WO2020143903A1 - Antenne à panneau plat et procédé de fabrication - Google Patents

Antenne à panneau plat et procédé de fabrication Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2020143903A1
WO2020143903A1 PCT/EP2019/050284 EP2019050284W WO2020143903A1 WO 2020143903 A1 WO2020143903 A1 WO 2020143903A1 EP 2019050284 W EP2019050284 W EP 2019050284W WO 2020143903 A1 WO2020143903 A1 WO 2020143903A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
array
molds
power divider
radiating
radiator
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2019/050284
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Fabio Morgia
Original Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. filed Critical Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority to PCT/EP2019/050284 priority Critical patent/WO2020143903A1/fr
Publication of WO2020143903A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020143903A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01P—WAVEGUIDES; RESONATORS, LINES, OR OTHER DEVICES OF THE WAVEGUIDE TYPE
    • H01P5/00—Coupling devices of the waveguide type
    • H01P5/12—Coupling devices having more than two ports
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01P—WAVEGUIDES; RESONATORS, LINES, OR OTHER DEVICES OF THE WAVEGUIDE TYPE
    • H01P11/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing waveguides or resonators, lines, or other devices of the waveguide type
    • H01P11/001—Manufacturing waveguides or transmission lines of the waveguide type
    • H01P11/002—Manufacturing hollow waveguides
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q13/00—Waveguide horns or mouths; Slot antennas; Leaky-waveguide antennas; Equivalent structures causing radiation along the transmission path of a guided wave
    • H01Q13/06—Waveguide mouths
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
    • H01Q21/0006—Particular feeding systems
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
    • H01Q21/0087—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing antenna arrays
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
    • H01Q21/06—Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
    • H01Q21/061—Two dimensional planar arrays
    • H01Q21/064—Two dimensional planar arrays using horn or slot aerials

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a microwave antenna, and in particular, to a flat panel antenna used to transmit and/or receive electromagnetic radiation.
  • the invention particularly proposes a radiating unit for the flat panel antenna.
  • the radiating unit includes a power divider element and at least four radiator elements arranged according to a novel design.
  • Antennas are required for Backhaul Radio-links either at traditional microwave bands or at millimeter-wave bands.
  • dish antennas are widely used for these applications, but dish antennas become less acceptable due to their high impact in urban environments.
  • an idea is to replace dish antennas by flat antenna arrays (FAA).
  • a more attractive look of the FAA is not the only advantage.
  • a FAA has lower dimensions and lower weight than a dish antenna as well. For instance, a 0.6m dish antenna weighs about 7 kg. With the same gain value, the FAA may be up to ten times lighter compared to the dish antenna. The lighter weight allows customers to save money by doing the installation themselves. Due to its much smaller dimensions, the FAA is twice as inexpensive in terms of storage, transportation and packing logistics. Another advantage of the FAA is that it can be fully pre-assembled at the factory.
  • the FFA Radiation Pattern Envelope
  • the ETSI document (ETSI EN 302 217- 4-2) addresses the requirements for directional fixed beam antennas to be utilized with new Point-to-Point (P-P) systems.
  • the document defines the RPE in terms of co- and cross polarization. The values of these parameters define the Class of the antenna.
  • FIG. 1 shows an example of the RPEs for a class 2 antenna.
  • the conventional FAA is not able to meet the required class.
  • the present invention aims to improve the conventional FAA and its productions method.
  • An objective is thereby to provide a radiating unit that allows building a FAA with the above-mentioned advantages and at the same time meeting the class requirements.
  • the radiating unit should also enable building a flat panel antenna with higher electrical performance and reduced costs. It should be possible to fabricate the FAA using molds, wherein it should particularly be possible to use only two molds.
  • the present invention proposes a hollow-waveguide slot array, where a full- corporate-feed waveguide is arranged, in order to achieve high gain and high efficiency antennas. Further, embodiments of the invention also propose a new kind of radiator element, which can satisfy the highest class of the ETSI requirements. Finally, embodiments of the invention provide a manufacturing method that uses as few as two molds, which allows the antenna to be easily built up by injection molding process (metal or plastic). It means cost reduction in terms of non-recurring engineering (NRE) and assembling.
