Antenna, radio frequency device and equipment
By integrating omnidirectional and directional antennas on UWB radio frequency devices, the signal coverage problem of UWB car keys and CPD applications is solved, the RF channel is increased, the design is simplified and the cost is reduced, and the system performance improvement and circuit board size control is achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202421107033.1
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-05-20
- Publication Date
- 2024-12-24
- Estimated Expiration
- 2034-05-20
AI Technical Summary
When integrating UWB car keys and CPD applications on the same RF device, the antenna design is difficult to take into account both signal coverage inside and outside the vehicle, resulting in insufficient system performance and difficult to solve the problem of enlarging circuit board size.
By integrating omnidirectional antennas and directional antennas on the same RF device, they are used for UWB car keys and CPD applications respectively, ensuring that the antennas work together in radar mode, increasing the number of available RF channels, and setting a clearance area in the omnidirectional antenna group, The antenna group does not have a clearance area to reduce board size expansion.
Improves the system's performance in UWB car keys and CPD, ensures that the antenna system achieves the expected performance, increases the number of RF channels, simplifies design, reduces costs, and improves the system's reliability and user experience.
Smart Images
Figure CN222233852U_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present application relates to but is not limited to communication technology, and in particular to an antenna, a radio frequency device and equipment. Background Art
[0002] Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology is a wireless carrier communication technology that uses nanometer-level non-sinusoidal narrow wave pulse signals for data transmission. Because the transmitted signal bandwidth is very wide and can cover a frequency band of several gigahertz, it is called ultra-wideband technology. Currently, UWB technology is widely used in data transmission, positioning, and ranging.
[0003] In UWB technology, the antenna is a crucial component of the system. The design and performance of the antenna directly affect the communication quality and transmission rate. Utility Model Content
[0004] The present application provides an antenna, a radio frequency device and an apparatus, which can ensure that the system in which the antenna for UWB is located achieves the expected performance.
[0005] An embodiment of the present application provides an antenna, which is used for UWB and includes: a first antenna group and a second antenna group integrated on the same radio frequency device; wherein:
[0006] The first antenna group has at least one omnidirectional antenna, and the second antenna group has at least one directional antenna;
[0007] The first antenna group and the second antenna group operate in a radar mode, or the second antenna group operates in a radar mode.
[0008] In an exemplary embodiment, the omnidirectional antenna includes at least an omnidirectional antenna for a UWB car key mode.
[0009] In an exemplary embodiment, the directional antenna includes at least a directional antenna used for modes other than the UWB car key mode.
[0010] In an exemplary embodiment, the directional antenna includes at least a directional antenna for detecting targets within the cabin.
[0011] In one illustrative example, the radar mode includes an angle measurement mode.
[0012] In an exemplary embodiment, the at least one omnidirectional antenna is disposed in a clear area.
[0013] An embodiment of the present application also provides a radio frequency device, comprising any of the antennas described above.
[0014] In an exemplary embodiment, the radio frequency device is installed in a vehicle.
[0015] In an exemplary embodiment, the radio frequency device is installed around the vehicle's exterior corner radar.
[0016] An embodiment of the present application further provides a device, comprising any of the above-mentioned radio frequency devices.
[0017] In the embodiment of the present application, through the special design of antennas for different purposes, that is, antennas for UWB for different purposes integrated on the same RF device can work together in radar mode, thereby improving system performance and ensuring that the system in which the antenna is located achieves the expected performance.
[0018] Furthermore, in the embodiments of the present application, antennas for different purposes integrated on the same RF device are provided with or without clearance areas, which cleverly solves the problem that the size of the antenna circuit board may increase due to the increase in the number of RF channels. This not only increases the number of available RF channels and improves system performance, but also effectively limits the expansion of the circuit board size, ensuring that the system in which the antenna is located achieves the expected performance.
