Antennas and electronic equipment
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO LTD
- Filing Date
- 2024-09-30
- Publication Date
- 2026-06-02
Smart Images
Figure CN122139271A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Antenna and electronic device TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of communication, and particularly relates to an antenna and an electronic device. BACKGROUND
[0002] R.K.Luneberg proposed the concept of Luneberg lens based on the theory of geometric optics, which is called Luneberg lens or Luneburg lens, etc. The relative permittivity of the Luneberg lens changes to meet the formula:
[0003] The Luneberg lens antenna has a spherical symmetric structure, and the relative permittivity continuously and gradually changes from 2 at the center of the sphere to 1 on the spherical surface. The Luneberg lens can converge incident electromagnetic waves at the focal point of the spherical surface, and vice versa. The advantages of the Luneberg lens include that multiple feeds can be placed at the focal point position on the spherical surface, so that multiple beams can be realized, and the radiation characteristics of each beam are the same; the working frequency band depends on the feed, and is irrelevant to the lens dielectric material; when tracking scanning is applied, only the feed needs to be moved, so the scanning rate and efficiency are greatly improved. The scanning angle can theoretically reach 360°, in order to avoid the shielding of the feed, the actual multi-beam coverage range is about 120°; the Luneberg lens is composed of dielectric materials, and compared with the expensive and complex phased array antenna, the cost is low, the structure is simple, and it is more suitable for mass production.
[0004] The convergence effect of the Luneberg lens on the feed beam is greatly affected by the size of the Luneberg lens sphere. The larger the lens sphere, the better the convergence effect, and the smaller the lens sphere, the worse the convergence effect. The Luneberg lens antennas on the market, especially the spherical Luneberg lens antennas, have relatively large sizes. However, when the lens sphere is large, the overall antenna size is large, and the weight is also increased, which is not conducive to the laying of the base station antenna, increases the cost, etc.
[0005] SUMMARY
[0006] The present application aims to at least solve one of the technical problems existing in the prior art, and provide an antenna and an electronic device.
[0007] The present disclosure provides an antenna, which comprises:
[0008] a Luneberg lens;
[0009] at least one antenna unit, the antenna unit comprising a first dielectric substrate, and a dipole fixed on the first dielectric substrate; the dipole is located on the side of the first dielectric substrate away from the Luneberg lens; the first dielectric substrate is opposite to the Luneberg lens, and a first spacing is formed between the first dielectric substrate and the Luneberg lens;
[0010] wherein,
[0011] The first dielectric substrate has a refractive index of zero for electromagnetic waves transmitted by the vibrator.
[0012] The first dielectric substrate comprises a metasurface structure.
[0013] The metasurface structure comprises a first substrate and at least one metasurface unit arranged on the first substrate.
[0014] The metasurface unit comprises any one of the following structures:
[0015] The first electrode and the second electrode are arranged in a cross manner.
[0016] The patch electrode is square.
[0017] The patch electrode is annular.
[0018] The open-loop patch electrode is arranged in a nested manner.
[0019] The annular patch electrode and the open-loop patch electrode are arranged in a nested manner.
[0020] The metasurface structure comprises oppositely arranged first and second substrates, an adjustable dielectric layer arranged between the first and second substrates, a first conductive layer arranged on the first substrate close to the adjustable dielectric layer, and a second conductive layer arranged on the second substrate close to the adjustable dielectric layer.
[0021] The first conductive layer comprises first conductive patterns arranged in an array, first connecting portions connecting two first conductive patterns arranged adjacent in a row direction, and second connecting portions connecting two first conductive patterns arranged adjacent in a column direction.
[0022] The second conductive layer comprises second conductive patterns arranged in an array, third connecting portions connecting two second conductive patterns arranged adjacent in a row direction, and fourth connecting portions connecting two second conductive patterns arranged adjacent in a column direction; the orthographic projection of one second conductive pattern and one first conductive pattern on the first substrate at least partially overlaps.
[0023] The number of the antenna units is multiple, and each first dielectric substrate is an integrally formed structure.
[0024] The vibrator comprises a second dielectric substrate and a radiation structure arranged on the second dielectric substrate.
[0025] The second dielectric substrate is fixed to the first dielectric substrate by a support assembly, and the radiation structure is located between the first dielectric substrate and the second dielectric substrate.
[0026] The first dielectric substrate has a second distance from the radiating structure, and an array plane formed by the radiating structure is located in the first dielectric substrate.
[0027] The Luneberg lens comprises a spherical lens; the spherical lens comprises N layers of sub-lenses which are sequentially wrapped, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer of sub-lenses, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses is greater than 1.
