A circularly polarized phased array antenna unit and antenna array

Abstract

The application discloses an antenna unit radiator, a circularly polarized phased array antenna unit and an antenna array, and belongs to the technical field of antennas. The circularly polarized phased array antenna unit comprises, in sequence, an antenna unit radiator, a first dielectric layer, a metal patch, a second dielectric layer, a third dielectric layer and a metal ground layer; the top of the third dielectric layer is provided with two L-shaped microstrip probes arranged orthogonally; the third dielectric layer is provided with feeding metal columns corresponding to the L-shaped microstrip probes one by one, the top end of each feeding metal column is connected with a corresponding L-shaped microstrip probe, and the bottom end of each feeding metal column is provided with a feeding port. The antenna array is formed by the above-mentioned antenna unit array. The application can expand the working bandwidth of the antenna, compensate for the defects of the narrow-band characteristic of the microstrip antenna, improve the degree of freedom of the design of the phased array antenna, is favorable for impedance matching, and greatly improves the circularly polarized performance of the phased array antenna array.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of phased array technology for satellite communication, specifically to an antenna element radiator, a circularly polarized phased array antenna element, and an antenna array. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid growth of global communication demands, satellite communication has become an indispensable component of modern communication networks due to its wide coverage, high transmission efficiency, and strong disaster resistance. In the field of satellite communication, phased array antennas, with their superior performance in electronic beam scanning, precise pointing control, and high gain, are gradually replacing traditional mechanical antennas and becoming a core technology for high-performance communication systems. By adjusting the phase relationship between array elements, phased array antennas can achieve rapid beam pointing adjustment, thereby significantly improving the system's response speed and reliability, making them particularly suitable for complex and ever-changing communication environments.

[0003] Ka-band, with its wide bandwidth, large capacity, and high data rate, has become the mainstream operating frequency band for next-generation satellite communication systems. Compared to the traditional C-band and Ku-band, Ka-band operates at a higher frequency, supporting data transmission with greater bandwidth to meet the needs of various applications such as high-speed internet, high-definition multimedia, and global broadband access. However, the high-frequency characteristics of Ka-band also bring significant challenges, such as higher transmission loss, more complex electromagnetic interference, and higher requirements for antenna miniaturization, low loss, and broadband performance.

[0004] In high-frequency antenna design, the introduction of circular polarization technology is particularly crucial. Circularly polarized antennas can effectively resist polarization mismatch caused by relative motion and attitude changes between the satellite and ground terminal, as well as environmental scattering, ensuring the stability and reliability of the communication link. Furthermore, circular polarization can significantly reduce signal attenuation in complex multipath environments, improving the system's anti-interference capability. This makes circularly polarized antennas an important design requirement in Ka-band satellite communication applications, and their performance directly affects the overall communication quality and user experience of the system.

[0005] Despite the immense potential of phased array antennas in Ka-band communication, numerous technical challenges remain in their design and implementation. First, the significantly reduced size of antenna array elements at higher frequencies necessitates both rigorous electromagnetic performance optimization and compliance with modern manufacturing processes. Second, the complexity of phase control circuitry increases rapidly with array size, making it crucial to reduce power consumption while maintaining control accuracy. Furthermore, Ka-band antennas must withstand extreme environments in space, such as drastic temperature variations, strong radiation, and mechanical vibration, thus making thermal management and structural reliability design paramount. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The purpose of this invention is to provide an antenna element radiator, a circularly polarized phased array antenna element, and an antenna array to solve at least one of the above-mentioned technical problems.

[0007] The technical solution of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned technical problems is as follows:

[0008] An antenna element radiator includes: a circular patch and an annular patch arranged concentrically, with a gap between the circular patch and the annular patch forming an annular gap; the outer side of the circular patch is provided with a plurality of grooves evenly spaced, and the inner side of the annular patch is provided with protrusions that correspond one-to-one with the grooves evenly spaced.

[0009] Furthermore, the radius of the aforementioned circular patch The inner radius of the ring patch The outer radius of the ring patch The number of grooves and protrusions is 8; the depth of the grooves is... ,width The height of the protrusion The width of the protrusion .

[0010] Furthermore, the outer side of the aforementioned annular patch is connected to several arc-shaped segments, all of which are concentrically arranged with the annular patch and arranged in a circular array around the center of the arc-shaped segments.

[0011] Furthermore, the number of the aforementioned arc-shaped branches is 4; the width of the arc-shaped branches... The central angle corresponding to the arc length of the arc-shaped branch .

[0012] A circularly polarized phased array antenna element includes: an antenna element radiator, a first dielectric layer, a metal patch, a second dielectric layer, a third dielectric layer, and a metal ground layer arranged sequentially.

