CN111521881A

CN111521881A - Antenna test system

Info

Publication number: CN111521881A
Application number: CN202010373800.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 卜景鹏; 东君伟; 秦然; 邓杰文
Original assignee: Zhongshan Xiangshan Microwave Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Zhongshan Xiangshan Microwave Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-06
Filing date: 2020-05-06
Publication date: 2020-08-11

Abstract

The invention provides an antenna test system which comprises a base, a support guide rail paved on the base, two manipulators which are respectively arranged at two ends of the support guide rail and can move along the support guide rail, radio frequency test equipment electrically connected with the two manipulators, and a wave-absorbing assembly arranged between the two manipulators, wherein the support guide rail comprises a horizontal section for supporting the manipulators and an extension section arranged in the direction far away from the connecting line of the two manipulators, and the wave-absorbing assembly is arranged on the horizontal section and at least part of the wave-absorbing assembly can move to the extension section along the horizontal section. When the antenna test system provided by the invention needs to move the manipulators to realize the large-range movement of the antenna to be tested, the wave-absorbing component laid between the two manipulators can be automatically transferred to the extension section of the support guide rail, the wave-absorbing material does not need to be laid again manually, and the test efficiency is high.

Description

Antenna test system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of antenna testing, in particular to an antenna testing system.

Background

With the rapid development of communication technology, communication equipment has higher and higher performance requirements on antennas, and a high-precision antenna test system becomes a very important factor in the antenna development and production process for accurately measuring performance parameters such as directional patterns, gains and the like of the antennas so as to check whether the antenna performance meets design indexes or judge whether the antenna is qualified in production.

At present, the existing antenna test is generally carried out in a darkroom fully paved with wave-absorbing materials, when the tested antenna needs to be moved in a large range to obtain complete performance parameters, the wave-absorbing materials in the darkroom need to be manually re-paved, the test efficiency is not high, and the traditional antenna test system has large limitation on the adjustment of the position and the angle of the antenna and is not suitable for diversified antenna test methods.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide an antenna test system capable of automatically completing the large-range movement of an antenna to be tested.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention provides the following technical scheme:

the utility model provides an antenna test system, includes the base, lay in support guide on the base, divide and locate support guide's both ends can be followed two manipulators that support guide removed, with the radio frequency test equipment that two manipulator electricity are connected, and locate inhale the ripples subassembly between two manipulators, support guide is including being used for supporting the horizontal segment of manipulator and keeping away from along the extension section that the direction of the line of two manipulators set up, inhale the ripples subassembly and locate just at least the part can be followed on the horizontal segment removes extremely the extension section.

Preferably, the base comprises a recessed rail well, and the extension section is arranged in the rail well.

Preferably, the length of the extension section is not less than the length of the horizontal section.

Further, the support guide rail further comprises an arc transition section arranged between the horizontal section and the extension section.

Preferably, the antenna test system further comprises a driving mechanism, the driving mechanism comprises a first sliding plate arranged on the horizontal section, a first power assembly used for driving the first sliding plate to move along the horizontal section, and a second sliding plate arranged on the horizontal section and capable of moving to the extension section, the second sliding plate is connected with the first sliding plate, the manipulator is arranged on the first sliding plate, and the wave-absorbing assembly is arranged on the second sliding plate.

Preferably, the driving mechanism further comprises a second power assembly for driving the second slide plate to move along the support rail.

Preferably, the manipulator is a six-axis manipulator.

Preferably, the antenna test system further comprises a waveguide test probe and a standard gain horn antenna replaceably provided on the manipulator and both used for testing the antenna.

Preferably, the antenna test system further comprises a frequency spreading module electrically connected to the standard gain horn antenna.

Preferably, the antenna test system further comprises an optical positioning assembly electrically connected to the robot.

Compared with the prior art, the scheme of the invention has the following advantages:

1. the antenna test system provided by the invention adopts the two mechanical arms as driving parts for scanning test, so that the tested antenna can be flexibly positioned at the coordinate position and pointed at the azimuth angle in a three-dimensional space, the omnibearing scanning test is realized, the antenna test system is suitable for various antenna test methods, when the mechanical arms are required to be moved to realize the large-range movement of the tested antenna, redundant wave-absorbing components can be transferred to the extension section of the supporting guide rail, the wave-absorbing materials are not required to be manually laid again, and the test efficiency is high.

