The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to an antenna and an electronic device.
With the rapid development of the 5G technology, the demand for a low-cost large-scale phased array antenna becomes more and more prominent in the communication field. In a conventional large-scale antenna or phased-array antenna, the phases of elements of the phased-array antenna are usually controlled independently by means of a digital chip from the aspects of cost, volume, power consumption and the like, so that the beam scanning is realized. The precision of the digital chip for controlling the phases depends on a digitalizing bit of a digital to analog (DA) converter in the chip, the high-precision chip usually introduces a higher cost, and each chip has limited number of control channels, so that the number of chips and the circuit complexity are increased in multiples for the large-scale phased array antenna, thereby greatly improving the design time cost and the economic cost. In addition, factors, such as temperature drift, device aging and operating environment, affect the stability of the phase control of the digital chip to the phased array antenna, and even directly cause performance deterioration.
The present disclosure is directed to at least one of the technical problems in the prior art, and provides an antenna and an electronic device.
In a first aspect, the technical scheme adopted for solving the technical problem of the present disclosure is an antenna, including: a phase shifting unit, a reference electrode layer, and an antenna substrate which are stacked; wherein the phase shifting unit includes at least one phase shifter, each phase shifter includes a first transmission structure, a second transmission structure, and a phase shifting structure between the first transmission structure and the second transmission structure: the reference electrode layer is provided with at least one first opening and at least one second opening therein; the antenna substrate includes a first dielectric substrate, and a feed structure and at least one first radiation portion on a side of the first dielectric substrate away from the reference electrode layer: the feed structure includes a first feed port and at least one second feed port; and for each phase shifter, the first transmission structure is electrically connected to a corresponding second feed port through a corresponding first opening; and the second transmission structure is electrically connected to a corresponding first radiation portion through a corresponding second opening.
In some examples, the phase shifting structure includes a first substrate and a second substrate opposite to each other, and a tunable dielectric layer between the first substrate and the second substrate; wherein the first substrate includes a second dielectric substrate and a first transmission line and a second transmission line on a side of the second dielectric substrate close to the tunable dielectric layer; and the second substrate includes a third dielectric substrate and a plurality of patch electrodes on a side of the third dielectric substrate close to the tunable dielectric layer, the plurality of patch electrodes are arranged side by side in an extending direction of the first transmission line, and orthographic projections of the plurality of patch electrodes on the second dielectric substrate overlap with orthographic projections of the first transmission line and the second transmission line on the second dielectric substrate.
In some examples, each of the first transmission structure and the second transmission structure includes a main line, a first branch, and a second branch; and the first branch and the second branch of the first transmission structure have a one-piece structure, the first branch and the second branch of the second transmission structure have a one-piece structure, and each first branch and each second branch adopt a meandering line: the main line of the first transmission structure is coupled to a corresponding second feed port through a corresponding first opening: the first branch of the first transmission structure is electrically connected to one end of the first transmission line; and the second branch of the first transmission structure is electrically connected to one end of the second transmission line; and the main line of the second transmission structure is coupled to a corresponding first radiation portion through a corresponding second opening: the first branch of the second transmission structure is electrically connected to the other end of the first transmission line; and the second branch of the second transmission structure is electrically connected to the other end of the second transmission line.
In some examples, the antenna substrate further includes a fourth dielectric substrate on a side of the first dielectric substrate away from the reference electrode layer, and at least one second radiation portion on a side of the fourth dielectric substrate away from the first dielectric substrate; and orthographic projections of the second radiation portion and the first radiation portion corresponding to each other on the first dielectric substrate overlap with each other.
In some examples, the feed structure includes first feed lines of n stages; and each first feed line at the (m−1)th stage is connected to two first feed lines at the m-th stage: where n≥2, 2≤m≤n, and both m and n are integers.
In some examples, the antenna further includes a connector electrically connected to the first feed line at the first stage through the first feed port.
In some examples, each first radiation portion and each second radiation portion include a polygon, and any interior angle of the polygon is greater than or equal to 90°.
In some examples, the polygon includes a first side, a second side, a third side, a fourth side, a fifth side and a sixth side which are connected in sequence: an extending direction of the first side is the same as that of the fourth side, and is perpendicular to that of the second side and that of the fifth side: extending directions of the third side and the second side are the same, and an angle between each of the extending directions of the third side and the second side and the extending direction of the first side is in a range from 44.5° to 45.5°.
