Phased array antenna, mobile communication system, and program

Abstract

To provide a phased array antenna capable of wide-angle beam scanning without increasing the size of the antenna.SOLUTION: A phased array antenna has a plurality of element rows on an antenna plane. Each of the element rows has one or more element units, and the one or more element units are arranged in a vertical direction. Each of the element units basically consists of a left element and a right element that are horizontally adjacent to each other with an element spacing a, and two upper and lower elements arranged at a position with an element spacing b in the vertical direction from the center of the left and right elements adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction. Adjacent element rows are arranged with a shift of 1.5a in the horizontal direction and 1.5b in the vertical direction, and the elements that form the element unit in the vertical direction also from the element unit in the horizontal direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a phased array antenna, a mobile body-mounted communication system, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Generally, for arrays of multiple elements such as phased array antennas, a square array as shown in FIG. 1 or a triangular array as shown in FIG. 2 is often used. In the four-stage square array of FIG. 1, four stages in the vertical direction and four elements in the horizontal direction, for a total of 16 elements are used. In the four-stage triangular array of FIG. 2, four stages in the vertical direction and three or four elements in the horizontal direction, for a total of 14 elements are used. In the following description, the vertical direction may be expressed as "stages". Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 describe array antennas with radiation patterns. Also, Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4 describe antenna devices for suppressing side lobes and grating lobes.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Patent Document 4