  • NRE non-recurring engineering
  • a first aspect of the invention provides a radiating unit for a flat panel antenna for transmitting and/or receiving electromagnetic radiation, the radiating unit comprising a power divider element and four elongated radiator elements, wherein the power divider element comprises one input port and four elongated output ports; wherein each of the four radiator elements is attached to one output port of the power divider element, and wherein each radiator element is rotated by 45° with respect to each output port of the power divider element.
  • the radiating unit is specifically designed to meet the requirements of wide bandwidth characteristic, high gain, high efficiency, and RPE Class 3/4. At the same time, the radiating unit is very compact, thus allowing to build a compact antenna.
  • the radiator element allows rotation by 45° of the output ports of the power divider element, in order to realize a rhomboidal lattice during fabrication.
  • the special shape of the radiating unit thus allows to implement the antenna with four radiator elements per radiating unit, using only two molds. It is also possible to provide more than four radiator elements per radiating unit, e.g. 8, 16, or generally 2 N , N being a natural number and N > 1.
  • the number of molds at least needed depends on the amount of radiator elements per radiating unit. In particular, N molds are at least required for 2 N radiator elements per radiating unit. For instance, if each radiating unit has 8 radiator elements, it is beneficial to divide these radiator elements by 4 and 4 over two stacked molds.
  • each output port of the power divider includes a ridge waveguide for feeding the radiator element attached to it.
  • each elongated radiator element comprises a protrusion on each side, the protrusions being coupled to the ridge waveguide of the output port it is attached to.
  • the protrusions on the radiator elements are beneficial.
  • each radiator elements is configured to guide a signal from the ridge waveguide to a standard waveguide.
  • the radiator elements thus move the signal from the ridge waveguide to the standard waveguide.
  • the radiating unit is formed by an injection molding process using two molds.
  • the special shape of the radiating unit allows to implement the injection molding process, i.e. obtaining the antenna, using only two molds.
  • a second aspect of the invention provides a flat panel antenna for transmitting and/or receiving electromagnetic radiation, comprising an array of radiating units, each radiating unit according to the first aspect or any one of implementation form of the first aspect.
  • the array of radiating units is formed by an injection molding process using as few as two molds, particularly molds with a square shape.
  • the shape of the radiating unit allows to build the antenna using a rhomboidal lattice (see e.g. FIG. 5) in arranging the radiating units. This means that a high class in terms of RPE without any rotation of the radiator elements can be achieved (see e.g. FIG. 6).
  • an upper mold comprises an array of the radiator elements and an upper part of an array of the power dividers
  • a lower mold comprises a lower part of the array of the power dividers
  • Molds may be provided on top of each other and attached.
  • Several techniques can be used to merge the at least two molds: by screws, by conductive glue, by a diffusion bonding process or by a welding technique.
  • the antenna may particularly be an array antenna.
  • Array antennas typically utilize either printed circuit technology or waveguide technology.
  • the components of the array which interface with free-space, includes the radiator elements, and may utilize micro-strip geometries, such as patches, dipoles or slots, or waveguide components such as horns, or slots respectively.
  • the radiator elements may be interconnected by a feeding network, so that the resulting electromagnetic radiation characteristics of the antenna conform to desired characteristics, such as the antenna beam pointing direction, directivity, and side lobe distribution.
  • a third aspect of the invention provides a method for manufacturing a flat panel antenna for transmitting and/or receiving electromagnetic radiation, comprising: forming an array of radiating units using two molds; wherein the forming of the array of radiating units comprises: forming an upper mold including an array of elongated radiator elements and an upper part of an array of the power dividers, and forming a lower mold including a lower part of the array of power divider elements, wherein each power divider element comprises one input port and four elongated output ports; wherein the upper and lower molds are attached to each other in a manner that the radiator elements are rotated by 45° with respect to the output ports of the power divider element.