In some examples, the first side, the second side, the fourth side and the fifth side of each first radiation portion have the same length, which are all between 0.240 and 0.242 wavelength corresponding to an operating frequency of the antenna; and the third side and the sixth side of each first radiation portion have the same length, which are all between 0.073 and 0.074 wavelength corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna; and lengths of the first side, the second side, the fourth side and the fifth side of each second radiation portion are all between 0.272 and 0.274 wavelength corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna; and lengths of the third side and the sixth side of each second radiation portion are both between 0.092 and 0.094 wavelength corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna.
In some examples, the antenna further includes a plurality of first metal isolation pillars penetrating through the antenna substrate; wherein an outline of an orthographic projection of the plurality of first metal isolation pillars on the first dielectric substrate surrounds the corresponding first radiation portion.
In some examples, a ratio of a radius of each first metal isolation pillar to a distance between any two adjacent first metal isolation pillars is between 0.25 and 0.5.
In some examples, the antenna further includes a plurality of second metal isolation pillars penetrating through the antenna substrate; wherein an outline of an orthographic projection of the plurality of second metal isolation pillars on the first dielectric substrate surrounds the corresponding phase shifter.
In some examples, a ratio of a radius of each second metal isolation pillar to a distance between any two adjacent second metal isolation pillars is between 0.25 and 0.5.
In some examples, a thickness of the tunable dielectric layer is between 4.4 μm and 4.8 μm.
In some examples, the antenna substrate further includes at least two second feed lines on a side of the first dielectric substrate away from the reference electrode layer; the at least two second feed lines are respectively at positions of the feed structure away from a center of the antenna substrate: the first substrate further includes third transmission lines on a side of the second dielectric substrate close to the tunable dielectric layer: each second feed line is electrically connected to the corresponding third transmission line through a corresponding first opening: the antenna substrate further includes at least two dummy units: each dummy unit includes a third radiation portion on a side of the first dielectric substrate away from the reference electrode layer: each third transmission line is electrically connected to the third radiation portion of the corresponding dummy unit through a corresponding second opening; and each dummy unit further includes a fourth radiation portion on a side of the fourth dielectric substrate away from the first dielectric substrate; and orthographic projections of the third radiation portion and the fourth radiation portion corresponding to each other on the first dielectric substrate overlap with each other.
In some examples, a first adhesive layer is between the first dielectric substrate and the fourth dielectric substrate, and the first adhesive layer is configured to adhere the first dielectric substrate and the fourth dielectric substrate together.
In some examples, a second adhesive layer is between the reference electrode layer and the first substrate, and the second adhesive layer is configured to adhere the reference electrode layer and the first substrate together.
In a second aspect, the present disclosure also provides an electronic device including the antenna of any one of the above embodiments in the first aspect, and a control unit: wherein the control unit configured to load a bias voltage to the at least one phase shifter in the antenna.
In order to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to better understan δ the technical solutions of the present disclosure, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and the detailed description.
Unless defined otherwise, technical or scientific terms used herein shall have the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. The terms “first”, “second”, and the like used in the present disclosure are not intended to indicate any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used for distinguishing one element from another. Further, the term “a”, “an”, “the”, or the like used herein does not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denotes the presence of at least one element. The term of “comprising”, “including”, or the like, means that the element or item preceding the term contains the element or item listed after the term and its equivalent, but does not exclude other elements or items. The term “connected”, “coupled”, or the like is not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect connections. The terms “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, and the like are used only for indicating relative positional relationships, and when the absolute position of an object being described is changed, the relative positional relationships may also be changed accordingly.
In a first aspect,
In particular, for each phase shifter 1, the first transmission structure 11 is electrically connected to a corresponding second feed port 322 through a corresponding first opening 21: the second transmission structure 12 is electrically connected to a corresponding first radiation portion 33a through a corresponding second opening 22.
In some examples, the at least one first opening 21 may include, but be not limited to, an “H” shaped opening, which is composed of two types of rectangular slits orthogonal to each other. The at least one second opening 22 may include, but be not limited to, a rectangular slit. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, as an example, the at least one first opening 21 is the “H” shaped opening, and the at least one second opening 22 is the rectangular slit for description. As shown in
It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present disclosure, λ is a wavelength at a center frequency.
