanning angle of ±45 degrees.

[0013] In some embodiments, the main reflector is a concave reflector.

[0014] The sub-reflector is a concave reflector or a convex reflector.

[0015] In some embodiments, the main reflector has a larger aperture than the sub-reflector.

[0016] In some embodiments, the main reflector has a support platform formed by bending the bottom end of the main reflector; the phased array antenna is mounted on the top surface of the support platform.

[0017] Further comprising:

[0018] A support member is mounted on the main reflector; the sub-reflector is mounted on the support member.

[0019] In some embodiments, further comprising:

[0020] A base; the main reflector is rotatably mounted on the top of the base through a pitch rotation shaft.

[0021] In some embodiments, further comprising:

[0022] A base; the main reflector is fixedly mounted on the top of the base.

[0023] In some embodiments, further comprising:

[0024] An azimuth servo motor, the output shaft of which is in transmission connection with the bottom end of the base, for driving the base to rotate around the axis thereof, so as to drive the phased array antenna, the main reflector and the sub-reflector to rotate around the axis of the base.

[0025] The unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure of the present application has the following advantages: the phased array antenna, the main reflector and the sub-reflector are arranged in a specific manner, compared with the form of using only the phased array antenna or only the reflector antenna for communication, when the unmanned aerial vehicle passes overhead, the reflector does not block the phased array antenna, and a communication link is directly formed between the phased array antenna and the unmanned aerial vehicle. When the unmanned aerial vehicle drives to the outside of the scanning angle of the phased array antenna, the phased array antenna is used as a feed source, and the phased array antenna, the sub-reflector and the main reflector constitute a reflector antenna, and a high-gain communication link is formed between the reflector antenna and the unmanned aerial vehicle. In this way, the unmanned aerial vehicle can be stably oriented and tracked at all times, and the stability of the communication quality is ensured. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0026] Figure 1 is a structural schematic diagram of some specific embodiments of an unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure of the present application;

[0027] Figure 2 is a combined structural schematic diagram of a base and an azimuth servo motor.

[0028] In the drawings, 110 is a phased array antenna; 111 is a scanning beam; 120 is a main reflector; 121 is a support platform; 130 is a sub-reflector; 140 is a base; 141 is a transmission disc; 150 is a pitch rotation shaft; 160 is an azimuth servo motor; 170 is a transmission gear; 180 is a support; and 200 is an unmanned aerial vehicle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The technical solutions of the present application will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative work fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0030] As described in the background, since the relative distance between the unmanned aerial vehicle and the antenna is always changing during flight, the communication link between the ground communication terminal and the unmanned aerial vehicle is always in dynamic change. For a reflector antenna, when the unmanned aerial vehicle passes overhead, it is easy to lose tracking of the unmanned aerial vehicle. For a phased array antenna, limited by its scanning angle, when the unmanned aerial vehicle drives to outside the scanning angle, it is easy to lose tracking of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Therefore, how to stably track the unmanned aerial vehicle becomes a technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.

[0031] It should be noted that, in order to ensure the stability of communication quality, when designing the communication link, a certain link margin needs to be left. In this case, the equivalent isotropically radiated power of the antenna and the quality factor of the receiving system and other indicators have a large index margin relative to actual application. For a reflector antenna, channel gain mainly depends on increasing the aperture of the reflector. Limited by the requirement that the reflector antenna should have high motion response characteristics, the aperture of the reflector antenna cannot be too large. And for a phased array antenna, since the equivalent aperture gradually decreases when the fixed orientation antenna port is scanned, its theoretical gain also gradually decreases as the beam scanning angle increases. At present, the scanning angle of most phased array antennas is ±60°, and at low elevation angles, the gain of the phased array antenna decreases very obviously. A wider scanning angle has a very large design difficulty and implementation cost.

[0032] To solve the above problems, refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2The unmanned aerial vehicle ground measurement and control terminal antenna structure provided by the application comprises a phased array antenna 110, a main reflector 120 and a sub-reflector 130. The plane where the phased array antenna 110 is located is horizontally arranged. The main reflector 120 is arranged obliquely above one side of the phased array antenna 110. The sub-reflector 130 is arranged above the other side of the phased array antenna 110. The phased array antenna 110, the main reflector 120 and the sub-reflector 130 are arranged in a specific layout. Compared with the form of communication by only using the phased array antenna 110 or only using the reflector antenna, when the unmanned aerial vehicle 200 passes overhead, the main reflector 120 and the sub-reflector 130 do not block the phased array antenna 110, and a communication link is directly formed between the phased array antenna 110 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 200. When the unmanned aerial vehicle 200 drives to the outside of the scanning angle of the phased array antenna 110, the phased array antenna 110 is used as a feed source, the phased array antenna 110, the sub-reflector 130 and the main reflector 120 constitute a reflector antenna, and a high-gain communication link is formed between the reflector antenna and the unmanned aerial vehicle 200. In this way, the unmanned aerial vehicle 200 can be stably oriented and tracked all the time, and the stability of the communication quality is ensured.

