The present invention relates to a dual antenna system.
In a wireless communication system, there is a case where radio waves from a base station installed on a rooftop of a building are blocked by obstacles such as other buildings. This kind of problem becomes serious especially in urban areas or narrow streets. The areas in which radio waves are blocked by obstacles are called blind spots.
One of the methods dealing with this kind of problem is to use an RF booster. However, not only it is required that the RF booster include devices such as a receiver, an amplifier, a transmitter, etc., but also it is required that the RF booster be fed with power to operate, which generally leads to complexity and high cost. As a result, it is difficult to easily install many apparatuses of this kind of RF boosters in various places.
Also, there is a technology in which received radio waves are re-radiated in an intended direction by using a dual antenna system in which a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna are combined (regarding this technology, refer to non-patent documents 1 and 2). Although the dual antenna system does not require power from the power supply, the amplifier, etc., it still requires a three dimensional structure with a complicated wiring pattern.
Therefore, a simple dual antenna system that is capable of receiving radio waves from a certain direction and capable of transmitting them in an intended direction is awaited in this technology field.
[Non-Patent Document 1]
A problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a simple dual antenna system that is capable of receiving radio waves from a certain direction and capable of transmitting them in an intended direction.
A dual antenna system according to the present embodiment includes a receiving antenna configured to include a first surface orthogonal to an incident wave, the first surface being a first antenna aperture, and a transmitting antenna configured to include a second surface parallel to a reflecting direction which is a transmitting direction, the second surface being a second antenna aperture. A portion of a structure of the transmitting antenna and is shared by the receiving antenna.
According to the present embodiment, a simple dual antenna system that is capable of receiving radio waves from a certain direction and capable of transmitting them in an intended direction can be provided.
In the following, the present embodiment will be described referring to the accompanying drawings from the following viewpoints. Throughout the figures, the same reference numbers or codes are given to the same elements.
1. Overview
2. Structure
2. 1 Receiving antenna
2. 2 Transmitting antenna
2. 3 Dual antenna system
3. Modified embodiment
3. 1 Direction of radio waves
3. 2 Types of receiving/transmitting antennas
In order to avoid creating blind spots, a dual antenna system according to the present embodiment is installed on the rooftop of the building 3. The detailed description of the dual antenna system will be provided later. In general, the dual antenna system receives radio waves from the base station using its receiving antenna and transmits the received radio waves using its transmitting antenna so that the radio waves reach the user between the building 2 and the building 3. The dual antenna system according to the present embodiment, different from the traditional dual antenna system, does not require the three dimensional complicated wiring pattern, etc., and includes a simple and fit-for-manufacturing planar structure, which facilitates the easy designing.
In the following, the structure of the dual antenna system is described with specific example numbers. The numbers are just examples, and other numbers may be used as necessary.
In
In general, the dual antenna system receives waves of 2 GHz coming from the z axis +∞ direction, and transmits the received waves in the x axis direction. As an example, the dual antenna system including the four basic structures shown in the figure has a length l of 589 mm in the x axis direction and a width w of 471.6 mm in the y axis direction. Note that it is not essential for the present embodiment that the frequency of the wave be 2 GHz. The present embodiment can be used for the radio waves of other frequencies such as 11 GHz and the frequency of the radio wave can be any frequency.
<2. 1 Receiving Antenna>
The receiving antenna is a non-power-fed passive antenna with a surface orthogonal to the incident waves, the surface being an antenna aperture, which transforms radio waves received from the z axis +∞ direction into high frequency energy, and provides the high frequency energy to the transmitting antenna. The receiving antenna includes four patches P1 through P4, which are connected serially in line along the x axis direction, the four patches are placed on the substrate layer, and the substrate layer is placed on the base plate. As many as four patches are used for the sake of drawing simplicity, but the number of patches to be used can be changed accordingly depending on the intended use. The patch length lm and the patch width wm of each of the patches are 49.50 mm and 58.95 mm, respectively. The line length lf and the line width wf of the line connecting the adjacent patches are 50.20 mm and 1.3 mm, respectively. The length in the x axis direction and the width in the y axis direction of the receiving antenna are 424.9 mm and 117.9 mm, respectively. Note that it is described in non-patent document 3 that multiple patches are connected serially.
