Mounting base for airship antenna, airship and displacement compensation method for airship antenna

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of near space airship structure design and radar antenna integration, and provides an airship antenna mounting base, an airship and a displacement compensation method for the airship antenna, the airship antenna mounting base comprising: a radar subarray, a mounting leg and a mounting leg base; the radar subarray is arranged in parallel with the mounting leg base, a plurality of displacement holes are arranged on the radar subarray, the mounting leg base is fixedly connected with an airship capsule, the mounting leg passes through the displacement hole and is fixedly connected with the mounting leg base at one end. The frameless subarray mounting structure with the multi-degree-of-freedom displacement decoupling function eliminates the additional stress transmitted from the capsule deformation to the antenna substrate, ensures that the precise antenna subarray does not be mechanically damaged or degraded in performance under the extreme differential pressure working condition, and comprehensively guarantees the electrical performance stability and task reliability of the radar system in the high-altitude environment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of near-space airship structural design and radar antenna integration, and particularly to an airship antenna mounting base, an airship, and a displacement compensation method for the airship antenna. Background Technology

[0002] Airships, as aircraft that utilize buoyancy gases to generate lift, have advantages such as long loiter time, high payload capacity, and low operating costs, and have been widely used in fields such as communication relay, aerial monitoring, emergency rescue, and environmental detection.

[0003] Large stratospheric airships often carry radar antennas on missions. To improve detection efficiency and reduce flight drag, the radar antennas are usually conformally arranged to the surface of the airship's envelope. However, the pressure difference within the envelope changes drastically at different altitudes and during flight (e.g., from 300 Pa to 1000 Pa), causing significant elastic deformation of the envelope (up to 26 cm).

[0004] Traditional installation methods typically use rigid brackets to directly fix the antenna array to the airship's structural frame or enclosure. This leads to: First, structural interference: the pressure difference deformation of the capsule will be directly transmitted to the antenna, causing stress concentration or even damage to the antenna subarray.

[0005] Second, lack of accuracy: The lack of an effective decoupling mechanism makes the relative positions between antenna subarrays uncontrollable as the pressure changes, affecting radar beam pointing and detection accuracy.

[0006] Third, excessive weight: Traditional metal frame structures increase the dead weight of the airship, reducing its effective payload capacity.

[0007] Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide a mounting base for airship antennas, an airship, and a displacement compensation method for the airship antenna. By using a frameless subarray mounting structure with multi-degree-of-freedom displacement decoupling function, the additional stress transmitted from the deformation of the capsule to the antenna substrate can be eliminated, ensuring that the precision antenna subarray does not suffer mechanical damage or performance degradation under extreme differential pressure conditions, and comprehensively guaranteeing the electrical performance stability and mission reliability of the radar system in high-altitude environments.

[0008] The information disclosed in the background section is only intended to enhance the understanding of the background of this application, and therefore may include information that does not constitute prior art known to those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0009] The main purpose of this invention is to overcome the problems of inaccurate pointing, easy damage, and heavy weight of existing airship antenna arrays. It provides an airship antenna mounting base, an airship, and a displacement compensation method for the airship antenna. Through a frameless subarray mounting structure with multi-degree-of-freedom displacement decoupling function, it eliminates the additional stress transmitted from the deformation of the capsule to the antenna substrate, ensuring that the precision antenna subarray does not suffer mechanical damage or performance degradation under extreme differential pressure conditions, and comprehensively guaranteeing the electrical performance stability and mission reliability of the radar system in high-altitude environments.

[0010] To achieve the above objectives, the first aspect of the present invention provides a mounting base for an airship antenna, comprising: a radar subarray, mounting feet, and a mounting foot base; The radar subarray is set parallel to the mounting base. The radar subarray has multiple displacement holes. The mounting base is fixedly connected to the airship body. The mounting feet pass through the displacement holes and are fixedly connected to the mounting base at one end.

[0011] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the radar subarray includes a plurality of antenna subarray substrates, each antenna subarray substrate including a fixing hole and a plurality of displacement holes; The device has multiple displacement holes, including vertical displacement holes, horizontal displacement holes, and oblique displacement holes. There are multiple mounting feet, and each mounting foot corresponds to one hole.

[0012] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the antenna subarray substrate has a rectangular structure, and the displacement holes are located near the corner points.

[0013] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the antenna subarray substrate is vertically arranged, with a vertical displacement hole located at the lower left, a horizontal displacement hole located at the upper right, and an oblique displacement hole located at the lower right.