  • Another advantage of this design is the number of the molds that is needed for the implementation of the antenna, in particular, as few as two molds are needed (see explanation above).
  • the power divider element is implemented with ridge waveguides, wherein each output port includes at least one ridge waveguide.
  • the array of radiating units is arranged aligned with the diagonal of the molds, wherein the long side of each radiator element is parallel to the diagonal of the molds.
  • the flat panel antenna can be built using rhomboidal lattice (as shown e.g. in FIG. 5), which means achieving high class in terms of RPE without any rotation of the radiator elements (see e.g. FIG. 6).
  • forming the array of radiating units using two molds comprises an injection molding process using the two molds.
  • the injection molding process is a metal injection molding process or a plastic injection molding process.
  • the upper mold and the lower mold are fixed together, particularly using screws, conductive glue, a diffusion bonding process or a welding technique.
  • FIG. 1 shows an example of the RPEs for a class 2 antenna.
  • FIG. 2 shows a schematic isometric view and a top view of a radiating unit according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 3 shows a schematic isometric view of a power divider element of a radiating unit according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 4 shows a schematic isometric view of a radiator element of a radiating unit according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 5 shows a rhomboidal lattice used to build a flat panel antenna according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 6 shows an example of the RPEs of high class (class 3/4) antennas according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 7 shows a top view and a bottom view of two molds used to form a flat panel antenna according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 8 shows a schematic block flowchart of a method for manufacturing a flat panel antenna according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 shows a design of a fundamental cell of the antenna according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 2 shows a radiating unit 200 according to an embodiment of the invention, which forms the basis for the fundamental cell.
  • the antenna may comprise multiple such radiating units 200 arranged in an array. A radiating part (top side) and a first part of the feed waveguide (bottom side) particularly build up the radiating unit 200, which is specifically designed in order to meet all the requirements.
  • the radiating unit 200 may be composed of at least the following two parts: A power divider element 201 comprising an input port 2011 and four output ports 2012 (see FIG. 3), and four elongated radiator elements 202.
  • FIG. 2 shows the smallest possible configuration of the radiating unit 200 with four radiator elements 202.
  • This radiating unit 200 allows fabricating an antenna using only two molds.
  • the radiating unit 200 may also be designed in a similar manner with more than four radiator elements 202, particularly 2 N radiator elements (N > 1).
  • FIG. 3 shows in more detail the power divider element 201
  • FIG. 4 shows in more detail one of the radiation elements 202 of the radiating unit 200 shown in FIG. 2.
  • Each of the four radiator elements 202 is attached to one output port 2012 of the power divider element 201.
  • each radiator element 202 is rotated by 45° with respect to each output port 2012 of the power divider element 201. That means, the elongation axis of each of the radiator elements 202 is rotated around the elongation axis of the elongated output ports 2012 by 45°.
  • the power divider element 201 comprises one input port 2011 and four elongated output ports 2012.
  • the power divider 201 is composed by a union of rectangular waveguides.
  • Each waveguide may work only in a range of frequencies, i.e. a frequency band of the rectangular waveguide.
  • the size of the rectangular waveguide has been reduced.
  • the ridge waveguide 2013 may be a uniform rectangular waveguide with one or two (double ridge) rectangular metal insets in the top and/or in the bottom of the rectangular housing.
  • the ridge waveguide 2013 can have a much lower cut-off frequency of its fundamental mode.
  • the cross-section of the ridge waveguide 2013 may be much smaller than that of the rectangular waveguide, which presents an opportunity for compact designs.
  • ETSI class 3 In order to meet one of the fundamental requirements (ETSI class 3) it is beneficial to reduce as much as possible the distance between the radiator elements. This is supported by implementing the power divider 201 using ridge waveguides 2013. Furthermore, this is achieved by the 45° rotation of the radiator elements 202 with respect to the power divider output ports 2012.
  • each elongated radiator element 202 may comprise a protrusion 2021 on each of its (long) sides, the protrusions 2021 being beneficially coupled to the ridge waveguide 2013 of the output port 2012 it is attached to.
