This application claims priority from and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0090098 filed on Jul. 25, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a flat panel antenna, and more particularly, to a flat panel antenna including liquid crystal.
An antenna converts electrical signals into electromagnetic waves or converts electromagnetic waves transmitted in free space such as the atmosphere into electrical signals and serves as a medium for transmitting signals output from a transmission line to the free space.
In general, parameters for measuring the performance of the antenna include directivity D, radiation efficiency η, antenna gain G, coupling loss L, and a bandwidth BW. The directivity D is obtained by dividing the intensity of radiation in a specific direction by the intensity of radiation in all directions. The radiation efficiency 11 is obtained by dividing the power emitted from the antenna by the power supplied to the antenna. The antenna gain G, which indicates the ability to radiate the power supplied to the antenna from the transmission line in a specific direction, is obtained by multiplying the directivity D and the radiation efficiency η, that is, G=D×η. The coupling loss L is an amount of reduction in energy transmitted between independent lines. The bandwidth BW is a frequency range in which the parameters have proper values and the antenna is efficiently operated.
The antenna having the parameters needs to increase the antenna gain G and reduce the coupling loss L in order to increase the efficiency of power emitted in a specific direction compared to the supplied power.
Accordingly, the present disclosure is directed to a flat panel antenna that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the prior art.
In addition, the present disclosure is to provide a flat panel antenna that is capable of increasing the antenna gain and the bandwidth and reducing the coupling loss.
Additional features and aspects will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the inventive concepts provided herein. Other features and aspects of the inventive concepts may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description, or derivable therefrom, and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other aspect of the present disclosure, as embodied and broadly described herein, a flat panel antenna includes a first substrate on which a radiation patch and a ground plane are provided; a second substrate; a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a feed portion adjacent to the second substrate, wherein the ground plane includes a slot, wherein the feed portion includes a first spacing part, a second spacing part and a feed line between the first spacing part and the second spacing part, and wherein a thickness of the first substrate is greater than a thickness of the second substrate.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory, and are intended to provide further explanation of the inventive concepts as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate aspects of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain various principles of the present disclosure.
In the drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to an example aspect of the disclosure, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
In
The first substrate 110 may have a first thickness H1 and may be a dielectric material that is an insulator having polarity in an electric field.
For example, the first substrate 110 may be a substrate that is formed of glass having first dielectric constant ε1.
A radiation patch 111 and a ground plane 112 may be provided on the first substrate 110. The radiation patch 111 may be provided at a first surface of the first substrate 110, and the ground plane 112 may be provided at a second surface of the first substrate 110. For example, the first surface of the first substrate 110 may be an upper surface of the first substrate 110, and the second surface of the first substrate 110 may be a lower surface of the first substrate 110. Thus, the radiation patch 111 may be disposed over the first substrate 110 and the ground plane 112 may be disposed below the first substrate 110.
A fringe field may be generated between the radiation patch 111 and the ground plane 112. An electromagnetic field generated between an edge of the radiation patch 111 and the ground plane 112 may be exposed over the radiation patch 111 and may be radiated into free space.
The ground plane 112 may include a slot 113 that is an opening, and the slot 113 may have a rectangular shape.
When the slot 113 has a rectangular shape, the slot 113 may be formed in a first direction D1. Namely, a long side of the slot 113 may be formed in the first direction D1, and a short side of the slot 113 may be formed in a second direction D2 perpendicular to the first direction D1.
The slot 113 serves as an impedance transformer and a parallel LC circuit. An electric field formed by the feed portion 140 passes through the slot 113 and is transmitted to the radiation patch 111, so that currents can be induced to flow in the radiation patch 111.
The second substrate 120 may have a second thickness H2 and may be a dielectric material that is an insulator having polarity in an electric field like the first substrate 110.
The second substrate 120 may be a substrate that is formed of glass or formed of polyimide having second dielectric constant ε2.
When the second substrate 120 is a substrate formed of glass, the second dielectric constant ε2 of the second substrate 120 may be the same as the first dielectric constant ε1 of the first substrate 110.
The liquid crystal layer 130 may be disposed between the first substrate 110 and the second substrate 120. The liquid crystal layer 130 may include liquid crystal molecules, and an arrangement of the liquid crystal molecules may be changed according to a voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer 130.
