A spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectionally monitoring high-energy particle radiation in space

Abstract

This invention provides a spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectional monitoring of high-energy particle radiation in space, belonging to the field of space exploration technology. Multiple silicon sensing elements are distributed along the spherical surface of a multi-dimensional, multi-directional structure, with blind spot detection units positioned along the axial direction of the spherical structure. The output of each silicon sensing element is connected to a front-end readout circuit. The internal tree-like trunk support assembly includes a central trunk and multiple branches, with at least one silicon sensing element or its mounting base installed at the end of each branch. It also includes a guide channel that simultaneously functions as a signal harness, flexible cabling, or miniature coaxial cable, communicating with a bottom cable exit handle. The bottom cable exit handle is used for structural fixation, inter-cabin connection, or electrical connection to satellite platforms or experimental module equipment. This invention significantly reduces monitoring blind spots and reliance on attitude maneuvers, and can more naturally match the physical scenario of space particles incident from any direction.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention provides a spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectionally monitoring high-energy particle radiation in space, belonging to the field of space exploration technology. Background Technology

[0002] The high-energy particle radiation environment in space is mainly composed of trapped radiation belt particles, solar high-energy particle events, and galactic cosmic rays. During low Earth orbit, near-Earth space station orbit, and deep space missions, high-energy electrons, protons, heavy ions, and secondary neutrons can all induce total dose effects, single-event effects, displacement damage, and charge / discharge risks. Therefore, long-term, real-time, low-power, and directionally identifiable on-orbit monitoring payloads are needed. In recent years, published literature has indicated that space station and deep space missions are shifting from "single-directional / single-function dosimeters" to monitoring systems that combine "multi-particle types + multi-directional + integrated readout."

[0003] For example, the Energy Particle Detector (EPD) in the Wentian Experiment Module of the Tiangong space station can monitor high-energy protons, electrons, heavy ions, and neutrons, and simultaneously provide energy spectra, fluxes, directional characteristics, LET spectra, and dose rates. Its publicly available specifications show that the medium-energy electron and medium-energy proton units each employ nine detection directions, while the integrated detection unit can cover five directions. The RADEM in the JUICE mission also incorporates directional detection units for long-term monitoring of Jupiter's intense radiation environment. The LEO-DOS aboard South Korea's NEXTSat-2 spacecraft uses a 20×20 mm silicon photodiode particle dosimeter with a thickness of 650±30 μm to conduct low-Earth orbit radiation measurements. These advancements indicate that silicon detectors, directional resolution capabilities, and compact integrated readout have become important development directions for current space radiation monitoring.

[0004] Existing publicly available solutions mainly employ planar, fan-shaped, frustum-shaped, or localized multi-probe arrangements, emphasizing localized field-of-view expansion and device miniaturization.

[0005] CN102183779A discloses a multi-directional high-energy particle detector. The main advantage of this scheme is that it achieves multi-directional sampling, but its mechanical basis is still a semi-cylindrical / fan-shaped layout, essentially a "local directional extension," making it difficult to achieve continuous full-space coverage of particles originating from the spherical back, side-back, and axial directions. Furthermore, the scheme uses traditional discrete readout links such as peak holders, which is not conducive to further reducing volume, shortening the front-end lead length, or improving low-noise performance and array-level scalability.

[0006] CN115291272B / CN116125522A discloses a miniaturized spaceborne high-energy particle detection device based on a silicon detector module and a space particle detector based on a silicon detector module. These solutions emphasize the electronic integration and miniaturization of single or stacked modules, but do not provide solutions for the mechanical layout of multi-directional, especially near-4π omnidirectional, monitoring. Their disclosed structures can still be understood as detection units oriented towards a specific main incident direction, and cannot directly solve problems such as continuous coverage of the entire space field of view, suppression of array blind zones, and cable convergence in spherical arrays.

