A terahertz metasurface antenna beam control system

Abstract

This invention discloses a terahertz metasurface antenna beam control system, belonging to the field of wireless communication transmission. The system includes a beam control board and an antenna adapter board, connected via a bus. The main controller receives control commands from a PC via a network port. These commands contain switching information for the DC fan-out channel of the metasurface antenna. The main controller then distributes the control information to various serial-to-parallel conversion chips, driving the antenna's DC fan-out channel through the bus and control signal traces on the adapter board. This invention can be applied to various terahertz metasurface antennas based on MEMS, HEMT switches, and phase-change materials. It can be modularly expanded according to antenna size and can also be integrated with artificial intelligence algorithms on the host computer to achieve high-speed beamforming and beam tracking.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of wireless communication transmission, specifically a terahertz metasurface antenna beam control system, which can be applied to terahertz metasurface antenna beam scanning. Background Technology

[0002] Terahertz wireless communication technology provides unprecedented communication capabilities for 6G networks. Terahertz metasurface antennas have the advantages of low cost, miniaturization, and high flexibility. With beamforming technology, they can achieve more efficient dynamic communication, providing new technical support for 6G terahertz communication. As the size of antenna arrays continues to increase, beam control technology is also constantly improving.

[0003] Currently, commonly used beam control system architectures are mainly divided into two types: centralized and distributed. Centralized beam control systems are mostly based on lookup table methods, pre-calculating the antenna array information and controlling it with a unified beam control chip, transmitting data to each point on the array surface. This method is applicable to phased array antennas with smaller array sizes, but it has long calculation time and slow beam scanning speed. Distributed beam control systems are mostly used for large-scale phased array antenna arrays, dividing the array surface into multiple subarrays, controlled by two cascaded beam control boards. The first-level beam control board usually acts as the master controller, used to calculate and send control signals, while the second-level beam control board corresponds to each subarray, realizing array beam scanning through coordinate calculation of control signals.

[0004] Patent ZL202210052097.5 discloses a centralized phased array antenna beam control system, in which the beam controller uniformly controls the digitally controlled delayers and digitally controlled phase shifters of each channel to achieve beam scanning with a large instantaneous bandwidth; Patent ZL201811263208.7 discloses a phased array antenna beam control device, whose equipment architecture is a three-dimensional stacked structure, consisting of an adapter baseboard, a high-density loop connector, and a signal processing sub-board from bottom to top; Patent ZL202110815031.2 discloses a distributed phased array antenna beam control system, which includes a primary control motherboard and a secondary beam control sub-board, wherein... The primary beam controller is responsible for calculating the beam pointing angle information of the synthesized beam of the phased array antenna, and then transmitting it to the secondary beam controllers of each subarray via the primary bus, and then to each antenna element. In 2024, Liu Xiaolei et al. published a distributed phased array antenna beam control system, which uses architecture and control flow design to realize real-time calculation of beam pointing code and high-speed data transmission. Yin Zhiyong et al. published a beam control system control method based on a transceiver-distributed phased array. The system is divided into array-level control and transceiver subarray-level control. The two levels of control send control messages to each other through high-speed transceivers. The main control programs are all written and designed using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

[0005] A comparison of current research at home and abroad reveals that most published beam control systems are applied to phased array antennas. These systems require the integration of numerous digital phase-shifting / attenuation modules, resulting in high system complexity. Unlike traditional phased array antenna beam control systems, metasurface antenna beam control systems only require a chip to output a driving voltage to the DC fan-out channel of the antenna array, thereby changing the operating state of the metasurface antenna elements and achieving beam scanning. Currently, there are no relevant literature reports on this type of metasurface antenna beam control system. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the high complexity and integration difficulties of traditional phased array antenna beam control systems, this invention proposes a terahertz metasurface antenna beam control system. Employing a centralized-distributed modular design, it aims to provide a low-cost, highly reliable, scalable, and versatile beam control device for metasurface antenna beam scanning. The system includes a beam control board and an antenna adapter board, connected via a bus. The beam control board includes a main controller, an FPGA, a level conversion chip, a serial-to-parallel conversion chip, and multiple connectors for data transmission. The adapter board includes antenna chip adapters, control signal traces, and multiple connectors for data transmission. The main controller receives control commands from a PC via a network port. These commands contain the switching information for the DC fan-out channel of the metasurface antenna. The main controller then distributes the control information to each serial-to-parallel conversion chip, driving the antenna's DC fan-out channel via the bus and control signal traces on the adapter board. This invention can be applied to various terahertz metasurface antennas based on MEMS, HEMT switches, and phase change materials. It can be expanded into modules according to the antenna scale, and can also be combined with artificial intelligence algorithms on the host computer to achieve high-speed beamforming and beam tracking. It is a low-cost, highly reliable, scalable, and versatile beam control device.

