Lightweight low-profile broadband film antenna

Abstract

A radiation patch comprises four rectangular patches which are laid on the top surface of a thin film material plate, a gap is reserved between every two adjacent rectangular patches, and a polygonal groove is formed in the center of each rectangular patch. And the aramid paper honeycomb is used for supporting the thin film material plate and is positioned between the thin film material plate and the feeder dielectric plate. The slotted floor is located on the top surface of the feeder dielectric plate, and the center of the slotted floor is provided with an H-shaped slot. The microstrip feeder is located on the bottom face of the feeder dielectric plate, and the impedance of the microstrip feeder is 50 ohms. The thin film material plate and the aramid paper honeycomb replace a traditional high-frequency microwave plate, so that the weight can be reduced by more than 50%, and the light weight of the antenna is realized. A cross-shaped gap and a polygonal groove are formed in the radiation patch to excite mold stripping and mold combination, a current path is prolonged, and the bandwidth of the antenna is expanded under the condition of low profile. A printing mode is adopted, the structure is simple, and machining and integration are easy.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of antenna design, and particularly relates to a lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid development of phased array radar and communication technologies, various wireless electronic systems, especially spaceborne phased array radar systems, have an increasingly urgent need for lightweight, low-profile broadband antennas. Broadband antenna elements are a crucial component of phased arrays, influencing their performance. Using traditional phased array antennas would result in an exponential increase in radar weight, making it difficult to meet the requirements of satellite platforms. Due to space constraints, satellite platforms also impose stringent requirements on antenna profiles. Furthermore, traditional antennas present a trade-off between expanding bandwidth, reducing profile, and minimizing weight.

[0003] To meet the current development requirements of spaceborne phased array radar, the design of lightweight, low-profile, wideband antennas is particularly important. Existing technologies include an antenna using laminated PCB technology, combined with a special dumbbell-shaped coupling slot to excite a rectangular patch, achieving a working bandwidth of 12 GHz to 18 GHz, but it is heavy. Another existing technology provides an antenna composed of three thin films and two layers of foam, with a relative bandwidth of approximately 7%, but it still suffers from insufficient bandwidth and inapplicability to spaceborne applications. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The technical objective of this invention is to provide a lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna to solve the technical problem that existing antennas are difficult to adapt to the requirements of satellite platforms.

[0005] To solve the above problems, the technical solution of the present invention is as follows: A lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna includes several thin-film antenna elements, each of which includes: a radiating patch, a thin-film material board, an aramid paper honeycomb, a slotted ground plane, a feed line dielectric board, and a microstrip feed line. The radiating patch includes four rectangular patches laid flat on the top surface of the thin film material plate, with gaps between adjacent rectangular patches and a polygonal groove in the center of each rectangular patch. Aramid paper honeycomb is used to support the thin film material plate and is located between the thin film material plate and the feeder dielectric plate; The slotted floor is located on the top surface of the feeder dielectric board, with an "H"-shaped slot in its center; The microstrip feed is located on the bottom surface of the feed dielectric substrate and has an impedance of 50 ohms.

[0006] Specifically, a metal patch is divided into four rectangular patches through a cross-shaped gap to stimulate... Model and The current path on the patch is extended by creating a polygonal slot at the center of each rectangular patch.

[0007] Among them, a slot coupling feeding method is adopted, in which the radiating patch is excited through an "H"-shaped coupling slot.

[0008] Among them, the film material board is made of polyimide flexible film.

[0009] Among them, the aramid paper honeycomb uses epoxy resin film to fix it to the thin film material board and the feeder dielectric board.

[0010] In particular, the aramid paper honeycomb has grooves on its honeycomb wall, which creates air vents with a diameter of 0.2 mm between each honeycomb unit.

[0011] Four positioning holes are provided at the same position on the thin film material plate, the slotted floor plate, and the feeder dielectric plate to ensure the interlayer alignment accuracy when the thin film material plate and the feeder dielectric plate are bonded to the aramid paper honeycomb.

[0012] The end of the microstrip feed line is connected to a 50-ohm SMP surface mount connector. One end of the SMP surface mount connector is in the form of a solder pin, which can be directly soldered to the end of the microstrip feed line. The other end of the SMP surface mount connector can be selected with different types of RF connectors according to the requirements.

[0013] Among them, the feeder dielectric board uses Rogers 6002 high-frequency microwave board material.

[0014] Because the present invention adopts the above technical solution, it has the following advantages and positive effects compared with the prior art: To expand bandwidth, the radiating patch substrate of slot-coupled microstrip antennas is often quite thick; aramid paper honeycomb, due to its unique honeycomb structure, has a much lower density than high-frequency microwave substrates. This invention uses thin film material plates and aramid paper honeycomb to replace traditional high-frequency microwave substrates, which can reduce weight by more than 50%, thus achieving antenna lightweighting.

