Patent Application
20150236429
The present invention relates to a reflector device, a communication system using the reflector device, and a communication method using the reflector device and, in particular, to a communication system and communication method that relay using reflection by a reflector device.
A point-to-point system that uses parabolic antennas is used as a mobile backhaul radio system. In order to provide good-quality communication, line of sight between antennas is required. In other words, in order to ensure line of sight, antennas need to be installed in elevated locations. Modern mobile station cells have been reduced to small cells such as picocells and femtocells. Consequently, base stations in urban regions need to be installed at lower locations. This poses a problem that line-of-sight environments cannot be ensured and that it makes it difficult to provide radio communication in point-to-point systems.
Patent Literature 1 (PTL1) proposes that a passive repeater made up of two antennas coupled back to back is provided at a midpoint between a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna to prevent disconnections due to fading.
The use of the repeater as described in Patent Literature 1 (PTL1) allows good-quality communication even when the angle of incidence is large. However, the passive repeater, which is made up of two antennas coupled back to back, has the problem of high cost because it requires two antennas.
A related technique that addresses the problem is a reflector relay method described in Non Patent Literature 1 (NPL1) which is a method for relaying microwaves between two points that are not on a direct line-of-sight path. Patent Literature 2 (PTL2) proposes that a reflector having two reflective surfaces that face each other at an angle of approximately 90 degrees is used as a relay station, one terminal station transmits a signal toward the reflector and the signal reflected by the two reflective surfaces is received at another terminal station. Patent Literature 3 (PTL3) proposes that a radio wave from a wireless base station is reflected by a curved reflector plate to eliminate blind regions in a mobile communication system. Patent Literature 4 (PTL4) proposes an RFID (radio frequency identification) communication system in which a reflector plate is attached to a motor shaft at an inclination angle to the motor shaft and an electromagnetic wave from an antenna is reflected toward an RFID tag by the reflector plate which rotates about the motor shaft.
Point-to-point systems can be provided in non-line-of-sight environments by using the repeater systems described in Patent Literatures 2 to 4 (PTL2 to PTL4) and Non Patent Literature 1 (NPL1).
However, the related techniques described above have the following problems.
When any of the reflector plates proposed in Patent Literatures 2 to 4 (PTL2 to PTL4) and Non Patent Literature 1 (NPL1) is used, there is a problem that the cross-section of a radio wave arriving at a large angle of incidence is so small that it is difficult to provide good-quality communication. Conversely, the size of the reflector plates needs to be increased in order to provide good-quality communication.
An object of the present invention is to provide a reflector device that solves the above-described problem that it is difficult to provide good-quality communication at low cost by using a reflector plate in non-line-of-sight communication when the angle of incidence of a radio wave is large, and to provide a communication system using the reflector device and a communication method using the reflector device.
To achieve the object described above, a reflector device according to the present invention includes a first reflector plate and a second reflector plate to each of which a reflective surface is attached at a predetermined inclination angle to an axis of rotation, wherein the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate are positioned to face one another, and at least one of the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate is rotatable about the axis of rotation.
A communication system using a reflector device according to the present invention includes: a reflector device including a first reflector plate and a second reflector plate to each of which a reflective surface is attached at a predetermined inclination angle to an axis of rotation, wherein the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate are positioned to face one another, and at least one of the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate is rotatable about the axis of rotation;
a first antenna transmitting a radio wave to the reflective surface of the first reflector plate of the reflector device; and
a second antenna receiving the radio wave reflected by the first reflector plate of the reflector device and then reflected by the reflective surface of the second reflector plate.
A communication method according to the present invention reflects a horizontally incident wave in a vertical direction as a first reflected wave,
reflects the first reflected wave in a horizontal direction as a second reflected wave, and
emits the second reflected wave in a direction that is not parallel to the incident wave.
A communication method using a reflector device according to the present invention is a communication method using: a reflector device including a first reflector plate and a second reflector plate to each of which a reflective surface is attached at a predetermined inclination angle to an axis of rotation, wherein the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate are positioned to face one another, and at least one of the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate is rotatable about the axis of rotation;
a first antenna transmitting a radio wave to the reflective surface of the first reflector plate of the reflector device; and
a second antenna receiving the radio wave reflected by the first reflector plate of the reflector device and then reflected by the reflective surface of the second reflector plate,
wherein at least one of the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate of the reflector device is horizontally rotated to direct a radio wave to the first antenna and the second antenna;
a radio wave is transmitted from the first antenna to the reflective surface of the first reflector plate of the reflector device; and
the radio wave reflected by the first reflector plate of the reflector device and further reflected by the reflective surface of the second reflector plate is received by the second antenna.