For the feed structure 32, the first feed port 321 may be electrically connected to a connector 81 for transmitting radio frequency signals. Each second feed port 322 feeds the received radio frequency signal to the corresponding phase shifter 1 through the corresponding first opening 21. For example, the first and second feed ports 321 and 322 may be microstrip line structures.
In some examples, the phase shifting unit 10 may include a plurality of phase shifters 1 arranged in an array. According to the principle of the array synthesis, a shape of a radiation pattern of an antenna array is influenced by a distance between any two adjacent phase shifters 1 arranged in an array. If the distance between any two adjacent phase shifters 1 is too large, grating lobes appear when scanning at a large angle, so that the radiation energy is needlessly consumed, and the antenna gain is reduced. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the distance between any two adjacent ones of the plurality of phase shifters 1 arranged in an array in the phase shifting unit 10 may be set to be in a range from 0.4λ to 0.6λ corresponding to an operating frequency of the antenna. When forming the array, the distance for the array is preferably 0.5λ.
In some examples,
Specifically, the first substrate 1a includes a second dielectric substrate 131 and a first transmission line 13a and a second transmission line 13b disposed on a side of the second dielectric substrate 131 close to the tunable dielectric layer 1b. The second substrate 1c includes a third dielectric substrate 132 and a plurality of patch electrodes 13c disposed on a side of the third dielectric substrate 132 close to the tunable dielectric layer 1b, the plurality of patch electrodes 13c are arranged side by side in an extending direction of the first transmission line 13a, and orthographic projections of the plurality of patch electrodes 13c on the second dielectric substrate 131 overlap with orthographic projections of the first transmission line 13a and the second transmission line 13b on the second dielectric substrate 131. In this case, overlapping areas, where the orthographic projections of the plurality of patch electrodes 13c on the second dielectric substrate 131 overlap with the orthographic projections of the first transmission line 13a and the second transmission line 13b on the second dielectric substrate 131, are capacitance areas, respectively. By applying different bias voltages to the first transmission line 13a, the second transmission line 13b and the patch electrodes 13c, the dielectric constant of the liquid crystal molecules is changed in the overlapping area A where the orthographic projections of the plurality of patch electrodes 13c on the second dielectric substrate 131 overlap with the orthographic projection of the first transmission line 13a on the second dielectric substrate 131 and the overlapping area B where the orthographic projections of the plurality of patch electrodes 13c on the second dielectric substrate 131 overlap with the orthographic projection of the second transmission line 13b on the second dielectric substrate 131, so that the capacitances, are changed, formed in the overlapping area A where the orthographic projections of the plurality of patch electrodes 13c on the second dielectric substrate 131 overlap with the orthographic projection of the first transmission line 13a on the second dielectric substrate 131 and the overlapping area B where the orthographic projections of the plurality of patch electrodes 13c on the second dielectric substrate 131 overlap with the orthographic projection of the second transmission line 13b on the second dielectric substrate 131. After the received radio frequency signal is fed through the second feed port 322 into the corresponding phase shifter 1 through the corresponding first opening 21, the phase shifting structure 13 of the phase shifter 1 shifts the phase of the radio frequency signal.
The first transmission line 13a and the second transmission line 13b extend in the same direction and have the same length. With this arrangement, the miniaturization of the phase shifting structure 13 can be achieved, that is, the high integration of the antenna can be achieved.
For example, the first transmission line 13a and the second transmission line 13b may employ a micro-strip line structure.
In some examples, the patch electrodes 13c in the phase shifting structure 13 may be electrically connected together through a connection electrode 13d, and in this case, the patch electrodes 13c may be applied with the same bias voltage when the phase shifting structure 13 is operated, which is easy to control. An orthographic projection of the connection electrode 13d on the third dielectric substrate 132 does not overlap with orthographic projections of the first transmission line 13a and the second transmission line 13b on the third dielectric substrate 132.
In addition, widths of the patch electrodes 13c may be equal to each other or different from each other: lengths of the patch electrodes 13c may be equal to each other or different from each other. It should be noted that each patch electrode 13c may include, but be not limited to, a rectangular capacitive metal strip, and may also include a capacitive load with other shapes or structures, such as a capacitive metal strip having an “H” shape or a circular arc shape.