The feed portion 140 may include a feed line 141. The feed portion 140 may further include a first spacing part ap1 and a second spacing part ap2 that are spaces where the feed line 141 is spaced apart from other parts of the power feeding portion 140. The feed portion 140 may be disposed under the second substrate 120. The feed line 141, the first spacing part ap1 and the second spacing part ap2 may be arranged in the second direction D2 perpendicularly crossing the first direction D1. Namely, a long side of the feed line 141 and long sides of the first spacing part ap1 and the second spacing part ap2 may be parallel to the second direction D2.
More particularly, the feed line 141 may have a first width W1 in the first direction D1, and the long side of the feed line 141 may be arranged in the second direction D2. The feed line 141 may be disposed to cross the radiation patch 111 and the slot 113 when the flat panel antenna 100 is viewed from the top.
The feed line 141 generates an electric field according to a voltage supplied from the outside, and the generated electric field passes through the slot 113 and reaches the radiation patch 111, so that currents can be induced to flow in the radiation patch 111. That is, the feed line 141 and the radiation patch 111 may be coupled to thereby transmit the energy applied to the feed line 141 into the radiation patch 111.
The first spacing part ap1 and the second spacing part ap2 each may have a second width W2 in the first direction D1, and the long sides of the first spacing part ap1 and the second spacing part ap2, which are parallel to the feed line 141, may be arranged in the second direction D2. The feed line 141 may be disposed between the first spacing part ap1 and the second spacing part ap2.
The arrangement of the liquid crystal molecules included in the liquid crystal layer 130 can be changed by a voltage applied to the ground plane 112 and the feed line 141, and accordingly, a dielectric constant of the liquid crystal layer 130 may also be changed.
When the dielectric constant of the liquid crystal layer 130 changes, a phase velocity of an electromagnetic wave changes, so that a phase of signals transmitted and received by the flat panel antenna can be changed.
As described above, the ground plane 112, the feed line 141 and the liquid crystal layer 130 may serve as a phase shifter that changes the phase of signals transmitted and received by the antenna.
In addition, the radiation patch 111 and the ground plane 112 are provided on the first substrate 110 and the feed line 141 is disposed adjacent to the second substrate 120, so that the flat panel antenna 100 can serve as a patch antenna.
As shown in
At this time, the feed portion 140 may further include a power dividing part (not shown) formed of a printed circuit board, and the power dividing part may have a structure of a T-junction power divider or a Wilkinson power divider.
The antenna operates by radiating electromagnetic waves or responding to electromagnetic waves transmitted in free space according to a resonance phenomenon. The resonance phenomenon occurs when a natural frequency of the antenna and a frequency of an electromagnetic wave match each other. The natural frequency of the antenna may be referred to as a resonance frequency, and the resonance may vary depending on the structure of the antenna.
In the flat panel antenna according to the aspect of the present disclosure, both ends of the radiation patch 111 may be terminated with an open circuit to operate as a resonator.
Specifically, the feed line 141 of
In addition, an electric field E may be generated between the radiation patch 111 in which the current are induced and the ground plane 112.
At both ends S1 and S2, fringe fields F1 and F2 formed between the radiation patch 111 and the ground plane 112 may be exposed over the radiation patch 111. By the fringe fields F1 and F2 exposed over the radiation patch 111, the antenna can radiate an electromagnetic field having the resonance frequency.
The flat panel antenna has a length L1 corresponding to the resonance frequency. The length L1 of the flat panel antenna may be half of a guided wavelength λd in the first substrate 110 corresponding to the resonance frequency.
As shown in
Equation 1 shows an approximate value of the length L1 of the radiation patch 111, and the length L1 may be 0.49 times of the guided wavelength λd in the first substrate 110. The guided wavelength in a specific dielectric is obtained by dividing a wavelength in free space by the square root of the dielectric constant of the dielectric. Thus, the approximate value of the length L1 of the radiation patch 111 may be 0.49 times of a value obtained by dividing the wavelength λ in the free space corresponding to the resonance frequency by the square root of the dielectric constant ε1 of the first substrate 110.
L=0.49λd=0.49λ/√{square root over (ε1)} [Equation 1]
Accordingly, since a distance between both ends S1 and S2 of the radiation patch 111 approximates a half wavelength, the phase difference between the fringe fields F1 and F2 that can be formed at the both ends S1 and S2 of the radiation patch 111 may be about 180 degrees and the magnitudes of the fringe fields F1 and F2 may be the same.