[0014] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the antenna subarray substrate has a square structure, and the oblique displacement holes are arranged along the diagonal of the square.

[0015] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mounting base of the airship antenna further includes a reset spring disposed within a displacement hole.

[0016] As a second aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a mounting base for an airship antenna, an antenna array, and an airship hull; The mounting base for the airship antenna is located on both sides of the airship hull; The antenna array is mounted on the mounting base of the airship antenna.

[0017] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mounting base of the airship antenna is flush with the axis and is divided into four equal segments from the front end to the rear end of the airship, with the mounting base of the airship antenna located in the second segment.

[0018] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the near-space airship further includes a protective shield, a blower, and a pressure regulating valve, wherein the protective shield surrounds the antenna array and the blower and pressure regulating valve maintain the pressure difference inside the protective shield.

[0019] As a third aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a displacement compensation method for an airship antenna, using the aforementioned near-space airship, comprising the following steps: Featured light spots are set on the mounting feet; Capture the characteristic light spots; Collect spatial coordinate data of the antenna array under different air pressures; Establish a mathematical mapping model between intracavitary pressure difference and antenna normal displacement; Displacement compensation data is calculated based on the current intracystic pressure difference and the mathematical mapping model.

[0020] The beneficial effects of this plan are: This solution provides a frameless subarray mounting structure with multi-degree-of-freedom displacement decoupling capabilities. The aim is to eliminate the additional stress transmitted to the antenna substrate by the deformation of the capsule, ensuring that the precision antenna subarray does not suffer mechanical damage or performance degradation under extreme differential pressure conditions. Simultaneously, by establishing a "position-capsule pressure" mapping model and integrating an inflatable protective radome, this solution strives to provide the radar antenna with a precise spatial position correction reference and a stable thermal and aerodynamic environment, thereby comprehensively ensuring the electrical performance stability and mission reliability of the radar system in high-altitude environments. Attached Figure Description

[0021] The above and other objects, features, and advantages of this application will become more apparent from the detailed description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this application, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without any inventive effort.

[0022] Figure 1 The diagram schematically shows the side structure of a near-space airship.

[0023] Figure 2 The diagram schematically shows a cross-sectional structure of a near-space airship.

[0024] Figure 3 The schematic diagram shows the structure of the mounting base for the airship antenna.

[0025] Figure 4 The diagram schematically illustrates the structure of the radar subarray.

[0026] Figure 5 The schematic diagram shows the structure of the antenna subarray substrate.

[0027] Among them, 1—the mounting base of the airship antenna, 11—the radar subarray, 111—the fixing hole, 112—the horizontal displacement hole, 113—the vertical displacement hole, 114—the oblique displacement hole, 12—the mounting foot, 13—the mounting foot base, 14—the return spring, 15—the reinforcing plate, 16—the preload nut, and 2—the airship hull. Detailed Implementation

[0028] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, these exemplary embodiments can be implemented in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, they are provided so that this application will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar parts, and therefore repeated descriptions of them will be omitted.

[0029] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Numerous specific details are provided in the following description to give a thorough understanding of embodiments of this application. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the technical solutions of this application can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or other methods, components, apparatuses, steps, etc., can be employed. In other instances, well-known methods, apparatuses, implementations, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of this application.

[0030] The block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings are merely functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically independent entities. That is, these functional entities can be implemented in software, in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different network and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0031] The flowcharts shown in the accompanying drawings are merely illustrative and do not necessarily include all content and operations / steps, nor do they necessarily have to be performed in the described order. For example, some operations / steps can be broken down, while others can be combined or partially combined; therefore, the actual execution order may change depending on the specific circumstances.

[0032] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used herein to describe various components, these components should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one component from another. Therefore, the first component discussed below may be referred to as the second component without departing from the teachings of this application. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes all combinations of any one and more of the associated listed items.

[0033] Those skilled in the art will understand that the accompanying drawings are merely schematic diagrams of exemplary embodiments, and the modules or processes in the drawings are not necessarily essential for implementing this application, and therefore cannot be used to limit the scope of protection of this application.