[0028] The Luneberg lens comprises a cylindrical lens; the cylindrical lens comprises N layers of sub-lenses which are sequentially nested, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer of sub-lenses, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses is greater than 1.
[0029] The Luneberg lens comprises a planar lens; the cylindrical lens comprises N layers of sub-lenses which are sequentially nested, N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer of sub-lenses, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses is greater than 1.
[0030] The Luneberg lens comprises a main body and a filling medium; the main body is formed with at least one concave portion towards the surface of the antenna unit; the filling medium fills the concave portion; the concave portion is arranged one-to-one corresponding to the antenna unit; the filling medium is an anti-reflection film.
[0031] The filling medium comprises multiple layers of sub-medium layers, and the smaller the dielectric constant of the sub-medium layer close to the center of the main body.
[0032] The outer contour of the main body is located on a first virtual circle; the outer contour of the concave portion is located on a second virtual circle, and the center of the second virtual circle is located on the first virtual circle.
[0033] The antenna further comprises at least one phase shifter; one phase shifter is connected to one vibrator.
[0034] The number of the antenna units is multiple, and the antenna further comprises a power divider; the power divider comprises a main path and multiple branch paths connected to the main path; a weight plate is arranged on the main path, and the phase shifter is arranged on the branch path.
[0035] The electronic device comprises the antenna as described above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0036] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary Luneberg lens antenna.
[0037] Fig. 2 is a directional diagram of the antenna shown in Fig. 1.
[0038] Fig. 3 is a plot of Luneberg lens radius versus antenna gain.
[0039] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0040] Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an antenna element according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0041] Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0042] Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a first exemplary Luneberg lens according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0043] Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a second exemplary Luneberg lens according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0044] Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a third exemplary Luneberg lens according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0045] Fig. 10 is a top view of a metasurface element according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0046] Fig. 11 is a directional diagram of an antenna according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0047] Fig. 12 is a top view of a metasurface element according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0048] Fig. 13 is a top view of a metasurface element according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0049] Fig. 14 is a top view of a metasurface element according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0050] Fig. 15 is a top view of a metasurface element according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0051] Fig. 16 is a cross-sectional view of a metasurface structure according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0052] Fig. 17 is a top view of a first conductive layer according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0053] Fig. 18 is a top view of a second conductive layer according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0054] Fig. 19 is a plot of beam steering for the metasurface structure shown in Fig. 16.
[0055] Fig. 20 is a schematic diagram of an antenna element according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0056] Fig. 21 is a schematic diagram of an antenna element according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0057] FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0058] FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0059] FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0060] Specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. It should be understood that the detailed description is merely described for explaining and interpreting the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the present disclosure.
[0061] To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all the embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the described embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without any creative work fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
[0062] Unless otherwise defined, technical terms or scientific terms used in the embodiments of the present disclosure shall have the ordinary meaning understood by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains. The terms “first”, “second”, and similar terms used in the present disclosure do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but are used to distinguish different components. Similarly, the terms “include”, “contain”, and similar terms mean that the elements or objects before the terms encompass the elements or objects listed after the terms and their equivalents, and do not exclude other elements or objects. The terms “connect” or “connected” or similar terms are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but can include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect. The terms “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, and the like only represent relative positional relationships, and when the absolute positions of the described objects are changed, the relative positional relationships can also be changed accordingly.
[0063] As used herein, "parallel," "perpendicular" include the recited condition and conditions that are approximately the recited condition, the approximation being within an acceptable range of deviation, as determined by one of ordinary skill in the art considering the measurements at issue and the error associated with the measurement of the particular quantity (i.e., the limitations of the measurement system). For example, "parallel" includes absolute parallel and near parallel, where near parallel can be within an acceptable deviation of, for example, 5°; "perpendicular" includes absolute perpendicular and near perpendicular, where near perpendicular can also be within an acceptable deviation of, for example, 5°. It will be appreciated that when a layer or element is referred to as being on another layer or substrate, it can be directly on the other layer or substrate, or an intervening layer also be present between the layers or substrate.
[0064] Exemplary embodiments are described herein with reference to cross-sectional and / or plan view illustrations that are idealized examples. In the interest of clarity, not all of the layer and regions are shown in the drawings with the same dimensions. For example, the thickness of layers and regions can be exaggerated in the drawings. Thus, the exemplary embodiments are not intended to be limited to the illustrations as shown in the drawings, but include variations as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the regions shown in the drawings are schematic and not intended to indicate the actual dimensions of the regions of the device, and are not intended to limit the scope of the exemplary embodiments.