[0019] Other features and advantages of the present application will be described in the following description, and partly become apparent from the description, or understood by practicing the present application. The purpose and other advantages of the present utility model can be realized and obtained by the structures specifically pointed out in the description, claims and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] The accompanying drawings are used to provide further understanding of the technical solution of the present application and constitute a part of the specification. Together with the embodiments of the present application, they are used to explain the technical solution of the present application and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solution of the present application.
[0021] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the structure of the antenna in the embodiment of the present application;
[0022] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the installation positions of various anchor points on a car in an embodiment of the present application;
[0023] FIG3( a ) is a schematic diagram of an implementation method of an antenna in the related art;
[0024] FIG3( b ) is a schematic diagram of an implementation method of an antenna in an embodiment of the present application;
[0025] FIG4( a) is a schematic diagram of another antenna implementation method in the related art;
[0026] FIG4( b ) is a schematic diagram of another implementation method of an antenna in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0027] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present application more clear, the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments and features in the embodiments of the present application can be combined with each other arbitrarily without conflict.
[0028] In order to facilitate understanding of the present application, the present application will be described more fully below with reference to the relevant drawings. Embodiments of the present application are provided in the drawings. However, the present application can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. On the contrary, the purpose of providing these embodiments is to make the disclosure of the present application more thorough and comprehensive.
[0029] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this application belongs. The terms used herein in the specification of this application are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit this application.
[0030] It is understood that the terms "first" and "second" used in this application are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of this application, the meaning of "plurality" is at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.
[0031] It can be understood that the “connection” in the following embodiments should be understood as “electrical connection”, “communication connection”, etc. if the connected circuits, modules, units, etc. have electrical signals or data transmission between each other.
[0032] When used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "said / the" may also include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms "include / comprise" or "have" and the like specify the presence of stated features, wholes, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof, but do not exclude the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features, wholes, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof. At the same time, the term "and / or" used in this specification includes any and all combinations of the relevant listed items.
[0033] UWB is a wireless technology that can accurately locate car keys equipped with UWB technology. As UWB becomes more popular on smartphones, car companies are beginning to use UWB to rapidly design a new generation of cars, allowing users to use smartphones as secure car digital keys. The car digital key UWB is a new keyless entry system that can accurately locate the car to the centimeter level. Using a smartphone as a digital key is both accurate and safe.
[0034] With the further refinement of vehicle use scenarios, in-cabin target detection, such as in-car child presence detection (CPD, Child Presence Detection) scenarios, is particularly important. In related technologies, the identification method of in-car child presence detection is to determine whether a child exists by trying to detect heartbeat, breathing, movement, or other vital signs, and to infer the possibility of the presence of people in the car through some logical information, such as: door opening, pressure sensing, capacitive sensing, etc. However, this method has the disadvantages of complex structure, low recognition rate, and high cost. UWB radar can send ultra-short pulses and determine the position and speed of the target by measuring the delay and amplitude of the signal, so UWB can be used for radar imaging. UWB radar sends a pulse signal and receives the echo of the pulse signal after it is reflected by an obstacle. By analyzing the echo disturbance, it is determined whether there is an object near the UWB radar. This detection method is called channel impulse response (CIR, Channel Impulse Response) technology. CIR can be used to realize in-cabin liveness detection. The Doppler effect of UWB radar can detect very small human breathing movements and human activities to achieve in-vehicle liveness detection. Therefore, it can be directly applied to in-cabin liveness detection. In comparison, the UWB-based CPD method has the advantages of simple structure, high recognition rate, low power consumption, and low cost, and is expected to be further widely used.
[0035] As automakers pay more and more attention to the safety and convenience of vehicles, and also hope to improve the user experience through more advanced technologies, it has become more and more a trend to integrate UWB car keys and CPD applications on the same hardware in cars. Integrating the two applications on the same hardware can reduce the complexity and number of components in the car, thereby reducing costs, simplifying the design and maintenance of the system, and improving integration performance; since users only need to use one device (such as a car key) to achieve multiple functions, including unlocking, starting the vehicle, and monitoring the presence of children in the car, it provides convenience for users; at the same time, by integrating CPD functions, it can help avoid unexpected situations and improve vehicle safety. For example, the system can automatically detect whether there are children left in the car when the driver leaves the vehicle, and issue an alarm to remind the driver, which really ensures the safety of using the vehicle; moreover, integrating UWB technology can improve the user experience, make it more convenient for users to use car functions, and provide more security guarantees, enhancing the user experience.