It should be noted that the reference electrode layer 2 illustrated in
In some examples, a thickness of the liquid crystal layer 1c may be between 4.4 μm and 4.8 μm. In particular, the thickness of the liquid crystal layer 1c may be selected to be 4.6 μm. Two parameters are used to characterize the liquid crystal material in the liquid crystal layer 1c, namely, a loss tangent tan δ and a relative dielectric constant ε. When a bias voltage (in a range from 0 to 23.5V) is applied to the liquid crystal material, a variation range of the relative dielectric constant ε is between 2.62 and 3.58, and a variation range of the tan δ is between 0.0038 and 0.0053. In this case, the phase shifting structure 13 can play a role of miniaturization. The liquid crystal layer 1c with the lower thickness is provided, which can reduce the response time of liquid crystals to the bias voltage, reduce the switching time for scanning of the beam of the antenna to a value much less than the entire response time of the phase shifting of the phase shifter 1.
In some examples, the materials of the second dielectric substrate 131 and the third dielectric substrate 132 may be the same or different. For example, the second dielectric substrate 131 and the third dielectric substrate 132 may be made of glass. The second dielectric substrate 131 and the third dielectric substrate 132 each have a thickness in a range of about 0.29 mm to about 0.31 mm.
In some examples,
Here, the first branch 11b and the second branch 11c of the first transmission structure 11 have different lengths, the first branch 12b and the second branch 12c of the second transmission structure 12 have different lengths: the first branch 11b of the first transmission structure 11 and the second branch 12c of the second transmission structure 12 have the same length, and the second branch 11c of the first transmission structure 11 and the first branch 12b of the second transmission structure 12 have the same length. A difference between the lengths of the first branch and the second branch of the first transmission structure 11 or the second transmission structure 12 determines a phase difference of the radio frequency signals transmitted in the first branch and the second branch. For example: the difference between the lengths of the first branch 11b and the second branch 11c of the first transmission structure 11 causes a phase difference of 180° of the radio frequency signals transmitted in the first branch 11b and the second branch 11c: the difference between the lengths of the first branch 12b and the second branch 12c of the second transmission structure 12 causes a phase difference of 180° of the radio frequency signals transmitted in the first branch 12b and the second branch 12c. When the antenna receives radio frequency signals, the radio frequency signals are fed in through the main line of the first transmission structure 11, and are transmitted by the first branch 11b and the second branch 11c of the first transmission structure 11, causing the phase difference of 180° of the radio frequency signals transmitted in the first branch 11b and the second branch 11c; and then the radio frequency signals are restored by the first branch 12b and the second branch 12c of the second transmission structure 12, so that the radio frequency signals transmitted in the first branch 12b and the second branch 12c of the second transmission structure 12 to the main line 12a of the second transmission structure 12 have the same amplitude and phase.
The main line 11a, the first branch 11b, and the second branch 11c of the first transmission structure 11, the main line 12a, the first branch 12b, and the second branch 12c of the second transmission structure 12, and the first transmission line 13a and the second transmission line 13b are disposed in the same layer. The first transmission structure 11 receives the radio frequency signal fed from the second feed port 322 through the first opening 21, that is, the main line 11a receives the radio frequency signal fed from the second feed port 322 through the first opening 21, the main line 11a transmits the radio frequency signal to the phase shifting structure 13 through the first branch 11b and the second branch 11c for phase shifting, and the second transmission structure 12 receives the radio frequency signal phase-shifted by the phase shifting structure 13 and feeds the phase-shifted radio frequency signal to the first radiation portion 33a through the second opening 22.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the second feed port 322 is coupled to the corresponding first transmission structure 11, and the second transmission structure 12 is coupled to the corresponding first radiation portion 33a, so that a non-hole signal transmission is achieved in such a non-contact coupling manner.
In addition, the main line 11a, the first branch 11b and the second branch 11c of the first transmission structure 11, the main line 12a, the first branch 12b and the second branch 12c of the second transmission structure 12, and the first transmission line 13a and the second transmission line 13b are disposed in the same layer. In this case, the first branch 11b of the first transmission structure 11 and one end of the first transmission line 13a may have a one-piece structure, the second branch 11c of the first transmission structure 11 and one end of the second transmission line 13b may have a one-piece structure, the first branch 12b of the second transmission structure 12 and the other end of the first transmission line 13a may have a one-piece structure, and the second branch 12c of the second transmission structure 12 and the other end of the second transmission line 13b may have a one-piece structure.