[0007] CN113189633B discloses a medium-high energy particle detector. This scheme has obvious directional resolution characteristics, but it is still a polyhedral local field of view detection, mainly suitable for space particle payloads with a certain predetermined orientation. Compared with the spherical multilayer silicon array of the present invention, its directional redundancy, back blind zone control capability and array expansion flexibility are still limited. Summary of the Invention

[0008] This invention provides a spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectional monitoring of high-energy particle radiation in space, aiming to solve the following technical problems:

[0009] 1) To address the problem that most existing space high-energy particle monitoring devices adopt planar, fan-shaped, or truncated pyramidal multi-probe layouts, making it difficult to achieve near 4π solid angle omnidirectional coverage in a single structure.

[0010] 2) Solve the problems of dispersed detection units, complex support structures, long cable paths, difficulties in array expansion, and the difficulty in implementing spherical layout in existing multi-directional particle detection devices.

[0011] 3) Solve the problem that although existing silicon detection modules have achieved miniaturization and integrated readout, they still lack mechanical support, signal convergence and output architecture that are compatible with spherical three-dimensional arrays.

[0012] 4) To address the problem that existing unidirectional or few-directional schemes are insufficient in responding to the simultaneous consideration of flux, dose, directional anisotropy and event suddenness in continuous monitoring of high-energy particle radiation in space.

[0013] The specific technical solution is as follows:

[0014] A spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectionally monitoring high-energy particle radiation in space includes: a spherical structure, multiple silicon sensing elements, an internal tree-like trunk support assembly, a bottom wire outlet, a front-end readout circuit, a power supply and bias module, a digital processing module, and a data interface for connecting to an external platform.

[0015] The spherical structure is either a spherical shell or a quasi-spherical load-bearing frame;

[0016] Multiple square silicon sensing units are distributed along the spherical surface of the spherical structure in multiple dimensions and directions, and preferably, blind spot detection units are set at the axial position of the spherical structure; the output terminal of each square silicon sensing unit is connected to the front-end readout circuit;

[0017] The internal tree-like trunk support assembly is located inside the spherical structure; the internal tree-like trunk support assembly includes a central trunk and multiple branches, with at least one square silicon sensitive unit or its mounting base installed at the end of each branch, and also includes a guide channel that serves as a signal harness, flexible ribbon cable or miniature coaxial cable, and is connected to the bottom cable outlet handle;

[0018] The bottom cable tray is used for structural fixation, cabin connection, or electrical connection to satellite platform or experimental module equipment.

[0019] Multiple spherical silicon sensing elements synchronously receive incident particles from different spatial directions and output charge signals related to the deposition energy. The front-end readout circuit amplifies, shapes, thresholds, and performs analog-to-digital conversion on the charge signals to obtain element-level pulse amplitude, timestamps, and count information. The digital processing module performs parallel fusion of different channels according to the spatial arrangement of the spherical elements to obtain omnidirectional count rate, local directional count rate, energy spectrum statistics, and dose or flux estimation results. When several adjacent spherical silicon sensing elements respond simultaneously, incident direction segment judgment or anisotropy analysis is performed to provide rapid early warning of sudden high-energy particle events. The processing results are output to the satellite platform, space station experimental payload, or ground test system through the data interface on the bottom lead-out handle.

[0020] Furthermore, each square silicon sensing unit includes at least: a silicon sensing chip, a mechanical mounting frame, a front-end lead-out pad or flexible interconnect, a shielding frame, and an optional thin window or light-blocking layer.

[0021] When installing each silicon-sensitive unit, it is oriented along the local normal direction of its corresponding spherical surface, or a predetermined tilt angle of 5° to 45° is set relative to the local normal, so as to reduce the blind zone by overlapping the fields of view of adjacent units.

[0022] The front-end readout circuit includes a charge-sensitive preamplifier, a fast prototyping channel, a slow prototyping channel, a threshold discrimination circuit, and an analog-to-digital conversion circuit.

[0023] The digital processing module uses an FPGA, microcontroller, or system-on-a-chip to perform event triggering, time stamping, pulse amplitude extraction, inter-array consistency discrimination, directional segment reconstruction, flux or dose statistics, and data packaging and downloading.

[0024] The beneficial effects of the technical solution of this invention are as follows:

[0025] 1) Compared with single-plane or fan-shaped multi-probe schemes, the present invention can expand the directional coverage from a local field of view to a near 4π stereo field of view by using spherical layered arrangement and axial blind spot filling unit, which significantly reduces the monitoring blind spot and dependence on attitude maneuver.