[0065] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary Luneberg lens antenna. As shown in Figure 1, the antenna includes a Luneberg lens 2 and a dipole 11. The Luneberg lens 2 is a dielectric sphere that can focus the beam emitted by the antenna dipole 11. Thus, the Luneberg lens antenna increases the gain and narrows the beam width by focusing the beam emitted by the antenna dipole 11 using the Luneberg lens 2 sphere. The Luneberg lens 2 of the Luneberg lens antenna needs to have a large area to cover enough of the beam emitted by the antenna dipole 11 to increase the antenna efficiency and not waste energy, and to increase the gain of the antenna. As shown in Figure 1, the antenna has an application frequency of 1.71-2.69 GHz, and the Luneberg lens 2 sphere diameter needed is 600 mm, and the antenna gain is 19±1 dB. The antenna pattern is shown in Figure 2, and the gain and beam width data are shown in Table 1.
[0066] Since the antenna gain and the beam's incident efficiency are directly related, according to the simulation, different sizes of the Luneberg lens 2 directly affect the size of the gain, as shown in Figure 3. The larger the diameter of the lens sphere, the greater the gain, until it is basically saturated. Here, the lens sphere with a diameter of 600 mm is also the result of balancing the antenna size and the gain. As can be seen, the Luneberg lens 2 is very large, which makes the antenna profile relatively high and the weight also increases.
[0067] In view of the above technical problems, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides the technical scheme as follows.
[0068] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 4, the present embodiment provides an antenna, specifically a Luneberg lens antenna, which includes a Luneberg lens 2 and at least one antenna unit 1. The antenna unit 1 includes a first dielectric substrate 12 and a dipole 11 fixed on the first dielectric substrate 12. The first dielectric substrate 12 is opposite to the Luneberg lens 2, and the two have a first distance therebetween. The dipole 11 is located on the side of the first dielectric substrate 12 away from the Luneberg lens. The first dielectric substrate 12 in the present embodiment has a zero refractive index for the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the dipole 11. That is, the relative permittivity and the relative permeability of the first dielectric substrate 12 are both zero. In this case, when the electromagnetic wave emitted by the dipole 11 is incident on the first dielectric substrate 12, the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave becomes infinite, the phase velocity becomes infinitely small, and the group velocity becomes infinite. According to the characteristics of the zero-refractive-index medium, the electromagnetic wave emitted by the dipole 11 uniformly propagates in the zero-refractive-index medium without any interference or attenuation, and is then completely reflected at the reflecting plate of the dipole 11, thereby forming a strong radiation beam pointing in the direction perpendicular to the reflecting plate. Therefore, a highly directional antenna can be realized by the first dielectric substrate 12 of the zero-refractive-index material.
[0069] In the present embodiment, the beam direction of the electromagnetic wave emitted by the dipole 11 can be adjusted by the zero-refractive-index characteristics of the first dielectric substrate 12, for example, the beam width of the electromagnetic wave emitted by the dipole 11 is narrowed, and then the Luneberg lens 2 further converges the received beam. This kind of antenna structure can reduce the size of the Luneberg lens 2 without reducing the antenna gain, thereby effectively reducing the volume of the antenna and increasing the use field of the antenna.
[0070] It should be noted that the zero-refractive-index material in the present embodiment does not mean that the refractive index of a certain material is zero, but a structure is used to achieve a zero refractive index.
[0071] In some examples, Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an antenna unit 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 5, the dipole 11 in the present embodiment can include a second dielectric substrate 111 and a radiation structure 112 disposed on the second dielectric substrate 111. The second dielectric substrate 111 is fixed with the first dielectric substrate 12 through a support assembly 13, and the radiation structure 112 is located between the first dielectric substrate 12 and the second dielectric substrate 111. The first dielectric substrate 12 and the radiation structure 112 have a second distance therebetween, and the array surface formed by the radiation structure 112 is located in the first dielectric substrate 12. In this case, the incidence efficiency of the electromagnetic wave can be improved.
[0072] In some examples, the second dielectric substrate 111 can adopt a PCB substrate, and of course the second dielectric substrate 111 can adopt a glass substrate or the like. When the second dielectric substrate 111 adopts a PCB substrate, the radiating structure 112 can be integrated in the PCB substrate, and when the second dielectric substrate 111 adopts a glass substrate, the radiating structure 112 can be die-cast on the second dielectric substrate 111. The antenna element 11 plays a role of a feed source in the Luneberg lens antenna, and therefore a variety of different antenna elements 11 can be adopted, and the antenna element 11 basically has a relatively low gain and a relatively large beam width. For other formed antenna elements 11, they will not be listed one by one here.
