Patent Grant
10333216
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2015-0164886, filed on Nov. 24, 2015 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
Forms of the present disclosure relate to an antenna apparatus capable of adjusting a directional pattern and a vehicle having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a position of a communication target is varied or a scanning is needed for searching a position of the communication target, it is required to adjust a directional pattern of an antenna.
In general, a directional pattern of an antenna is adjusted by altering a phase difference between array radiation elements to control a direction of main beam or by using a mechanical rotation.
However, in the case of altering the phase difference, a plurality of additional circuits for controlling a phase of each array radiation element are required, an angle of a pattern alteration is small, and a large side lobe is generated, thus reducing the radiation efficiency of an antenna.
Furthermore, in the case of using the mechanical rotation, a separate structure for rotating the antenna is required, and it is difficult to accurately adjust a directional pattern in a direction of a communication target traveling at a high speed.
Therefore, it is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide an antenna apparatus capable of adjusting a directional pattern toward a desired direction through a simple switching without employing a complicated feed configuration of an array antenna and a vehicle having the same.
In one form of the present disclosure, an antenna apparatus includes a power feed unit, a waveguide through which a radio signal provided from the power feed unit propagates, and a plurality of antenna elements including radiation slots for radiating the radio signal propagated through the waveguide, and the plurality of antenna elements are shifted by a predetermined angle and stacked.
The antenna apparatus may further include a switching unit for switching at least one of the power feed units included in the plurality of antenna elements in order to select at least one of the plurality of antenna elements.
The plurality of antenna elements may be formed by a plurality of substrates that are stacked in up and down directions.
The antenna element may include an upper plate, a lower plate, and n partition walls (n is an integer equal to or greater than 2) that is formed between the upper and lower plates to form n−1 number of waveguides.
The upper and lower plates may be each formed in predetermined regions of two adjacent substrates of the plurality of substrates.
The partition wall may be formed with a plurality of pins adjacent to each other spaced at a distance below a critical distance, and the plurality of pins may be inserted into the upper and lower plates.
The n−1 number of waveguides may distribute the radio signal provided from the power feed units in the same phase and amplitude.
Between the power feed units and the n−1 number of waveguides, n−1 number of inductive posts may be arranged.
A common ground unit to which the power feed units included in the plurality of antenna elements are connected may be further included.
The plurality of antenna elements may be stacked one per layer.
The plurality of antenna elements may be stacked two or more per layer.
In another form of the present disclosure, a vehicle is equipped with an antenna apparatus, wherein the antenna apparatus includes a power feed unit, a waveguide through which a radio signal provided from the power feed unit propagates, and a plurality of antenna elements including radiation slots for radiating the radio signal propagated through the waveguide and shifted by a predetermined angle and stacked.
The antenna apparatus may further include a switching unit for selecting at least one of the power feed units included in the plurality of antenna elements.
The plurality of antenna elements may be formed by a plurality of substrates that are stacked in upward and downward directions.
The antenna element may include an upper plate, a lower plate, and n partition walls (n is an integer equal to or greater than 2) that is formed between the upper and lower plates to form n−1 number of waveguides.
The upper and lower plates may be each formed on certain regions of two adjacent substrates of the plurality of substrates.
The partition wall may be formed with a plurality of pins adjacent to each other spaced at a distance below a critical distance, and the plurality of pins may be inserted into the upper and lower plates.
The n−1 number of waveguides may distribute the radio signals provided from the power feed units in the same phase and amplitude.
Between the power feed units and the n−1 number of waveguides, n−1 number of inductive posts may be arranged.
A common ground unit to which the power feed units included in the plurality of antenna elements are connected may be further included.
The switching unit may sequentially switch the power feed units in order to determine a position of a communication target.
The switching unit may switch the power feed unit of the antenna element corresponding to the position of the communication target.
The switching unit may switch the power feed unit according to the movement of the communication target to perform a beam tracking when the communication target moves.
The switching unit may switch the power feed unit according to the movement of the vehicle to perform the beam tracking when the vehicle moves.