[0036] Whether in UWB car key mode or radar application mode, antennas are an integral part of the system. Antennas can be used to receive and send signals, receive signals from other devices or base stations, and transmit them to the system for processing. At the same time, they are also responsible for converting the signals generated by the system into electromagnetic waves for sending to other devices or base stations. In the UWB positioning system, antennas can be used to receive signals from reference points and use these signals to determine the position and distance of the receiver. The design and placement of antennas are critical to positioning accuracy. As the interface of the communication system, the design and performance of the antenna directly affect the communication quality and transmission rate.
[0037] The inventor of the present application has found through practice that, for application designs such as integrating UWB car keys and CPD applications on the same radio frequency device in a car, the CPD application corresponding to the UWB radar mode is mainly in-cabin target detection such as detecting children in the car, and does not need to detect objects outside the car. Therefore, the radiation pattern of its antenna only needs to cover the environment inside the car; while in the UWB car key mode, it is necessary to receive signals from electronic keys that may come from the outside (or inside) of the car, and the angles and directions that need to be covered are wider. Therefore, its antenna must cover the environment inside and outside the car. To this end, an embodiment of the present application provides an antenna, such as Figure 1 As shown, the antenna is used for UWB and at least includes: a first antenna group and a second antenna group integrated on the same radio frequency device; wherein,
[0038] The first antenna group has at least one omnidirectional antenna, and the second antenna group has at least one directional antenna;
[0039] The first antenna group and the second antenna group operate in a radar mode, or the second antenna group operates in a radar mode.
[0040] The embodiments of the present application specially design antennas for UWB for different purposes, so that antennas for different purposes integrated on the same radio frequency device can work together in radar mode, thereby improving system performance and ensuring that the system in which the antenna is located achieves the expected performance.
[0041] In an exemplary embodiment, the first antenna group includes an omnidirectional antenna for the UWB car key mode, so as to meet the requirement that the UWB car key can receive signals in all directions.
[0042] In some embodiments, the omnidirectional antenna as the first antenna group may adopt, but is not limited to, antenna structures such as a planar inverted F antenna (PIFA), an inverted F antenna (IFA), a monopole, a dipole, etc., to achieve omnidirectional radiation and reception.
[0043] In one exemplary embodiment, the second antenna set includes a directional antenna for use in addition to the UWB car key mode.
[0044] In one embodiment, the directional antenna includes a directional antenna for in-cabin target detection.
[0045] In one embodiment, for an application design in which a UWB car key and a CPD application are integrated into a same radio frequency device in a car, the second antenna group includes a directional antenna for the CPD application corresponding to the UWB radar mode.
[0046] In some embodiments, the directional antenna used as the second antenna group may be, but is not limited to, a microstrip patch antenna, a waveguide slot antenna, a dielectric resonant antenna, and the like.
[0047] As the demand for integrating radar and CPD becomes stronger and stronger, in the application design of integrating UWB car key and CPD applications on the same hardware in the car, the main anchor point installed in the car usually needs to take into account both UWB car key and CPD applications. The antenna used for UWB in the related technology can only work in radar mode, and CPD needs to be implemented in other separate ways. In order to adapt to such development trends, the antenna for UWB provided in the embodiment of the present application adopts a directional antenna to realize in-cabin target detection, taking into account the application scenarios of both UWB car key and CPD applications.