[0073] In some examples, the number of the antenna units 1 in the embodiment of the present disclosure can be one or multiple. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; as shown in FIG. 6, when the number of the antenna units 1 is multiple, the antenna can be implemented as a multi-beam antenna. Taking an antenna including a spherical Luneberg lens 2 as an example, no matter where the antenna element 11 is located in the Luneberg lens 2, the beam can be converged through the lens ball, and the beams do not interfere with each other. As shown in FIG. 6, when the antenna includes four antenna units 1, that is, four elements 11, the antenna is a four-beam spherical Luneberg lens antenna, and the four elements 11 correspond to four beams of different angles. Therefore, the first dielectric substrate 12 can be integrated on each antenna element 11, and therefore each beam can be first converged in a first level, and then converged in a second level through the Luneberg lens 2, and finally the converged beam realizes the desired gain. At this time, the Luneberg lens 2 can also be reduced in size, cost and weight. Similarly, a double-beam and a six-beam Luneberg lens antenna can also be designed.
[0074] In some examples, the Luneberg lens 2 can be a single-layer structure or a multi-layer structure. For example, when the Luneberg lens 2 is N layers, N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and preferably N is 2-30. Moreover, when the Luneberg lens 2 adopts a multi-layer structure, that is, the Luneberg lens 2 includes multiple layers of sub-lenses 201, the dielectric constants of each layer of sub-lenses 201 are different. Since the Luneberg lens 2 has the characteristic that its relative dielectric constant is continuously and gradually changed from 2 at the center to 1 at the outer surface, the continuously and gradually changed dielectric constant can be replaced by a gradient-changed dielectric constant.
[0075] For example, the Luneberg lens adopts a spherical lens, which includes three layers of sub-lenses 201 wrapped in sequence, and the three layers from the center to the outer surface are a first layer of sub-lenses 201, a second layer of sub-lenses 201 and a third layer of sub-lenses 201, respectively. The dielectric constants of the first layer of sub-lenses 201, the second layer of sub-lenses 201 and the third layer of sub-lenses 201 are different, and are ε1, ε2 and ε3, respectively, and satisfy 2>ε3>ε2>ε1>1.
[0076] wherein the radius of each layer of the Luneburg lens 2 is determined by the formula The specific values are determined, but the specific values need to be corrected in simulation. It should be noted that the radius of each layer of the sub-lens 201 refers to the radius of the cross section of the sub-lens 201 through the center of the Luneburg lens 2.
[0077] In some examples, the material of the Luneburg lens 2 includes but is not limited to resin, nylon, plastic, foamed foam, and other materials with a dielectric constant within the required range.
[0078] In some examples, the Luneburg lens 2 includes but is not limited to a spherical lens, a cylindrical lens, a planar lens, and the like. The following describes examples in which the Luneburg lens 2 is selected from a spherical lens, a cylindrical lens, and a planar lens, and each lens includes multiple layers of sub-lenses 201.
[0079] First example: FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the Luneburg lens 2 of the first example of the embodiment of the present disclosure; as shown in FIG. 7, the Luneburg lens 2 includes a spherical lens; the spherical lens includes N layers of sub-lenses 201 wrapped in sequence, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses 201 monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer of sub-lenses 201, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses 201 is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses 201 is greater than 1.
[0080] Second example: FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the Luneburg lens 2 of the second example of the embodiment of the present disclosure; as shown in FIG. 8, the Luneburg lens 2 includes a cylindrical lens; the cylindrical lens includes N layers of sub-lenses 201 nested in sequence, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses 201 monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer of sub-lenses 201, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses 201 is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses 201 is greater than 1.
[0081] Third example: FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the Luneburg lens 2 of the third example of the embodiment of the present disclosure; as shown in FIG. 9, the Luneburg lens 2 includes a planar lens; the cylindrical lens includes N layers of sub-lenses 201 nested in sequence, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses 201 monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer of sub-lenses 201, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses 201 is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses 201 is greater than 1.
[0082] It should be noted that in the following description of the examples, only the spherical lens is used as an example of the Luneburg lens 2, but it should be understood that the Luneburg lens 2 can also be selected from a cylindrical lens, a planar lens, and the like.
[0083] In some examples, the first dielectric substrate 12 can be a metasurface structure. Specifically, the metasurface structure can include a first substrate 121, and at least one metasurface unit disposed on the first substrate 121. The metasurface unit can be disposed on the side of the first substrate 121 away from the vibrator 11, or on the side of the first substrate 121 close to the vibrator 11.