In some examples, the first and second transmission structures 11 and 12 may employ a BALUN component. The BALUN (balance-unbalance) component is a three-port device that can be applied in a microwave radio frequency device, and is a radio frequency transmission line transformer that converts a matching input into a differential input, and can be used for exciting a differential line, an amplifier, a wideband antenna, a balanced mixer, a balanced frequency multiplier and a modulator, a phase shifter 1, and any circuit design that requires a transmission for signals with a same amplitude and a phase difference of 180° on two lines. Two outputs of the BALUN component have a same amplitude and opposite phases. In the frequency domain, this means that there is a phase difference of 180° between the two outputs: in the time domain, this means that a voltage of one balanced output is a negative value of the other balanced output.
It should be noted that only one example of the BALUN component is given above, but it should be understood that the BALUN component includes not only the above exemplary structures, but also any three-port BALUN component can be applied in the antenna of the embodiments of the present disclosure, so the above exemplary BALUN components do not limit the protection scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.
In some examples, in order to increase a capacitance of an equivalent circuit of the structure so that the phase shifter 1 can provide a larger phase shift amount for a same changed value of the dielectric constant, for example, a phase shift amount of 360°, the phase shifters 1 in the phase shifting unit 10 are flush with each other on the outer side, or there is at least one phase shifter 1 of the plurality of phase shifters 1 which extends beyond other phase shifters 1 flush with each other on the outer side by a distance less than 10% of the length of the phase shifter 1.
According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, by loading the bias voltage to the liquid crystal phase shifters 1, the accurate control and the independent regulation and control of the excitation phase of each antenna unit 33 can be realized, so that the beam scanning function of the circularly polarized liquid crystal phased array antenna is realized.
In some examples,
The first radiation portion 33a and the second radiation portion 33b, of which the orthographic projections on the first dielectric substrate 31 overlap with each other, are located in different dielectric layers. The at least one first radiation portion 33a includes one or more first radiation portions 33a: the at least one second radiation portion 33b includes one or more second radiation portions 33b. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, as an example, the at least one first radiation portion 33a includes a plurality of first radiation portions 33a: the at least one second radiation portion 33b includes a plurality of radiation portions 33b for description. In addition, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, as an example, the number of the first radiation portions 33a and the number of the second radiation portions 33b are equal to each other, and the plurality of first radiation portions 33a are in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of second radiation portions 33b.
In transmitting a signal in the antenna, after receiving the phase-shifted radio frequency signal fed from the phase shifter 1, the first radiation portion 33a feeds the radio frequency signal to the second radiation portion 33b directly opposite to the first radiation portion 33a. It should be noted that a distance between the first radiation portion 33a and the second radiation portion 33b directly opposite to each other should satisfy the radiance requirement of the antenna.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first radiation portions 33a are disposed on a side of the first dielectric substrate 31 close to the fourth dielectric substrate 34, that is, a dielectric substrate (that is, the fourth dielectric substrate 34) is provided between a layer where the first radiation portions 33a are located and a layer where the second radiation portions 33b are located, so that the dielectric constant of the antenna can be effectively increased.
In some examples, as shown in
In the embodiment, as an example, the shape of each first radiation portion 33a and the shape of each second radiation portion 33b are hexagon for description. Specifically, the hexagon includes a first side, a second side, a third side, a fourth side, a fifth side and a sixth side which are connected in sequence: an extending direction of the first side is the same as that of the fourth side, and is perpendicular to that of the second side and that of the fifth side: extending directions of the third side and the sixth side are the same, and an angle between each of the extending directions of the third side and the sixth side and the extending direction of the first side is in a range from 44.5° to 45.5°.
For example, the first radiation portion 33a has a hexagon shape as the outline, wherein the hexagon shape is formed by cutting two diagonal corners of a square, each diagonal corner is an isosceles right triangle. The first side, the second side, the fourth side, and the fifth side have the same length, and the third side and the sixth side have the same length. In this case, the angle between each of the extending directions of the third side and the sixth side and the extending direction of the first side is 45°. The isosceles right triangle is used as the cut off corner of the square for forming the first radiation portion 33a, so that the impedance matching is achieved and the loss is reduced.
Further, as shown in
In some examples, the first side, the second side, the fourth side and the fifth side of the first radiation portion 33a have the same length, which are all between 0.240 and 0.242 wavelength (between 0.240×wavelength and 0.242×wavelength or in a range from 0.240λ to 0.242λ) corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna; the third side and the sixth side of the first radiation portion 33a have the same length, which are all between 0.073 and 0.074 wavelength corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna. Lengths of the first side, the second side, the fourth side and the fifth side of the second radiation portion 33b are all between 0.272 and 0.274 wavelength corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna; lengths of the third side and the sixth side of the second radiation portion 33b are both between 0.092 and 0.094 wavelength corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna.