[0013] The metal patch is a slot coupling patch; two orthogonally arranged L-shaped microstrip probes are laid on the top of the third dielectric layer; a feed metal pillar corresponding to each L-shaped microstrip probe is provided in the third dielectric layer, the top of the feed metal pillar is connected to the corresponding L-shaped microstrip probe, and the bottom of the feed metal pillar is provided with a feed port.

[0014] Furthermore, the aforementioned metal patch has several arc-shaped slits arranged in a ring around the center of the metal patch.

[0015] Furthermore, the aforementioned metal patch is circular, with its center line coinciding with the center line of the annular patch, and the radius of the metal patch... Smaller than the outer radius of the ring patch ;

[0016] The arc-shaped slits are n-shaped, with their openings facing the center of the metal patch and their closed ends forming an arc. The centerline of the arc-shaped slits coincides with the centerline of the metal patch. There are four arc-shaped slits, and the inner radius of the closed ends of the arc-shaped slits is... The width of the sealed end of the arc-shaped gap The length of both sides of the arc-shaped gap The central angle corresponding to the sealing end of the arc-shaped gap .

[0017] Furthermore, the two ends of the aforementioned feed metal pillar are flush with the two ends of the third dielectric layer, and the diameter of the feed metal pillar is... The distance between the center of the feed metal pillar and the center of the antenna element ; Length of L-shaped microstrip probe ,width .

[0018] Furthermore, several isolation metal pillars are evenly spaced on the outer side of the aforementioned antenna element, with the spacing between adjacent isolation metal pillars being... The isolation metal column and the power supply metal column have the same diameter.

[0019] An antenna array includes several array elements arranged in a rectangular array; each array element includes four of the aforementioned circularly polarized phased array antenna elements, which are arranged in a ring array.

[0020] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0021] (1) The present invention adopts a novel double-layer patch radiation structure, a sawtooth structure annular gap and an arc-shaped support, which superimposes to expand the working bandwidth of the antenna and make up for the defects of the narrow band characteristics of microstrip antenna.

[0022] (2) The present invention adopts an L-shaped microstrip probe coupled feeding structure, which improves the degree of freedom in the design of phased array antennas and is beneficial to impedance matching.

[0023] (3) The array unit rotation sequence feeding of the present invention greatly improves the circular polarization performance of the phased array antenna array. Attached Figure Description

[0024] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the antenna element radiator provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the external structure of a circularly polarized phased array antenna element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 3 This is a schematic cross-sectional view of a circularly polarized phased array antenna element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 4This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the metal patch provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the L-shaped microstrip probe patch provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of an array of array units provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 7 The active VSWR curve of the array unit provided in the embodiment of the present invention is simulated with periodic boundary conditions;

[0031] Figure 8 Axis ratio curve of the array cell simulated with periodic boundary conditions for an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of an 8x8 array unit provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 10 The radiation pattern of the 8x8 array element array simulation provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 11 The axial ratio curves of the 8x8 array unit array under different angles are provided for the simulation scanning of the array in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] Reference numerals: 1-Antenna element radiator; 2-Metal patch; 3-L-shaped microstrip probe; 4-Feed metal pillar; 5-First dielectric layer; 6-Second dielectric layer; 7-Third dielectric layer; 8-Metal ground layer; 9-Isolation metal pillar; 11-Circular patch; 12-Annular patch; 13-Groove; 14-Protrusion; 15-Arc-shaped segment; 21-Arc-shaped slot. Detailed Implementation

[0036] The principles and features of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The examples given are only for explaining the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

[0037] Example 1:

[0038] like Figure 1 As shown, this embodiment provides an antenna element radiator, including: a circular patch 11 and an annular patch 12 arranged concentrically, with a gap between the circular patch 11 and the annular patch 12 forming an annular gap. The outer side of the circular patch 11 is provided with a plurality of grooves 13 evenly spaced, and the inner side of the annular patch 12 is provided with protrusions 14 that correspond one-to-one with the grooves 13, with a gap also existing between the protrusions 14 and the circular patch 11.

[0039] Preferably, the number of grooves 13 and protrusions 14 is 8; the radius of the circular patch 11 is... The inner radius of the annular patch 12 The outer radius of the annular patch 12 Depth of groove 13 ,width The height of protrusion 14 The width of the protrusion is 14. .

[0040] The outer side of the annular patch 12 is connected to several arc-shaped branches 15. All the arc-shaped branches 15 are concentrically arranged with the annular patch 12 and arranged in a circular array around the center of the arc-shaped branches 15. There are gaps between adjacent arc-shaped branches 15.