[0084] In one example, FIG. 10 is a top view of a metasurface unit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10, the metasurface structure can include a first electrode 122 and a second electrode 123 arranged in a cross shape. For example, the first electrode 122 and the second electrode 123 form a cross structure. The first substrate 121 can be selected from an FR4 dielectric plate, and the first electrode 122 and the second electrode 123 arranged in a cross shape can be implemented by plating copper on the FR4 dielectric plate, i.e., the first electrode 122 and the second electrode 123 are copper wires. The thickness of the FR4 dielectric plate is about 1-5 mm, the thickness of the copper layer is about 0.035-2 mm, and the width of the copper wire is about 0.5-3 mm. The period of the metasurface structure is 12-25 mm. The electromagnetic wave emitted by the antenna vibrator 11 is vertically incident on the first substrate 121, so the electric field direction is parallel to the copper wire, and an excitation current is generated on the copper wire. In the 1.71-2.69 GHz frequency band, the relative permittivity of the first dielectric substrate 12 is 0.001, the relative permeability is 0.001, and the characteristics are close to zero refractive index material by extracting S parameters of the unit structure by HFSS and then calculating by formula according to the equivalent dielectric theory.
[0085] The first dielectric substrate 12 is placed above the antenna vibrator 11 array, and the distance between the two is about 5-20 mm. The first substrate 121 of the first dielectric substrate 12 is larger than the antenna array by 5-20 mm, which realizes the best coverage of the beam of the antenna vibrator 11 and improves the incidence efficiency. According to the simulated directional diagram, as shown in FIG. 11, it can be seen that the beam of the antenna array is effectively narrowed after passing through the zero refractive index material, at which time the gain is improved and the 3dB beam width is reduced. Therefore, the first dielectric substrate 12 realizes good convergence of the beam of the antenna vibrator 11.
[0086] The first dielectric substrate 12 and the vibrator 11 are fixed, and are placed in front of the dragon lens 2. The first distance L1 between the first dielectric substrate 12 and the dragon lens is about 20-200 mm. As can be seen from FIG. 11, the gain of the beam at this time is 20±1 dB, as shown in Table 2, which is similar to the gain and beam width of the dragon lens antenna shown in FIG. 1. At this time, the ball diameter of the dragon lens 2 used is 300 mm, and the gain is improved, so by increasing the first dielectric substrate 12, the overall size, weight and cost of the dragon lens antenna are effectively reduced, the assembly difficulty is reduced, and the application is expanded.
[0087] In some examples, the super surface unit can not only adopt the above-mentioned cross-shaped first electrode 122 and second electrode 123 structure, but also can adopt other structures. For example, as shown in FIGS. 12-15, the super surface structure includes, but is not limited to, a ring-shaped, square-shaped, and a back-shaped patch electrode 124 structure, which can realize the relative permittivity and relative permeability of the patch electrode 124 structure being zero. For example, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the super surface unit adopts a square-shaped patch electrode 124 and a back-shaped patch electrode 124. The super surface unit can also adopt a nested patch electrode 124 structure. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14, the super surface unit is composed of a ring-shaped patch and an open ring-shaped patch, and the open ring-shaped patch is nested outside the ring-shaped patch. As shown in FIG. 15, the super surface unit is formed by two nested open ring-shaped patches, and the openings of the two open ring-shaped patches are opposite to each other.
[0088] In some examples, FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of a super surface structure of an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 16, the super surface structure is different from the above-mentioned super surface structure. Specifically, the super surface structure can include oppositely arranged first and second substrates 121 and 125, an adjustable dielectric layer 126 arranged between the first and second substrates 121 and 125, a first conductive layer 127 arranged on the side of the first substrate 121 close to the adjustable dielectric layer 126, and a second conductive layer 128 arranged on the side of the second substrate 125 close to the adjustable dielectric layer 126. The adjustable dielectric layer 126 includes, but is not limited to, a liquid crystal layer. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, only the case where the adjustable dielectric layer 126 adopts a liquid crystal layer is taken as an example.
[0089] FIG. 17 is a top view of the first conductive layer 127 of an embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 18 is a top view of the second conductive layer 128 of an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the first conductive layer 127 includes first conductive patterns 1271 arranged in an array, first connecting portions 1272 connecting two first conductive patterns 1271 arranged adjacent in a row direction, and second connecting portions 1273 connecting two first conductive patterns 1271 arranged adjacent in a column direction. The second conductive layer 128 includes second conductive patterns 1281 arranged in an array, third connecting portions 1282 connecting two second conductive patterns 1281 arranged adjacent in a row direction, and fourth connecting portions 1284 connecting two second conductive patterns 1281 arranged adjacent in a column direction. The orthographic projection of one second conductive pattern 1281 and one first conductive pattern 1271 on the first substrate 121 at least partially overlaps. For example, the first conductive patterns 1271 and the second conductive patterns 1281 are arranged one by one, and the orthographic projections of the corresponding first and second conductive patterns 1271 and 1281 on the first substrate 121 completely overlap.