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Narrowing the spacing between elements allows for wider beam scanning over the same area, but this increases the number of elements and leads to higher costs. In the typical triangular array shown in Figure 2, elements are spaced at λ / 4 intervals in the horizontal direction. Therefore, a wider beam scanning angle is possible in the horizontal direction compared to a square array. On the other hand, in the vertical direction, the element spacing is λ / 2, making it equivalent to a square array. Thus, there are aspects of the triangular arrangement where the directivity is not improved. Furthermore, the technologies described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 result in a concentric circle structure and a complex arrangement. Patent documents 3 and 4 are essentially similar to triangular arrangements, and therefore still have aspects where the directivity is not improved. Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a phased array antenna capable of wide-angle beam scanning in two directions by an arrangement in which elements exist at intervals of λ / 4 or similar in both the vertical and horizontal directions, a mobile-mounted communication system using the same, and a program. Furthermore, the aim is to provide a phased array antenna that reduces the number of elements compared to square or triangular arrays and enables wide-angle beam scanning, as well as a mobile communication system and program using it. Furthermore, the objective is to provide a phased array antenna, a mobile communication system using the same, and a program that realizes the above configuration with an easy-to-manufacture structure, where elements are simply placed at predetermined positions on a square grid of half-element units, rather than a complex configuration such as concentric circles. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] To solve the above-mentioned problems, the phased array antenna according to claim 1 of the present invention is: A phased array antenna having an antenna surface, The antenna surface has multiple arrays of elements, Regarding the mutually orthogonal X, Y, and Z axes, the X axis is defined as the horizontal direction, the Y axis as the vertical direction, and the Z axis as the height direction. The element array has one or more element units, and the one or more element units are arranged vertically. The element unit is, The left and right elements are adjacent to each other in the lateral direction with a spacing a, Based on two upper and lower elements positioned vertically at an element spacing b from the center of the horizontally adjacent left and right elements, Having one or more complete element units, One or more complete element units are positioned approximately at the center of the antenna surface. A complete element unit has a left element, a right element, an upper element, and a lower element. This phased array antenna is characterized by the fact that adjacent element rows are offset by 1.5a horizontally and 1.5b vertically, so that elements that constitute an element unit vertically also constitute an element unit horizontally. The phased array antenna according to claim 2 of the present invention is The phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that a and b are equal in the vertical element spacing and the horizontal element spacing. The phased array antenna according to claim 3 of the present invention is It consists of three rows of elements, The central element array has one complete element unit positioned in the center. Each of the left and right element rows has two half-element units, and each half-element unit has only the two central elements of the complete element unit. A phased array antenna according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by having 4 stages and 12 elements. The phased array antenna according to claim 4 of the present invention is It consists of three rows of elements, The central element row has one complete element unit arranged at the center and two partial element units vertically adjacent above and below to the one element unit arranged at the center. The partial element unit has only one element on the center side among the upper element, lower element, left element, and right element of the complete element unit. The left and right element rows have four incomplete element units. The incomplete element unit has only three elements on the center side among the upper element, lower element, left element, and right element of the complete element unit. The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that it has 18 elements in 5 stages. <000直线に沿って、 The phased array antenna according to claim 5 of the present invention is composed of three rows of element rows. The central element row has one complete element unit arranged at the center and two partial element units vertically adjacent above and below to the one element unit arranged at the center. The partial element unit has only one element on the center side among the upper element, lower element, left element, and right element of the complete element unit. The left and right element rows have four complete element units. The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that it has 24 elements in 6 stages. The phased array antenna according to claim 6 of the present invention The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the antenna surface is a substantially rectangular shape with one side longer than the other side. The phased array antenna according to claim 7 of the present invention The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the element is a dipole antenna. The phased array antenna according to claim 8 of the present invention The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the element is a polarization sharing antenna. The phased array antenna according to claim 9 of the present invention is The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the element units are integrally formed. The phased array antenna according to claim 10 of the present invention is The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the element unit is formed of a dielectric substrate or metal. The phased array antenna according to claim 11 of the present invention is The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising a radio wave transmission direction control unit and transmitting radio waves in a plurality of directions in a time division manner. The phased array antenna according to claim 12 of the present invention is The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising a radio wave transmission direction control unit and transmitting radio waves in a plurality of directions in a frequency division manner. The phased array antenna according to claim 13 of the present invention is The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 12, comprising a radio wave reception direction detection unit for detecting the direction of the received radio wave. The phased array antenna according to claim 14 of the present invention is The phased array antenna according to claim 13, wherein the radio wave reception direction detection unit comprises a frequency division unit and detects the direction of the received radio wave for each frequency. The phased array antenna according to claim 15 of the present invention is The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 14, comprising a communication unit and transmitting or receiving radio waves for communication. The mobile communication system according to claim 16 of the present invention is A mobile communication system characterized by being equipped with the phased array antenna described in claim 15. The program according to claim 17 of the present invention is A program for controlling a phased array antenna having an antenna surface, Phased array antennas are Radio wave transmission direction control unit, and It has multiple arrays of elements arranged on the antenna surface, Regarding the mutually orthogonal X, Y, and Z axes, the X axis is defined as the horizontal direction, the Y axis as the vertical direction, and the Z axis as the height direction. The element array has one or more element units, and the one or more element units are arranged vertically. The element unit has multiple elements, The distance between the closest elements is a in the horizontal direction and b in the vertical direction. Phased array antennas are Having element units that are offset by 1.5a in the lateral direction, and having elements that are offset by a / 2 in the lateral direction, Having element units that are offset by 1.5b in the vertical direction, and having elements that are offset by b / 2 in the vertical direction, The program is A signal reception step in which a signal is received by the radio wave transmission direction control unit, A lateral input signal generation step is performed after the signal reception step, generating an input signal having phase and amplitude corresponding to the position of each element, shifted by a / 2 in the lateral direction. A vertical input signal generation step is performed after the signal reception step, generating an input signal having phase and amplitude corresponding to the position of each element, shifted vertically by b / 2 units. This program is characterized by executing an input signal output step, which outputs input signals corresponding to each element generated in the lateral input signal generation step and the vertical input signal generation step, from the radio wave transmission direction control unit. By having the above configuration, the present invention enables wide-angle beam scanning without increasing the antenna size compared to conventional arrangement methods. Furthermore, it is possible to achieve equivalent or better performance even with a reduced number of elements, while simultaneously reducing costs due to the reduction in the number of elements. Furthermore, compared to conventional arrangement methods, it is possible to simultaneously reduce the number of elements and improve performance. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0006] [Figure 1] This shows an example of a conventional phased array antenna configuration. [Figure 2] This shows an example of a conventional phased array antenna configuration. [Figure 3] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] An example of a phased array antenna configuration in a comparative example is shown. [Figure 10] An example of a phased array antenna configuration in a comparative example is shown. [Figure 11]An example of the results obtained for a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention is shown. [Figure 12] An example of the results for a phased array antenna in a comparative example is shown. [Figure 13] An example of the results for a phased array antenna in a comparative example is shown. [Figure 14] An example of the results for a phased array antenna in a comparative example is shown. [Figure 15] An example of the results for a phased array antenna in a comparative example is shown. [Figure 16] An example of the results obtained for a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention is shown. [Figure 17] An example of the results obtained for a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention is shown. [Figure 18] Examples of results for a phased array antenna in one embodiment and comparative example of the present invention are shown. [Figure 19] Examples of results for a phased array antenna in one embodiment and comparative example of the present invention are shown. [Figure 20] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 21] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 22] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 23] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 24] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 25] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 26] This shows an example of the configuration of a mobile communication system in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 27] This shows an example of the configuration of a phased array antenna in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 28]This shows an example of the program configuration in one embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0007] Figures 3 and 4 show an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. The phased array antenna 100 has an antenna surface 110, and the antenna surface 110 has a plurality of element rows 101. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the X-axis direction is defined as the horizontal direction, the Y-axis direction as the vertical direction, and the Z-axis direction as the height direction, with respect to the mutually orthogonal X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions.