In forms of the present disclosure, an antenna apparatus and a vehicle having the same may adjust a directional pattern toward a desired direction through a simple switching without employing a complicated feed configuration of an array antenna.
Also, it is possible to alter a directional pattern within a desired angle range by adjusting numbers of the antenna elements.
These and/or other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the forms, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Hereinafter, forms of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
An antenna apparatus 100 has an array antenna structure in which a plurality of antenna elements are arranged. As shown in
In the example of
As shown in
For example, when the first antenna element 110, the second antenna element 120, the third antenna element 130, the fourth antenna element 140, the fifth antenna element 150, and the sixth antenna element 160 are sequentially stacked from the bottom, the second antenna element 120 may be shifted by 30 degrees in a counterclockwise direction from the first antenna element 110 about the center C in a x-y plane of the antenna apparatus 100, the third antenna element 130 may be shifted by 30 degrees in a counterclockwise direction from the second antenna element 120, the fourth antenna element 140 may be shifted by 30 degrees in a counterclockwise direction from the third antenna element 130, the fifth antenna element 150 may be shifted by 30 degrees in a counterclockwise direction from the fourth antenna element 140, and the sixth antenna element 160 may be shifted by 30 degrees in a counterclockwise direction from the fifth antenna element 150.
In this case, the antenna apparatus 100 may switch a radiation direction within the range of 180 degrees. For example, when the antenna elements 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, and 160 each has a radiation range of 90 degrees, the antenna apparatus 100 may cover a range of about 240 degrees and selectively radiate a radio signal in a desired direction within the range of 240 degrees. Also, by variously changing a design regarding a radiation range of each antenna element, shift angles among the antenna elements, and a number of antenna elements, a coverage of the antenna apparatus 100 may be adjusted.
With reference to
A power feed unit 114 is connected to the center of the fan shape and a radio signal provided from the power feed unit 114 is radiated into outside free space through the first antenna element 110.
In order to illustrate an internal structure of the first antenna element 110 in detail, the upper plate 111 is not shown in
For example, as shown in
The first waveguide 115a may be partitioned by the first partition wall 112a and the second partition wall 112b, the second waveguide 115b may be partitioned by the second partition wall 112b and the third partition wall 112c, and the third waveguide 115c may be partitioned by the third partition wall 112c and the fourth partition wall 112d. Also, the fourth waveguide 115d may be partitioned by the fourth partition wall 112d and the fifth partition wall 112e, the fifth waveguide 115e may be partitioned by the fifth partition wall 112e and the sixth partition wall 112f, and the sixth waveguide 115f may be partitioned by the sixth partition wall 112f and the seventh partition wall 112g.
In the example form, the partition wall 112 may be implemented by multiple pins each arranged with a constant spacing or implemented in a general plate shape. When the partition wall 112 is implemented by the multiple pins, it is possible to implement the partition wall 112 by inserting the multiple pins into the upper plate 111 and the lower plate 113, so that an ease of manufacturing and design may be improved.
When the partition wall 112 is implemented by the multiple pins, by limiting a spacing between the adjacent pins to be below a critical distance, a loss of a radio signal propagating through the waveguide 115 may be prevented. For example, it is possible to prevent the loss by arranging the multiple pins at a spacing equal to or less than one-tenth of the wavelength of the radio signal.
The radio signal provided from the power feed unit 114 is branched off to propagate through the six waveguides 115a, 115b, 115c, 115d, 115e, and 115f, and then the branched-off radio signals are radiated into the outside free space through radiation slots 115a-1, 115b-1, 115c-1, 115d-1, 115e-1, and 115f-1 formed respectively on each of the corresponding waveguides.
Meanwhile, when the radio signal provided from the power feed unit 114 is branched off, power of the radio signal is distributed. In the example form, the structure of the partition wall 112 may perform a function of a power divider. Hereinafter, with reference to
As shown in
For example, as shown in
A forward direction of the power feed unit 114 is a direction at which the power or radio signal is distributed, and a backward direction thereof is a direction toward the center of the fan-shaped antenna.