The present invention can provide a reflector device that provides good-quality communication at low cost in non-line-of-sight communication using reflector plates even when the angle of incidence of radio waves is large, and a communication system using the reflector device and a communication method using the communication system.
Preferred exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to drawings.
A reflector device according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a communication system using the reflector device, and a communication method using the reflector device will be described first with reference to drawings.
The reflector device 10 of this exemplary embodiment includes a first reflector plate 1 and a second reflector plate 2. The first reflector plate 1 and the second reflector plate 2 are attached at a predetermined inclination angle to an axis of rotation, have reflective surfaces, and are disposed in such a way that the reflective surfaces face each other. At least one of the plates is rotatable about the axis of rotation. The predetermined inclination angle in this exemplary embodiment is 45 degrees. The reflector device 10 further includes a first support 3 including a mechanism that horizontally rotates while keeping the inclination of the first reflector plate 1 at 45 degrees, a second support 4 including a mechanism that horizontally rotates while keeping the inclination of the second reflector plate 2 at 45 degrees, and a radome 5 housing the first reflector plate 1, the second reflector plate 2, the first support 3 and the second support 4.
The metal plate constituting the first reflector plate 1 is inclined at 45 degrees so that the first reflector plate 1 reflects a horizontal incident radio wave vertically downwards. The metal plate is elliptical in shape so that a cross section of the radio wave is circular as viewed from the direction of propagation. The second reflector plate 2 is a metal plate inclined at 45 degrees so that a radio wave reflected by the first reflector plate 1 and propagating vertically downward is reflected in the horizontal direction. The metal plate is elliptical in shape so that a cross section of the radio wave is circular as viewed from the direction of propagation.
The first support 3 includes a mechanism that horizontally rotates while keeping the inclination of the first reflector plate 1. The second support 4 includes a mechanism that horizontally rotates while keeping the inclination of the second reflector plate 2. The rotating mechanisms may be provided for both of the first support 3 and second support 4. Since the angular relation between the first reflector plate 1 and the second reflector plate 2 is relative, the rotating mechanism may be provided only for one of the first support 3 and the second support 4.
The radome 5 is cylindrical in shape, houses the first reflector plate 1, the second reflector plate 2, the first support 3 and the fourth support 4, and protects them from weather. The radome 5 is made of plastic resin such as FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) or polycarbonate.
An operation of the reflector device 10 of this exemplary embodiment will now be described. As illustrated in
A communication system using a reflector device 10 as described above will be described. As illustrated in
A communication method using a reflector device 10 as described above will now be described. As illustrated in
Design relating to the size of the first reflector plate 1 and the second reflector plate 2 of the reflector device 10 of this exemplary embodiment will be described. If the size D of a cross-section of the reflector plates that is perpendicular to the direction of incidence a radio wave is chosen to be equal to or greater than the first Fresnel radius, communication with a propagation loss equivalent to a distance approximately the same as the distance from the first antenna 20 to the second antenna 30 via the reflector device 10 can be provided. Specifically, let the distances from the reflector device to the antennas be denoted by d1 and d2, respectively, and the total distance be denoted by d=d1+d2, then the propagation loss L [dB] can be obtained according to the Friis transmission equation as:
L=+20*log10((4πd)/2) [dB]
where λ is free space wavelength.
When the size D is smaller than the first Fresnel radius, each reflector plate is approximately considered to be an antenna having diameter D and equivalent gains Gref1 [dBi] and Gref2 [dBi] are
Gref1=Gref2=20*log10(πD/λ) [dBi]
Propagation losses from the reflector device 10 to the first antenna 20 and the second antenna 30 can be written as
L1=−20*log10(πD/λ)+20*log10((4πd1)/λ) [dB]
L2=−20*log10(πD/λ)+20*log10((4πd2)/λ) [dB]
and the total propagation loss is
L=L1+L2 [dB]
For example, assume that the frequency is 60 GHz and d1=d2=200 m, then
According to this exemplary embodiment, the angle of incidence θ of radio waves arriving at the reflector device 10 from the first antenna 20 or the second antenna 30 can be adjusted by rotating the first reflector plate 1 or the second reflector plate 2. On the other hand, the angle of incidence of radio waves at the first reflector plate 1 or the second reflector plate 2 is always 45 degrees. Thus, even when the angle of incidence θ is large, good-quality non-line-of-sight communication can be provided without increasing the area of the reflector plates.