[0008] The element array 101 has one or more element units 10. The one or more element units 10 are arranged vertically. Here, the element array 101 in the diagram is a schematic representation for ease of understanding, and it should be noted that in reality, as shown in Figure 4 and later, the element array 101 has an intricate, mesh-like structure.

[0009] The element unit 10 is based on an upper element, a left element, a right element, and a lower element. For example, in element 1, there is an upper element 1A, a left element 1B, a right element 1C, and a lower element 1D. The left and right elements are arranged adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction with an element spacing a. The upper and lower elements are positioned vertically at an element spacing b from the center of the horizontally adjacent left and right elements. The terms "upper element," "left element," "right element," and "lower element" are used for ease of understanding, and in reality, they may be tilted or their orientation (up / down or left / right) may be reversed. For example, the upper and lower elements may be arranged horizontally, while the left and right elements are arranged vertically.

[0010] The phased array antenna 100 has one or more complete element units 11. One complete element unit 11 is positioned approximately at the center of the antenna surface 110. The complete element unit 11 has a left element, a right element, an upper element, and a lower element. In this embodiment, elements 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D constitute the complete element unit 11 as the upper element, the left element, the right element, and the lower element, respectively. Note that the solid lines and dashed lines in the figure are for facilitating the understanding of the configuration and the element intervals, and it should be noted that they may be different from the actual configuration. The adjacent element rows 101 are arranged with a shift of 1.5a in the horizontal direction and 1.5b in the vertical direction, so that the elements constituting the element unit 10 in the vertical direction also constitute the element unit 10 in the horizontal direction as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 4.

[0011] Regarding the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, a and b do not necessarily have to be the same distance. For the beam of the phased array antenna 100, when there is a direction with priority for beam scanning and a direction without priority, the element intervals in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction can be made different, such as a < b. In this case, a long element unit 10 is formed in the vertical direction, and a short element unit 10 is formed in the horizontal direction.

[0012] Also, regarding the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, a = b, that is, they may have the same distance. FIG. 5 shows a phased array antenna 100 in an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, regarding the element interval in the vertical direction and the element interval in the horizontal direction, a and b are equal. Specifically, a = b, and element units 10 of the same length are formed both in the vertical direction and in the horizontal direction. In this configuration, when installing the phased array antenna 100, the performance is the same in both the vertical and horizontal installation directions, increasing the degree of freedom during installation.

