Patent Application
20200076047
The present invention relates to an antenna system, and more particular to an antenna system including an antenna array, whose conditions can be dynamically adjusted.
In many applications, a directional antenna array is often used for sensing the specific directional state of the external environment. For example, a directional array antenna can be used to sense the surrounding obstacles appearing in the specific direction in the driving route of a car.
A directional antenna array generally includes a plurality of antennas allocated in a specified manner and combined as an antenna assembly having an overall beam direction associated with respective electromagnetic waves of the antenna units. The circuit board for mounting thereon the antenna units is usually a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB), which is advantageous in stabilizing the overall beam direction of the antenna array due to its stable and non-deformable natures. On the other hand, just because of the stable and non-deformable natures of the multilayer printed circuit board, the beam direction of the antenna array is fixed, and thus the coverage range of the beam is confined. The limited coverage range also means the limited applications, and the structure of antenna arrays would need to be particularly designed in order to properly adjust the coverage range and make better sensing performance.
Therefore, the present invention provides an antenna system includes an antenna array, a control device and a driving mechanism. The antenna array includes a plurality of antenna units disposed on a flexible substrate, wherein a configuration of the flexible substrate is variable so as to change relative positions of at least two of the antenna units. The control device determines the configuration of the flexible substrate according to a default setting or in response to a dynamic input. The driving mechanism is connected between the flexible substrate and the control device for driving the change of the configuration of the flexible substrate in response to a command from the control device.
In another aspect of the present invention, an antenna array comprises: at least first and second antenna units; a signal transmission line for connecting and delivering a signal between the first and second antenna units; and a flexible substrate, in which at least first and second antenna installation regions are defined for supporting at least the first and second antenna units, respectively, and a connecting region disposed between the first and second antenna installation regions for supporting at least the signal transmission line, wherein a substrate portion in each of the first and second antenna installation regions includes at least two layers stacking in sequence, and a substrate portion in the connecting region is configured to be flexible so that the substrate portion in the first antenna installation region and the substrate portion in the second antenna installation region are dynamically movable relative to each other.
In an embodiment, a specified one of the at least two layers of the substrate portion in each of the first and second antenna installation regions and the substrate portion in the connecting region are made of flexible material and interconnected as a continuous layer.
In an embodiment, the substrate portion in each of the first and second antenna installation regions is implemented with a multilayer printed circuit board.
In an embodiment, the substrate portion in the connecting region is implemented with single or multiple dielectric layers.
The invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
The invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
Please refer to
It is to be noted that the signal transmission lines 120, although expressed as straight lines in
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In this embodiment, the antenna units 210 and 212 are disposed on the surface of the uppermost layer 2012 in the antenna installation region 2010, and the antenna unit 214 is disposed on the uppermost layer 2032 in the antenna installation region 2030. A signal transmission line 220 that transmits signals among the antenna units 210, 212, and 214 is extensively disposed on the surfaces of the layers 2014, 2020 and 2034, and is electrically coupled to the antenna units 210, 212, and 214. The layers 2014, 2020 and 2034 may, but not necessarily, be made of the same flexible material to form a continuous layer and may also be produced in the same process so that integrity among the units can be enhanced and to avoid cracks. In other words, since the layers 2014 and 2034 are made of soft material, one or both of them may extend outside the antenna installation regions 2010 and/or 2030 to serve as the flexible or bendable layer 2020, or the flexible or bendable layer 2020 may extend into the antenna installation regions 2010 and/or 2030 to function like the layers 2014 and/or 2034. The smaller thickness of the layer 2020 than the overall thickness of the composite layers in the antenna installation region 2010 or 2030 facilitates flexibility of the entire structure, and also provides a space 2021 thereunder for accommodating a flexible or bendable shift from a substrate portion from the antenna installation regions 2010 and/or 2030.
It should be noted that the substrate portions in both the antenna installation regions 2010 and 2030 are a multilayer printed circuit board including two or more layers in the above embodiments. Alternatively, the substrate portions in the antenna installation regions 2010 and 2030 may have different configurations. For example, they may have different numbers of layers, varying with different practical requirements. Likewise, although the substrate portion in the connecting region is a single layer, the flexible or bendable layer 2020 may also be designed to include multiple layers 2020a, 2020b and 2020c of dielectric material, if practically required, as illustrated in
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In this embodiment, each of the supporting segment 3000 and 3010 is relatively rigid to maintain a fixed shape, e.g. a planar shape. The supporting segment 3000 can be used to secure the structure in the antenna installation region 2010, and the supporting segment 3010 can be used to fix the structure in the antenna installation region 2030. The driving rod 3100 is coupled to the supporting segment 3000 and the servo motor 3200, and transmitted to adjust the position of the supporting segment 3000 by the servo motor 3200. Likewise, the driving rod 3110 is coupled to the supporting segment 3010 and the servo motor 3200, and transmitted to adjust the position of the supporting segment 3010 by the servo motor 3200. The driving controller 3300 is electrically coupled to the servo motor 3200, and controls the operation of the servo motor 3200 according to preset or dynamically inputted conditions, thereby controlling the motions of the driving rods 3100 and 3110. With the movement of the driving rods 3100 and 3110, the positions of the supporting segments 3000 and 3010, and the angle Θ between the supporting segments 3000 and 3010 will change, so as to change the relative positions of the antenna units 210, 212, and 214. Accordingly, the electromagnetic wave field pattern along with the emitted electromagnetic waves will change as well. In this way, the layout of the antenna array can be flexibly designed and the relative positions of the array units in the antenna array can be dynamically adjusted to create desired patterns of electromagnetic wave field.
The present invention may involve in a variety of applications in our daily lives. For example, safety of a car equipped with headlights rotating with its steering wheel may be further enhanced by installing an antenna array according to the present invention on the lamp holders of the headlights or any other suitable place where antenna detection is required. The configuration of the antenna array can be synchronously determined and adjusted according to the directional rotating degrees of the steering wheel or the headlight(s) to realize more reliable information for driving safety. In another example, an antenna array according to the present invention may be disposed on one or more gravity sensors (G sensors) in rearview mirrors of a car to provide important driving information for the driver. The antenna array according to the present invention may also be used in a camera for detecting or compensating a focus shift problem.
In view of the foregoing, by installing antenna units on a flexible substrate to form an antenna array, a configuration of the antenna array, e.g. relative positions of the antenna units included in the antenna array, can be dynamically and finely adjusted to provide a desirable configuration of the antenna array for some specific purpose. The adjustment of the relative positions of the antenna units can be readily achieved as a result of a relative motion between portions of the flexible substrate in response a default setting or a dynamic input command. Furthermore, a substrate can be made flexible by a variety of ways. For example, it can be accomplished by way of selected material and/or structural design.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 107130906 | Sep 2018 | TW | national |