The third partition wall 112c and the fifth partition wall 112e may be implemented longer than the second partition wall 112b, the fourth partition wall 112d, and the sixth partition wall 112f and shorter than the first partition wall 112a and the seventh partition wall 112g.
When the first antenna element 110 has a structure made of the aforementioned partition walls, power P1 provided from the power feed unit 114 is distributed into a space between the first partition wall 112a and the third partition wall 112c, a space between the third partition wall 112c and the fifth partition wall 112e, and a space between the fifth partition wall 112e and the seventh partition wall 112g, so that the distributed powers are P12, P34, and P56, respectively.
In order to make the distributed power P12, P34, and P56 have the same value, an angle θ12 between the first partition wall 112a and the third partition wall 112c, an angle θ34 between the third partition wall 112c and the fifth partition wall 112e, and an angle θ56 between the fifth partition wall 112e and the seventh partition wall 112g are all designed to have the same value.
That is, in order to satisfy P12=P34=P56, θ12=θ34=θ56 should be satisfied. Also, the provided power P1 is distributed into three equal values of power so that the relationship of P1=3P12=3P34=3P56 is established.
The power P12 distributed into the space between the first partition wall 112a and the third partition wall 112c is again distributed into a space between the first partition wall 112a and the second partition wall 112b and a space between the second partition wall 112b and the third partition wall 112c, that is, distributed into the first waveguide 115a and the second waveguide 115b. At this point, the distributed power values are P1 and P2 respectively.
The power P34 distributed into the space between the third partition wall 112c and the fifth partition wall 112e is again distributed into a space between the third partition wall 112c and the fourth partition wall 112d and a space between the fourth partition wall 112d and the fifth partition wall 112e, that is, distributed into the third waveguide 115c and the fourth waveguide 115d. At this point, the distributed power values are P3 and P4 respectively.
The power P56 distributed into the space between the fifth partition wall 112e and the seventh partition wall 112g is again distributed into a space between the fifth partition wall 112e and the sixth partition wall 112f and a space between the sixth partition wall 112f and the seventh partition wall 112g, that is, distributed into the fifth waveguide 115e and the sixth waveguide 115f. At this point, the distributed power values are P5 and P6 respectively.
Similarly, in order to make the power distributed into each of the waveguides have the same value, an angle θ1 between the first partition wall 112a and the second partition wall 112b, an angle θ2 between the second partition wall 112b and the third partition wall 112c, an angle θ3 between the third partition wall 112c and the fourth partition wall 112d, an angle θ4 between the fourth partition wall 112d and the fifth partition wall 112e, an angle θ5 between the fifth partition wall 112e and the sixth partition wall 112f, and an angle θ6 between the sixth partition wall 112f and the seventh partition wall 112g are designed to have the same value. That is, θ12=2θ1=2θ2, θ34=2θ3=2θ4, and θ56=2θ5=2θ6.θ
As a result, the relationship of P1=3P12=3P34=3P56=6P1=6P2=6P3=6P4=6P5=6P6 is established. That is, the same power value may be distributed to each of the waveguides, and the radio signals having the same phase and amplitude may be branched off to be radiated through the radiation slots.
For example, when the first antenna element 110 has a radiation range of 90 degrees, it may be θ12=θ34=θ56=30 degrees, and θ1=θ2=θ3=θ4=θ5=θ6=15 degrees.
Meanwhile, distributing the power through the partition wall structure described above is merely an example applicable to the antenna apparatus 100, and various modifications in which the procedures for power distribution is further subdivided, the power is distributed in six ways at once, and the number of waveguides is decreased or increased from six are definitely possible.
With reference to
When the power distribution is performed as in the example described above, three inductive posts 116g, 116h, and 116i may be firstly arranged in positions close to the power feed unit 114, and then six inductive posts 116a, 116b, 116c, 116d, 116e, and 116f corresponding to the waveguides may be arranged.