[0013] As can be easily understood by those skilled in the art, the actual antenna element may be square, rectangular, circular, etc., or may be a dipole antenna described later. The element interval a is greater than or equal to the element length, and the range is (λ / 2) < a < 2×λ and (λ / 2) < b < 2×λ with respect to the wavelength λ of the antenna. However, usually, the element length becomes shorter than λ / 2 due to the influence of a substrate having a dielectric. This configuration allows for wide-angle beam scanning by narrowing the element spacing a. Furthermore, even when the element spacing a is widened, performance equivalent to that of a square array can be obtained, making it possible to significantly reduce the number of elements.

[0014] In one embodiment, the phased array antenna 100 is composed of three arrays of elements 101, as shown in Figure 5. The central element array 102 has one complete element unit 11 positioned at its center. The complete element unit 11 is composed of elements 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. The left and right element rows 101 and 103 each have four half-element units 12, and each half-element unit 12 has only the two central elements of the complete element unit 11. Specifically, each has elements 2B and 2D, 3A and 3B, 4A and 4C, and 5C and 5D, respectively. And, overall, it has 4 stages and 12 elements. Thus, it can be constructed using 75% of the elements of a 16-element square array arranged in four stages.

[0015] In this configuration, there is a complete element unit 11 consisting of elements 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D in the X-axis direction, i.e., the lateral direction. Including the other elements, the elements are arranged in the lateral direction with an element spacing a. On the other hand, in the Y-axis direction, that is, in the vertical direction, elements 1B, 4A, and 5D, among others, form the incomplete elements described later, and when other elements are included, the elements are arranged in the vertical direction with an element spacing b. This enables wide-angle beam scanning.

[0016] In one embodiment, the phased array antenna 100 is composed of three arrays of elements 101, as shown in Figure 6. The central element array 102 has one complete element unit 11 positioned in the center, and two partial element units 14 that are vertically adjacent to the central element unit 10, above and below it. The partial element unit 14 has only one central element among the upper, lower, left, and right elements of the complete element unit 11. Specifically, it has elements 6A and 7D, respectively. The left and right element rows 101 and 103 each have four incomplete element units 13. The incomplete element unit 13 has only the three central elements from the upper, left, right, and lower elements of the complete element unit 11. Specifically, it has three elements each of elements 2B, 2C, and 2D; elements 3A, 3B, and 3C; elements 4A, 4B, and 4C; and elements 5B, 5C, and 5D. In total, it has 5 stages and 18 elements. Thus, it can be constructed using 72% of a 5-stage square array of 25 elements.

[0017] In one embodiment, the phased array antenna 100 is composed of three arrays of elements 101, as shown in Figure 7. The central element array 102 has one complete element unit 11 positioned in the center, and two partial element units 14 that are vertically adjacent to the central element unit 10, above and below it. The partial element unit 14 has only one central element from the upper element, lower element, left element, and right element of the complete element unit 11. Specifically, it has elements 7D, 8C, 9B, and 6A. The left and right element rows 101 and 103 each have four complete element units 11. And, overall, it has 6 stages and 24 elements.

[0018] In this way, it can be constructed with 67% of the 36 elements in a 6-stage square array, and a reduction of approximately 20% in the number of elements compared to a square array can be expected. In this configuration, there is a complete element unit 11 consisting of elements 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D in the X-axis direction, i.e., the lateral direction. Including the other elements, the elements are arranged in the lateral direction with an element spacing a. On the other hand, in the Y-axis direction, that is, the vertical direction, for example, elements 1A, 2B, 5C, and 7D form a complete element, and including the other elements, the elements are arranged in the vertical direction with an element spacing b. This enables wide-angle beam scanning.