[0015] To further improve bandwidth, slot-coupled microstrip antennas require the addition of parasitic patches. This invention excites radiation by creating cross-shaped slots and polygonal grooves on the radiating patch. Model and The mode extends the current path, expanding the antenna bandwidth under low profile conditions.

[0016] This invention adopts a printed form, which is simple in structure, easy to process and integrate; the feed line adopts a microstrip line form, which can be blindly inserted with the back-end circuit by soldering SMP surface mount connectors, or it can be integrated with the back-end circuit by directly integrating the circuit at the bottom of the antenna. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments. The accompanying drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the invention.

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the S-parameters of the lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna of the present invention. Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the patch current of the lightweight low-profile broadband thin-film antenna of the present invention. Figure 4 The scanning pattern of the lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna array of the present invention at 9.0 GHz; Figure 5 The scanning pattern of the lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna array of the present invention at 9.5 GHz; Figure 6 The scanning pattern of the lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna array of the present invention at 10.0 GHz; Figure 7 The scanning pattern of the lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna array of the present invention at 10.5 GHz is shown.

[0019] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures 1: Radiation patch; 11: Cross-shaped gap; 12: Polygonal groove; 2: Thin film material board; 21: Positioning hole; 3: Aramid paper honeycomb; 31: Paper honeycomb ventilation hole; 4: Slotted floor; 41: H-shaped gap; 42: Positioning hole; 5: Feeder dielectric board; 51: Positioning hole; 6: Microstrip feeder. Detailed Implementation

[0020] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the specific implementation methods of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings and other implementation methods can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative effort.

[0021] To keep the drawings concise, only the parts relevant to the invention are shown schematically in each figure, and they do not represent the actual structure of the product. Furthermore, for ease of understanding, in some figures, only one of components with the same structure or function is shown schematically, or only one is labeled. In this document, "one" can mean not only "only one" but also "more than one".

[0022] The present invention provides a lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. The advantages and features of the invention will become clearer from the following description and claims.

[0023] See Figure 1 This embodiment provides a lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna, which is composed of multiple thin-film antenna elements. Now, regarding a single thin-film antenna element, from the spatial position, it consists of a radiating patch 1, a thin-film material plate 2, an aramid paper honeycomb 3, a slotted ground plane 4, a feed line dielectric plate 5, and a microstrip feed line 6.

[0024] The radiating patch 1 consists of four rectangular patches laid flat on the top surface of the thin film material plate 2, with the gaps between the rectangular patches forming a cross-shaped gap 11. This can be understood as the radiating patch 1 being divided into four rectangular patches by the cross-shaped gap 11. Each rectangular patch has a central opening... Figure 1 The polygonal groove 12 is shown. Specifically, it is activated through the aforementioned cross-shaped gap 11. Model and The mold extends the current path on the patch by opening a polygonal slot 12 in the center of each rectangular patch.

[0025] The thin film material plate 2 is made of polyimide flexible film with a dielectric constant of 3.2 and a thickness of 0.1 mm.

[0026] The aramid paper honeycomb 3 is a honeycomb-shaped material formed by impregnating meta-aramid paper with phenolic resin. Each honeycomb unit has a pore diameter of 3.2 mm, a height of 1 mm, a material density of 0.05 g / cm³, and a planar compressive strength of 2.05 MPa. It exhibits high support strength and light weight, and is therefore located between the thin film material plate 2 and the feed line dielectric plate 5 to support the thin film material plate 2. Furthermore, the aramid paper honeycomb 3 uses an epoxy resin film to fix it to both the thin film material plate 2 and the feed line dielectric plate 5. To balance the support and permeability of the paper honeycomb, this embodiment also uses a 0.2 mm diameter steel wire to create grooves in the honeycomb wall of the aramid paper honeycomb 3, forming 0.2 mm diameter air vents between each honeycomb unit. This prevents the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the paper honeycomb from affecting the bonding effect of the epoxy resin in a vacuum environment.

[0027] The slotted floor 4 is located on the top surface of the feeder dielectric board 5, with an "H"-shaped slot 41 in its center. It is made of Rogers 6002 high-frequency microwave substrate with a dielectric constant of 2.92 and a thickness of 0.254 mm. In this embodiment, a slot-coupled feeding method is used to excite the radiating patch 1 above through the "H"-shaped coupling slot.

[0028] The microstrip feed line 6 is located on the bottom surface of the feed line dielectric board 5, and its impedance is 50 ohms. The end of the microstrip feed line 6 is connected to a 50-ohm SMP surface mount connector. One end of the SMP surface mount connector is in the form of a solder pin, which can be directly soldered to the end of the microstrip feed line 6. The other end of the SMP surface mount connector can be selected with different types of RF connectors according to requirements.

