This application is the U.S. National Phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Application No. PCT/JP04/13161, filed on Sep. 9, 2004, which in turn claims the benefit of Japanese Application No. 2003-317339, filed on Sep. 9, 2003, the disclosures of which Applications are incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to an antenna common to a plurality of frequencies, which shows a wide band characteristic, more particularly, a wide band antenna common to a plurality of frequencies, which shows a characteristic having a notch in a part of frequency band.
As basic antennas, a dipole antenna, a monopole antenna, an inverted L antenna, and a slit antenna are known.
The dipole antenna is an antenna composed of two connected bars of conductor with quarter wavelength and is used as an antenna for FM broadcast or terrestrial television.
The monopole antenna is considered as a detached half of the dipole antenna and is used as an antenna for AM broadcast, transceivers, or mobile telephones.
The inverted L antenna is a modification of the monopole antenna and considered as an antenna having an antenna element bent at the base and widened. Since its shape may be small with respect to wavelength of radio wave and the antenna may be adapted to wide band, it is used as an antenna for cordless telephones or mobile telephones.
In the slit antenna, an elongated hole located on conductor constitutes the antenna and the length of the hole has an effect on the antenna characteristics.
As wide band antennas used in a UWB (ultrawideband) system, an antenna with a space structure typified by a double ridge guide horn antenna, a circular plate monopole antenna, or a planar dipole antenna in various shapes are disclosed in Non-patent Document 1.
On the other hand, since the UWB is a system covering wide frequency band in range of 3.1 to 10.6 [GHz], it is required to suppress interference with other systems with band in 5 [GHz] or the like.
In order to provide an antenna common to a plurality of frequencies, a plurality of antennas having each resonance frequency may be arranged, for example. However, this may bring a disadvantage that the antenna structure becomes relatively complicated. Accordingly, such disadvantage will be overcome when one antenna is common to a plurality of frequencies, but band covered by each resonance frequency is not generally a wide band.
In other words, there had been no antenna common to a plurality of frequencies, with simple structure, for covering a wide band assigned in the UWB system and suppressing interference with other systems.
For example, a monopole antenna with a simple structure having a slit is disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2; however, wide band characteristics and frequency sharing are not provided by those related arts.
Further, in Patent Document 3, a wide band antenna device assuming the UWB system is disclosed. In this disclosure, a structure in which a plurality of element antenna patterns having different resonance frequencies is described; however, an antenna which is originally assigned for a narrow band is adapted to a wide band with use of multiple resonance.
That is, the antenna is adapted to a wide band by overlapping two or more narrow band resonances so that such antenna does not include a function for suppressing interference with other systems or filtering. Further, since feeding structure is required for each element antenna pattern, there has been a problem that the structure becomes complicated.
An object of the present invention is to provide an antenna common to a plurality of frequencies for covering a wide band assigned to the UWB system and the like and suppressing interference with other systems.
In order to solve the problem, the present invention provides a wide band antenna common to a plurality of frequencies including a planar monopole antenna structure which has wide band characteristic to cover preferable frequencies and suppress interfering frequency band, including: a plurality of element part conductors; a coupling conductor configured to electrically couple the element part conductors; and a feeder configured to electrically couple one of the element part conductors with a feeder part capable of feeding the element part conductor. The respective element part conductors are concatenated sequentially by the coupling conductor on a hypothetical plane.
According to the wide band antenna common to a plurality of frequencies, the element part conductor may have a symmetrical shape with respect to a line connecting coupling parts coupled with the coupling conductor or the feeder, and the respective coupling conductors may be arranged substantially linearly.
With this, an antenna characteristic which is substantially nondirectional is obtained on a plane perpendicular to the straight line.
The element part conductors may be formed in a planar or linear shape, the planar or linear conductors may be provided parallel, and the linear conductor may be provided substantially perpendicular to the coupling conductor. Various changes made in structure of the element part conductor contribute to providing antennas having various frequency characteristics.
The present invention may provide a wide band antenna common to a plurality of frequencies in which the planar conductors are formed in squared shape and the plane parts of each planar conductor are provided almost substantially vertically.
With this, its structure becomes easy and simple and an antenna characteristic which is horizontally almost nondirectional can be obtained.
