Lens antenna system capable of flexibly reconstructing wave beam

Abstract

The invention discloses a lens antenna system with a flexibly reconfigurable wave beam, and the system comprises a lens antenna which comprises a target lens and a multi-path receiving and transmitting array arranged on the surface of the target lens; one side of the signal conversion module is connected with the multi-path transceiving array; one side of the digital domain coding module is connected with the other side of the signal conversion module; the target lens is used for adjusting wavefront phases of received and transmitted electromagnetic waves and focusing or parallelizing the received and transmitted electromagnetic waves; the multi-path receiving and transmitting array is used for forming receiving and transmitting directional diagrams in multiple directions through the target lens; the signal conversion module is used for converting signals between the multi-path transceiving array and the digital domain coding module; and the digital domain coding module is used for carrying out digital domain coding processing on the digital domain transmit-receive signal. According to the lens antenna system, the beam forming performance can be improved, meanwhile, flexible reconstruction of the beam is achieved, the anti-interference capacity of the lens antenna system can be improved, and the application scene of the lens antenna system can be expanded.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of antennas, in particular to a lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration. BACKGROUND

[0002] As the core component of signal transmission and reception in the fields of wireless communication, radar detection, satellite navigation, etc., the performance of an antenna directly determines the communication quality, coverage range and detection accuracy of the entire electronic system applied in the aforementioned related fields. Therefore, the antenna plays an irreplaceable role in mobile communication, intelligent driving, sea, air and space scenes, etc.

[0003] With the development of communication technology and the growth of digital services, single-beam coverage technology has been unable to meet the demand for capacity, coverage, cost and anti-interference capability in application scenarios. Based on the advantages of low cost and high beamforming performance, multi-beam coverage technology has solved the aforementioned multiple bottlenecks of single-beam coverage technology, and has received more and more attention and been applied more and more widely in related fields. At present, the commonly used multi-beam coverage technology is realized through a lens multi-beam antenna, which can realize the directional radiation of electromagnetic waves through the refraction focusing principle of a lens (such as a Luneberg lens) to achieve the purpose of beam division. However, it is found in practice that although the aforementioned lens multi-beam antenna can improve the performance of beamforming, such as the same performance of the directional diagram in each direction and good coverage effect, etc., the beam direction and frequency of beamforming are fixed and cannot be flexibly reconfigured, which is not conducive to improving the anti-interference capability of the lens multi-beam antenna and expanding the application scenarios of the lens multi-beam antenna.

[0004] Therefore, how to improve the performance of beamforming while realizing flexible reconfiguration of the beam is a technical problem to be solved in the field. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration, which can improve the performance of beamforming while realizing flexible reconfiguration of the beam.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present application discloses a lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration, which comprises: a lens antenna, the lens antenna comprising a target lens and a plurality of transceiving elements arranged on the surface of the target lens; a signal conversion module, one side of the signal conversion module being connected to the plurality of transceiving elements; a digital domain coding module, one side of the digital domain coding module being connected to the other side of the signal conversion module; The target lens is configured to adjust the wave front phase of the electromagnetic wave and focus or parallelize the electromagnetic wave.

[0007] As an optional implementation, the lens antenna system further comprises: An analog domain coding module, one side of the analog domain coding module being connected to one side of the signal conversion module, and the other side of the analog domain coding module being connected to the multi-transceiving array; The analog domain coding module is configured to perform analog domain coding processing on the received to-be-processed signal. The to-be-processed signal includes a signal transmitted by the multi-transceiving array to the analog domain coding module or a signal transmitted by the signal conversion module to the analog domain coding module.

[0008] As an optional implementation, the analog domain coding module is specifically configured to perform analog domain coding processing on the received to-be-processed signal by using a multiple-input multiple-output matrix.

[0009] As an optional implementation, the multiple-input multiple-output matrix includes a matrix composed of unit orthogonal vectors.

[0010] As an optional implementation, the digital domain coding processing at least includes matrix operation of a generalized inverse matrix factor corresponding to the multiple-input multiple-output matrix.