[0019] Similarly, a 7-stage equivalent configuration uses 40 elements, which is 82% of the 49 elements in a 7-stage square array, and an 8-stage equivalent configuration uses 50 elements, which is 78% of the 64 elements in an 8-stage square array. This allows for an expected reduction of approximately 20% in the number of elements compared to a square array. In this configuration, there is a complete element unit 11 consisting of elements 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D in the X-axis direction, i.e., the lateral direction. Including the other elements, the elements are arranged in the lateral direction with an element spacing a. On the other hand, in the Y-axis direction, that is, in the vertical direction, a virtually complete element is formed, and including other elements, the elements are arranged in the vertical direction with an element spacing b. This enables wide-angle beam scanning.

[0020] As demonstrated in the above examples, it is possible to simultaneously reduce the number of elements and enable wide-angle beam scanning while maintaining the same area as a square array. Although the gain decreases due to the reduction in the number of elements, this can be compensated for in actual devices by increasing the input power.

[0021] As shown in Figure 8, in one embodiment, the phased array antenna 100 can be a roughly rectangular shape in which one side is longer than the other side. This method is particularly effective when wide-angle beam scanning is required in only one direction, by aligning the orientation of one side of the roughly rectangular antenna surface 110, which is longer than the other side, with the required direction. Furthermore, when wide-angle beam scanning is required in multiple directions, this can be accommodated by arranging multiple roughly rectangular antenna surfaces 110.

[0022] In one embodiment, the element units 10 of the phased array antenna 100 described above are integrally formed. This configuration fixes the arrangement of elements within the element unit 10, making manufacturing easier.

[0023] Figure 9 shows a square array with 6 stages and 36 elements, Figure 10 shows a comparative example with a triangular array with 6 stages and 33 elements, and Figure 11 shows an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. Figures 12 and 13 show the relative power in a square array. In Figure 12, the solid line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 0 degrees in the vertical direction, and the dashed line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 60 degrees in the vertical direction. Similarly, in Figure 13, the solid line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 0 degrees in the horizontal direction, and the dashed line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 60 degrees in the horizontal direction. Here, the main beam refers to the direction of the radio waves transmitted or received by the phased array antenna 100. At a vertical angle of 60 degrees, a large side lobe can be seen near the opposite 63 degrees. Similarly, at a horizontal angle of 60 degrees, a large side lobe can be seen near the opposite 90 degrees.

[0024] Figures 14 and 15 show the relative power in a triangular arrangement. In Figure 14, the solid line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 0 degrees vertically, and the dashed line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 60 degrees vertically. Similarly, in Figure 15, the solid line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 0 degrees horizontally, and the dashed line represents the result when the horizontal direction is 60 degrees. At a vertical angle of 60 degrees, a large side lobe is visible around 63 degrees on the opposite side. On the other hand, at a horizontal angle of 60 degrees, the side lobe is suppressed.

[0025] Figures 16 and 17 show the relative power in this embodiment. In Figure 16, the solid line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 0 degrees in the vertical direction, and the dashed line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 60 degrees in the vertical direction. Similarly, in Figure 17, the solid line represents the result when the main beam direction of the radio waves is 0 degrees in the horizontal direction, and the dashed line represents the result when the horizontal direction is 60 degrees. Side lobes are suppressed in both the vertical and horizontal 60-degree angles.

[0026] Figures 18 and 19 compare the square array, triangular array, and the case where the main beam direction of the radio waves in this embodiment is 60 degrees vertically and 60 degrees horizontally, respectively. The solid lines in the figures represent the square array, the dashed lines represent the triangular array, and the dotted lines represent the results of this embodiment. As mentioned above, in a square arrangement, large side lobes are generated in both the vertical and horizontal directions, while in a triangular arrangement, large side lobes are generated in the vertical direction. However, in this embodiment, it can be seen that side lobes are suppressed in both the vertical and horizontal directions (60 degrees).

[0027] Figure 20 shows an example of the element configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, element 1 is a dual-polarization shared antenna. Specifically, it is a cross dipole antenna. This configuration allows for support of two polarizations. For example, when used for communication, it can double the number of lines. Also, when used for reception, it can support dual polarization for received signals.