[0033] The working process and principle of the unmanned aerial vehicle ground measurement and control terminal antenna structure are as follows:

[0034] By using the characteristic that the distance of the communication link is constantly changing, when the unmanned aerial vehicle 200 drives to the high-elevation-angle section, the distance of the communication link is short, the required channel gain is low, the phased array antenna 110 can be used to reduce the size and design difficulty of the phased array antenna 110, thereby reducing the cost and power consumption. When the unmanned aerial vehicle 200 drives to the low-elevation-angle section, the phased array antenna 110 is used as a feed source of the reflector antenna, and a high-gain beam is formed by means of the main reflector 120 and the sub-reflector 130 to meet the gain requirement of the long-distance communication link. Meanwhile, when the phased array antenna 110 is used as a feed source, the transverse movement of the phase center can make the beam of the reflector scan, and the radiation pattern does not change within a certain range. Based on this principle, when the phased array antenna 110 mode is converted into the offset reflector antenna mode, the beam scanning of the reflector can also be realized by the beam movement of the phased array antenna 110 within a certain range, so that the movement amplitude and dynamic requirement of the main reflector 120 and the sub-reflector 130 can be greatly reduced, which is beneficial to reducing the design difficulty of the offset reflector antenna and reducing the constraint on the aperture of the reflector, and a larger aperture reflector can be designed to improve the antenna gain and ensure the link margin.

[0035] It should be noted that the unmanned aerial vehicle ground measurement and control terminal antenna structure is not only suitable for the wireless communication ground terminal of the unmanned aerial vehicle 200, but also suitable for the line-of-sight communication of various shipborne and vehicle-mounted devices, and can also be used as a satellite communication terminal device that needs to switch between high and low orbits.

[0036] In some embodiments, the sub-reflector 130 is arranged obliquely. In other embodiments, the sub-reflector 130 is arranged vertically. The sub-reflector 130 can be arranged obliquely or vertically according to some parameters such as the scanning range.

[0037] Specifically, in the exemplary embodiment, as shown in Figure 1 The inclination angle of the main reflector 120 relative to the horizontal plane is less than 45° to ensure that the phased array antenna 110 will not block the scanning beam 111 of the phased array antenna 110 when the phased array antenna 110 is directly used as an antenna. The scanning angle of the scanning beam 111 of the phased array antenna 110 is ±45°. The aperture of the main reflector 120 is larger than that of the sub-reflector 130. The main reflector 120 is a concave surface and has a focusing function. The sub-reflector 130 can be a concave surface or a convex surface, which can be selected according to actual working conditions. Through reasonable layout, the mouth of the phased array antenna 110 is always directed to the zenith, and within the ±45° beam scanning range, there is no shielding by any reflector structure. When the beam scanning of the phased array antenna 110 is greater than 45° or less than -45°, the beam can be exactly reflected onto the sub-reflector 130 and then onto the main reflector 120, forming a communication link between the main reflector 120 and the unmanned aerial vehicle, so that the beam of the phased array antenna 110 is used as a feed beam. After being reflected by the main reflector 120 and the sub-reflector 130, the beam becomes a high-gain planar wave with a fixed pointing direction and continues to maintain the target pointing to meet the communication link requirements. The phased array antenna 110 and the reflector antenna realize seamless conversion and can stably and directionally track the unmanned aerial vehicle 200.

[0038] Specifically, in the exemplary embodiment, as shown in Figure 1 The bottom end of the main reflector 120 is bent to form a support platform 121. The top surface of the support platform 121 is provided with the phased array antenna 110. The unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure further comprises a support member 180. The support member 180 is installed at the bottom end of the main reflector 120. The top end of the support member 180 is provided with the sub-reflector 130. Compared with the form in which the main reflector 120, the phased array antenna 110, and the sub-reflector 130 are respectively installed on the base 140, the relative positions of the main reflector 120, the phased array antenna 110, and the sub-reflector 130 are more easily controlled, the relative position accuracy is improved, and the working effect is thus guaranteed.

[0039] Preferably, the support member 180 can be a support rod or a support frame.

[0040] In some embodiments, the unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure further comprises a base 140. The main reflector 120 is fixedly installed on the top of the base 140 to fix the phased array antenna 110 and the sub-reflector 130 on the top of the base 140.