[0026] 2) Compared with prismatic or semi-cylindrical multi-directional structures, the present invention adopts a spherical multi-layer array, which can more naturally match the physical scene of spatial particles incident from any direction and capture anisotropic events more fully.

[0027] 3) The internal tree-like trunk structure simultaneously undertakes the functions of load-bearing, wiring and signal convergence, which can shorten the length of analog front-end leads, reduce parasitic noise and assembly complexity, and improve array expansion efficiency.

[0028] 4) The square silicon sensing unit has the characteristics of high standardization, high area utilization, and easy batch processing and replacement. It can be flexibly configured into different sizes, thicknesses and front-end readout forms according to the task.

[0029] 5) This invention is compatible with dose monitoring, flux monitoring, energy spectrum statistics and directional segment analysis. It can be used as an independent payload or as a front-end monitoring head in a larger system, providing a unified hardware foundation for spacecraft on-orbit radiation risk assessment, space station extravehicular activity support and deep space exploration environment characterization. Attached Figure Description

[0030] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the spherical silicon array antenna of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the internal tree-like trunk support structure of the spherical silicon array antenna of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0032] like Figure 1 As shown, the present invention provides a spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectionally monitoring high-energy particle radiation in space, comprising: a spherical structure 1, multiple silicon sensing elements 2, an internal tree-like trunk support assembly 3, a bottom wire outlet 4, a front-end readout circuit, a power supply and bias module, a digital processing module, and a data interface for connecting to an external platform.

[0033] Spherical structure 1 is a spherical shell or a quasi-spherical load-bearing frame;

[0034] Among them, multiple square silicon sensing units 2 are distributed along the spherical surface of the spherical structure 1 in multiple dimensions and directions, and preferably blind spot detection units are set at the axial position of the spherical structure 1.

[0035] like Figure 2As shown, the internal tree-like trunk support component 3 consists of a central trunk and multiple branches. At least one square silicon sensitive unit 2 or its mounting base is installed at the end of each branch, which also serves as a guide channel for signal harnesses, flexible ribbon cables or miniature coaxial cables.

[0036] The bottom cable tray 4 is used for structural fixation, cabin connection, or electrical connection with satellite platform or experimental module equipment.

[0037] Preferably, in the illustrated embodiment, 10 spherical silicon sensing units 2 are provided, with 8 distributed around the periphery of the sphere and 2 positioned at the axial compensation position inside the sphere; the periphery units are arranged in layers according to the top polar region, the upper latitude oblique region, the equatorial lateral region, the lower latitude oblique region, and the bottom polar region to form an overlapping response to different incident polar angles and azimuth angles. In actual engineering, the number of sensing units can be 6 to 20, preferably 8 to 12.

[0038] like Figure 2 As shown, the internal tree-like trunk support assembly 3 adopts a tree-like structure with multiple levels of radial branches radiating outward from the central trunk. This structure includes at least: a main load-bearing rod arranged along the central axis of the device, arc-shaped or straight support arms connecting different latitude layers, end nodes corresponding to the mounting base of the square silicon sensitive unit 2, and a cable convergence channel communicating with the bottom cable outlet handle 4.

[0039] The functions of the tree-like trunk structure include: first, providing lightweight and high-rigidity spatial support so that each sensitive unit can maintain a predetermined posture on the sphere; second, realizing the hierarchical convergence of multi-channel power supply, bias voltage, analog signals and digital signals, reducing long-distance free-floating traces; and third, providing a unified interface for array modular expansion, facilitating unit replacement, reconfiguration and maintenance.

[0040] Support materials can be selected from aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, beryllium copper, PEEK, polyimide reinforced composite materials, or other lightweight, high-strength materials that meet the requirements of aerospace environment. To reduce thermal deformation and parasitic capacitance, a combination of "main metal load-bearing structure + end insulating mounting base" or "metallized composite skeleton + local shielding cover" is preferred.

