Hexagon panel development array antenna

Abstract

To provide a hexagon panel development array antenna which is hexagon in the cross section when it is stored, the projection area ratio of the panel when the panel is stored in a hexagon shape and when the panel is developed being increasable.SOLUTION: A radiation element is surrounded by a virtual boundary of a hexagon, and the distance between a side thereof and the element is set to be half of the inter-element distance 3 of a triangle arrangement so that a cell 5 is formed, and cells 5 are collected so that a hexagon panel 4 is formed. Also, a radiation element is added to a sharp point in the center panel, a part which corresponds to a surrounding panel facing the center panel is scraped, and the radiation element is added to a sharp point 7 joining to a surrounding panel adjacent to the surrounding panel if necessary.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The array antenna of the present invention relates to a deployable array antenna configured with multiple hexagonal panels, in which the elements are arranged in a triangular shape to form a circular beam shape. [Background technology]

[0002] As described in Non-Patent Document 1, when the radiating elements are arranged in a square array, the radiated beam becomes square, and when they are arranged in a triangular array, the beam becomes circular. In the former case, the beam shape becomes square as shown in Figure 1, and in the latter case, the beam shape becomes hexagonal as shown in Figure 2.

[0003] An effective example of an array antenna that can be deployed with a high projection area ratio is the multi-folding array antenna described in Patent Document 1. However, the top shape of the antenna when stored, i.e., the panel shape, of the antenna disclosed in Patent Document 1 is square, so in the case of a rocket whose cross-sectional shape is circular or close to circular, the storage efficiency is poor.

[0004] Furthermore, since a plurality of radiating elements are arranged in a square, the radiated beam is also square, which is inconvenient when the antenna is used for communications or radar. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 5672606 Deployable Phased Array Antenna [Non-patent literature]

[0006] [Non-Patent Document 1] Daiki Hosaka, Tadashi Takano, Kenji Saegusa, "Comparative Study on Radiation Characteristics of Square and Hexagonal Array Antennas," IEICE Antenna Propagation Research Meeting, AP2022-173, December, 2022. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] As described in Non-Patent Document 1, if the radiating elements are arranged in a triangular array, the radiated beam will be circular. However, there is no technology yet to configure this antenna with multiple hexagonal panels and make it deployable.

[0008] A larger antenna surface is constructed by using multiple hexagonal panels (4 in Figure 3) that are nearly circular in shape. In this case, the spacing between each radiating element must be set to a specified value inside the hexagonal panel and between adjacent panels, but the panel shapes must be made as uniform as possible to make the design easier.

[0009] Furthermore, when hexagonal panels are combined, it may not be possible to place elements at the apexes of the panels. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to eliminate the problems of the prior art described above, in the present invention, the hexagonal panels are made as uniform as possible so that the spacing between the radiating elements can be made to a predetermined value simply by arranging and connecting the panels.

[0011] One example of how to achieve this is shown in Figure 4. A hexagonal cell 5 containing a radiating element is assumed, and the distance 6 from the element to each side of the cell is set to half the predetermined element interval 3.

[0012] The cells can be tiled side-by-side to form a basic hexagonal panel with a triangular arrangement with a given element spacing of 3, as shown in Figure 5. In this case, there is one element in the center and two elements along each of the three sides.

[0013] Furthermore, when two of these hexagonal panels 4 are butted together along the eight sides, the distance between the opposing elements 1 becomes a predetermined value.

[0014] If we were to tile these basic hexagonal panels to create a large triangular array with five peripheral elements, as shown in Figure 7, we would end up with six missing element areas 11 corresponding to the cusps of the central panel 9, and six missing element areas 12 on the boundaries of the six peripheral panels 10 (there are six of them).

[0015] If this lack of space causes the radiation characteristics to deteriorate in an inconvenient way, radiating elements can be added to the six cusps of the basic hexagonal panel as shown in Figure 8. Also, in the opposing surrounding panels, the outer frame of the panel can be cut out to accommodate the additional radiating elements as shown in Figure 9.

[0016] To fill in the missing element portion 12 on the boundary of the peripheral panel 10, an element 14 is added as shown in FIG. Effect of the Invention

[0017] According to the array antenna of the present invention, the cross-sectional shape when stored is hexagonal, and the projected area ratio of the panel when stored to when deployed can be increased.

[0018] Since the elements on the panel can be arranged in a triangular arrangement, the radiation beam can be made circular. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS EXAMPLES

[0019] By using panels with added radiating elements or modified outer shapes (Figs. 8, 9, and 10), there will be no missing elements in the array, as shown in Fig. 11. This will prevent degradation of radiation characteristics due to missing elements from becoming an issue. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1] The radiating elements are arranged in a square, giving the array antenna a rectangular outer shape. [Diagram 2] The radiating elements are arranged in a triangle, giving the array antenna a hexagonal outer shape. [Diagram 3] 4 shows the shape of a hexagonal panel. [Figure 4] The figure shows the structure of the cells that make up the hexagonal panel. [Diagram 5] The cells are arranged to form a hexagonal panel with radiating elements arranged in a triangular pattern. [Figure 6] This is a diagram of two hexagonal panels joined together. The element spacing remains at the specified value even when the panels are connected together. [Figure 7] The antenna is deployed with six panels arranged around a central panel. Six of the central panel's cusps and six of the peripheral panel joints are missing. [Figure 8] To compensate for the missing elements at the cusps of the central panel, a modified central panel is shown. Elements have been added to all six cusps of the central panel. [Figure 9] This shows one of the modified peripheral panels, corresponding to the addition of elements to the cusps of the central panel, with part of the hexagonal outline missing, which will be fitted from the right into the central panel of Figure 9. [Figure 10] This shows one of the modified perimeter panels, with an additional element added to compensate for a missing element at the perimeter panel join. [Figure 11] This shows an embodiment of the present invention. The missing elements that occur when two basic hexagonal panels are butted together are filled in. In this case, there are five peripheral elements. [Explanation of symbols]

[0021] 1 Radiating element 2. Distance between elements in a square array 3. Distance between elements in a triangular array 4 Hexagon Panel 5 Cell 6 Distance between radiating element and cell edge 7. Hexagonal panel cusps (6 in all) 8 Edges of cells that are adjacent to the edges of the hexagonal panel (there are six of them) 9. Center Panel 10 Peripheral panels (6 in total) 11 Spaces equivalent to cells at the cusps of the central panel (there are six of them) 12 Cell-equivalent spaces at the outer cusps of overlapping adjacent peripheral panels (there are six of them) 13 Cells added to the cusps of the central panel 14 Cells added to overlapping outer cusps of adjacent peripheral panels 15 Cells added to the cusps of the central panel 16 Cells attached to overlapping outer cusps of adjacent peripheral panels

Claims

1. A hexagonal panel deployable array antenna is characterized in that the radiating elements are enclosed in a virtual hexagonal boundary, the distance between one side of the hexagon and the elements is set to half the distance between the elements in the triangular array to form a cell, and the cells are arranged in a hexagon to form a panel.

2. 3. A hexagonal panel deployable array antenna comprising: a central panel having a radiating element at a cusp; a peripheral panel adjacent to the central panel having a radiating element; a portion of the peripheral panel corresponding to the radiating element being removed; and, if necessary, a radiating element being added to the cusp of the adjacent peripheral panel.

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