[0041] In other embodiments, such as Figure 1 As shown, the UAV ground control terminal antenna structure also includes a base 140 and a pitch servo motor. The main reflector 120 is rotatably mounted on the top of the base 140 via a pitch pivot 150. The pitch servo motor is fixedly mounted on the top of the base 140, and its output shaft is fixedly connected to the pitch pivot 150. It can drive the pitch pivot 150 to rotate, thereby causing the main reflector 120, the phased array antenna 110, and the sub-reflector 130 to rotate around the axis of the pitch pivot 150. That is, the pitch servo motor can drive the main reflector 120, the phased array antenna 110, and the sub-reflector 130 to perform pitch movements around the pitch pivot 150, so that the UAV ground control terminal antenna structure can continue to track the UAV 200 when it reaches a small elevation angle.

[0042] Specifically, in the example, such as Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, a transmission disk 141 is provided at the bottom of the base 140, and meshing teeth are provided on the side wall of the transmission disk 141. The UAV ground telemetry and control terminal antenna structure also includes an azimuth servo motor 160, a transmission gear 170, and a controller. The transmission gear 170 is sleeved on the output shaft of the azimuth servo motor 160. The output shaft of the azimuth servo motor 160 is connected to the transmission disk 141 at the bottom of the base 140 through the transmission gear 170. The azimuth servo motor 160 is used to drive the base 140 to rotate around its own axis, so as to drive the phased array antenna 110, the main reflector 120, and the sub-reflector 130 to rotate around the axis of the base 140 to adapt to the communication requirements in various azimuths. The controller is electrically connected to the azimuth servo motor 160, the elevation servo motor, and the phased array antenna 110 respectively, and is used to control whether the azimuth servo motor 160, the elevation servo motor, and the phased array antenna 110 are working.

[0043] In the description of this invention, it should be understood that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," and "circumferential" indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are used only for the convenience of describing this invention and simplifying the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this invention.

[0044] In addition, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used only to describe the purpose and are not to be interpreted as indicating or implying relative importance or a specific number of the technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first", "second" can explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality of" is at least two, for example, two, three, etc., unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited.

[0045] In the present application, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connecting", "connecting", "fixing" and the like should be understood broadly, for example, it can be fixedly connected, or it can be detachably connected, or it can be integrated; it can be mechanically connected, or it can be electrically connected or in communication with each other; it can be directly connected, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium; it can be the internal communication of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements, unless otherwise explicitly limited. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0046] In the present application, the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "example", "specific example", or "some examples" mean that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in connection with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In the present specification, the illustrative description of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described can be combined in any appropriate manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. In addition, those skilled in the art can combine and combine the different embodiments or examples described in the present specification and the features of the different embodiments or examples without contradiction.

[0047] Although the embodiments of the present application have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and cannot be construed as limiting the present application, and those skilled in the art can make changes, modifications, replacements and variations to the above embodiments within the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure, characterized in that, The application relates to a phased array antenna, which comprises the following parts: a phased array antenna horizontally arranged on a plane; a main reflector obliquely arranged above one side of the phased array antenna; a sub-reflector arranged above the other side of the phased array antenna; the sub-reflector is obliquely arranged or vertically arranged; the oblique angle of the main reflector relative to the horizontal plane is less than 45 degrees; the beam scanning angle of the phased array antenna is + / -45 degrees; the main reflector is a concave reflector; the sub-reflector is a concave reflector or a convex reflector; the aperture of the main reflector is larger than that of the sub-reflector; the aperture of the phased array antenna is always directed to the zenith direction, and is not blocked by any reflector structure; when the beam scanning angle of the phased array antenna is greater than 45 degrees or less than -45 degrees, the beam can be reflected on the sub-reflector and then on the main reflector, and a communication link is formed between the main reflector and the unmanned aerial vehicle, so that the beam of the phased array antenna is used as a feed beam.

2. The unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure of claim 1, wherein, the bottom end of the main reflector is bent to form a support platform; the top surface of the support platform is provided with the phased array antenna; the application further comprises: a support member mounted on the main reflector; the support member is provided with the sub-reflector.

3. The unmanned aerial vehicle ground test and control terminal antenna structure according to claim 2, characterized in that, the application further comprises: a base; the main reflector is rotatably mounted on the top of the base through a pitch rotating shaft.

4. The unmanned aerial vehicle ground test and control terminal antenna structure according to claim 2, characterized in that, the application further comprises: a base; the main reflector is fixedly mounted on the top of the base.

5. The unmanned aerial vehicle ground control terminal antenna structure according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that, the application further comprises: an azimuth servo motor, the output shaft of which is in transmission connection with the bottom end of the base, and is used for driving the base to rotate around the axis of the base, so as to drive the phased array antenna, the main reflector and the sub-reflector to rotate around the axis of the base.

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