[0090] For the above super surface structure, the first conductive pattern 1271 and the second conductive pattern 1281 arranged oppositely and the liquid crystal molecules sandwiched therebetween constitute a super surface unit. By adjusting the bias voltage applied to the first conductive pattern 1271 and the second conductive pattern 1281, the deflection angle of the liquid crystal molecules therebetween is changed, so as to realize the adjustment of the phase of the electromagnetic wave emitted by the antenna element 11 in the range of 0°-360°. Therefore, the super surface structure can be designed as a focusing or off-axis focusing super lens, so as to control the shape of the beam emitted by the antenna element 11, adjust the gain and beam width, and also split the beam emitted by the antenna element 11 into two or more, as shown in FIG. 19.
[0091] In some examples, the number of antenna elements 1 in the antenna can be one or multiple. When the number of antenna elements 1 is multiple, according to the special property of the Luneberg lens 2, the Luneberg lens 2 is in the near-field position for the antenna element 11, so that the beam of the antenna element 11 cannot be synthesized after entering the lens body, that is, one antenna element 11 is focused into one beam after passing through the lens.
[0092] In one example, FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of the antenna element 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 20, when the first dielectric substrate 12 adopts the super surface structure shown in FIG. 16, the first dielectric substrate 12 of each antenna element 1 can be an integrated structure. In this case, the beam radiated by the element 11 can be phase-controlled by the super surface structure, so as to control the beam shape before entering the Luneberg lens 2. For example, multiple elements 11 can be fused into one beam by the super surface structure, and then converged by the Luneberg lens 2. Of course, as shown in FIG. 21, each beam emitted by the antenna element 11 can also be fused into multiple beams by controlling each super surface unit in the super surface structure, but the number of beams fused is less than the number of elements 11. That is, the number of beams incident to the super surface structure is less than the number of beams emitted by the super surface structure.
[0093] In some examples, the efficiency of the Luneberg lens antenna is related to multiple factors, including the overflow efficiency, the transmission efficiency and the shrinkage efficiency. The overflow efficiency is the efficiency of the radiation energy of the antenna element 11 entering the Luneberg lens 2. When the proportion of the radiation energy of the antenna element 11 entering the Luneberg lens 2 is high, the antenna efficiency is also high. Therefore, in order to improve the overflow efficiency, a region corresponding to each antenna element 11 is arranged on the Luneberg lens 2. The region is filled with the dielectric 22, so that more radiation energy of the antenna element 11 enters the lens sphere.
[0094] Specifically, FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; as shown in FIG. 22, the Luneberg lens 2 includes a main body 21 and a filling medium 22; the main body 21 is formed with at least one concave portion towards the surface of the antenna unit 1; the filling medium 22 fills the concave portion; the concave portion is arranged one-to-one with the antenna unit 1; and the filling medium 22 is an anti-reflection film. By arranging the anti-reflection film, more radiation energy of the antenna oscillator 11 enters the lens sphere, thereby improving the antenna efficiency.
[0095] In one example, the Luneberg lens 2 has the property that the outer contour of the main body 21 is located on a first virtual circle; and the outer contour of the concave portion is located on a second virtual circle, and the center of the second virtual circle is located on the first virtual circle. That is, the Luneberg lens 2 is a spherical lens.
[0096] In one example, FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; as shown in FIG. 23, the filling medium 22 can be a single-layer structure or a multi-layer structure. When the filling medium 22 includes a multi-layer structure, the filling medium 22 includes a plurality of sub-medium layers 221, and the smaller the dielectric constant of the sub-medium layer 221 close to the center of the main body 21.
[0097] Specifically, when the filling medium 22 is a single-layer structure, the thickness thereof is one quarter of the center wavelength (if the center frequency is 2 GHz, the center wavelength is 150 mm, and the film layer thickness is 37.5 mm); and the refractive index of the filling medium 22 is equal to the square root of the product of the refractive index of the substrate and the refractive index of the incident medium (if the dielectric constant of the outermost sub-lens 201 of the Luneberg lens 2 is 1.2, and the air is 1, then the dielectric constant of the filling medium 22 is 1.09). When the filling medium 22 includes a plurality of sub-medium layers 221, the filling medium 22 is a gradient dielectric constant material. Taking an example in which the filling medium 22 includes three sub-medium layers 221, in the direction from the edge of the Luneberg lens 2 to the center, the first, second and third sub-medium layers 221 are arranged in sequence, the thickness of the first sub-medium layer 221 is one quarter of the wavelength, the dielectric constant is about 1.1, the thickness of the second sub-medium layer 221 is one half of the wavelength, the dielectric constant is about 1.25, and the thickness of the third sub-medium layer 221 is one quarter of the wavelength, and the dielectric constant is about 1.15.