[0041] Preferably, the number of arc-shaped supports 15 is 4; the width of the arc-shaped supports 15 is... The central angle corresponding to the arc length of arc-shaped support 15 .

[0042] Example 2:

[0043] like Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, this embodiment provides a circularly polarized phased array antenna element, comprising: an antenna element radiator 1, a first dielectric layer 5, a metal patch 2, a second dielectric layer 6, a third dielectric layer 7, and a metal ground layer 8 arranged sequentially as in Embodiment 1. The metal patch 2 is a slot-coupled patch, and the first dielectric layer 5, the second dielectric layer 6, and the third dielectric layer 7 are preferably MW-3350 dielectric substrates with a relative permittivity of 3.51 and a loss tangent of 0.004.

[0044] like Figure 4 As shown, the metal patch 2 is circular, and its center line coincides with the center line of the annular patch 12. The radius of the metal patch 2 is... Smaller than the outer radius of the annular patch 12 The metal patch 2 has several arc-shaped slots 21 for adjusting the input impedance of the antenna. The arc-shaped slots 21 are arranged in a ring around the center of the metal patch 2, and adjacent arc-shaped slots 21 are not connected. The arc-shaped slots 21 are n-shaped, with their open ends facing the center of the metal patch 2 and their closed ends being arc-shaped. The centerline of the arc-shaped slots 21 coincides with the centerline of the metal patch 2.

[0045] Preferably, the number of arc-shaped gaps 21 is 4, and the inner radius of the sealing end of the arc-shaped gaps 21 is... The width of the sealed end of the arc-shaped slit 21 The length of both sides of the arc-shaped gap 21 The central angle corresponding to the sealing end of the arc-shaped gap 21 .

[0046] like Figure 5As shown, two orthogonally arranged L-shaped microstrip probes 3 are laid on the top of the third dielectric layer 7, meaning that there is a 90° phase difference between the two L-shaped microstrip probes 3 relative to the center of the antenna element. Vertically arranged feed metal pillars 4, corresponding one-to-one with the L-shaped microstrip probes 3, are provided within the third dielectric layer 7. The top end of the feed metal pillar 4 is connected to the corresponding L-shaped microstrip probe 3, and the bottom end of the feed metal pillar 4 has a feed port. In this embodiment, both ends of the feed metal pillar 4 are flush with both ends of the third dielectric layer 7.

[0047] Preferably, the diameter of the feeding metal column 4 is... The distance between the center of the feed metal pillar 4 and the center of the antenna element ; Length of L-shaped microstrip probe 3 ,width .

[0048] like Figure 1 As shown, several isolation metal pillars 9 are evenly spaced on the outer side of the antenna element, and all isolation metal pillars 9 are vertically arranged. Preferably, the spacing between adjacent isolation metal pillars 9 is... The isolation metal column 9 has the same diameter as the power supply metal column 4.

[0049] In this embodiment of the invention, the antenna element radiator 1 and the metal patch 2 form a radiating structure, and the L-shaped microstrip probe 3, the feeding metal pillar 4, and the feeding port form a feeding structure. The Ka-band satellite communication circularly polarized phased array antenna element of this embodiment employs a double-layer patch radiating structure, a sawtooth-shaped annular slot, and an arc-shaped support, which collectively expands the antenna's operating bandwidth and compensates for the narrow-band characteristics of microstrip antennas. The L-shaped microstrip probe coupled feeding structure increases the design freedom of the phased array antenna and is beneficial for impedance matching.

[0050] Example 3:

[0051] This embodiment provides an antenna array, including a plurality of array elements arranged in a rectangular array. Each array element includes four of the aforementioned circularly polarized phased array antenna elements, such as... Figure 6 As shown, the four antenna elements are arranged in a ring array, and within the same array element, the feed metal pillars 4 are all close to the edge of the array element.

[0052] Figure 7 The graphs show the active VSWR curves of the array unit provided in this embodiment of the invention under periodic boundary conditions, simulating two linear polarization modes. In the graphs, the horizontal axis represents frequency in GHz, and the vertical axis represents the active VSWR. As can be seen from the vertical axis values ​​in the graphs, the array unit described in this invention, regardless of whether it uses horizontal or vertical linear polarization, has an active VSWR of less than 2, indicating good impedance matching performance.

[0053] Figure 8The figure shows the axial ratio curves of the array element provided in the embodiment of the present invention, simulated with periodic boundary conditions. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents the frequency in GHz, and the vertical axis represents the axial ratio in dB. It can be seen that the axial ratio of this antenna subarray in the Ka band is less than 0.05 dB, which shows very good circular polarization characteristics.