[0034] This proposal presents a layout structure for a side-mounted conformal antenna for an airship. Addressing the large-scale elastic deformation of the stratospheric airship envelope under high pressure differentials (300Pa~1000Pa), this proposal suggests an overall architecture of "frameless distributed subarrays + multi-degree-of-freedom displacement decoupling + lightweight PEEK support." The antenna subarray modules are no longer fixed by traditional rigid frames, but are directly coupled to the envelope surface via independent mounting bases with specific displacement compensation capabilities. Externally, an inflatable conformal fairing achieves aerodynamic shaping and environmental protection. This design minimizes system weight and eliminates destructive stresses on the antenna structure caused by envelope deformation while ensuring radar detection accuracy. According to a first specific embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides an airship antenna mounting base 1, an antenna array, an airship hull 2, a protective cover, a blower, and a pressure regulating valve.

[0035] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the mounting base 1 of the airship antenna is located on both sides of the airship hull 2. The airship hull 2 ​​is 140,000 mm long and 36,000 mm high. The mounting base 1 of the airship antenna is flush with the axis and is divided into four equal sections from the front to the rear of the airship. The mounting base 1 of the airship antenna is located in the second section. The spatial positioning and layout of the mounting base 1 of the airship antenna is based on the airship's center of gravity balance and detection angle requirements. The mounting base 1 of the airship antenna is symmetrically arranged on the side surface of the capsule between the 3rd and 4th rings of the airship. In the height direction, they are symmetrically arranged with the capsule's center line (axis) as the axis. The installation position must be strictly constrained: the edge of the base must be at least 5 meters away from the adjacent stiffening ring, and the arc distance between the lower edge of the base and the horizontal longitudinal tie rod must be at least 4.5 meters to ensure that the antenna is in a region where the capsule deformation is relatively gentle. Figure 2 In the cross-section, the radius of the capsule is 10m; the arrangement angle of the mounting base 1 relative to the vertical axis of symmetry is 30°. Based on a 10m radius and a 30° angle, the arc length is approximately 5.24m. The thickened arc is a schematic representation of the distribution range of the mounting base 1 / subarray on the cross-section, and does not represent a curvature of the array itself—each antenna subarray substrate is a planar rectangle / square, and multiple flat plates are pieced together to approximately fit the curved surface of the capsule; the overall structure is a segmented plane rather than a continuous curved surface.

[0036] like Figures 3 to 5 As shown, the mounting base 1 of the airship antenna includes: radar subarray 11, mounting feet 12, mounting foot base 13, reset spring 14, reinforcing plate 15, and preload nut 16.

[0037] like Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, the radar subarray 11 includes multiple antenna subarray substrates, each of which includes a fixing hole 111 and multiple displacement holes. Figure 4 One radar subarray 11 includes four antenna sub-base plates. Multiple displacement holes, including vertical displacement holes 113, horizontal displacement holes 112, and oblique displacement holes 114, are provided to achieve complete decoupling from the deformation of the airship body by providing four different functional mounting holes. The radar subarray 11 is fixedly connected to the airship body 2 by mounting feet 12 passing through the fixing holes and mounting foot bases 13.

[0038] The antenna subarray substrate has a rectangular structure, preferably a square structure. Displacement holes are located near the corners. The antenna subarray substrate is vertically positioned; vertical displacement hole 113 is located at the lower left, horizontal displacement hole 112 is located at the upper right, and diagonal displacement hole 114 is located at the lower right, with the diagonal displacement holes 114 arranged diagonally. Figure 5 As shown, each antenna subarray substrate measures 600mm × 600mm. A fixing hole 111 is located in the upper left corner, serving as a reference point for the entire subarray and constraining all translational degrees of freedom. A horizontal displacement hole 112 is located in the upper right corner, acting as a floating waist hole to allow the mounting base to slide freely in the horizontal direction, releasing the lateral tensile stress of the capsule. A vertical displacement hole 113 is located in the lower left corner, also acting as a floating waist hole to allow the mounting base to slide freely in the vertical direction, absorbing the longitudinal expansion displacement of the capsule. A diagonal displacement hole 114 is located in the lower right corner, acting as a floating waist hole to compensate for the combined deformation in the two directions (horizontal and vertical), ensuring that the subarray plane does not experience tensile stress due to capsule torsion.

[0039] like Figure 5 As shown, the reset spring 14 is disposed within the displacement hole (floating waist hole), preferably at both ends of the displacement hole. The stiffness of the composite spring 14 is less than the stiffness of the subarray substrate, the purpose of which is to provide preload force for the antenna while releasing the displacement of the capsule, preventing swaying during flight vibrations.