[0028] Figure 21 shows an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the element unit 10 is formed of a dielectric substrate or metal. "The element unit 10 is formed of a dielectric substrate or metal" means that the main components of the element unit 10, specifically more than half of its volume, consist of a dielectric substrate or metal, and also include cases where it contains components other than a dielectric substrate or metal. Furthermore, the antenna surface 110 is arranged on a flexible substrate. This configuration makes it possible to accommodate situations where the area where the antenna surface 110 is placed is not flat.

[0029] Figure 22 shows an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the phased array antenna 100 includes a radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 and transmits radio waves in multiple directions in a time-division manner. This configuration enables efficient transmission and reception of communication radio waves at mobile phone base stations and other locations.

[0030] The figure shows an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the phased array antenna 100 includes a radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 and transmits radio waves in multiple directions using frequency division. This configuration enables efficient transmission and reception of communication radio waves at mobile phone base stations and other locations.

[0031] Figure 23 shows an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the phased array antenna 100 includes a radio wave reception direction detection unit 130 that detects the direction of the received radio waves. With this configuration, for example, when used in conjunction with the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 for communication with a mobile terminal, direction control according to the direction of the mobile terminal becomes possible.

[0032] Figure 24 shows an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the radio wave reception direction detection unit 130 includes a frequency division unit 131 that detects the direction of arrival of the received radio waves for each frequency. With this configuration, for example, when used in conjunction with the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 for communication with a mobile terminal, it becomes possible to control the direction according to the direction of multiple mobile terminals for each frequency.

[0033] Figure 25 shows an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the phased array antenna 100 includes a communication unit 140 that transmits or receives radio waves for communication.

[0034] Figure 26 shows an example configuration of a mobile communication system 200 in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the mobile communication system 210 is equipped with a phased array antenna 100 that includes the aforementioned communication unit 140. For example, in mobile devices such as drones, weight greatly affects performance. However, the phased array antenna 100 with this configuration is lightweight due to the small number of elements and circuit components, and it is also capable of wide-angle beam scanning, making it very advantageous as a communication system for mobile devices 200. It can also be applied to other mobile vehicles such as aircraft and electric vehicles.

[0035] Figures 27 and 28 show an example configuration of a phased array antenna 100 and an example configuration of a program in one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 27, the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 includes a CPU as the calculation unit 121, a ROM as the non-volatile memory 122, and RAM as the volatile memory 123. The CPU, ROM, and RAM are connected to each other. The program is stored in ROM, and when the power to the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 is turned ON, the program stored in ROM is loaded onto RAM and executed under the control of the CPU.

[0036] As shown in Figure 28, the program controls a phased array antenna 100 having an antenna surface 110. As shown in the figure above, the phased array antenna 100 has a radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 and a plurality of element arrays 101, 102, 103, etc. arranged on the antenna surface 110. For the mutually orthogonal X, Y, and Z axis directions, the X axis direction is defined as the horizontal direction, the Y axis direction as the vertical direction, and the Z axis direction as the height direction.

[0037] Each element array 101, 102, 103, etc., has one or more element units 10, and these one or more element units 10 are arranged vertically. The element unit 10 has multiple elements, and the distance between the closest elements is a in the horizontal direction and b in the vertical direction. The phased array antenna 100 has element units 10 that are offset by 1.5a in the lateral direction. As a result, it has elements that are offset by a / 2 in the lateral direction. It also has element units 10 that are offset by 1.5b in the vertical direction. As a result, it has elements that are offset by b / 2 in the vertical direction.

[0038] The program includes a signal reception step S02, a vertical input signal generation step S10, a horizontal input signal generation step S20, and an input signal output step S30. In the signal reception step S02, the signal input to the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 is received. In this embodiment, the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 in the communication unit 140 is provided with a control unit connection terminal 141. The signal is then input to the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 via the control unit connection terminal 141.