2. The antenna test system provided by the invention can switch different antenna test methods by replacing hardware, the manipulator can be directly configured and drive the waveguide test probe or the standard gain horn antenna to scan along a preset track towards the tested antenna so as to respectively realize near-field and far-field tests on the tested antenna, and can also be matched with the support guide rail to perform high-precision linear movement so as to realize extrapolation gain test.

3. The antenna test system provided by the invention is provided with the optical positioning assembly, and the manipulator can be calibrated by infrared positioning or machine vision assistance, so that the positioning precision of the manipulator is improved, the distance between the receiving and transmitting antennas is accurately determined, the axis alignment of the receiving and transmitting antennas is ensured, and the test precision is improved.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

fig. 1 is a perspective view of an antenna testing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a robot in the antenna test system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a first scanning trajectory of a robot in the antenna test system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a second exemplary scan trajectory of the robot in the antenna test system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a third exemplary scan trajectory of the robot in the antenna test system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a fourth scan trajectory of a robot in the antenna test system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a fifth scan trajectory of a robot in the antenna test system of FIG. 1;

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are illustrative only and should not be construed as limiting the invention.

It will be understood by those within the art that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes all or any element and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Fig. 1 to 7 collectively show an antenna test system 1 provided in an embodiment of the present invention, which is used for testing an antenna, and can automatically switch a plurality of antenna test methods during use, so that for diversified antenna test requirements, a plurality of independent test systems do not need to be configured, and antenna test efficiency is effectively improved.

As shown in fig. 1, the antenna testing system 1 includes a base 11, a supporting guide rail 12, a manipulator 13, a wave-absorbing assembly 14, and a radio frequency testing device (not shown, the same below) electrically connected to the manipulator 13, the supporting guide rail 12 is laid on the base 11 along the length direction of the base 11, the manipulators 13 are provided with two parts, which are respectively disposed at two ends of the supporting guide rail 12 and can be laid on the supporting guide rail 12 to move, and the wave-absorbing assembly 14 is laid on the supporting guide rail 12 between the two manipulators 13.

Specifically, the radio frequency test equipment comprises a network analyzer or equivalent signal source and spectrum analyzer equipment, and a cable assembly and other related radio frequency accessories form a complete radio frequency test closed loop. Among the two manipulators 13, one manipulator 13 is used for installing a transmitting antenna and driving the transmitting antenna to scan along a preset track, and the other manipulator 13 is used for installing a receiving antenna and driving the receiving antenna to scan along the preset track, when the signal radiation performance of the antenna 2 (shown in fig. 2) to be tested needs to be tested, the antenna 2 to be tested can be installed on one manipulator 13, then the performance data of the antenna 2 to be tested is collected through scanning of the receiving antenna preset on the other manipulator 13, and the collected data is fed back to the radio frequency test equipment, so that the antenna test is completed.

Preferably, the support rail 12 includes a horizontal section 121 and an extension section 122, the horizontal section 121 is laid on the upper surface of the base 11 along the connecting line direction of the two manipulators 13, and the extension section 122 is extended along the direction away from the connecting line of the two manipulators 13, that is, the extension section 122 forms an included angle with the horizontal section 121. The manipulator 13 is disposed on the horizontal segment 121, and the wave-absorbing assembly 14 is disposed on the horizontal segment 121 and at least partially movable to the extension segment 123 along the horizontal segment 121. When the manipulator 13 needs to move along the horizontal segment 121 to adjust the position of the antenna 2 to be tested in a large range, the redundant wave-absorbing assemblies 14 can be automatically transferred to the extension segment 122, or the wave-absorbing assemblies 14 in the extension segment 122 can be automatically moved out of the horizontal segment 121, so that the support guide rails 12 between the two manipulators 13 can be kept in a state of being fully paved with the wave-absorbing assemblies 14, the wave-absorbing materials do not need to be manually laid again, and the antenna testing efficiency is effectively improved.

Specifically, the base 11 includes a recessed guide rail well 111, the extension section 123 is disposed in the guide rail well 111, and the redundant wave-absorbing assembly 14 is accommodated through the guide rail well 111.

Preferably, the length of the extension section 122 is not less than that of the horizontal section 121, so that the wave-absorbing assembly 14 on the horizontal section 121 can be completely transferred onto the extension section 122, thereby enabling the two manipulators 13 to approach each other to a minimum distance, and increasing the moving stroke of the manipulators 13, thereby improving the integrity of the antenna test data.