[0007] To achieve the above effects, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows: A centralized-distributed terahertz metasurface antenna beam control system includes a beam control board and an antenna adapter board, which are connected by a bus. The beam control board includes a main controller and multiple beam control sub-modules. A PC-based host computer sends control information to the main controller via a network port. The main controller then sends control information to each beam control sub-module via a communication interface. A programmable power supply provides the driving voltage for the DC fan-out channels. Each beam control sub-module includes an FPGA chip, a level conversion chip, a serial-to-parallel conversion chip, and a data output connector. The FPGA chip receives the control information from the main controller, matches the voltage through the level conversion chip, and drives multiple serial-to-parallel conversion chips in parallel, ultimately achieving independent DC fan-out voltage output for each channel. The antenna adapter board includes an antenna chip adapter, control information traces, and a data transmission connector; the control information traces are DC voltage signal transmission lines that match the antenna chip adapter; each pin of the antenna chip adapter corresponds to each DC fan-out channel of the metasurface antenna on the one hand, and to the coordinate information of the control signal sent by the beam control board on the other hand.

[0008] Furthermore, the control process is as follows: Step 1: The user inputs beam information into the host computer on the PC, and according to the metasurface antenna digital coding calculation model, it is solved into the working state of each element in the antenna array; Step 2: The main controller receives the beam information sent by the PC host computer through the network port, and converts it into control information for each DC fan-out channel in the array through coordinate calculation according to the arrangement of the metasurface antenna array, and distributes it to each beam control submodule. Step 3: The FPGA on the wave control submodule receives the control information sent by the main controller, and then drives each serial-to-parallel conversion chip in parallel, outputting high and low voltage signals according to the control information; Step 4: The control voltage signal is sent to the antenna adapter board via the bus, thereby driving each DC fan-out channel of the metasurface antenna array.

[0009] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages: The system design is simple. Unlike traditional phased array antenna beam control systems, this system does not require a large number of digital phase shift / attenuation modules. It only needs to output drive voltage to the DC fan-out channel of the antenna array through a programmable power supply and a serial-to-parallel converter chip to change the operating state of the metasurface antenna elements, thereby achieving beam scanning.

[0010] The system is highly scalable. The DC voltage fan-out channel control is designed in a sub-module manner, with each sub-module having reusable hardware. It is connected to the main controller in parallel, and the main controller has multiple reserved interfaces. In the future, the number of sub-modules can be directly increased as needed, thereby increasing the DC voltage channel fan-out scale.

[0011] The system boasts high integration. Employing a serial-to-parallel converter chip, a single chip can support multiple high and low voltage DC outputs, significantly reducing system complexity. Furthermore, the system integrates a DC-DC boost digital control power supply as the DC fan-out channel driver, eliminating the need for an external high-voltage driver, thus reducing the overall system size and making it more convenient to use. Attached Figure Description

[0012] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the beam control system of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the 64-channel beam control system in this invention; Figure 3 This is the PC-side host computer interface of the beam control system in this invention.

[0013] In the diagram: 1. Beam control board, 2. Antenna adapter board, 3. DC drive high voltage fan-out, 4. DC drive low voltage fan-out, 5. Antenna chip adapter, 6. Serial port, 7. Visual interface, 8. Upload configuration file. Detailed Implementation

[0014] To facilitate understanding of the technical content of this invention by those skilled in the art, the following description, in conjunction with specific examples and accompanying drawings, further illustrates the invention.

[0015] like Figure 1 The diagram shows the beam control system structure of the present invention, including a beam control board 1 and an antenna adapter board 2, which are connected by a bus. The beam control board 1 includes a main controller, an FPGA, a level conversion chip, a serial-to-parallel conversion chip, and multiple connectors for data transmission. The antenna adapter board 2 includes an antenna chip adapter 5, control signal traces, and multiple connectors for data transmission. The main controller receives control commands from a PC via a network port. These commands contain the switching information for the DC fan-out channel of the metasurface antenna. The main controller then distributes the control information to each serial-to-parallel conversion chip, driving the DC fan-out channel of the antenna via the bus and the control signal traces on the antenna adapter board.