[0011] As an optional implementation, the lens antenna system receives signals in the following specific manner: The target lens receives electromagnetic waves from multiple different directions in space, focuses and deflects the electromagnetic waves from the multiple different directions, and converts the electromagnetic waves from the multiple different directions into a plurality of receiving beams; the plurality of receiving beams enter the analog domain coding module, the analog domain coding module performs orthogonal coding on the plurality of receiving beams in an analog domain to obtain analog coded beams, and the analog coded beams are sent to the signal conversion module; the signal conversion module converts the analog coded beams into to-be-processed digital signals through analog-to-digital conversion, and the to-be-processed digital signals are provided to the digital domain coding module; and the digital domain coding module performs secondary coding and weighting operation on the to-be-processed digital signals in a digital domain.

[0012] As an optional implementation, in the application, the specific implementation of the lens antenna system transmitting signals is as follows: The digital domain coding module performs secondary coding and weighting operation on the digital signals to be transmitted to generate digital baseband signals, and provides the digital baseband signals to the signal conversion module; the signal conversion module converts the digital baseband signals into analog signals to be processed through digital-to-analog conversion, and provides the analog signals to be processed to the analog domain coding module; the analog domain coding module performs coding processing on the phase and amplitude of the analog signals to be processed in the analog domain to generate multiple analog signals; the multiple analog signals are incident to the target lens through the multi-channel transceiver array, and multiple beams in different directions are generated through the target lens and radiated into space.

[0013] As an optional implementation, in the application, the signal conversion module comprises a radio remote unit (RRU).

[0014] As an optional implementation, in the application, the target lens is one of a Luneberg lens, a generalized Luneberg lens, a Rotman lens, a metamaterial lens, and a novel spherical lens.

[0015] As an optional implementation, in the application, the specific method in which the digital domain coding module performs secondary coding and weighting operation on the digital signals to be transmitted to generate digital baseband signals comprises: The digital domain coding module performs secondary coding and weighting operation on the digital signals to be transmitted according to the target coding parameters determined in advance to generate digital baseband signals. The target coding parameters are determined according to the scene information corresponding to the application scenario of the lens antenna system and the application demand information corresponding to the application scenario of the lens antenna system.

[0016] The application has the following beneficial effects: In the application, the lens antenna system comprises a digital domain coding module and a signal conversion module for realizing signal conversion in addition to the lens antenna. The signals received and transmitted by the lens antenna need to be processed by the digital domain coding module for digital domain coding (such as secondary coding and weighting), so that the flexibility of adjusting the beam direction and power is realized. It can be seen that the application can not only improve the beam forming performance (such as the same performance of the directional diagram in each direction, good coverage effect, low sidelobe gain, and small beam leakage) based on the lens antenna, but also realize the flexible reconstruction of the beam based on the digital domain coding module. The application can not only improve the anti-interference ability of the lens antenna system, but also be beneficial to expanding the application scenario of the lens antenna system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below only show some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without any creative effort on the basis of these drawings.

[0018] Figure 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration disclosed by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 2 is a structural schematic diagram of another lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration disclosed by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 3 is a structural schematic diagram of a continuous overlapping multi-beam dragon lens antenna disclosed by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 4 is a structural schematic diagram of still another lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration disclosed by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] In order to better understand and implement, the following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application in combination with the drawings of the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without any creative effort belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0020] It should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the term "electrical connection" in the specification and claims of the present application and the above drawings should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed electrical connection, or a detachable electrical connection or an integral electrical connection; it can be a mechanical electrical connection, or a mutual communication connection; it can be a direct connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or a communication between two elements or a mutual interaction relationship between two elements. In addition, the terms "first", "second" and the like in the specification and claims of the present application and the above drawings are used to distinguish different objects, but are not used to describe a specific order, and the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For those skilled in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0021] The application discloses a lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration. Figures 1-2 The structure of the lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration is described in detail.

[0022] Embodiment Please refer to Figures 1-4 The lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration 10 can include: The lens antenna 101 includes a target lens 1011 and a plurality of transceiving elements 1012 arranged on the surface of the target lens 1011. The signal conversion module 102 is connected to the plurality of transceiving elements 1012 on one side. The digital domain coding module 103 is connected to the other side of the signal conversion module 102 on one side.