[0039] The vertical input signal generation step S10 is performed after the signal reception step S02 and generates an input signal having phase and amplitude corresponding to the position of each element, shifted by b / 2 in the vertical direction. The lateral input signal generation step S20 is also performed after the signal reception step S02, and generates an input signal having phase and amplitude corresponding to the position of each element, shifted by a / 2 in the lateral direction. In the input signal output step S30, the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 outputs input signals corresponding to each element, which were generated in the vertical input signal generation step S10 and the horizontal input signal generation step S20.

[0040] The following explains each step. When the generation of the input signal begins, the process first proceeds to a waiting step S01, where it waits for the signal to be input via the control unit connection terminal 141. If the input is confirmed in the standby step S01, the process proceeds to the signal reception step S02, where the signal input to the radio wave transmission direction control unit 120 is received.

[0041] Next, the process proceeds to the vertical input signal generation step S10. In the signal reception step S02, an input signal is generated having phase and amplitude corresponding to the vertical position of each element. Next, the process proceeds to the lateral input signal generation step S20, where an input signal having phase and amplitude corresponding to the lateral position of each element is generated and combined with the previously generated vertical input signal.

[0042] These two steps may be executed in reverse order, or they may be executed simultaneously if the CPU and memory can accommodate two steps. If executed simultaneously, a separate synthesis step may be provided to combine the vertical input signal and the horizontal input signal. Next, the process proceeds to the input signal output step S30, where the input signal corresponding to each element is output. This configuration makes it possible to control elements that are offset by element spacings a and b in both the vertical and horizontal directions, enabling the synthesis of radio waves with fewer side lobes using fewer elements and components.

[0043] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and it goes without saying that it includes various embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, a mobile communication system may be one that is worn by a person. [Explanation of symbols]

[0044] 1 element 1A, 3A, 4A, 6A upper element 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 9B left element 1C, 2C, 3C, 4C, 5C, 8C Right element 1D, 2D, 5D, 7D lower element 10-element unit 11 Complete Element Unit 12 Semi-element units 13. Incomplete Element Unit 14 Sub-element units 100 Phased Array Antenna 110 Antenna surface 101, 102, 103 element array 120 Radio wave transmission direction control unit 121 Arithmetic section 122 Non-volatile memory 123 Volatile memory 130 Radio wave reception direction detection unit 131 Frequency division section 140 Communications Department 141 Control Unit Connection Terminal 142 Detection unit connection terminal 200 Mobile Units 210 Mobile-mounted communication systems

Claims

1. A phased array antenna having an antenna surface, The antenna surface has multiple element rows, Regarding the mutually orthogonal X, Y, and Z axis directions, the X axis is defined as the horizontal direction, the Y axis as the vertical direction, and the Z axis as the height direction. The element array has one or more element units, and the one or more element units are arranged in the vertical direction. The aforementioned element unit is It comprises all or part of a left element and a right element adjacent to each other horizontally with an element spacing a, and an upper element and a lower element positioned vertically at an element spacing b from the center of the horizontally adjacent left element and right element, Phased array antennas also Having one or more complete element units, One or more of the complete element units are arranged at the center of the antenna surface. The complete element unit comprises the left element, the right element, the upper element, and the lower element. The adjacent arrays of elements are arranged with a lateral offset of 1.5a and a vertical offset of 1.5b from each other, so that at least a portion of the left element, right element, upper element, and lower element that constitute the element unit in the vertical direction also constitute the element unit in the horizontal direction. Phased array antenna.

2. The phased array antenna according to claim 1, characterized in that a and b are equal in the vertical and horizontal directions of element spacing.

3. It consists of three rows of the aforementioned element array, The central element row in the left-right direction of the antenna surface has a configuration in which one complete element unit is arranged at the center of the top, bottom, left, and right of the antenna surface. Each of the left and right element rows has a configuration in which two half-element units are present, and each half-element unit has a configuration in which only the two central elements of the complete element unit are present. A phased array antenna according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by having 12 elements.