In particular, the inductive posts 116g, 116h, and 116i may be arranged respectively in a space between the first partition wall 112a and the third partition wall 114c, a space between the third partition wall 114c and the fifth partition wall 114e, and a space between the fifth partition wall 114e and the seventh partition wall 114g.
And, the inductive posts 116a, 116b, 116c, 116d, 116e, and 116f may be arranged respectively in a space between the first partition wall 112a and the second partition wall 112b, a space between the second partition wall 112b and the third partition wall 112c, a space between the third partition wall 112c and the fourth partition wall 112d, a space between the fourth partition wall 112d and the fifth partition wall 112e, a space between the fifth partition wall 112e and the sixth partition wall 112f, and a space between the sixth partition wall 112f and the seventh partition wall 112g.
By arranging the inductive posts as described above, the return loss of the radio signal distributed into each space may be improved by about 20 percent (%).
The inductive post 116 may connect the upper plate 111 to the lower plate 113, and since a difference in inductive capacity occurs depending on a diameter of the inductive post 116, the diameter of the inductive post 116 may be determined by considering an amount of the return loss.
Also, a distance between the inductive post 116 and the power feed unit 114 may be determined depending on the center frequency of the radio signal.
Further, since a height of the power feed unit 114 also affects the amount of the return loss, it is possible to design the height so as to minimize the amount of the return loss. At this point, a height of the power feed unit 114 capable of minimizing the amount of the return loss may be determined by a simulation, an experiment, and/or a calculation.
Furthermore, when the inductive post 116 is arranged, capacitance between the upper plate 111 and the lower plate 113 is reduced to cause a variation of impedance, so a height of the power feed unit 114 may be appropriately adjusted according to the arrangement of the inductive post 116.
The structure of the first antenna element 110 shown in
As described with reference to
Each substrate may be formed by a conductor. For example, the substrate may be made of a metal such as copper, aluminum, lead, silver, and stainless steel, have a surface coated with these metals, or employ a printed circuit board (PCB). In case of employing the PCB, the structure of the antenna element may be formed by printing and via-holes.
As a detailed example, in order to form six antenna elements 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, and 160, seven PCB substrates 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, and 107 may be stacked. At this point, in order to form the waveguides between the substrates, substrates adjacent to each other in the z-axis direction may be separated from each other at a constant spacing instead of contacting each other.
A spacing between the substrates may be determined depending on a frequency of the radio signal and, as an example, may be separated by 1 millimeter (mm) when the center frequency of the radio signal is 60 gigahertz (GHz). Also, a radius of the single antenna element may be implemented to be about 5 mm.
Meanwhile, the space between the substrates may be empty or filled with a dielectric substance.
The first antenna element 110 is formed by using the first substrate 101 and the second substrate 102. That is, a predetermined region of the first substrate 101 and a predetermined region of the second substrate 102 are respectively used as the upper plate 111 and the lower plate 113 of the first antenna element 110.
The second antenna element 120 is formed by using the second substrate 102 and the third substrate 103. Similarly, a predetermined region of the second substrate 102 and a predetermined region of the third substrate 103 may respectively be used as the upper and lower plates of the second antenna element 120.
Also, the third antenna element 130 may be formed by using the third substrate 103 and the fourth substrate 104, the fourth antenna element 140 may be formed by using the fourth substrate 104 and the fifth substrate 105, the fifth antenna element 150 may be formed by using the fifth substrate 105 and the sixth substrate 106, and the sixth antenna element 160 may be formed by using the sixth substrate 106 and the seventh substrate 107.
Meanwhile, a region of the substrate that is not used as the upper and lower plates may be made of a nonconductor. For example, the region that is used as the upper and lower plates may be coated with a metal such as gold, silver, copper or the like, whereas the coating may be removed from the other region.
In the drawings described above, the number of the substrates is merely an example applicable to the antenna apparatus 100, and the number of the antenna elements and the number of the substrates used depending on a stacking manner of the antenna elements may definitely be varied.
The plurality of antenna elements 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, and 160 respectively have separate power feed units 114, 124, 134, 144, 154, and 164.