[0029] Preferably, for ease of installation, four positioning holes (21, 42, 51) are provided at the same position on the film material plate 2, the slotted floor plate 4, and the feeder medium plate 5 to ensure the interlayer alignment accuracy when the film material plate 2 and the feeder medium plate 5 are bonded to the aramid paper honeycomb 3.

[0030] After the above installation is completed, an antenna element is obtained. The cross-sectional height of the antenna element is approximately 1.4 mm, and its weight is approximately 0.82 g. The antenna elements can be arranged in either a triangular grid or a rectangular grid. The spacing between each antenna element is determined according to the array scanning range. When the antenna element spacing is 16.6 mm, the antenna array can achieve a scanning range of ±45°. This embodiment can be directly integrated with a multilayer hybrid RF front-end.

[0031] See Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the S-parameters in this embodiment, where the horizontal axis represents the frequency variable in GHz, and the vertical axis represents the return loss variable. Figure 2 As shown, the operating frequency band of this embodiment is 8.94 GHz to 10.52 GHz, the return loss of the RF monitoring port is greater than 10 dB in the passband, and the relative bandwidth is 16.24%.

[0032] Figure 3 This refers to the surface current of the radiating patch 1 in this embodiment.

[0033] Figure 4 The image shows the scanning pattern at 9.0 GHz for a 2×12 rectangular array of antenna elements in this embodiment. The horizontal axis represents the angle variable in degrees (deg), and the vertical axis represents the normalized gain variable in dB.

[0034] Figure 5 The image shows the scanning pattern at 9.5 GHz of a 2×12 rectangular array of antenna elements according to the present invention. The horizontal axis represents the angle variable in degrees (deg), and the vertical axis represents the normalized gain variable in dB.

[0035] Figure 6 The image shows the scanning pattern at 10.0 GHz for a 2×12 rectangular array of antenna elements in this embodiment. The horizontal axis represents the angle variable in degrees (deg), and the vertical axis represents the normalized gain variable in dB.

[0036] Figure 7 The image shows the scanning pattern of a 2×12 rectangular array of antenna elements in this embodiment at 10.5 GHz. The horizontal axis represents the angle variable in degrees (deg), and the vertical axis represents the normalized gain variable in dB.

[0037] In summary, this embodiment proposes a lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna. It achieves lightweighting by replacing traditional high-frequency microwave substrates with thin-film materials and aramid paper honeycomb 3. The antenna is excited by creating a cross-shaped slit 11 and a polygonal slot 12 on the radiating patch 1. Model and The current path is extended, expanding the antenna bandwidth under low profile conditions and enabling antenna miniaturization. The wire slotting and pressing method ensures uniform air pressure inside and outside the paper honeycomb, preventing bulging and delamination of the pressed thin-film antenna in a vacuum environment. Furthermore, this embodiment uses a printing process, resulting in a simple structure that is easy to process and integrate.

[0038] The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Even if various changes are made to the present invention, if these changes fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, they shall still fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna, characterized in that, It includes several thin-film antenna elements, each of which includes: a radiating patch, a thin-film material board, an aramid paper honeycomb, a slotted ground plane, a feed line dielectric board, and a microstrip feed line; The radiation patch includes four rectangular patches laid flat on the top surface of the thin film material plate, with gaps between adjacent rectangular patches, and a polygonal groove is formed in the center of each rectangular patch. The aramid paper honeycomb is used to support the thin film material plate and is located between the thin film material plate and the feeder dielectric plate; The slotted floor is located on the top surface of the feeder dielectric board, and an "H"-shaped slot is provided in its center; The microstrip feed line is located on the bottom surface of the feed line dielectric substrate and has an impedance of 50 ohms.

2. The lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, A metal patch is divided into four rectangular patches through a cross-shaped gap to excite... Model and The current path on the patch is extended by creating a polygonal slot at the center of each rectangular patch.

3. The lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, The radiating patch is excited by a slot coupling feeding method through the "H"-shaped coupling slot.

4. The lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, The film material plate is made of polyimide flexible film.

5. The lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aramid paper honeycomb uses an epoxy resin film to fix it to the thin film material plate and the feeder dielectric plate.

6. The lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aramid paper honeycomb has grooves on its honeycomb wall, so that air vents with a diameter of 0.2 mm are formed between each honeycomb unit.

7. The lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, Four positioning holes are provided at the same position on the thin film material plate, the slotted floor, and the feeder dielectric plate to ensure the interlayer alignment accuracy when the thin film material plate and the feeder dielectric plate are bonded to the aramid paper honeycomb.

8. The lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, The end of the microstrip feed line is connected to a 50-ohm SMP surface mount connector. One end of the SMP surface mount connector is in the form of a solder pin, which can be directly soldered to the end of the microstrip feed line. The other end of the SMP surface mount connector can be selected with different types of RF connectors as needed.

9. The lightweight, low-profile broadband thin-film antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, The feeder dielectric board is made of Rogers 6002 high-frequency microwave substrate.

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