[0041] Each square silicon sensing unit 2 includes at least: a silicon sensing chip, a mechanical mounting frame, front-end lead pads or flexible interconnects, a shielding frame, and an optional thin window or light-blocking layer. The silicon sensing chip can be a PIN silicon detector, a silicon microstrip detector, a silicon pixel detector, a silicon drift detector, or an equivalent semiconductor structure thereof; the square silicon sensing unit 2 preferably adopts a square or near-square effective sensing surface to balance the regularity of the array arrangement and the convenience of spherical mounting.

[0042] Preferably, the effective sensing surface of a single square silicon sensing unit 2 has a side length of 5–30 mm and a thickness of 100 μm–1 mm. To balance high-energy particle deposition energy measurement and structural strength, different thicknesses, bias voltages, and front shielding layers can be selected according to mission requirements. For scenarios requiring suppression of visible light interference, a nanometer- or micrometer-scale light-blocking layer, such as an aluminum-coated polyimide film, can be placed in front of the exposed unit. For scenarios requiring improved directional response, a short collimation frame or a low-Z material window can be placed around the sensing unit.

[0043] When installing each silicon-sensitive unit 2, it can be oriented along the local normal direction of its corresponding spherical surface, or a predetermined tilt angle of 5° to 45° can be set relative to the local normal to reduce the blind zone by overlapping the fields of view of adjacent units. Figure 1 The obliquely placed units on the outer perimeter belong to the latter arrangement.

[0044] The output of each square silicon sensing unit 2 is connected to the front-end readout circuit. The front-end readout circuit includes at least a charge-sensitive preamplifier, a fast-forming channel, a slow-forming channel, a threshold discrimination circuit, and an analog-to-digital converter circuit; preferably, an ASIC or an integrated readout link of "preamplifier + differential driver + ADC" is used. The digital processing module can be an FPGA, microcontroller, or system-on-a-chip to complete event triggering, time stamping, pulse amplitude extraction, inter-array coincidence discrimination, direction segment reconstruction, flux / dose statistics, and data packetization and download.

[0045] Unlike existing detectors with a single main incident direction, the multiple squaring silicon sensing elements 2 in this invention can operate simultaneously, and the data processing module performs parallel statistical analysis on the responses of elements at different orientations. By comparing the count rate, deposition energy distribution, and coincidence relationship of each element, the directional characteristics, local enhancement directions, and temporal variation patterns of high-energy particle radiation in space can be obtained.

[0046] The workflow and monitoring method of this invention:

[0047] S1: Multiple square silicon sensing units 2 synchronously receive incident particles from different spatial directions and output charge signals related to the deposition energy;

[0048] S2: The front-end readout circuit amplifies, shapes, thresholds, and performs analog-to-digital conversion on the charge signal to obtain unit-level pulse amplitude, timestamp, and counting information;

[0049] S3: The digital processing module performs parallel fusion of different channels according to the spatial arrangement of the spherical units to obtain omnidirectional count rate, local directional count rate, energy spectrum statistics and dose / flux estimation results;

[0050] S4: When several adjacent units respond simultaneously, the incident direction segment can be further judged or anisotropy analysis can be performed to provide a rapid early warning of sudden high-energy particle events.

[0051] S5: The processing results are output to the satellite platform, space station experimental payload or ground test system through the bottom handle interface.

[0052] The equivalent diameter of the spherical structure 1 can be set from 30 to 300 mm according to the task requirements; the bottom cable tray 4 can be used as a separate mounting post or integrally formed with the electronic cavity. To improve system robustness, the digital processing module and power module can be arranged in the bottom cable tray 4 or the lower half of the shielded cavity of the spherical structure 1, while the highly sensitive analog front end is arranged as close as possible to the silicon sensitive units 2.

[0053] To adapt to the thermal environment of aerospace and the vibration environment of launch, this invention can also set a limiting shoulder, a vibration damping washer or a flexible transition section at the connection between the main trunk and the branch; set a protective ring around the exposed sensitive unit on the spherical surface; and perform geometric factor calibration and directional response uniformity correction on each unit.

[0054] The spherical structure 1 can be replaced by a quasi-spherical polyhedral structure, such as a regular dodecahedron, icosahedron, or a geological dome-shaped framework, as long as it can achieve near-omnidirectional coverage in multiple directions.