As shown in
The antenna apparatus 100 may transmit the radio signal through the antenna element corresponding to a direction in which a communication target is located, wherein the radio signal may be transmitted in the desired direction by selecting the power feed unit of the corresponding antenna element. At this point, one power feed unit may be selected, or two or more power feed units may be selected depending on the number of communication targets.
For selecting the power feed unit corresponding to the desired direction, the antenna apparatus 100 may further include a switching unit, and the switching unit may include an antenna selection switch 170 as shown in
The power feed unit 114 for supplying power to the first antenna element 110, the power feed unit 124 for supplying power to the second antenna element 120, the power feed unit 134 for supplying power to the third antenna element 130, and the power feed unit 144 for supplying power to the fourth antenna element 140 are connected to the antenna selection switch 170.
The antenna selection switch 170 may select at least one of the multiple power feed units 114, 124, 134, 144, 154, and 164 according to a control signal input and provide a signal to the selected power feed unit. In this form, selecting a power feed unit and providing a signal thereto will be referred to as a switching of the power feed unit.
The control signal input to the antenna selection switch 170 may be generated by an external control unit of the antenna apparatus 100 or by a control unit provided therein.
In the latter case, the control unit provided in the antenna apparatus 100 may control the antenna selection switch 170 according to a control signal input from an instrument (for example, a vehicle) on which the antenna apparatus 100 is mounted or generate a control signal based on its own judgment.
When the control unit is included in the antenna apparatus 100, it is possible that the control unit of the antenna apparatus 100 performs a part or all of the operations of the control unit of a vehicle to be described below for controlling the antenna apparatus 100.
The antenna selection switch 170 may be formed at the common ground unit to which the multiple power feed units are grounded.
As shown in
Also, it can be seen that a main lobe appears in a direction into which the radiation slots of the antenna elements are formed to radiate. Therefore, the antenna apparatus 100 according to one form of the present invention has a superior radiation efficiency and directivity.
When the multiple antenna elements 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, and 160 having such a radiation pattern are respectively shifted by a predetermined angle to be stacked, as shown in
Since each antenna element has a directivity toward a predetermined direction, the radio signal may be radiated toward a desired direction by selecting and feeding an antenna element corresponding to a desired radiation direction.
At this point, one antenna element may be selected, or two or more antenna elements may be simultaneously selected depending on the number and position of a communication target.
In the aforementioned form, the structure in which six antenna elements 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, and 160 are stacked one per layer in the z-axis direction is described as the example, but the number, stack structure, shift angle, and the like of the antenna element are not limited by the aforementioned examples and may be modified.
In another example, as shown in
In still another example, as shown in
Meanwhile, the antenna apparatus 100 may be mounted on a vehicle to transmit and receive a radio signal to and from an external terminal or server of the vehicle or other vehicles.
Hereinafter, an form of a vehicle having the antenna apparatus 100 mounted will be described.
A radio signal being transmitted and received by the antenna may be a signal according to a second generation (2G) communication method such as a time division multiple access (TDMA), a code division multiple access (CDMA), and the like, a third generation (3G) communication method such as a wide CDMA (WCDMA), a CDMA 2000, a wireless broadband (Wibro), a world interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), and the like, a fourth generation (4G) communication method such as a long term evolution (LTE), a wireless broadband evolution, and the like, and a fifth generation (5G) communication method.
Exemplary forms will be described in detail below assuming that the antenna transmits and receives a radio signal according to the 5G communication method.
In the 5G communication method, the large-scale antenna system may be employed. The large-scale antenna system represents a system capable of covering an ultra-high frequency by using over tens of antennas and of transmitting and receiving simultaneously large amounts of data through multiple access. In particular, the large-scale antenna system may perform a massive data transmission as well as extend the available area of the 5G communication network by adjusting an array of antenna elements to transmit and receive radio signals farther in a specific direction.
With reference to
Also, unlike a general communication method of modulating a transmission signal through an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), the 5G communication method transmits a radio signal modulated through a non-orthogonal multiplexing access (NOMA), so that multiple access of more equipment and a simultaneous massive data transmission and reception are possible.