[0040] like Figure 3As shown, the radar subarray 11 is arranged parallel to the mounting base 13. The mounting base 13 is bonded to the pre-reinforced composite material reinforcing sheet 15 on the surface of the capsule material by high-strength structural adhesive and supplemented by stitching, thereby achieving a fixed connection between the mounting base 13 and the airship capsule 2. The mounting base 13 becomes the connection point that moves synchronously with the surface of the capsule. The mounting feet 12 are not directly connected to the rigid frame inside the airship, but are directly fixed to the flexible capsule skin to accommodate the large-scale elastic deformation of the capsule itself. The mounting feet 12 pass through the fixing hole or displacement hole, and one end is fixedly connected to the mounting base 13. The mounting feet 12 passing through the fixing hole are fixedly connected to the radar subarray 11, and the other end of the mounting feet 12 passing through the displacement hole extends out of the substrate and is screwed with a pre-tightening nut 16 to clamp and fix the antenna subarray substrate between the mounting foot rod and the pre-tightening nut, thereby achieving the connection between the mounting feet 12 and the antenna array. There are multiple mounting feet 12, and each mounting foot 12 corresponds to one hole. Mounting feet 12 are provided with pins at the contact points with the holes, enabling a seamless fit at the fixed hole 111 to form a spatial reference point for the entire subarray. At the floating waist holes, the pins maintain a controllable gap with the hole wall, allowing the mounting feet 12 to slide along the length of the waist hole as the capsule deforms locally. When the pressure difference inside the capsule changes within the range of 300Pa to 1000Pa, causing local displacement of the capsule (up to 26cm), the four mounting feet move synchronously with the surface of the capsule: the position of the mounting foot 12 at the fixed hole 111 remains basically unchanged, serving as a reference point; the mounting feet 12 at the other three floating waist holes slide freely along their respective waist hole directions, thereby converting the deformation of the capsule into relative sliding of the mounting feet 12 within the waist holes, rather than into tensile or bending stress on the subarray substrate body, thus achieving mechanical decoupling between the antenna subarray and the flexible capsule structure of the airship. Figure 3 In (b), the black dot is the cross section of the mounting foot pin. The left side "before deformation" is the reference state (the pin is located at the center of the waist hole when the bladder is not deformed); the right side "after deformation" indicates that after the pressure difference inside the bladder causes the bladder to shift, the pin slides to one side along the length of the waist hole, thereby releasing the deformation of the bladder and avoiding stress transmission to the sub-array.

[0041] Mounting feet 12 and mounting foot bases 13 are made of PEEK (polyether ether ketone) high-strength engineering plastic.

[0042] The antenna array is surrounded by a lightweight, inflatable radome. A blower and a pressure regulating valve maintain the internal pressure difference at 200 Pa, ensuring a stable aerodynamic shape. An integrated environmental control box (ECC) is located inside the radome. Circulating airflow provides heat dissipation and thermal protection for the antenna's electronic components, thus completing the integration of the entire conformal antenna structure.

[0043] As a second specific embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides a near-space airship, which has a structure that is basically the same as that of the near-space airship in the first specific embodiment. The difference is that a return spring is not used, but a flexible carbon fiber tie rod is used instead. However, its degree of freedom of movement is limited and its weight is slightly higher.

[0044] As a third specific embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides a near-space airship, which has a structure that is basically the same as that of the near-space airship in the first specific embodiment. The difference is that the mounting base 13 is not used, but an adaptive inflation adjustment base is used to automatically adjust the height of the support column by utilizing changes in bladder pressure. However, the system complexity will be significantly increased.

[0045] As a fourth specific embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides a displacement compensation method for an airship antenna, using a near-space airship from any of the first to third specific embodiments, comprising the following steps: S1: Set a feature spot on mounting foot 12.

[0046] Preferably, a feature spot is set at the center of the mounting foot 12.

[0047] S2: Capture the characteristic light spot.

[0048] Feature points were captured using a 3D laser scanner in conjunction with a stress-strain testing system.

[0049] S3: Collect spatial coordinate data of the antenna array under different air pressures.

[0050] Spatial coordinate data of the antenna array were collected under typical pressure conditions of 300Pa, 500Pa and 1000Pa.

[0051] S4: Establish a mathematical mapping model between intracavitary pressure difference and antenna normal displacement.

[0052] By establishing a mathematical mapping model of "intra-capsule pressure difference - antenna normal displacement" using these discrete data, real-time spatial position compensation parameters are provided for the radar back-end processing system.

