Patent Application
20200373678
This application claims the priority benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0058699, filed on May 20, 2019 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a substrate-integrated waveguide slot antenna, and more particularly to a substrate-integrated waveguide slot antenna including a metasurface, whereby the gain and the bandwidth of the slot antenna are increased.
In recent years, a small-sized antenna has been widely used, since the antenna has a small thickness, is easy to integrate, can be manufactured at low cost, and can be manufactured within a short time.
Conventionally, a satellite industry based on medium-sized or large-sized satellites was developed. The medium-sized or large-sized satellite has shortcomings in that the satellite is manufactured at a cost of a minimum of one hundred billion won and during a manufacturing period of 5 years or more, although the manufacturing period and the manufacturing cost vary depending on the size thereof. In space industry technology, a small-sized satellite or a cube satellite have attracted great attention as a satellite that is capable of replacing some of the functions of the conventional medium-sized or large-sized satellite while solving shortcomings of the medium-sized or large-sized satellite in terms of cost and period. In the cube satellite, various kinds of antennas are used depending on purposes, and the size of each antenna is generally limited to 10×10×10 cm3 or less. A patch antenna easily mounted to a hexahedron, which is the shape of the cube satellite, is being widely used. However, the patch antenna has limitation in terms of gain and bandwidth. In other words, the patch antenna has a low gain and a narrow bandwidth.
An antenna having a substrate-integrated waveguide structure may be used as the patch antenna described above. The antenna having the substrate-integrated waveguide structure has advantages in that the antenna is integrated in a substrate, whereby the antenna has a small thickness, can be manufactured based on a miniature design, and has a structure like a waveguide. However, the antenna having the substrate-integrated waveguide structure mainly emits an electromagnetic wave through a slot. Furthermore, the substrate-integrated waveguide slot antenna still has a narrow bandwidth, since the antenna has a high Q factor.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate-integrated waveguide slot antenna including a metasurface that is capable of overcoming limitations in gain and bandwidth of the antenna having the substrate-integrated waveguide structure described above, i.e. a low gain and a narrow bandwidth of the antenna.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a substrate-integrated waveguide slot antenna including a lower substrate having a substrate-integrated waveguide structure, the lower substrate being provided in the upper surface thereof with at least one slot, whereby an electromagnetic wave is guided by the substrate-integrated waveguide structure and is emitted through the slot, and an upper substrate formed on the lower substrate, the upper substrate having a metasurface configured such that a plurality of unit cells is arranged at predetermined intervals, whereby the electromagnetic wave dispatched through the slot is reemitted by the metasurface.
The lower substrate may include a first layer, a second layer located on the first layer, the slot being formed in the second layer, and a plurality of vias, each of the plurality of vias extending in a vertical direction to connect the first layer and the second layer to each other, the plurality of vias being arranged at predetermined intervals to guide an electromagnetic wave.
The lower substrate may further include an introduction portion formed at one side thereof in a direction in which the plurality of vias is arranged to allow an electromagnetic wave to be introduced therethrough.
The metasurface may be configured such that a plurality of metal conductors is arranged while having periods at predetermined intervals, each of the plurality of metal conductors being formed so as to have a predetermined shape.
The metasurface may be configured such that a plurality of quadrangular metal conductors is arranged in a two-dimensional plane at predetermined intervals.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate-integrated waveguide slot antenna including a lower substrate having a substrate-integrated waveguide structure, the lower substrate being provided in the upper surface thereof with at least one slot, and an upper substrate formed on the lower substrate, the upper substrate having a metasurface configured such that a plurality of unit cells is arranged at predetermined intervals.
An electromagnetic wave introduced into the substrate-integrated waveguide structure may be guided by the substrate-integrated waveguide structure and may be emitted through the slot, and the electromagnetic wave emitted through the slot may be reemitted through the metasurface of the upper substrate.
The lower substrate may include a first layer, a second layer located on the first layer, the slot being formed in the second layer, and a plurality of vias, each of the plurality of vias extending in a vertical direction to connect the first layer and the second layer to each other, the plurality of vias being arranged at predetermined intervals to guide an electromagnetic wave.
The lower substrate may further include an introduction portion formed at one side thereof in a direction in which the plurality of vias is arranged to allow an electromagnetic wave to be introduced therethrough.
The metasurface may be configured such that a plurality of metal conductors is arranged in a two-dimensional plane at predetermined intervals, each of the plurality of metal conductors being formed so as to have a predetermined shape.
The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
It should be noted that terms or words used in this specification and the claims are not to be interpreted as having ordinary and dictionary-based meanings but as having meanings and concepts coinciding with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that the inventors may properly define the concepts of the terms in order to explain the invention in the best way.
In the case in which a part “includes” a component, throughout this specification, this means that the part may not exclude another component but may further include another component unless otherwise mentioned. In addition, the term “unit,” “part,” “module,” or “device” used herein signifies one unit that processes at least one function or operation, and may be realized by hardware, software, or a combination thereof.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
Next, the lower substrate 100 of the slot antenna 1 having the substrate-integrated waveguide structure according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
As shown in
Although three slots 110 are shown in
Referring to
In the lower substrate 100 having the substrate-integrated waveguide structure described above, an electromagnetic wave may be introduced through port 1, may be guided by the plurality of vias, and may be output through port 2.
Referring back to
Referring to
A metamaterial exhibits dielectric characteristics that do not exist in the natural world through arrangement of conductors having a periodic structure. Since the metamaterial exhibits a refractive index approximate to 0 and various dispersion properties, it is possible to increase the bandwidth and gain of an antenna in the case in which the metamaterial is used as a cover. In this embodiment, the upper substrate 200 having the metasurface is stacked on the lower substrate 100, whereby it is possible to overcome limitations in the gain and bandwidth of the slot antenna 1 having the substrate-integrated waveguide structure.
As is apparent from the above description, according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the slot antenna includes a lower substrate having a substrate-integrated waveguide structure and an upper substrate having a metasurface, whereby the bandwidth and the gain of the slot antenna are increased.
Although the present invention has been described in detail based on preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited thereto and that various modifications, additions, and substitutions are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. Consequently, the true technical protection scope of the present invention should be interpreted by the following claims, and all technical concepts included in a range equivalent thereto should be interpreted as falling within the scope of right of the present invention.
The antenna having the substrate-integrated waveguide structure according to the embodiment of the present invention is applicable not only to satellites but also to fields other than satellites, such as wireless communication.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2019-0058699 | May 2019 | KR | national |