According to the wide band planar monopole antenna common to a plurality of frequencies, an interval of each element planar conductor may be adjustable. With this, its antenna characteristic can be changed easily.
The hypothetical plane may be composed of at least one substantive substrate and at least one of the element part conductor or the coupling conductor may be formed of a conductor pattern on the substrate. Such structure provides an antenna that is easy in manufacturing, superior in decay resistance and stability, and contributes to downsizing.
The plurality of element part conductors may be combined with respect to the coupling parts as a central axis. Particularly, two wide band antennas common to a plurality of frequencies may be combined with respect to the coupling parts as a central axis such that the hypothetical planes are arranged orthogonal, and an orthogonal planar monopole antenna structure may be composed.
With this, improved nondirectional characteristic can be obtained.
According to the present invention, in the wide band planar monopole antenna common to a plurality of frequencies, the element part conductor and the coupling conductor on one hypothetical plane may be composed of a conductor plate and a portion of the coupling conductor may be composed by forming a cut portion in the conductor plate. Such structure is easy in manufacturing and contributes to reduction in cost.
Further, the present invention may provide a wide band antenna common to a plurality of frequencies having a planar dipole antenna structure, including: two wide band planar monopole antennas common to a plurality of frequencies; and feeders provided to each of the wide band planar monopole antenna common to a plurality of frequencies.
10: large planar conductor, 20: small planar conductor, 30: coupling conductor, 41: feeder
An embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.
It is noted that various changes may be made in design of structure of the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention and conventional art such as the above documents may be applied to details in the structure of the present invention.
In general, since an antenna should be designed to include a band or resonance characteristics in accordance with the purpose of use to be the most preferred embodiment, it should be understood that the following embodiments are not universally the most preferred embodiment.
Here, the wide band planar monopole antenna common to a plurality of frequencies provided on an infinite bottom plate is shown. In the example shown in
In general, it is preferable to provide planar conductors as many as the desired number of resonance frequencies, and the number of resonance frequencies may be arbitrarily determined according to the number of planar conductors.
The respective planar conductors are arranged on a hypothetical plane and constitute a planar monopole antenna as a whole.
As the size or shape of the planar conductor is changed, particularly height or/and width is changed when the planar conductor is a squared shape, the resonance frequency and a band can be changed and an antenna can be arbitrarily designed in accordance with a desired purpose. Concretely, in case that the planar conductor is a squared shape, the number of resonance frequency is changed by changing its length in heightwise direction and the region of band is changed by changing its length in crosswise direction. Here, it is noted that they can be changed also by the number of planar conductors or arrangements of the planar conductors.
Therefore, the plurality of planar conductors may be provided in different shapes or different sizes in general. However, the planar conductors are not required to be different in their shapes or sizes and the planar conductors having almost same shapes or sizes may be provided.
In such case, a plurality of frequencies can be shared while wide band characteristics are maintained. According to the wide band planar monopole antenna common to a plurality of frequencies of the present invention, it is no exaggeration to say that the planar conductors provided to the monopole antenna satisfy both of wide band characteristics and sharing of frequencies.
The plurality of planar conductors is coupled sequentially such that they are strung together like beads. The respective planar conductors are electrically coupled by coupling conductors. A part of the planar conductor where the coupling conductor is coupled is not a plane part but an edge part of the planar conductor. In general, it is not preferable to couple the coupling conductor to a plane part of the planar conductor, since it may have an effect on the antenna characteristics (such as a radiation characteristic) and a desired wide band characteristic is not obtained, for example.
One planar conductor located at an extremity among the plurality of planar conductors which are sequentially coupled has a feeder for electrically coupling the planar conductor and a feeder part in order to be fed from the feeder part adapted to feed the planar conductors. In general, one planar conductor at an extremity is fed in order not to affect current distributions generated in each planar conductor of monopole antenna, particularly, in the planar monopole antenna of the present invention. However, feeding to a plurality of planar conductors should not be excluded.
As shown in the drawing, according to the present embodiment, one end of the feeder part is connected to the ground.
According to the planar monopole antenna of the present invention, in order to make the planar conductor to include a nondirectional antenna characteristic on a plane in a direction almost vertical to the planar conductor, the respective planar conductors are preferably coupled linearly in addition to coupling them sequentially as described above. Further, the feeder part and the respective planar conductors are preferably coupled linearly. Thereby, a planar nondirectional characteristic can be maintained to some degree; however, the following structure is more preferable to obtain better planar nondirectional characteristics.