Because the four patches P1 through P4 shown in
The operating characteristics shown in
<2. 2 Transmitting Antenna>
The transmitting antenna is a non-power-fed passive antenna with a surface parallel to the reflection direction which is the transmission direction, the surface being an antenna aperture, and transforms the high frequency energy transformed based on the radio waves received by the receiving antenna into the radio waves re-radiated in the intended direction.
The transmitting antenna shown in
YG2 and YG3 are both formed in the lower layer, and function as passive elements or waveguide elements (directors) of the Yagi-Uda antenna. In the present embodiment, the waveguide elements YG2 and YG3 shown in the figure are placed in the same plane as the base plate and the line YG12. Note that the waveguide elements may be placed in the upper layer. The waveguide element YG2 is placed the distance l3=34.25 mm away from the waveguide element YG11, and its line length dl2 and line width dw2 are 55 mm and 4 mm. The waveguide element YG3 is placed the distance l4=33 mm away from the waveguide element YG2, and its line length dl3 and line width dw3 are 55 mm and 4 mm. Note that two lines YG2 and YG3 are used as waveguide elements of the Yagi-Uda antenna. The number of the lines used as waveguide elements can be any number. In the present embodiment, the Yagi-Uda antenna that acts as a transmitting antenna includes the base plate of the receiving antenna as a reflection element and comprises driven elements including YG11 and YG12 and waveguide elements including YG2 and YG3. In other words, in the present embodiment, the reflecting element of the Yagi-Uda antenna that acts as a transmitting antenna is also used as the base plate of the series feeding microstrip antenna that acts as a receiving antenna.
The operating characteristics shown in
<2. 3 Dual Antenna System>
The basic structure of the dual antenna system is obtained by connecting the above receiving antenna and the transmitting antenna in the same plane. By arranging one or more basic structures, the dual antenna system that can receive and reflect the radio waves with the intended strength can be obtained (
By placing in number the simple and less expensive basic structure of the dual antenna system according to the present embodiment as many as required, the radiation characteristics of the radio wave transmitted in the x axis direction can be improved. Also, by increasing the number of the patches in the dual antenna system, the radiation characteristics of the radio wave transmitted in the x axis direction can be improved. According to the present embodiment, by utilizing the simple structure in which the receiving antenna, in which multiple patches are connected in line, and the Yagi-Uda antenna are connected in the same plane; together with the radiation characteristics of those antennas, the radio waves incident along the z axis can be effectively reflected in the x axis direction.
<<3. 1 Direction of Radio Waves>>
In the above description, the radio waves are coming from the incident direction of the z axis +∞ direction, and the transmission waves (reflected waves or scattered waves) are re-radiated in the x axis + direction (intended direction). In this case, the angle between the incident direction and the intended direction is not necessarily 90 degrees. For example, because relatively high gains are obtained in the range from +60 degrees to +120 degrees as shown in
<<3. 2 Types of Receiving/Transmitting Antennas>>
In the present embodiment described above, the receiving antenna has a structure in which multiple patches are connected in line, but the present invention is not limited to the above specific embodiment. Any appropriate antenna, which is capable of receiving radio waves, transforming them into high frequency energy, and providing it to the transmitting antenna, can be used. Note that from the viewpoint of efficiently providing the received radio waves to the transmitting antenna, it is preferable that the receiving antenna include a structure in which the multiple patches of about the half wavelength are serially connected in the same plane.
The transmitting antenna is not limited to the Yagi-Uda antenna, and any appropriate antenna, which is capable of transmitting the high frequency energy in the intended direction, can be used. Especially, the present embodiment can provide an effect of transmitting the radio waves with a big gain in the 90 degrees direction regardless of the shape of the antenna as long as the receiving antenna is a receiving antenna 1 (e.g., microstrip array) which can increase the gain by increasing the area orthogonal to the receiving direction (incident direction); and the transmitting antenna is a transmitting antenna 2 (e.g., Yagi-Uda antenna) which can increase the gain by increasing the element (area) parallel to the transmission direction (reflection direction). Furthermore, the present embodiment can provide the effect by using any element as long as the base plate of the receiving antenna 1 is also used as the reflector (reflection plate) of the transmitting antenna 2; and each of the elements of the receiving antenna 1 is connected to the driven element of the transmitting antenna 2 by the line.