For example, the 5G communication method may provide a transmission speed of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) at maximum. Through a massive transmission, the 5G communication method may support an immersive communication such as an ultra-high definition (UHD), a 3-dimension (3D) hologram or the like, which requires the massive transmission. Accordingly, through the 5G communication method, a user may more quickly transmit and receive ultra-high capacity data which may be more delicate and more immersive.
Also, the 5G communication method may process in real time at a maximum response speed of 1 millisecond (ms) or less. Accordingly, the 5G communication method may support a real time service that responds well in advance of the user response.
For example, when a communication module realizing the 5G communication method is mounted on a vehicle, the vehicle itself may be a communication hub that transmits and receives data. Accordingly, a vehicle communicating with external equipment may provide an autonomous driving system as well as various remote controls by receiving sensor information from a variety of equipment while driving to process the received sensor information in real time.
The 5G communication method may use a millimeter wave band. For example, the 5G communication method may use a frequency band of 28 GHz. A longer wavelength of a radio signal means a larger size of the antenna apparatus 100. That is, a higher frequency of a radio signal means a smaller size of the antenna apparatus 100. Therefore, when used in 5G communication, the antenna apparatus 100 may be implemented as a micro and low profile.
Through the real-time process and massive transmission provided by 5G communication, a vehicle 300 may provide a big data service to passengers therein. For example, the vehicle may analyze various information on the web, social network service (SNS), and the like to provide customized information suitable for situation of the passengers. As an example, the vehicle collects information such as famous restaurants, attractions, and the like existing in the surroundings of a travel route through a big data mining and provide the collected information in real time, so that the passengers may immediately check the various information related to the surroundings of a travel route.
Also, a network of 5G communication may perform a relay transmission of a radio signal through a multi-hop method. For example, the vehicle located within a network of the base station BS may perform a relay transmission of a radio signal to be transmitted by other vehicles or equipment positioned outside of the network of the base station BS to provide the radio signal to the base station BS. Accordingly, it is possible to expand areas in which the 5G communication network is supported as well as to solve a buffering problem that occurs when the number of users within a cell are increased.
Meanwhile, the 5G communication method may provide a device-to-device (D2D) communication applicable to vehicles, communication equipment, and the like. Direct D2D communication stands for a communication in which devices directly transmit and receive signals without a base station. When the direct D2D communication method is employed, there is no need to transmit and receive a radio signal through a base station, and a direct transmission and reception of the radio signal occurs between devices, so that unnecessary energy consumption may be reduced.
In this case, as shown in
As shown in
The drivetrain provided within an engine hood 307 provides rotary power to the wheels 301 in order to move the vehicle in a forward or backward direction.
Such a drivetrain may employ an engine generating rotary power by burning fossil fuel or a motor generating rotary power by receiving electric power supplied from an electric condenser (not shown).
The doors 303 are rotatably provided on the left and right sides of the body 302 to enable the driver to enter the vehicle 300 when opened and shield the interior of the vehicle 300 from the outside thereof when closed.
The front glass 304 is provided in the front portion of the body 302 to enable the driver to acquire visual information from the front direction of the vehicle 300, and it is also referred to as a windshield glass.
Also, the side mirrors 305 enable the driver in the vehicle 300 to acquire visual information of the side and rear of the body 302.
The antenna apparatus 100 may be mounted outside of the vehicle 300. Since the antenna apparatus 100 is implemented as a micro type and low profile, as shown in
Also, as the example shown in
Further, two or more antenna apparatuses 100 may be mounted on the vehicle 300. For example, the antenna apparatus 100 covering a front range of 240 degrees may be mounted on top of the engine hood 307, and the antenna apparatus 100 covering a rear range of 240 degrees may be mounted on top of a trunk 308 or the shark fin antenna.
There is no limitation on a position or a number of the antenna apparatuses 100, and an appropriate number and positions, and a radiation range of the antenna apparatus 100 may be determined by taking into consideration of the use of the antenna apparatus 100, a design of the vehicle 300, a straight-line propagation of the radio signal, and the like.