[0098] In some examples, FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; as shown in FIG. 24, the antenna includes not only the above-mentioned structure, but also at least one phase shifter; one phase shifter is connected with one oscillator 11. For example, the phase shifter and the oscillator 11 are arranged one-to-one, and the phase shifter adjusts the phase of the electromagnetic wave before the electromagnetic wave is fed into the oscillator 11. The phase shifter includes but is not limited to a switch-type phase shifter and a liquid crystal phase shifter.
[0099] Further, when the number of the antenna units 1 is multiple, the antenna not only includes the phase shifters, but also includes a power divider; the power divider includes a main branch and multiple branch paths connected with the main branch; the main branch is configured with the weight plate, and the branch paths are configured with the phase shifters. Specifically, taking the antenna including four antenna units 1 as an example, the phase shifters, the weight plate and the power divider constitute a beam synthesis network, the beam synthesis network can give each element 11 different phase and power distribution, so that the beams of the elements 11 are synthesized. The gain, beam width and direction of the synthesized beam can be adjusted through the phase shifters and the weight plate in the beam synthesis network. As shown in FIG. 24, it is one of the beam situations after the beam synthesis, the beam width is very wide, and the beam coverage can be wider.
[0100] The electronic device provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure can include the antenna described above.
[0101] The antenna provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure further includes a transceiving unit, a radio frequency transceiver, a signal amplifier, a power amplifier, and a filter unit. The antenna in the antenna system can serve as a transmitting antenna or a receiving antenna. The transceiving unit can include a baseband and a receiving end. The baseband provides signals of at least one frequency band, such as 2G signals, 3G signals, 4G signals, 5G signals, etc., and sends the signals of at least one frequency band to the radio frequency transceiver. After the antenna in the antenna system receives the signals, the signals can be transmitted to the receiving end in the transceiving unit after being processed by the filter unit, the power amplifier, the signal amplifier, and the radio frequency transceiver. The receiving end can be a smart gateway, etc.
[0102] Further, the radio frequency transceiver is connected with the transceiving unit, and is used for modulating the signals sent by the transceiving unit or demodulating the signals received by the antenna and then transmitting the signals to the transceiving unit. Specifically, the radio frequency transceiver can include a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, a modulation circuit, and a demodulation circuit. After the transmitting circuit receives multiple types of signals provided by the baseband, the modulation circuit can modulate the multiple types of signals provided by the baseband and then send the signals to the antenna. After the antenna receives the signals and transmits the signals to the receiving circuit of the radio frequency transceiver, the receiving circuit transmits the signals to the demodulation circuit, and the demodulation circuit demodulates the signals and then transmits the signals to the receiving end.
[0103] Further, the radio frequency transceiver is connected with the signal amplifier and the power amplifier, the signal amplifier and the power amplifier are connected with the filter unit, and the filter unit is connected with the at least one antenna. In the process of transmitting signals by the antenna system, the signal amplifier is used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the signal output by the radio frequency transceiver and then transmit the signal to the filter unit; the power amplifier is used to amplify the power of the signal output by the radio frequency transceiver and then transmit the signal to the filter unit; the filter unit can specifically include a duplexer and a filter circuit, the filter unit combines and filters the signals output by the signal amplifier and the power amplifier and then transmits the signals to the antenna, and the antenna radiates the signals. In the process of receiving signals by the antenna system, the antenna receives signals and then transmits the signals to the filter unit, the filter unit filters the signals received by the antenna and then transmits the signals to the signal amplifier and the power amplifier, the signal amplifier increases the gain of the signals received by the antenna to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the signals, and the power amplifier amplifies the power of the signals received by the antenna. The signals received by the antenna are processed by the power amplifier and the signal amplifier and then transmitted to the radio frequency transceiver, and the radio frequency transceiver transmits the signals to the transceiver unit.
[0104] In some examples, the signal amplifier can include various types of signal amplifiers, such as a low-noise amplifier, without limitation.
[0105] In some examples, the antenna system provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure further includes a power management unit, and the power management unit is connected with the power amplifier and provides a voltage for the power amplifier to amplify signals.