[0048] In the application design that integrates UWB car keys and CPD applications on the same hardware, for UWB car keys, increasing the number of available radio frequency channels can improve the accuracy and real-time positioning of the car keys, which is especially important for car owners because only by ensuring that the position of the car keys can be accurately located at any time can the vehicle be opened and closed. For CPD, increasing the number of available radio frequency channels can improve the system's ability to monitor and track the position of children in the car, which is crucial to ensuring the safety of children in the car because the system can more accurately detect the position of children in the car, issue alarms in time and take necessary measures to prevent accidents. In the antenna provided in the embodiment of the present application, the first antenna group and the second antenna group can work in radar mode at the same time, thus increasing the number of available radio frequency channels. By increasing the number of available radio frequency channels, the performance of the system in detecting the presence of UWB car keys and children in the car is significantly improved, thereby improving the reliability and practicality of the entire system and ensuring that the system in which the antenna is located achieves the expected performance.
[0049] In one embodiment, in an application design that integrates UWB car keys and CPD applications on the same hardware in a car, more available RF channels provide better support for the system to more accurately locate and track the positions of UWB car keys and children in the car, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of the system.
[0050] In the embodiment of the present application, by setting the first antenna group and the second antenna group to work together in the radar mode, the number of RF channels in the radar mode is increased, and its detection effect is improved. For application designs such as integrating UWB car keys and CPD applications on the same hardware in a car, the performance of the system in terms of UWB car keys and CPD is significantly improved, thereby improving the reliability and practicality of the entire system.
[0051] In an exemplary embodiment, the radio frequency device may be a UWB chip or a UWB system.
[0052] In a UWB positioning system, multiple anchor points and mobile tags are usually deployed. Anchor points are usually fixed at known locations within the area to be measured and have highly accurate location information, such as Figure 2 As shown, the installation positions of various anchor points on the car are shown, such as Figure 2 The main anchor point is one of these anchor points, which is usually located at the main control node or central location of the entire UWB positioning system, such as Figure 2 The "UWB" word located on the front window of the car is mainly used to provide the reference position and time synchronization signal of the positioning system to support the accurate positioning of moving targets.
[0053] In an exemplary embodiment, in the application design of integrating UWB car key and CPD application on the same radio frequency device in a car, it is necessary to take both UWB car key and CPD applications into consideration, and the same radio frequency device can be the main anchor point.
[0054] In one embodiment, in the UWB operating frequency band, the antenna size is about 10 mm. According to the traditional omnidirectional antenna, clearance is required in the area near the antenna to avoid interference, and the hardware circuit cannot be arranged in the antenna area. This will cause the size of the antenna circuit board to increase due to the increase in the number of RF channels (antennas), and the increase in the size of the circuit board will have a negative impact on the interior design and overall aesthetics of the car.
[0055] In the antenna provided in the embodiment of the present application, for the first antenna group, at least one omnidirectional antenna is provided with a clearance area, and for the second antenna group, at least one directional antenna is not provided with a clearance area.
[0056] In the embodiment of the present application, the antennas in the first antenna group are provided with clearance areas, which means that the areas near the antennas in the first antenna group are divided into clearance areas. In other words, circuits or other devices cannot be placed in the areas near the antennas in the first antenna group; and the antennas in the second antenna group are not provided with clearance areas, which means that the areas near the antennas in the second antenna group are not divided into clearance areas. In other words, circuits or other devices can be placed in the areas near the antennas in the second antenna group.
[0057] Taking the antenna assembly for UWB in the application design of integrating the UWB car key and CPD application on the circuit board where the main anchor point is located in the car as an example, in this embodiment, the antenna assembly includes 4 antennas, two of which are used as antennas for the UWB car key and two are used as antennas for the CPD application.