[0053] S5: Calculate displacement compensation data based on the current intracystic pressure difference and mathematical mapping model.

[0054] In summary, this solution aims to address the structural damage and decreased detection accuracy of side-mounted conformal radar antennas caused by large-scale elastic deformation (up to 26 cm) on the surface of the stratospheric airship due to drastic pressure fluctuations (e.g., from 300 Pa to 1000 Pa) at different flight altitudes and weather conditions. By providing a frameless subarray mounting structure with multi-degree-of-freedom displacement decoupling capabilities, this solution aims to eliminate the additional stress transmitted from the stratospheric airship deformation to the antenna substrate, ensuring that the precision antenna subarray does not suffer mechanical damage or performance degradation under extreme pressure differential conditions. Simultaneously, this solution utilizes a lightweight PEEK material bracket and a spring-loaded perforation compensation mechanism to maintain the flatness of the antenna array while strictly controlling the airship's additional load. Furthermore, by establishing a "position-bladder pressure" mapping model and integrating an inflatable protective fairing, this solution strives to provide the radar antenna with accurate spatial position correction references and a stable thermal and aerodynamic environment, thereby comprehensively ensuring the electrical performance stability and mission reliability of the radar system in high-altitude environments.

[0055] The specific beneficial effects are as follows: Efficient decoupling: Through the waist hole and four-point non-directional floating design, the deformation of the capsule is no longer transmitted to the antenna substrate, thus protecting the delicate antenna components.

[0056] Extremely lightweight: The frameless design combined with the use of engineering plastics significantly reduces the system weight (only 72kg for 100 units).

[0057] Dynamic compensation: The established "position-capsule pressure" relationship model provides accurate data support for phase compensation in the radar backend.

[0058] Strong environmental adaptability: The inflatable protective cover solves the problems of wind load swaying and harsh thermal environment without significantly increasing the weight.

[0059] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been specifically shown and described above. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the detailed structures, arrangements, or implementations described herein; rather, the present invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements contained within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A mounting base for an airship antenna, characterized in that, include: Radar subarray, mounting feet, and mounting foot base; The radar subarray is set parallel to the mounting base. The radar subarray has multiple displacement holes. The mounting base is fixedly connected to the airship body. The mounting feet pass through the displacement holes and are fixedly connected to the mounting base at one end.

2. The mounting base for the airship antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that, The radar subarray includes multiple antenna subarray substrates, and each antenna subarray substrate includes a fixing hole and multiple displacement holes; The device has multiple displacement holes, including vertical displacement holes, horizontal displacement holes, and oblique displacement holes. There are multiple mounting feet, and each mounting foot corresponds to one hole.

3. The mounting base for the airship antenna according to claim 2, characterized in that, The antenna subarray substrate has a rectangular structure, and the displacement holes are located near the corners.

4. The mounting base for the airship antenna according to claim 3, characterized in that, The antenna subarray substrate is vertically arranged, with vertical displacement holes located at the lower left, horizontal displacement holes located at the upper right, and oblique displacement holes located at the lower right.

5. The mounting base for the airship antenna according to claim 4, characterized in that, The antenna subarray substrate has a square structure, and the oblique displacement holes are arranged along the diagonal of the square.

6. The mounting base for the airship antenna according to claim 5, characterized in that, It also includes a return spring, which is disposed inside the displacement hole.

7. A near-space airship, characterized in that, Includes the mounting base, antenna array, and airship hull of the airship antenna as described in any one of claims 1-6; The mounting base for the airship antenna is located on both sides of the airship hull; The antenna array is mounted on the mounting base of the airship antenna.

8. The near-space airship according to claim 7, characterized in that, The mounting base of the airship antenna is flush with the axis and is divided into four equal sections from the front end to the rear end of the airship. The mounting base of the airship antenna is located in the second section.

9. The near-space airship according to claim 7, characterized in that, It also includes a protective cover, a blower, and a pressure regulating valve. The protective cover surrounds the antenna array, and the blower and pressure regulating valve maintain the pressure difference inside the protective cover.

10. A displacement compensation method for an airship antenna, characterized in that, Using any one of claims 7-9, the near-space airship comprises the following steps: Featured light spots are set on the mounting feet; Capture the characteristic light spots; Collect spatial coordinate data of the antenna array under different air pressures; Establish a mathematical mapping model between intracavitary pressure difference and antenna normal displacement; Displacement compensation data is calculated based on the current intracystic pressure difference and the mathematical mapping model.

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