As described above, the transmitting antenna may be any appropriate antenna which is capable of transmitting the high frequency energy in the intended direction. Note that, from the viewpoint of the simple and small dual antenna system which re-radiates the incident waves in the nearly orthogonal direction, it is preferable that the receiving antenna, in which multiple patches are connected in line, and the Yagi-Uda antenna or the tapered slot antenna be connected in the same plane.
Also, regarding the above configuration, the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna may be switched. In other words, the radio waves received by the Yagi-Uda antenna can be transmitted by the series feeding microstrip antenna.
As described above, the dual antenna system is described using the embodiments. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications and improvements are available within the scope of the present invention. For example, the present invention may be applied to any appropriate system which receives radio waves coming from a certain direction and re-radiates them in another direction. For the sake of convenience, the present embodiments are described using specific numbers in order to facilitate understanding of the invention, but these numbers are used just as examples and, unless otherwise noted, any appropriate number can be used. For the sake of convenience, the present embodiments are described using specific mathematical expressions in order to facilitate understanding of the invention, but these mathematical expressions are used just as examples and, unless otherwise noted, other mathematical expressions that can produce the same results may be used. Division of embodiments or items is not essential for the present invention, and things described in two or more items may be used in combination as necessary, or a thing described in an item may be applied to a thing described in a different item (as long as it does not conflict).
The present application is based on and claims the benefit of priority of Japanese Priority Application No. 2012-061236 filed on Mar. 16, 2012, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2012-061236 | Mar 2012 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2013/050586 | 1/15/2013 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2013/136835 | 9/19/2013 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
6037911 | Brankovic et al. | Mar 2000 | A |
20020140611 | Ligander et al. | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20110014878 | Choudhury | Jan 2011 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
10 2004 017 358 | Oct 2005 | DE |
04-122102 | Apr 1992 | JP |
2004-312397 | Nov 2004 | JP |
2010-124194 | Jun 2010 | JP |
WO 2005036694 | Apr 2005 | WO |
Entry |
---|
“Experimental Investigation of MIMO Performance Using Passive Repeater in Multipath Environment,” by Wang, Qu, Li, Chen, Yuan and Sawaya, Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE, vol. 10, IEEE, 2011, pp. 752-755. |
Extended European Search Report dated Oct. 23, 2015 in Patent Application No. 13761126.5. |
Office Action dated Jun. 8, 2016 in European Patent Application No. 13 761 126.5. |
International Search Report dated Apr. 16, 2013 in PCT/JP2013/050586 filed Jan. 15, 2013. |
Office Action dated Jul. 2, 2013 in Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-061236 (with English language translation). |
Lin Wang, et al., “Experimental Investigation of MIMO Performance Using Passive Repeater in Multipath Environment” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 10, 2011, pp. 752-755. |
Tamami Maruyama, et al., “Capacitance Value Control for Metamaterial Reflectarray using Multi-layer Mushroom Structure with Parasitic Patches”, Aces Journal, vol. 27, No. 1, Jan. 2012, pp. 28-41. |
P. A. Belov, et al., “Strong Spatial Dispersion in Wire Media in the Very Large Wavelength Limit”, URSI EMTS 2004, pp. 621-623. |
Olli Luukkonen, et al., “Simple and Accurate Analytical Model of Planar Grids and High-Impedance Surfaces Comprising Metal Strips or Patches”, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 56, No. 6, Jun. 2008, pp. 1624-1632. |
Olli Luukkonen, et al., “Effects of Spatial Dispersion on Reflection From Mushroom-Type Artificial Impedance Surfaces” , IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 57, No. 11, Nov. 2009, pp. 2692-2699. |
David M. Pozar, et al., “Design of Millimeter Wave Microstrip Reflectarrays” , IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 45, No. 2, Feb. 1997, pp. 287-296. |
Shi-Wei Qu, et al., “Dual-Antenna System Composed of Patch Array and Planer Yagi Antenna for Elimination of Blindness in Celluler Mobile Communications” Progress in Electromagnetics Research C, vol. 21, 2011, pp. 87-97. |
Bevan B. Jones, et al., “The Synthesis of Shaped Patterns with Series-Fed Microstrip Patch Array”, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. AP-30, No. 6, Nov. 1982, pp. 1206-1212. |
Office Action dated Feb. 22, 2017 in European Patent Application No. 13761126.5. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20150155636 A1 | Jun 2015 | US |