For example, the lengths of the first side, the second side, the fourth side, and the fifth side of the first radiation portion 33a are 0.241λ corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna; a length of the right-angle side of the cut off isosceles right triangle is 0.052λ corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna. Based on this, the lengths of the third side and the sixth side of the first radiation portion 33a are determined to be 0.073λ corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna. The lengths of the first side, the second side, the fourth side and the fifth side of the second radiation portion 33b are 0.273λ corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna; a length of the right-angle side of the cut off isosceles right triangle is 0.066λ corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna. Based on this, the lengths of the third side and the sixth side of the second radiation portion 33b are determined to be 0.093λ corresponding to the operating frequency of the antenna.
In some examples,
In some examples, as shown in
In some examples, the first dielectric substrate 31 and the fourth dielectric substrate 34 may employ a printed circuit board (PCB).
In some examples, a second adhesive layer 5 is provided between the antenna substrate 3 and the glass substrate (i.e., the first substrate 1a and the second substrate 1c in the phase shifting unit 10). Specifically, when the reference electrode layer 2 is disposed on the side of the antenna substrate 3 close to the first substrate 1a, the second adhesive layer 5 is disposed between the reference electrode layer 2 and the first substrate 1a, and is configured to attach the reference electrode layer 2 to the first substrate 1a. The materials of the first adhesive layer 4 and the second adhesive layer 5 may be the same or different. For example: the materials of the first adhesive layer 4 and the second adhesive layer 5 each may be an optically clear adhesive (OCA).
In some examples,
It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present disclosure, as an example, the antenna unit 33 is a circularly polarized antenna unit 33 for the detailed description.
In some examples, a ratio of a radius of the first metal isolation pillar 6 to a distance between any two adjacent first metal isolation pillars 6 is between 0.25 and 0.5. Specifically, the ratio of the radius of the first metal isolation pillar 6 to the distance between any two adjacent first metal isolation pillars 6 is 0.29.
A side length of a square cavity defined by the first metal isolation pillars 6 is equal to a distance between centers of the any two adjacent antenna units 33, and the square cavity can effectively enhance the isolation between the adjacent antenna units 33 and improve the operating stability of the circularly polarized antenna units 33.
In some examples,
In some examples, a ratio of a radius of the second metal isolation pillar 7 to a distance between any two adjacent second metal isolation pillars 7 is between 0.25 and 0.5. Specifically, the ratio of the radius of the second metal isolation pillar 7 to the distance between any two adjacent second metal isolation pillars 7 is 0.29.
The second metal isolation pillars 7 include some first metal isolation pillars 6. The first metal isolation pillars 6 and the second metal isolation pillars 7 each adopt a square cavity structure, so that the directional beam scanning angle in a range from −60° to 60° C. an be realized; and the circularly polarized radiation performance with an axial ratio smaller than 3 dB is obtained within a scanning angle in a range from −40° to 40° in a frequency band of 25.5 GHz to 26 GHZ.
The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a circularly polarized phased array antenna based on a transmission type liquid crystal phase shifter 1, which can realize the circularly polarized scanning in a range from −40° to 40° in a frequency band of 25 GHz to 26 GHZ, and provide the maximum gain of 12 dB, wherein the gain fluctuation is less than 3 dB in the scanning range. In this case, the antenna has the advantages of high response speed, low cost, integration and the like.
In some embodiments, as shown in
The feed structure 32 may be a one-to-sixteen power divider. Specifically, the feed structure 32 is formed by mutually cascading one-to-two power dividers of 4 stages. The first feed lines 32a at the nth stage includes 2n first feed lines 32a.
It should be noted that, impedances of the first feed lines 32a at each stage may be the same or different. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, as an example, in order to reduce the complexity of the feed structure 32, the impedances of the first feed lines 32a is the same for description. Therefore, the first feed lines 32a at the nth stage can output the radio frequency signals having the uniform phases with the same amplitude.
In some examples, each first feed line 32a is a strip-line, and the first feed port 321 may be a transition structure for converting the strip-line to the micro-strip.
For example, the connector 81 may include, but be not limited to, an ELC (End Luanch Connector) connector 81, such as a connector available from the Southwestern Microwave company.