In this way, in a non-line-of-sight environment where an obstacle 40 exists on the path between the first antenna 20 and the second antenna 30, the reflector device 10 is installed and radio waves are reflected so that the radio waves detour around the obstacle 40 to enable good-quality point-to-point communication. With the reflector plates according to the related techniques, communication is possible only when the angle of incidence is small, due to size constraints of the reflector plates. The reflector device 10 of this exemplary embodiment, in contrast, is capable of reflecting radio waves without using reflector plates with an increased size even when the angle of incidence θ is nearly 90 degrees.
According to this exemplary embodiment, a good-quality radio communication system can be implemented at low cost because a repeater with two antennas coupled back to back as in Patent Literature 1 (PTL1) is not used. Furthermore, since the first antenna 20 and/or the second antenna 30 is provided with a polarization angle adjustment mechanism that adjusts the polarization angle of a linearly-polarized wave, the polarization angle can be adjusted to allow polarization plane matching even when the polarization angle rotates at the time of reflection in the reflector device 10.
A reflector device according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a communication system using the reflector device and a communication method using the reflector device will be described with reference to drawing. Elements similar to those of the first exemplary embodiment are given the same reference numerals and detailed description of those elements will be omitted. This exemplary embodiment is a different embodiment that uses a reflector device according to the first exemplary embodiment.
A communication system using such a reflector device 10 will be described. As illustrated in
A communication method using a reflector device 10 as the one described above will be described. As illustrated in
According to this exemplary embodiment, as in the first exemplary embodiment, the angle of incidence θ of radio waves arriving at the reflector device 10 from the first antenna 50 or the second antenna 60 can be adjusted by rotating the first reflector plate 1 or the second reflector plate 2. On the other hand, the angle of incidence of radio waves at the first reflector plate 1 or the second reflector plate 2 is always 45 degrees. Thus, even when the angle of incidence θ is large, good-quality non-line-of-sight communication can be provided without increasing the area of the reflector plates.
In this way, in a non-line-of-sight environment where an obstacle 40 exists on the path between the first antenna 50 and the second antenna 60, the reflector device 10 is installed and radio waves are reflected so that the radio waves detour around the obstacle 40 to enable good-quality point-to-point communication. With the reflector plates according to the related techniques, communication is possible only when the angle of incidence is small, due to size constraints of the reflector plates. In contrast, the reflector device 10 of this exemplary embodiment, like the reflector device 10 of the first embodiment, is capable of reflecting radio waves without using reflector plates with an increased size even when the angle of incidence θ is nearly 90 degrees.
According to this exemplary embodiment, a good-quality radio communication system can be implemented at low cost because a repeater with two antennas coupled back to back as in Patent Literature 1 (PTL1) is not used.
Moreover, a circularly polarized wave is used for a polarized wave of the directional antennas in this exemplary embodiment. In the first embodiment, the polarization angle adjustment mechanisms of the directional antennas are used to adjust polarization because the plane of polarization of polarized waves changes in accordance with the reflection angle of the radio waves in the reflector device 10. On the other hand, according to the second exemplary embodiment, the need for adjustment of polarization at the antennas can be eliminated because circular polarized wave is used.
While preferred exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to these exemplary embodiments. The novel technical features of the embodiments described above are summarized below. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to these features.
a reflector device including a first reflector plate and a second reflector plate to each of which a reflective surface is attached at a predetermined inclination angle to an axis of rotation, wherein the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate are positioned to face one another, and at least one of the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate is rotatable about the axis of rotation;
a first antenna transmitting a radio wave to the reflective surface of the first reflector plate of the reflector device; and
a second antenna receiving the radio wave reflected by the first reflector plate of the reflector device and then reflected by the reflective surface of the second reflector plate;
wherein at least one of the first reflector plate and the second reflector plate of the reflector device is horizontally rotated so as to direct radio waves to the first antenna and the second antenna, a radio wave is transmitted from the first antenna to the reflective surface of the first reflector plate, the radio wave reflected by the first reflector plate of the reflector device and further reflected by the reflective surface of the second reflector plate is received by the second antenna.
It would be understood that the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described above and various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention defined in the claims and it is needless to say that those modifications also fall within the scope of the present invention.
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese patent application No. 2012-204376, filed on Sep. 18, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-204376 | Sep 2012 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2013/005441 | 9/13/2013 | WO | 00 |