[0023] The target lens 1011 is used to adjust the wavefront phase of the received and transmitted electromagnetic waves and focus or parallelize the received and transmitted electromagnetic waves. The plurality of transceiving elements 1012 is used to form a plurality of directional receiving and transmitting patterns through the target lens 1011. The signal conversion module 102 is used to convert signals between the plurality of transceiving elements 1012 and the digital domain coding module 103. The digital domain coding module 103 is used to perform digital domain coding processing on the digital domain receiving and transmitting signals to achieve flexible beam direction and power reconfiguration.

[0024] In the embodiment of the application, the lens antenna system 10 can radiate electromagnetic waves into space through the target lens 1011, or receive electromagnetic waves in space through the target lens 1011. The target lens 1011 of the lens antenna system 10 can focus the received electromagnetic waves on a specific point on the spherical surface through gradient refractive index distribution, significantly improving the antenna gain, and can also achieve beam scanning in a wide coverage range through the plurality of transceiving elements 1012 (also referred to as a plurality of feed sources), improving the coverage effect. Optionally, the target lens 1011 can be one of a Luneberg lens, a generalized Luneberg lens, a Rotman lens, a metamaterial lens, and a new type of spherical lens.

[0025] Preferably, the target lens 1011 is a Luneberg lens. The antenna composed of the Luneberg lens can also be referred to as a multi-beam Luneberg lens antenna, and one of the structures of the multi-beam Luneberg lens antenna can be referred to as Figure 3beam0~beam3 are beams. Wherein, the directional radiation of electromagnetic wave is realized based on the refraction focusing principle of the Luneberg lens, so as to achieve the purpose of beam division, and thus the high performance of the same performance in each direction, good coverage effect, low sidelobe gain and small beam leakage can be achieved when the beam forming is realized through the lens antenna system 10 including the Luneberg lens.

[0026] It can be seen that the embodiment of the present application can not only improve the beam forming performance based on the lens antenna, but also realize the flexible reconstruction of the beam based on the digital domain coding module, so as to not only improve the anti-interference ability of the lens antenna system, but also be beneficial to expand the application scenarios of the lens antenna system.

[0027] In an optional embodiment, as shown in the figure, Figure 2 The lens antenna system 10 further comprises: The analog domain coding module 104 is connected to one side of the signal conversion module 102, and the other side of the analog domain coding module 104 is connected to the multi-transceiver array 1012. The analog domain coding module 104 is used for performing analog domain coding processing on the received to-be-processed signal. The to-be-processed signal includes the signal transmitted by the multi-transceiver array 1012 to the analog domain coding module 104, or the signal transmitted by the signal conversion module 102 to the analog domain coding module 104.

[0028] Optionally, the analog domain coding module 104 is specifically used for performing analog domain coding processing on the received to-be-processed signal through a multiple-input multiple-output matrix. Further optionally, the multiple-input multiple-output matrix includes a matrix composed of a set of unit orthogonal vectors.

[0029] It can be seen that the optional embodiment can also realize low-cost beam coverage through the analog domain coding module 104. In addition, the coding in the analog domain is realized through the multiple-input multiple-output matrix composed of a set of unit orthogonal vectors, so as to improve the effect of beam power sharing.

[0030] Optionally, the digital domain coding processing at least includes matrix operation of a generalized inverse matrix factor corresponding to the multiple-input multiple-output matrix.

[0031] In the optional embodiment, when the signal is transmitted based on the lens antenna system 10, the generalized inverse matrix operation corresponding to the generalized inverse matrix factor can make the digital domain beam weighting more suitable for the channel characteristics, and realize accurate control of the beam direction and shape; when the signal is received based on the lens antenna system 10, the multi-beam signal can be efficiently decoupled, and the original transmitted information can be recovered, which is beneficial to improve the accuracy of beamforming / recovery. In addition, in a complex electromagnetic environment, the multi-beam is easily affected by the interference signal, and the generalized inverse matrix operation corresponding to the generalized inverse matrix factor can orthogonalize the interference signal, thereby distinguishing the useful beam signal from the interference signal in the digital domain, reducing the influence of interference on the communication quality, and improving the stability of the lens antenna system 10 in the multi-interference scene. In addition, the generalized inverse matrix factor can be dynamically adjusted, so that the digital domain beam coding continuously adapts to the channel changes, realizes adaptive optimization of the beam, and thereby is beneficial to the lens antenna system 10 to maintain high performance in a complex scene.