Both ends of the radiation patch 111 of
The slot 113 of
The inductor Ls and the capacitor Cs of the LC circuit and the impedance transformer T may be connected to an input terminal I corresponding to the feed line 141 of
When a voltage is applied to the input terminal I, the LC circuit resonates according to a first resonance frequency f1, the frequency is changed through the impedance transformer T, and a voltage resonating according to a second resonance frequency f2 is transmitted to the RC circuit.
At this time, the capacitors Cs1 and Cs2 of the RC circuit form the fringe fields F1 and F2 of
With this principle, the flat panel antenna according to the aspect of the present disclosure can radiate the electromagnetic waves. In addition, by using the first substrate 110 of
The first substrate 110 of
As a thickness of the dielectric increases, a wavelength of an electromagnetic wave emitted from the antenna increases, so that the resonance frequency may decrease.
In addition, as the thickness of the dielectric increases, the magnitude of a leaked electric field may increase, and thus a quality factor, i.e., Q factor at resonance may decrease.
Since the bandwidth BW increases as the Q factor decreases, an electromagnetic wave in a wide band can be emitted as the thickness of the first substrate 110 of
In
Particularly, since the bandwidth BW is maximized to 780 MHz when the first thickness H1 is 0.5 mm, the first thickness H1 of the first substrate 110 of
The radiated power may increase as the thickness of the dielectric increases and the magnitude of the leaked electric field increases, and the antenna gain G may increase as the radiated power increases. Accordingly, the antenna gain G may increase as the thickness of the first substrate 110 of
In
Particularly, since the antenna gain G is maximized to 3.35 dBi when the first thickness H1 is 0.5 mm, the first thickness H1 of the first substrate 110 of
In
On the other hand, in
As described above, in the flat panel antenna according to the aspect of the present disclosure, the bandwidth BW and the antenna gain G can be maximized when the first thickness H1 of the first substrate 110 of
The feed line 141 of
As a distance between the feed line 141 of
Therefore, the coupling loss L may increase as the thickness of the second substrate 120 of
In
Particularly, since the average coupling loss L is minimized to −1.32 dB when the second thickness H2 is 0.2 mm, the second thickness H2 of the second substrate 120 of
In the table of
When the wavelength λ of the radiated electromagnetic wave is 27300 μm, the coupling loss L is −1.5705 dB in the case that the second thickness H2 of the second substrate 120 of
However, it can be seen that the coupling loss L increases to −1.6247 dB when the second thickness H2 is less than 0.007 times the wavelength λ.
When the wavelength λ of the radiated electromagnetic wave is 26100 μm, the coupling loss L is −1.8157 dB in the case that the second thickness H2 of the second substrate 120 of
However, it can be seen that the coupling loss L increases to −0.8299 dB when the second thickness H2 is less than 0.008 times the wavelength λ.
When the wavelength λ of the radiated electromagnetic wave is 25000 μm, the coupling loss L is −13.3117 dB in the case that the second thickness H2 of the second substrate 120 of
However, it can be seen that the coupling loss L increases to −0.9106 dB when the second thickness H2 is less than 0.008 times the wavelength λ.
In
This is because if the second thickness H2 of the second substrate 120 of
Accordingly, the coupling loss L can be minimized when the second thickness H2 of the second substrate 120 of
As described above, in the aspect of the present disclosure, the overall thickness of the antenna may be kept constant by increasing the first thickness H1 of the first substrate 110 of
The feed line 141 of
However, the feed line 141 of
In the flat panel antenna according to the aspect of the present disclosure, the first spacing part ap1 of
In
Accordingly, in order to minimize the crosstalk, the second width W2 of the first spacing part ap1 of
As described above, in the flat panel antenna of the present disclosure, the radiation patch and the ground plane having the slot are provided on the first substrate, the second substrate includes the feed line, and the first substrate and the second substrate have different thicknesses, so that the antenna gain and the bandwidth can be improved and the coupling loss can be reduced.
In addition, the crosstalk can be reduced by forming the distance between the feed line and the part of the feed portion twice or more of the width of the feed line.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made in the antenna of the present disclosure without departing from the technical idea or scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover the modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2019-0090098 | Jul 2019 | KR | national |