[0106] It can be understood that the above implementation is only an exemplary implementation adopted for illustrating the principles of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto. Various modifications and improvements can be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and essence of the present application, and these modifications and improvements are also considered to be within the protection scope of the present application.
Claims
1. An antenna comprising: a Luneberg lens; at least one antenna unit, the antenna unit comprising a first dielectric substrate, and a dipole fixed on the first dielectric substrate; the dipole is located on a side of the first dielectric substrate away from the Luneberg lens; the first dielectric substrate is opposite to the Luneberg lens with a first distance therebetween; wherein, a refractive index of the first dielectric substrate to electromagnetic waves transmitted by the dipole is zero.
2. The antenna of claim 1, wherein, the first dielectric substrate comprises a metasurface structure.
3. The antenna of claim 2, wherein, the metasurface structure comprises a first substrate, and at least one metasurface unit disposed on the first substrate.
4. The antenna of claim 3, wherein, the metasurface unit comprises any one of the following structures: first and second electrodes arranged in cross; a square patch electrode; a ring patch electrode; open loop patch electrodes arranged in nesting; ring patch electrodes and open loop patch electrodes arranged in nesting.
5. The antenna of claim 2, wherein, the metasurface structure comprises oppositely arranged first and second substrates, an adjustable dielectric layer disposed between the first and second substrates, a first conductive layer disposed on a side of the first substrate close to the adjustable dielectric layer, and a second conductive layer disposed on a side of the second substrate close to the adjustable dielectric layer; the first conductive layer comprises first conductive patterns arranged in an array, first connecting portions connecting two first conductive patterns arranged adjacent in a row direction, and second connecting portions connecting two first conductive patterns arranged adjacent in a column direction; the second conductive layer comprises second conductive patterns arranged in an array, third connecting portions connecting two second conductive patterns arranged adjacent in a row direction, and fourth connecting portions connecting two second conductive patterns arranged adjacent in a column direction; a first conductive pattern and a second conductive pattern at least partially overlap in orthographic projection on the first substrate.
6. The antenna of claim 5, wherein, the number of the antenna units is plural, and each of the first dielectric substrates is an integrally formed structure.
7. The antenna of claim 1, wherein, the dipole comprises a second dielectric substrate, and a radiation structure disposed on the second dielectric substrate; the second dielectric substrate is fixed to the first dielectric substrate by a support assembly, and the radiation structure is located between the first dielectric substrate and the second dielectric substrate.
8. The antenna of claim 7, wherein, the first dielectric substrate and the radiation structure have a second distance therebetween, and an array plane formed by the radiation structure is located in the first dielectric substrate.
9. The antenna of any of claims 1-8, wherein, the Luneberg lens comprises a spherical lens; the spherical lens comprises N layers of sub-lenses wrapped in sequence, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses is greater than 1.
10. The antenna of any one of claims 1-8, wherein, the Luneberg lens comprises a cylindrical lens; the cylindrical lens comprises N layers of sub-lenses nested in sequence, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses is greater than 1.
11. The antenna of any of claims 1-8, wherein, The Luneberg lens comprises a planar lens; the cylindrical lens comprises N layers of sub-lenses nested in sequence, N being an integer greater than or equal to 2; the dielectric constants of the N layers of sub-lenses monotonically increase or decrease from the first layer to the Nth layer, and the dielectric constant of the first layer of sub-lenses is less than 2, and the dielectric constant of the Nth layer of sub-lenses is greater than 1.
12. The antenna of any one of claims 1-8, wherein, The Luneberg lens comprises a main body and a filling medium; the surface of the main body towards the antenna unit is formed with at least one concave part; the filling medium fills the concave part; the concave part is arranged one-to-one corresponding to the antenna unit; the filling medium is an anti-reflection film.
13. The antenna of claim 12, wherein, The filling medium comprises multiple layers of sub-medium layers, and the smaller the dielectric constant of the sub-medium layer close to the center of the main body.
14. The antenna of claim 12, wherein, The outer contour of the main body is located on a first virtual circle; the outer contour of the concave part is located on a second virtual circle, and the center of the second virtual circle is located on the first virtual circle.
15. The antenna of any one of claims 1-8, wherein, Further comprising at least one phase shifter; one of the phase shifters is connected to one of the vibrators.
16. The antenna of claim 15, wherein, The number of the antenna units is multiple, and the antenna further comprises a power divider; the power divider comprises a main path and multiple branch paths connected to the main path; a weight plate is arranged on the main path, and the phase shifters are arranged on the branch paths.
17. An electronic device comprising the antenna of any one of claims 1-16.