[0016] The following is a specific example: like Figure 2 The diagram shows a 64-channel beam control system, including a beam control board 1 and an antenna adapter board 2. The beam control board 1 is controlled in parallel by an MCU main controller to control two HV9308 serial-to-parallel conversion chips. Each HV9308 serial-to-parallel conversion chip can fan out 32 DC drive voltages.

[0017] The level conversion chip is used for level matching between the MCU main controller and the HV9308 serial-to-parallel conversion chip. The programmable power supply is used to provide the drive voltage source required for the DC fan-out channels, with a maximum output voltage of 50V. The antenna adapter board 2 has control signal traces, connectors and antenna chip adapter 5, which are connected to the wave control board via a bus. The entire wave control system can fan out 64 channels, and each channel can be controlled independently.

[0018] The PC-based host computer communicates with the MCU main controller via Ethernet port to send control information. To ensure high-speed communication between the MCU main controller and the PC, the onboard SOC chip of the main controller module is combined with the RTL8211 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver, which supports Gigabit Ethernet communication with a theoretical communication speed of up to 1000Mbps, thus improving the overall beam switching and transmission time.

[0019] Antenna adapter board 2 includes two 34-pin connectors, which are connected to the 68 pads of antenna chip adapter 5 via control information traces. DC-driven high-voltage fan-out 3 includes 64 gold pads, each measuring 300μm × 300μm, with a spacing of 328μm between two pads; DC-driven low-voltage fan-out 4 includes 4 gold pads, each measuring 300μm × 300μm, with a spacing of 7700μm between two pads.

[0020] like Figure 3 The image shows the PC-side host computer interface of the beam control system. Communication between the computer and the beam control system is achieved via serial port 6. The host computer features a visual interface 7 for each chip, allowing monitoring of the operating status of each chip channel. During operation, the user calculates the operating status of each chip channel based on the beam scanning angle, creating a beam configuration file. A single beam configuration file can contain multiple sets of beam configuration information. Control information is imported into the host computer via "Upload Configuration File 8" and then distributed to the beam control system.

[0021] The above-described specific implementations can be locally adjusted by those skilled in the art in different ways without departing from the principles and purpose of the present invention. For example, the number of wave control modules can be increased to achieve beam control of a larger-scale metasurface antenna. The scope of protection of the present invention is defined by the claims and is not limited to the above-described specific implementations. All implementations within the scope of the claims are subject to the constraints of the present invention.

Claims

1. A terahertz metasurface antenna beam control system, comprising a beam control board (1) and an antenna adapter board (2), which are connected via a bus; characterized in that, The beam control board (1) includes a main controller and multiple beam control sub-modules. The PC host computer sends control information to the main controller through the network port. The main controller sends control information to each beam control sub-module through the communication interface. The programmable power supply is used to provide a driving voltage source for the DC fan-out channel. The beam control sub-module includes an FPGA chip, a level conversion chip, a serial-to-parallel conversion chip, and a data output connector. The FPGA chip is used to receive the control information sent by the main controller, match the voltage through the level conversion chip, and drive multiple serial-to-parallel conversion chips in parallel to finally realize the independent DC fan-out voltage output of each channel. The antenna adapter board (2) includes an antenna chip adapter (5), control information traces and a data transmission connector; the control information traces are DC voltage signal transmission lines that match the antenna chip adapter (5); each pin of the antenna chip adapter (5) corresponds to each DC fan-out channel of the metasurface antenna on the one hand, and to the coordinate information of the control signal sent by the beam control board (1) on the other hand.

2. The terahertz metasurface antenna beam control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control process is as follows: Step 1: The user inputs beam information into the host computer on the PC, and according to the metasurface antenna digital coding calculation model, it is solved into the working state of each element in the antenna array; Step 2: The main controller receives the beam information sent by the PC host computer through the network port, and converts it into control information for each DC fan-out channel in the array through coordinate calculation according to the arrangement of the metasurface antenna array, and distributes it to each beam control submodule. Step 3: The FPGA on the wave control submodule receives the control information sent by the main controller, and then drives each serial-to-parallel conversion chip in parallel, outputting high and low voltage signals (Vup, Vdown) according to the control information. Step 4: The control voltage signal is sent to the antenna adapter board (2) via the bus, thereby driving each DC fan-out channel of the metasurface antenna array.

Images