[0032] Optionally, please refer to Figure 4 The signal conversion module 102 includes a radio remote unit RRU. It can be seen that the optional embodiment can realize digital-to-analog conversion or digital-to-analog conversion through the radio remote unit RRU, and the structure is simple, and the radio remote unit RRU can be deployed close to the lens antenna 101, which can greatly shorten the transmission distance of the radio frequency signal and reduce the attenuation of the signal, thereby being beneficial to improve the signal strength and coverage range.

[0033] The specific implementation of the lens antenna system 10 receiving the signal is as follows: The target lens 1011 receives electromagnetic waves from multiple different directions in space, focuses and deflects the electromagnetic waves from multiple different directions, and converts the electromagnetic waves from multiple different directions into multiple receiving beams; the multiple receiving beams enter the analog domain coding module 104, the analog domain coding module 104 orthogonally encodes the multiple receiving beams in the analog domain to obtain analog encoded beams, and the analog encoded beams are sent to the signal conversion module 102; the signal conversion module 102 converts the analog encoded beams into a to-be-processed digital signal through analog-to-digital conversion, and the to-be-processed digital signal is provided to the digital domain coding module 103; the digital domain coding module 103 performs secondary coding and weighting operation on the to-be-processed digital signal in the digital domain.

[0034] In addition, the specific implementation of the lens antenna system 10 transmitting the signal is as follows: The digital domain coding module 103 performs secondary coding and weighting operation on the to-be-sent digital signal to generate a digital baseband signal, and provides the digital baseband signal to the signal conversion module 102; the signal conversion module 102 converts the digital baseband signal into a to-be-processed analog signal through digital-to-analog conversion, and provides the to-be-processed analog signal to the analog domain coding module 104; the analog domain coding module 104 performs coding processing on the phase and amplitude of the to-be-processed analog signal in the analog domain to generate a plurality of analog signals; the plurality of analog signals are incident to the target lens 1011 through the multi-channel transceiver array 1012, and a plurality of beams in different directions are generated through the target lens 1011 and radiated into space.

[0035] Further optionally, the specific manner in which the digital domain coding module 103 performs secondary coding and weighting operation on the to-be-sent digital signal to generate a digital baseband signal includes: The digital domain coding module 103 performs secondary coding and weighting operation on the to-be-sent digital signal according to the target coding parameter determined in advance to generate a digital baseband signal; The target coding parameter is determined according to the scene information corresponding to the application scenario of the lens antenna system 10 and the application requirement information corresponding to the application scenario of the lens antenna system 10.

[0036] For example, in the case of a communication scenario as the application scenario, the scene information corresponding to the application scenario can include user density, environmental occlusion, etc., and the application requirement information corresponding to the application scenario can include coverage range, signal enhancement range, signal transmission rate, signal transmission delay, etc.

[0037] It can be seen that the optional embodiment can adaptively determine the target coding parameter of the digital domain coding module 103 based on the scene information and the corresponding application requirement information of the actual application scenario, and then perform secondary coding and weighting operation on the to-be-sent digital signal based on the determined target coding parameter, which not only helps to expand the application scenario of the lens antenna system 10, but also improves the matching degree of the beamforming performance and the application scenario.