In some examples, to increase the degree of freedom in the power divider circuit design and reduce the side lobe, the first feed lines 32a having different impedances may be provided.
respectively, where the portions have a quarter-wavelength distance from the end of the same first feed line 32a to which the portions are connected. Where x represents the stage at which the same first feed line 32a to which the portions are connected is located; and Zc represents a characteristic impedance such as having a value of 50 ohms. Taking the Chebyshev taper distribution as an example, if normalized weights of feed amplitudes of 16 antenna units 33 are 0.867, 0.504, 0.622, 0.733, 0.833, 0.914, 0.971, 1.0, 1.0, 0.971, 0.914, 0.833, 0.733, 0.622, 0.504, and 0.867, respectively, the resultant far-field beam scanning radiation pattern has a side lobe level which can be suppressed from −13 dB to −20 dB for uniform distribution.
In some examples, as shown in
It should be noted that the second feed lines 32b are provided in pairs, for example, 1 pair, 2 pairs or more pairs. Each pair of the second feed lines 32b are disposed at positions of the feed structure 32 away from the center of the antenna substrate 3 (i.e., the antenna), and at the same distance from the center of the antenna substrate 3. Without largely increasing the complexity, the operation performance (e.g., the matching performance and the axial ratio of the antenna, etc.) of the unit is more ideal, and the embodiment of the present disclosure provides one pair of second feed lines 32b.
In some examples, as shown in
The first substrate 1a further includes third transmission lines 14 disposed on a side of the second dielectric substrate 131 close to the tunable dielectric layer 1b: each second feed line 32b is electrically connected to the corresponding third transmission line 14 through a corresponding first opening 21. The antenna substrate 3 further includes at least two dummy units 35: each dummy unit 35 includes a third radiation portion 35a provided on a side of the first dielectric substrate 31 away from the reference electrode layer 2, and a fourth radiation portion provided on a side of the fourth dielectric substrate 34 away from the first dielectric substrate 31: each third transmission line 14 is electrically connected to the third radiation portion 35a of a corresponding dummy unit 35 through a corresponding second opening 22. It should be noted that the dummy units do not receive the microwave signal and therefore do not radiate a signal.
Specifically, the second feed line 32b may employ a strip-line, and the third transmission line 14 may employ a micro-strip line. One end of each second feed line 32b may be coupled to the corresponding third transmission line 14 through a corresponding first opening 21. The third transmission line 14 is coupled to a corresponding dummy unit 35 through a corresponding second opening 22. The first feed port 321 may be connected to the other end of the corresponding second feed line 32b and be used as a transition structure for converting the strip-line to the micro-strip.
A thickness of the antenna provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is in a range from 1.531 mm to 1.5312 mm, that is, 0.128 times of the wavelength at the operating frequency of 25 GHZ of the antenna. Compared with the traditional phased array antenna or the existing liquid crystal phased array antenna, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, it does not need to integrate a radio frequency phase shifting chip, which can simplify the design complexity, and reduce the cost of the phased array antenna.
Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, including the antenna provided in the above embodiments, and therefore, a principle of a problem solved by the electronic device in the embodiment of the present disclosure is similar to that of the above antenna in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Based on this, the specific description for the electronic device in the embodiment of the present disclosure may be referred to the description for the above antenna, and is not repeated here.
The electronic device includes a control unit in addition to the antenna. The control unit is configured to load a bias voltage to the phase shifters 1 in the antenna.
The control unit is electrically connected to the antenna through a flexible flat cable. Specifically, the control unit is electrically connected to the first branches, the second branches and the patch electrodes 13c of the phase shifters 1 in the antenna through the flexible flat cable, and is configured to load a bias voltage to the first branches, the second branches and the patch electrodes 13c, so that the first branches and the second branches form capacitors with the patch electrodes 13c.
For example, the control unit may include a separate power control board based on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) chip.
The antenna and the control unit are provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, which is convenient for performs antenna tests and experiments: the same antenna structure can be controlled by using different control units, thereby realizing a higher compatibility.
Based on the actual application scene, considering that the integration of the whole system is improved and the product size is reduced, the control unit and the antenna can be integrated on the same printed circuit board, so that the display feedback function of the control unit can be increased, and the current power-on state can be fed back in real time.
It should be understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments adopted to explain the principles of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and such changes and modifications also fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/CN2022/090497 | 4/29/2022 | WO |