[0055] The square silicon sensing unit 2 can be replaced by a rectangular silicon unit, a curved encapsulated silicon unit, a silicon microstrip array, a pixel array, or a hybrid unit with a silicon detector as the front end and a thin scintillator / SiPM as the back end.

[0056] The tree-like trunk structure can be replaced with a spoke-type, cage-type, ring-ribbed, or spider web-type support structure, as long as it can meet the requirements of multi-directional node installation, cable convergence, and lightweight design.

[0057] The bottom handle interface can be replaced with a side flange interface, a double-ended through-chamber interface, or an integrated interface for the internal electronic cavity; the readout link can adopt an ASIC, discrete front-end, or system-on-a-chip solution.

[0058] The number of peripheral units, layers, and tilt angles can be reconfigured according to the application scenario. For example, for near-Earth orbit, sampling in the equatorial direction can be enhanced, and for deep space or high-radiation environments like Jupiter, axial blind-filling units and shielding layers can be added.

Claims

1. A spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectional monitoring of high-energy particle radiation in a space, characterized in that, include: Spherical structure (1), multiple square silicon sensitive units (2), internal tree-like trunk support assembly (3), bottom wire outlet (4), front-end readout circuit, power supply and bias module, digital processing module and data interface for connecting to external platform; The spherical structure (1) is a spherical shell or a quasi-spherical load-bearing frame; Multiple square silicon sensing units (2) are distributed along the spherical surface of the spherical structure (1) in multiple dimensions and directions, and blind detection units are set at the axial position of the spherical structure (1); the output end of each square silicon sensing unit (2) is connected to the front-end readout circuit; The internal tree-shaped trunk support assembly (3) is located inside the spherical structure (1); the internal tree-shaped trunk support assembly (3) includes a central trunk and multiple branches, and at least one square silicon sensitive unit (2) or its mounting base is installed at the end of each branch. It also includes a guide channel that serves as a signal harness, flexible ribbon cable or miniature coaxial cable and is connected to the bottom wire outlet handle (4). The bottom cable outlet (4) is used to achieve structural fixation, through-cabin connection or electrical connection with satellite platform or experimental cabin equipment; Multiple square silicon sensitive units (2) synchronously receive incident particles from different spatial directions and output charge signals related to the deposition energy; the front-end readout circuit amplifies, shapes, thresholds and converts the charge signals to analog-to-digital, and obtains unit-level pulse amplitude, timestamp and counting information; The digital processing module performs parallel fusion of different channels according to the spatial arrangement relationship of the spherical unit to obtain the omnidirectional count rate, local directional count rate, energy spectrum statistics and dose or flux estimation results; when several adjacent silicon sensitive units (2) respond simultaneously, the incident direction segment judgment or anisotropy analysis is performed to provide a rapid early warning of sudden high-energy particle events; the processing results are output to the satellite platform, space station experimental payload or ground test system through the data interface on the bottom wire handle (4).

2. The spherical silicon array antenna for omnidirectional monitoring of high-energy particle radiation in space according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each square silicon sensing unit (2) includes at least: a silicon sensing chip, a mechanical mounting frame, a front-end lead-out pad or flexible interconnect, a shielding frame, and an optional thin window or light-blocking layer.

3. A spherical silicon array antenna for omnidirectional monitoring of high-energy particle radiation in space, as described in claim 1, is characterized in that... When installing each silicon-sensitive unit (2), it is oriented along the local normal direction of its corresponding spherical surface, or a predetermined tilt angle of 5° to 45° is set relative to the local normal, so as to reduce the blind zone by overlapping the fields of view of adjacent units.

4. The spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectional monitoring of high-energy particle radiation in space according to claim 1, characterized in that, The front-end readout circuit includes a charge-sensitive preamplifier, a fast prototyping channel, a slow prototyping channel, a threshold discrimination circuit, and an analog-to-digital conversion circuit.

5. The spherical silicon array antenna capable of omnidirectional monitoring of high-energy particle radiation in space according to claim 1, characterized in that, The digital processing module uses an FPGA, microcontroller, or system-on-a-chip to perform event triggering, time stamping, pulse amplitude extraction, inter-array consistency discrimination, directional segment reconstruction, flux or dose statistics, and data packaging and downloading.

Images