4. It consists of three rows of the aforementioned element array, The central element row in the left-right direction of the antenna surface has a configuration comprising one complete element unit positioned at the center of the antenna surface in the vertical, left-right, and right directions, and two partial element units adjacent vertically above and below the one complete element unit positioned at the center of the antenna surface in the vertical, left-right, and right directions. The partial element unit has a configuration in which it comprises only one element from the upper element, lower element, left element, and right element of the complete element unit, which is located on the central side in the vertical, horizontal, and vertical directions. The left and right element rows are configured to have four incomplete element units. The incomplete element unit has a configuration in which it comprises only the three elements on the central side of the upper element, lower element, left element, and right element of the complete element unit. A phased array antenna according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by having 18 elements.

5. It consists of three rows of the aforementioned element array, The element row in the center of the antenna surface in the left-right direction has a configuration comprising one complete element unit positioned at the center of the antenna surface in the vertical, left-right, and right directions, two partial element units adjacent vertically above and below the one complete element unit positioned at the center of the antenna surface in the vertical, left-right, and right directions, and two partial element units outside the left and right element rows in the left-right direction. The partial element unit has a configuration in which it comprises only one element from the upper element, lower element, left element, and right element of the complete element unit, which is located on the central side in the vertical, horizontal, and vertical directions. The left and right element rows are configured to have four complete element units. A phased array antenna according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by having 24 elements.

6. The phased array antenna according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the antenna surface is a rectangle in which one side is longer than the other side.

7. The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that at least a portion of the left element, the right element, the upper element, and the lower element are dipole antennas.

8. The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that at least a portion of the left element, the right element, the upper element, and the lower element is a polarization-sharing antenna.

9. The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the element unit is integrally formed.

10. The phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the element unit is formed of a dielectric substrate or metal.

11. A phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized by comprising a radio wave transmission direction control unit and transmitting radio waves in multiple directions in a time-division manner.

12. A phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized by comprising a radio wave transmission direction control unit and transmitting radio waves in multiple directions by frequency division.

13. A phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized by comprising a radio wave reception direction detection unit for detecting the direction of received radio waves.

14. The phased array antenna according to claim 13, characterized in that the radio wave reception direction detection unit includes a frequency division unit and detects the direction of the received radio waves for each frequency.

15. A phased array antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized by comprising a communication unit and transmitting or receiving radio waves for communication.

16. A mobile communication system characterized by being equipped with the phased array antenna described in claim 15.

17. A program for controlling a phased array antenna having an antenna surface, The aforementioned phased array antenna is Radio wave transmission direction control unit, and The antenna surface has a plurality of element rows arranged therein, Regarding the mutually orthogonal X, Y, and Z axis directions, the X axis is defined as the horizontal direction, the Y axis as the vertical direction, and the Z axis as the height direction. The element array has one or more element units, and the one or more element units are arranged in the vertical direction. The element unit has a plurality of elements, Within the same element unit, the distance between the closest elements is a in the horizontal direction and b in the vertical direction. The aforementioned phased array antenna is Having an element unit that is offset by 1.5a in the lateral direction and 1.5b in the vertical direction relative to an adjacent element unit, having an element that is offset by a / 2 in the lateral direction and an element that is offset by b / 2 in the vertical direction, The aforementioned program, A signal reception step that receives a signal input to the radio wave transmission direction control unit, A lateral input signal generation step is performed after the signal reception step, which generates an input signal having a phase and amplitude corresponding to the position of each of the elements, shifted by a / 2 in the lateral direction. A vertical input signal generation step is performed after the signal reception step, which generates input signals having phase and amplitude corresponding to the position of each element, shifted by b / 2 in the vertical direction. A program characterized in that the radio wave transmission direction control unit executes an input signal output step which outputs an input signal corresponding to each of the elements generated in the vertical input signal generation step and the horizontal input signal generation step.

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