Specifically, since the respective planar conductors are coupled sequentially as described above, the planar conductors other than the planar conductor located at an extremity have two coupling parts. Here, the shape of each planar conductor is formed symmetrically with respect to a line connecting the two coupling parts which are coupled with coupling conductors.
A lower planar conductor to which a feeder is connected is formed symmetrically with respect to a line connecting a coupling part connected to the feeder and the coupling part connected to the coupling conductor. The planar conductor located at an extremity has one coupling part and formed in a symmetrical shape similar to other planar conductors. This forming of the planar conductors may enable current distribution generated between the coupling parts in the planar conductors to be symmetrical with respect to the line connecting the coupling parts.
The coupling conductors for coupling each planar conductor are arranged linearly substantially. Here, “arranged linearly” is conceptually understood as drawing a dashed line on a hypothetical straight line. With such arrangement, it is conceptually considered as if current flows linearly, and current distributions generated on each planar conductor may become symmetrical with respect to the hypothetical straight line on which the coupling conductors are arranged. The above described shape and arrangement allow a better planar nondirectional antenna characteristic.
The planner conductor may be composed of a plurality of planar conductors combined by the coupling part as a central axis. For example, with the coupling part as a central axis, two planar conductors may be combined at an angle of 90 degrees. Then, a plurality of such combined planar conductors may be coupled sequentially as described above. (See
In
According to this structure, in the above planar monopole antenna, planar conductors provided on a hypothetical plane are orthogonal to provide an orthogonal planar monopole antenna structure.
Further, the plane parts of each planar conductor are preferably arranged to be substantially parallel; however, the planar conductors may be arranged so that the facing directions of the plane parts of each planar conductor differ at an angle of 90 degrees, for example. (See
Further, when the planar conductors are arranged so that the plane parts of each planar conductor are substantially vertical, a nondirectional antenna characteristic can be obtained on a substantially horizontal plane.
The shape of the planar conductor may be formed in a square shape, such as a regular tetragon or a rectangular. Such shapes of the planar conductor allow an easier antenna manufacturing, and since the coupling parts are provided in the middle of the edge parts, it is formed to be a symmetrical shape as described above. It is noted that the shape of the planar conductors are not limited to squared shapes and it may be formed in an oval figure. (See
Further, according to the present invention, an element part conductor may be composed of a linear shape with a wire or the like in addition to a planar shape. For example,
In
Its fundamental principle is same as that of the above structure, but an antenna can be made easily in this structure and it contributes to downsizing, greater decay resistance, and lower cost in manufacturing.
With this structure, a planar monopole antenna having effects similar to the above described effects can be provided.
Further,
In the drawing, conductor antenna patterns (81), (82) are provided on both sides of a substrate (80) so that the antenna pattern (82) in a symmetric shape is formed with respect to the antenna pattern (81) as a symmetrical axis. The patterns are made by providing the structure of
With such structure, a wide band antenna for suppressing interference can be realized.
Here, the structure of the dipole antenna is not limited to the above and antenna patterns may be arranged symmetrically on one surface of the substrate and feeders may be provided arbitrarily such as providing downwardly between the antenna patterns.
According to the implementation of the present invention, an interval between the element part conductors may be provided to be variable. Because the interval of the element part conductors are variable, antenna characteristics can be adjusted. The detail will be described later.
The wide band planar monopole antenna common to a plurality of frequencies, shown in
In
Here, the facing sides (11), (21) of the large planar conductor (10) and the small planar conductor (20) are almost equal in view of an inspection of the embodiment, which will be described later. However, as described above, they may be formed with different lengths in order to obtain preferred antenna characteristics (See
The large planar conductor (10) and the small planar conductor (20) are arranged such that the longer side (21) of the small planar conductor (20) and one of the sides (11), (12) of the large planar conductor (10) are arranged parallelly and separately and surfaces (13) and (23) of the large planar conductor (10), and the small planar conductor (20) are arranged parallelly and vertically, and the large planar conductor (10) is provided under the small planar conductor (20). More preferably, the small planar conductor (20) is provided on the side of the large planar conductor (10) opposite to the side connected to a later described feeder (41). Further, this applied to the case that three or more planar conductors are provided. Here, the large planar conductor (10) may be provided above the small planar conductor (20).