[0058] Figure 3(a) is a schematic diagram of an antenna implementation method in the related art. As shown in Figure 3(a), the antenna used for the UWB car key and the antenna for the CPD application are both omnidirectional antennas, as shown in the small snowflake shaded box in Figure 3(a). All antennas need to be cleared to set up a clear area, as shown in the blank area in Figure 3(a). In this way, the available area left for the hardware circuit is shown as the black area; Figure 3(b) is a schematic diagram of an antenna implementation method in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 3(b), the antenna used for the UWB car key is an omnidirectional antenna, as shown in the small snowflake shaded box in Figure 3(b), and the antenna for the CPD application is a directional antenna, as shown in the small diagonal shaded box in Figure 3(b). In the antenna implementation method provided in the embodiment of the present application, it is only necessary to perform clearance processing on the antenna of the UWB car key to set up a clearance area, as shown in the blank area in Figure 3(b), while the antenna of the CPD application does not need to be cleared, that is, no clearance area needs to be set. This part of the area can be used to place other hardware circuits. As shown in Figure 3(b), the black area of the available area left for the hardware circuit is larger than the black area in Figure 3(a), which effectively limits the expansion of the circuit board size. It should be noted that it is also possible to not set a clearance area for only part of the antenna of the CPD application.
[0059] FIG4(a) is a schematic diagram of another antenna implementation method in the related art, and FIG4(b) is a schematic diagram of another antenna implementation method for UWB in the embodiment of the present application. The antennas shown in FIG4(a) and FIG4(b) are L-shaped distributed arrays for realizing the 3D angle of arrival (AoA, Angle of Arrival) function. The difference from FIG3(a) and FIG3(b) is that the antenna used for CPD application in FIG4(a) and FIG4(b) is an antenna with an added 3D AoA function. For the related art, comparing FIG4(a) with FIG3(a), the clearance area is increased, and the black area of the available area left for the hardware circuit is reduced. However, when the antenna implementation method of the embodiment of the present application is adopted, comparing FIG4(b) with FIG3(b), the black area of the available area left for the hardware circuit is the same size, that is, for this antenna with an added 3D AoA function, compared with the related art, the antenna implementation method provided by the embodiment of the present application greatly increases the available area left for the hardware circuit. In other words, the expansion of the circuit board size is very well limited. It should be noted that the clearance area may not be set for only some antennas used for CPD.
[0060] An embodiment of the present application also provides a radio frequency device, comprising the antenna described in any one of the embodiments of the present application.
[0061] In one exemplary embodiment, the radio frequency device may be installed in the vehicle. In one embodiment, the radio frequency device is installed at the main anchor point.
[0062] In an exemplary embodiment, the radio frequency device can be installed around the corner radar outside the vehicle. In this way, the omnidirectional antenna and directional antenna in the radio frequency device can be used together in the radar mode to achieve some corner radar functions.
[0063] An embodiment of the present application also provides a device, comprising the radio frequency device described in any one of the embodiments of the present application.
[0064] Although the embodiments disclosed in this application are as above, the contents described are only embodiments adopted to facilitate understanding of this application and are not intended to limit this application. Any technician in the field to which this application belongs can make any modifications and changes in the form and details of implementation without departing from the spirit and scope disclosed in this application, but the scope of patent protection of this application shall still be based on the scope defined in the attached claims.
Claims
1. An antenna, the antenna being used for UWB, characterized in that: include: A first antenna group and a second antenna group integrated on the same radio frequency device; wherein, The first antenna group has at least one omnidirectional antenna, and the second antenna group has at least one directional antenna; The first antenna group and the second antenna group operate in a radar mode, or the second antenna group operates in a radar mode.
2. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein: The omnidirectional antenna at least includes an omnidirectional antenna for a UWB car key mode.
3. The antenna according to claim 2, wherein: The directional antenna includes at least a directional antenna used for modes other than the UWB car key mode.
4. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein: The directional antenna at least includes a directional antenna for detecting targets in the cabin.
5. The antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: The radar mode includes an angle measurement mode.
6. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein: The at least one omni-directional antenna is disposed in a clear area.
7. A radio frequency device, characterized in that: The invention comprises the antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 6.
8. The radio frequency device according to claim 7, wherein: The radio frequency device is installed in the vehicle.
9. The radio frequency device according to claim 7, wherein: The radio frequency device is installed around the outer corner radar of the vehicle.
10. A device, characterized in that: A radio frequency device comprising any one of claims 7 to 9.