With reference to
The internal communication unit 310 may include an internal communication interface 311 connected to the vehicle communication network and an internal signal conversion module 312 modulating and demodulating a signal.
The internal communication interface 311 may receive radio signals transmitted from a variety of electronic equipment in the vehicle 300 through the vehicle communication network and transmit radio signals to the variety of electronic equipment in the vehicle 300 through the vehicle communication network. Herein, the radio signals stand for signals which are transmitted and received through the vehicle communication network.
Such an internal communication interface 311 may include a communication port and a transceiver transmitting and receiving signals.
Under the control of the control unit 320 to be described in below, the internal signal conversion module 312 may demodulate a communication signal received through the internal communication interface 311 into a control signal and modulate a control signal output from the control unit 320 into an analog communication signal to be transmitted through the internal communication interface 311.
The internal signal conversion module 312 modulates the control signal output from the control unit 320 into a communication signal according to a communication protocol of the vehicle network and demodulates the communication signal according to the communication protocol of the vehicle network into a control signal recognizable by the control unit 320.
Such an internal signal conversion module 312 may include a memory storing a program and data for performing the modulation/demodulation of the communication signal and a processor performing the modulation/demodulation of the communication signal according to the program and data stored in the memory.
The control unit 320 controls operations of the internal signal conversion module 312 and the internal communication interface 311. For example, when transmitting a communication signal, the control unit 320 determines whether or not the communication network is occupied by other electronic equipment through the internal communication interface 311 and then, when the communication network is not occupied, controls the internal communication interface 311 and the internal signal conversion module 312 to output the communication signal. Also, when receiving a communication signal, the control unit 320 controls the internal communication interface 311 and the internal signal conversion module 312 to demodulate the communication signal received through the internal communication interface 311.
Such a control unit 320 may include a memory storing a program and data for controlling the internal signal conversion module 312 and the internal communication interface 311 and a processor generating a control signal according to the program and data stored in the memory.
The radio communication unit 330 may include a radio signal conversion module 331 modulating and demodulating a signal and the antenna apparatus 100 transmitting the modulated signal to the outside and receiving a signal therefrom.
The radio signal conversion module 331 performs functions of a receiver demodulating a radio signal received by the antenna apparatus 100 and a transmitter modulating the control signal output from the control unit 320 into a radio signal to be transmitted to the outside, and thus it may be referred to as a transceiver.
The radio signal is sent by superposing a signal onto a carrier wave of a high frequency (for example, about 28 GHz in case of the 5G communication method). For this purpose, the radio signal conversion module 331 may generate a radio signal by modulating a carrier wave of a high frequency (for example, about 28 GHz in case of the 5G communication method) according to the control signal output from the control unit 320 and restore a signal by demodulating a radio signal received by the antenna apparatus 100.
For example, as shown in
A number L of control signals are input into the MIMO ENC 331c via the ENC 331a and the MOD 331b. A number M of streams output from the MIMO ENC 331c are pre-coded by the pre-coder 331d to be converted into a number N of pre-coded signals. The pre-coded signals are output as analog signals via the IFFT 331e, the P/S converter 331f, the CP inserter 331g, and the DAC 331h. The analog signals output from the DAC 331h are converted into a radio frequency (RF) band through the frequency converter 331i.
An electrical signal of voltage/current output from the radio signal conversion module 331 are converted into a radio signal at the antenna apparatus 100 to be radiated into outside free space.
Such a radio signal conversion module 331 may include a memory storing a program and data for performing the modulation/demodulation of a communication signal and a processor performing the modulation/demodulation of the communication signal according to the program and data stored in the memory.
However, a configuration of the radio signal conversion module 331 shown in
The vehicle 300 may transmit and receive real-time traffic information, accident information, status information of the vehicle, and the like, by communicating with an outside server or a control center through the antenna apparatus 100. Also, it is possible to perform an adaptive management with respect to road conditions while transmitting and receiving sensor information measured by sensors provided on each vehicle or to collect information regarding an accident when an accident occurs, through communication with other vehicles. Herein, the sensor provided on each vehicle may include at least one of an image sensor, an acceleration sensor, a collision sensor, a gyro sensor, a proximity sensor, a steering angle sensor, and a speed sensor.