Further, the support rail 12 further includes an arc transition section 123, the arc transition section 123 is disposed between the horizontal section 121 and the extension section 122, and the horizontal section 121 and the extension section 122 are connected through the arc transition section 123, so that the smoothness of the reciprocating movement of the wave-absorbing assembly 14 between the horizontal section 121 and the extension section 122 is improved.

Preferably, the antenna testing system 1 further includes a driving mechanism 15, the driving mechanism 15 includes a first sliding plate 151 disposed on the horizontal segment 121, a first power assembly (not shown, the same below) for driving the first sliding plate 151 to move along the horizontal segment 121, and a second sliding plate 152 disposed on the horizontal segment 121 and movable to the extension segment 122, the second sliding plate 152 is connected to the first sliding plate 151, the manipulator 13 is disposed on the first sliding plate 121, and the wave-absorbing assembly 14 is disposed on the second sliding plate 152, and when the first sliding plate 151 is driven by the first power assembly to move along the horizontal segment 121, the manipulator 13 can be driven to move along the horizontal segment 121, and the wave-absorbing assembly 14 disposed on the second sliding plate 152 is driven to move between the horizontal segment 121 and the extension segment 122.

Preferably, the first power assembly comprises a servo motor capable of realizing high-precision transmission and positioning so as to improve the moving precision of the manipulator 13 and thus the precision of the test result.

Preferably, the driving mechanism 15 further includes a second power assembly (not shown, the same below) for driving the second sliding plate 152 to move along the supporting guide rail 12, the wave-absorbing assembly 14 is driven by the second power assembly to move along the supporting guide rail 12, so as to reduce the output load of the first power assembly, avoid the situation of insufficient power of the first power assembly caused by the overlarge weight or overlong length of the wave-absorbing assembly 14, and ensure the moving precision of the manipulator 13.

Preferably, the manipulator 13 is a six-axis manipulator, which can flexibly position the coordinate position and the azimuth direction in the three-dimensional space, and can drive the transmitting/receiving antenna to any position and any angle, so as to stably perform the omni-directional scanning test on the antenna 2 to be tested, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the test data.

Preferably, the inside of the rotary joint of the manipulator 13 is a hollow structure, and a slip ring is added in each rotary joint to connect the radio frequency cables of the manipulator into a coupling rotary structure (or a communicating rotary body) so as to realize the butt joint transmission of the radio frequency signals, and the radio frequency cables can rotate 360 degrees in the shaft without the problems of distortion, unstable signal transmission, cable damage, aging and the like.

As shown in fig. 2, the antenna testing system 1 further includes a standard gain horn antenna 16 disposed on the manipulator 13 and used for testing the antenna, the standard gain horn antenna 16 is electrically connected to the radio frequency testing device, the manipulator 13 can drive the standard gain horn antenna 16 to move and scan along a hemispherical track toward the antenna 2 to be tested, so that radiation data of the antenna 2 to be tested is comprehensively collected by the standard gain horn antenna 16 to the radio frequency testing device, and performance parameters such as a directional diagram and gain of the antenna to be tested are obtained through analysis and calculation of the radio frequency testing device, thereby completing a far field test of the antenna to be tested.

Specifically, the standard gain horn antenna 16 is configured to induce an electromagnetic field around the antenna 2 to be tested, and form a coupling electromagnetic signal to be transmitted to the radio frequency test equipment, thereby completing a radio frequency loop test.

Preferably, the antenna testing system 1 further includes a spectrum spreading module (not shown, the same applies below) electrically connected to the standard gain horn antenna 16, so that the far field test and the extrapolation gain test can cover the tested antenna in the frequency band of 18 to 110GHz, and the coverage can be upgraded to 400GHz by replacing the spectrum spreading modules in different frequency bands, which has a wide application range. For example, the standard gain horn antenna 16 may be directly used for data acquisition in the frequency band of 18 to 50GHz to complete the test, and the spread spectrum module may be configured to cooperate with the standard gain horn antenna 16 for data acquisition in the frequency band of 50 to 110GHz to complete the test.

In another embodiment, the standard gain horn antenna 16 may be replaced by a waveguide test probe (not shown, the same applies below), that is, the antenna test system 1 further includes a waveguide test probe, when the near-field test needs to be performed on the antenna 2 to be tested, the waveguide test probe may be disposed on the manipulator 13 and driven by the manipulator 13 to move and scan toward the antenna 2 to be tested along a preset track, so as to collect data to complete the near-field test on the antenna 2 to be tested.