Between the longer side (21) of the small planar conductor (20) and one side (11) of the large planar conductor (10) facing the longer side (21) of the small planar conductor (20), a coupling conductor (30) is provided to electrically couple the large planar conductor (10) and the small planar conductor (20). A coupling part to which the coupling conductor (30) is coupled is located in the almost middle of each side (11), (21).
The coupling conductor (30) may be a pole having strength to support the small planar conductor (20) or a flexible line provided with a firm pipe. Further, a supporting member (not shown) for supporting the small planar conductor (20) may be provided separately from the coupling conductor (30).
An example of a mechanism for adjusting the interval between the large planar conductor (10) and the small planar conductor (20) will be explained.
In order to realize a retractility structure, the firm pipe may be formed in a retractility structure. For example, an inner pipe having a diameter smaller than a hollow portion of an outer pipe is inserted into the hollow portion of the outer pipe and extracting and inserting the inner pipe realizes a retractility structure. The coupling conductor is a flexible wire, which bends or expands in accordance with expansion/contraction of the pipe. That is, the coupling conductor bends when the pipe is shortened and the coupling conductor extends as if the bending is pulled when the pipe is elongated.
With such mechanism, the interval between the planar conductors can be adjusted.
According to such embodiment, when the amount of the bending is large, the bent coupling conductor may overlap the plane part of the planar conductor and it may have an effect on its antenna characteristics. Accordingly, another embodiment will be explained to solve this problem.
That is, the above described outer pipe and inner pipe are made of material such that they electrically communicate with each other. Then, the outer pipe and the inner pipe can electrically communicate with each other when they are contacted each other in the outer pipe. This arrangement prevents bending of the coupling conductor.
A feeder part (40) adapted to feed the monopole antenna and one side of the large planar conductor (10) on the side facing a side (11) to be coupled with the coupling conductor (30), that is a feeding side (14), are electrically coupled by the feeder (41). The coupling part to which the feeder (41) is coupled is located in almost middle of the feeding side (14) of the large planar conductor (10).
As embodiments other than the wide band planar monopole antenna common to a plurality of frequencies shown in
As it is understood with the embodiments shown in the drawings, the coupling conductors (30) are arranged substantially linearly. In this example, the feeders (41) are arranged on a straight line on which the coupling conductors (30) are arranged. When this straight line is seen as a hypothetical straight line, the entire antenna is almost symmetric with respect to the hypothetical straight line. Therefore, secure horizontal nondirectional characteristics can be realized.
<Inspection>
The embodiment shown in
Assuming Hu=2, Hl=13, and Wu=Wl=12 [mm], the resonance characteristic is analyzed using an FDTD method.
The analysis result is shown in
Accordingly, it is confirmed that a monopole antenna shows characteristics common to two frequencies with the structure of the embodiment as an example according to the present invention. Further, although the inspection result is not shown here, the inventors have confirmed that the antenna has three resonance frequencies when three planar conductors are provided.
The UWB system is employed in an ultrawideband in a range of 3.1 to 10.6 [GHz]. Here, analysis results of radiation characteristics on a horizontal surface of 3.0 and 9.0 [GHz] are shown in
Therefore, it has been confirmed that antenna characteristics close to nondirectional characteristics are obtained in each frequencies.
Since the antenna according to the present invention is an antenna, with a simple structure, which covers wide band, is common to a plurality of frequencies, and suppresses interference with other systems, it can be employed to the UWB system or the like at a low cost and has a great deal of potential in industry.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2003-317339 | Sep 2003 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2004/013161 | 9/9/2004 | WO | 00 | 8/7/2008 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2005/027267 | 3/24/2005 | WO | A |
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6437750 | Grimes et al. | Aug 2002 | B1 |
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6992635 | Nishiyama et al. | Jan 2006 | B2 |
7129892 | Borlez et al. | Oct 2006 | B2 |
7133810 | Butler et al. | Nov 2006 | B2 |
20030076264 | Yuanzhu | Apr 2003 | A1 |
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43-029185 | Dec 1968 | JP |
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2000-508498 | Jul 2000 | JP |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20080284653 A1 | Nov 2008 | US |