[0038] The above describes in detail a lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration according to an embodiment of the present application. The principles and implementation manners of the present application are described by using specific embodiments in this paper, but the above preferred embodiments are not intended to limit the present application, and the above embodiment descriptions are only used to help understand the method and core idea of the present application; meanwhile, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present application, changes can be made to the specific implementation manners and application ranges without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application, therefore, the protection scope of the present application is subject to the scope defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A lens antenna system with flexible beam reconfiguration, characterized in that, The lens antenna system (10) includes: The lens antenna (101) includes a target lens (1011) and a multi-channel transceiver array (1012) disposed on the surface of the target lens (1011). A signal conversion module (102) is connected on one side to the multiplexer (1012). A digital domain encoding module (103) is provided, with one side of the digital domain encoding module (103) connected to the other side of the signal conversion module (102); The target lens (1011) is used to adjust the wavefront phase of the transmitted and received electromagnetic waves and to focus or parallelize the transmitted and received electromagnetic waves; the multi-channel transceiver array (1012) is used to form a transmission and reception pattern in multiple directions through the target lens (1011); the signal conversion module (102) is used to convert the signal between the multi-channel transceiver array (1012) and the digital domain encoding module (103); the digital domain encoding module (103) is used to perform digital domain encoding processing on the digital domain transmitted and received signals.

2. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The lens antenna system (10) also includes: An analog domain coding module (104) is provided, with one side of the analog domain coding module (104) connected to one side of the signal conversion module (102) and the other side of the analog domain coding module (104) connected to the multiplexer (1012). The analog domain coding module (104) is used to perform analog domain coding processing on the received signal to be processed; The signal to be processed includes: the signal transmitted from the multiplexer (1012) to the analog domain coding module (104), or the signal transmitted from the signal conversion module (102) to the analog domain coding module (104).

3. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to claim 2, characterized in that, The analog domain coding module (104) is specifically used to perform analog domain coding processing on the received signal to be processed through a multiple-input multiple-output matrix.

4. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to claim 3, characterized in that, The multiple-input multiple-output matrix includes a matrix composed of a group of identity orthogonal vectors.

5. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to claim 4, characterized in that, The digital field encoding process includes at least matrix operations on the generalized inverse matrix factors corresponding to the multiple-input multiple-output matrix.

6. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that, The specific implementation method of the lens antenna system (10) receiving signals is as follows: The target lens (1011) receives electromagnetic waves from multiple directions in space and focuses and deflects these electromagnetic waves, converting them into multiple receiving beams. The multiple receiving beams enter the analog domain encoding module (104), which performs orthogonal encoding on the multiple receiving beams in the analog domain to obtain an analog-encoded beam. The analog-encoded beam is then sent to the signal conversion module (102). The signal conversion module (102) converts the analog-encoded beam into a digital signal to be processed through analog-to-digital conversion. The digital signal to be processed is provided to the digital domain encoding module (103). The digital domain encoding module (103) performs secondary encoding and weighting operations on the digital signal to be processed in the digital domain.

7. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that, The specific implementation method of the transmitted signal by the lens antenna system (10) is as follows: The digital domain encoding module (103) performs secondary encoding and weighting operations on the digital signal to be transmitted to generate a digital baseband signal, and provides the digital baseband signal to the signal conversion module (102); the signal conversion module (102) converts the digital baseband signal into an analog signal to be processed through digital-to-analog conversion, and provides the analog signal to be processed to the analog domain encoding module (104); the analog domain encoding module (104) encodes the phase and amplitude of the analog signal to be processed in the analog domain to generate multiple analog signals; the multiple analog signals are incident on the target lens (1011) through the multiple transceiver array (1012), and multiple beams in different directions are generated by the target lens (1011) and radiated into space.

8. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that, The signal conversion module (102) includes a radio frequency remote unit (RRU).

9. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that, The target lens (1011) is one of the following: Luneburg lens, generalized Luneburg lens, Rotman lens, metamaterial lens, and novel spherical lens.

10. The beam-reconfigurable lens antenna system according to claim 7, characterized in that, The specific methods by which the digital domain coding module (103) performs secondary encoding and weighting operations on the digital signal to be transmitted to generate a digital baseband signal include: The digital domain coding module (103) generates a digital baseband signal by performing secondary coding and weighting operations on the digital signal to be transmitted according to the predetermined target coding parameters. The target encoding parameters are determined based on the scene information corresponding to the application scenario of the lens antenna system (10) and the application requirement information corresponding to the application scenario of the lens antenna system (10).

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