Preferably, the support rail 12 is less than 1um for step precision, and the straightness accuracy is superior to 0.1mm, manipulator 13's standard gain horn antenna 16 accessible along being close to or keeping away from under the guide effect of support rail 12 the direction of being surveyed antenna 2 carries out the rectilinear movement of high accuracy to realize the extrapolation gain test of antenna.

It is noted that, for further illustration of the applicability of the antenna test system 1, various scanning trajectories of the robot 13 are shown in fig. 3 to 7:

in particular, a first scanning trajectory of the robot 13 is shown in fig. 3, which enables planar near-field scanning at different angles; a second scanning trajectory of the robot 13, which enables planar near-field scanning of different positions, is shown in fig. 4; a third scanning trajectory of the robot 13, which enables near-field scanning of the cylindrical surface, is shown in fig. 5; a fourth scanning trajectory of the robot 13, which enables a near-field scanning of a spherical surface, is shown in fig. 6; fig. 7 shows a fifth scanning trajectory of the robot 13, which enables high-precision linear motion scanning, thereby realizing an extrapolation gain test.

In summary, the antenna test system 1 provided by the present invention can switch different antenna test methods according to requirements, and one set of system can implement far field test, near field test and extrapolation gain test of the antenna, so that the application range is wide, the antenna test efficiency can be effectively improved, and the antenna test cost can be reduced.

As shown in fig. 2, the antenna testing system 1 further includes an optical positioning assembly 17 electrically connected to the manipulator 13 and configured to improve the positioning accuracy of the manipulator 13, where the optical positioning assembly 17 includes an image positioning module that can be positioned by machine vision, and the image positioning module can construct a spatial coordinate system by collecting features such as points, lines, edges and corners in the antenna 2 to be tested, so as to calculate a moving coordinate of the standard gain horn antenna 16 on the manipulator 2 by capturing a position of each movement of the standard gain horn antenna, and determine whether the position meets the accuracy requirement, so as to perform correction adjustment.

Further, the optical positioning assembly 17 further includes an infrared positioning module capable of positioning by infrared rays, and the positioning accuracy of the manipulator 13 is further improved by combining infrared positioning.

Specifically, when the extrapolation gain test is performed, because the existing manipulator 13 is difficult to realize ultra-high positioning accuracy, the position and perpendicularity of the standard gain horn antenna 16 or the antenna 2 to be tested can be corrected by combining the optical positioning component, so that the positioning accuracy is improved, the reliability of the antenna test system 1 is improved, and the method is suitable for antenna test with higher frequency.

The foregoing is only a partial embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, various modifications and decorations can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention, and these modifications and decorations should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. The utility model provides an antenna test system, its characterized in that includes the base, lay in support guide on the base, divide and locate support guide's both ends can be followed two manipulators that support guide removed, with the radio frequency test equipment that two manipulator electricity are connected, and locate inhale the ripples subassembly between two manipulators, support guide is including being used for supporting the horizontal segment of manipulator and following keep away from the extension section that the direction of the line of two manipulators set up, inhale the ripples subassembly and locate just at least the part can be followed on the horizontal segment removes extremely the extension section.

2. The antenna testing system of claim 1, wherein the base includes a recessed rail well, and the extension is disposed within the rail well.

3. The antenna testing system of claim 1, wherein the extension segment has a length that is not less than a length of the horizontal segment.

4. The antenna testing system of claim 1, wherein the support rail further comprises a radiused transition between the horizontal segment and the extension segment.

5. The antenna test system according to claim 1, further comprising a driving mechanism, wherein the driving mechanism comprises a first sliding plate arranged on the horizontal section, a first power assembly for driving the first sliding plate to move along the horizontal section, and a second sliding plate arranged on the horizontal section and movable to the extension section, the second sliding plate is connected with the first sliding plate, the manipulator is arranged on the first sliding plate, and the wave-absorbing assembly is arranged on the second sliding plate.

6. The antenna testing system of claim 5, wherein the drive mechanism further comprises a second power assembly for driving the second sled along the support rail.

7. The antenna testing system of claim 1, wherein the robot is a six-axis robot.

8. The antenna testing system of claim 1, further comprising a waveguide test probe and a standard gain horn antenna replaceably mounted on the robot arm and each for testing an antenna.

9. The antenna test system of claim 8, further comprising a spreading module electrically connected to the standard gain feedhorn.

10. The antenna testing system of claim 1, further comprising an optical positioning assembly electrically connected to the robot.