[0054] like Figure 9 The diagram shown is a schematic diagram of an 8x8 array unit provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0055] Figure 10 The figure shows the radiation pattern of the 8x8 array unit array beam within the range of 0 to 70 degrees, provided in an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents the scanning angle in degrees, and the vertical axis represents the left-hand circular polarization gain in dBi. As can be seen from the curves in the figure, the 16x16 subarray array composed of the present invention can achieve scanning within the range of 0 to 70 degrees, and only introduces a small gain loss, thus achieving wide-angle scanning.

[0056] Figure 11 The figure shows the axial ratio curves of the 8x8 array element beam scanning within the range of 0 to 70 degrees, as provided in this embodiment of the invention. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents frequency in GHz, and the vertical axis represents the axial ratio in dB. From the axial ratio curves at different scanning angles in the figure, it can be seen that the 16x16 subarray array constructed according to this invention maintains high circular polarization performance when scanning within the range of 0 to 70 degrees. Even at a scanning angle of 70 degrees, the axial ratio in the 27.5–31 GHz frequency band is consistently less than 6 dB, indicating good coupling between array elements.

[0057] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A circularly polarized phased array antenna unit, characterized by, The application relates to a circularly polarized phased array antenna unit. The antenna unit radiating body (1) comprises concentrically arranged circular patches (11) and ring-shaped patches (12), and a gap is arranged between the circular patches (11) and the ring-shaped patches (12) to form a ring-shaped slot; a plurality of grooves (13) are uniformly and interval arranged on the outer side of the circular patches (11), and a plurality of protrusions (14) corresponding to the grooves (13) are uniformly and interval arranged on the inner side of the ring-shaped patches (12); The metal patch (2) is a slot-coupled patch; two L-shaped microstrip probes (3) are arranged on the top of the third dielectric layer (7) and arranged orthogonally; the third dielectric layer (7) is provided with feeding metal columns (4) corresponding to the L-shaped microstrip probes (3); the top end of the feeding metal column (4) is connected with the corresponding L-shaped microstrip probe (3), and the bottom end of the feeding metal column (4) is provided with a feeding port; The metal patch (2) is provided with a plurality of arc-shaped slots (21), and the arc-shaped slots (21) are arranged in a ring-shaped array with the center of the metal patch (2) as the center. The outer side of the ring-shaped patch (12) is connected with a plurality of arc-shaped branches (15), all the arc-shaped branches (15) are arranged concentrically with the ring-shaped patch (12) and arranged in a ring-shaped array with the center of the arc-shaped branch (15) as the center.

2. The circularly polarized phased array antenna element of claim 1, wherein, the radius of the circular patch (11) the inner radius of the annular patch (12) the outer radius of the annular patch (12) ; the number of the grooves (13) and the projections (14) is 8; the depth , the width of the grooves (13); the height , the width of the projections (14).

3. The circularly polarized phased array antenna element of claim 1 or 2, wherein, The application further relates to a circularly polarized phased array antenna, which comprises a plurality of array units arranged in a rectangular array; each array unit comprises four circularly polarized phased array antenna units as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, and the four antenna units are arranged in a ring-shaped array.

4. The circularly polarized phased array antenna element of claim 3, wherein, The number of the arc-shaped segments (15) is 4; the width of the arc-shaped segments (15) The arc length of the arc-shaped segments (15) corresponds to a central angle of a circle .

5. The circularly polarized phased array antenna element of claim 1, wherein, The metal patch (2) is circular with a center line coinciding with the center line of the annular patch (12), the radius of the metal patch (2) being less than the outer radius of the annular patch (12) ; The arc-shaped slit (21) is of n type, the opening end thereof faces the center of the metal patch (2), the closed end thereof is arc-shaped, the center line of the arc-shaped slit (21) coincides with the center line of the metal patch (2), the number of the arc-shaped slit (21) is 4, the inner radius of the closed end of the arc-shaped slit (21) is , the width of the closed end of the arc-shaped slit (21) is , the length of two sides of the arc-shaped slit (21) is , and the central angle corresponding to the closed end of the arc-shaped slit (21) is .

6. The circularly polarized phased array antenna element of claim 1, wherein, The two ends of the feeding metal column (4) are flush with the two ends of the third dielectric layer (7), the diameter of the feeding metal column (4) The distance between the center of the feeding metal column (4) and the center of the antenna unit The length of the L-shaped microstrip probe (3) The width .

7. The circularly polarized phased array antenna element of claim 1, wherein, The outer side of the antenna unit is uniformly provided with a plurality of isolation metal columns (9), the distance between adjacent isolation metal columns (9) is the same as the diameter of the feeding metal column (4).

8. An antenna array, characterized by ​

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