Hereinafter, an form in which the vehicle 300 according to one form communicates with peripheral vehicles to transmit and receive signals will be described.
In order to transmit a signal from the vehicle 300 to the peripheral vehicles, a position of a communication target vehicle needs to be determined. As an example shown in
In particular, the vehicle 300 transmits an omnidirectional request signal or a request signal in various directions through the antenna apparatus 100 and, when an ack signal returns from the peripheral vehicle 20 located in the surrounding of the vehicle 300, it may be determined that the peripheral vehicle 20 is located in a direction in which the ack signal returns. At this point, the peripheral vehicle 20 may transmit the ack signal with global positioning system (GPS) information included. In this case, even when multiple peripheral vehicles are overlapped and located in the same direction on the center of the vehicle 300, it is possible to discriminate each one from the multiple peripheral vehicles.
In order to form beam patterns BP in various directions, a part or all of the plurality of antenna elements may be sequentially selected. Herein, selecting the antenna element represents switching a power feed unit of the selected antenna element and feeding power thereto.
The selection of the antenna element may be performed by the switching unit, and the switching unit may perform a switching operation according to the control signal of the control unit 320.
Also, when, after establishing a communication with the peripheral vehicle 20, the peripheral vehicle 20 or the vehicle 300 moves and thus vary a relative position thereof, as shown in
Also, when the number of peripheral vehicles 20 and 30 that are communication targets is two or more, as shown in
With forms of the antenna apparatus, without employing a complicated feed structure or a structure for mechanically rotating the antenna, beam patterns in desired directions may be formed by selectively feeding the antenna element.
Also, a coverage range may be controlled as desired by adjusting the number of antenna elements being stacked.
Such an antenna may be implemented as a low profile and micro type. Therefore, when such an antenna is employed to the vehicle to perform 5G communication, the position of a communication target may be easily determined by using a beam scanning through the selective switching of the antenna elements.
Also, even if the communication target vehicle moves, the beam pattern may track the movement of the communication target vehicle by switching the antenna elements.
Although forms have been described in specific examples and drawings given as described above, various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible by those of ordinary skill in the art from the description herein. For example, the described techniques may be performed in different order from the above-described methods, and/or the above-described systems, structures, devices, and components such as a circuit may be coupled to or combined with other form different from the above-described methods, or replaced with other components or equivalents to result in an acceptable outcome.
Therefore, other implementations, other forms and equivalents as well as claims are within the scope of the claims to be described later.
Also, the forms described therein and the configurations shown in the accompanying drawings are merely preferred forms of the present disclosure, and various equivalents and modifications that can be made thereto may exist at the filing time of the present application.
Further, the terms as used herein are intended to illustrate the forms and are not intended to limit the invention. As described herein, expressions in the singular should be understood to include a plural meaning unless there is a clearly different meaning from the context. The terms of “comprise”, “include” and/or “have”, and the like specify the presence of stated features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, and/or a combination thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, and/or a combination thereof.
Also, as used herein, while the terms including ordinal numbers such as “first”, “second”, and the like are used to describe various components, the above components shall not be restricted to the above terms, and these terms are only used to distinguish one element from another.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2015-0164886 | Nov 2015 | KR | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8427384 | Clymer | Apr 2013 | B2 |
| 20050093733 | Lovberg | May 2005 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 10-2004-508749 | Mar 2004 | JP |
| 2012-159349 | Aug 2012 | JP |
| 10-2004-0038834 | May 2004 | KR |
| 10-2004-0100328 | Dec 2004 | KR |
| 10-2008-0051453 | Jun 2008 | KR |
| 10-2015-0045303 | Apr 2015 | KR |
| 10-2015-0078535 | Jul 2015 | KR |
| 2010050122 | May 2010 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170149130 A1 | May 2017 | US |