  • Each radiator element 202 may in this way guide a signal from the ridge waveguide 2013 to a standard waveguide.
  • the shape of the radiator elements 202 allows to form radiating units 200 by an injection molding process using as few as two molds.
  • a flat panel antenna comprises an array of radiating units 200 as shown in FIG. 2.
  • Each radiating unit 200 thereby may comprise a power divider element 201 as shown in FIG. 3 and four elongated radiator elements 202 as shown in FIG. 4.
  • each output port 2012 of the power divider 201 includes a ridge waveguide 2013 for feeding the radiator element 202 attached to it.
  • the dimension of the ridge waveguides 2013 may be determined according to a specific frequency requirement of the flat panel antenna.
  • each radiator element 202 may moves a signal from the ridge waveguide 2013 to a standard waveguide.
  • the array of radiating units 200 is formed by an injection molding process using two molds, particularly molds with a square shape.
  • the radiator elements 202 of the radiating unit 200 allow the rotation of the 45° of the output of the power divider 201.
  • This special shape allows to build the flat panel antenna using a rhomboidal lattice of radiator elements 202 as shown in FIG. 5. In this way, a high class antenna in terms of RPE can be achieved.
  • FIG. 6 shows an example of the RPEs of high class (class 3/4) antennas according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 7 shows a top view and a bottom view of two molds used to form the flat panel antenna according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • an upper mold 701 comprises an array of the radiator elements 202 and an upper part of an array of the power dividers 201
  • a lower mold 702 comprises a lower part of the array of the power dividers 201.
  • the cutting plane is where the part of the ridge waveguide 2013 starts.
  • An advantage of this design is the number of the molds needed for the implementation of the antenna. As shown in FIG. 7, only two molds are needed to build an antenna having multiple radiating units with four radiator elements 202 each.
  • the upper mold 701 and lower mold 702 may have identical shapes, for instance, a square shape, with possibly different dimension of height.
  • FIG. 8 shows a schematic block flowchart of a method 800 for manufacturing a flat panel antenna according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • the method comprises the step 801 of forming an array of radiating units 200 using two molds; wherein the forming of the array of radiating units 200 comprises: the step 8011 of forming an upper mold 701 including an array of elongated radiator elements 202 and an upper part of an array of the power dividers 201, and the step 8012 of forming a lower mold 702 including a lower part of the array of power divider elements 201, wherein each power divider element 201 comprises one input port 2011 and four elongated output ports 2012; wherein the upper and lower molds 701, 702 are attached to each other in a manner that the radiator elements 202 are rotated by 45° with respect to the output ports 2012 of the power divider element 201.
  • the upper mold 701 and the lower mold 702 may be formed separately.
  • an injection molding process may be used to manufacture the flat panel antenna according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • the injection molding process may be a metal injection molding process or a plastic injection molding process.
  • the power divider element 201 is implemented with ridge waveguides 2013, wherein each output port 2012 may include at least one ridge waveguide 2013.
  • the dimension of the ridge waveguides 2013 may be determined according to a specific frequency requirement of the flat panel antenna.
  • the array of radiating units 200 is arranged aligned with the diagonal of the molds 701, 702, wherein the long side of each radiator element 202 may be parallel to the diagonal of the molds.
  • the elongation axis of radiator elements 202 may be parallel to one diagonal of the molds.
  • the molds may be in a square shape. Therefore, the elongation axis of the output ports 2012 of the power divider 201 may be parallel to two sides of the molds.
  • the upper mold 701 and the lower mold 702 are fixed together, particularly using screws, conductive glue, and a diffusion bonding process or a welding technique.
  • the present invention has been described in conjunction with various embodiments as examples as well as implementations. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the independent claims.
  • the word“comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article“a” or“an” does not exclude a plurality.
  • a single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims.
  • the mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Variable-Direction Aerials And Aerial Arrays (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention concerne une unité rayonnante, une antenne à panneau plat comprenant un réseau des unités rayonnantes, et un procédé de fabrication de l'antenne à panneau plat. L'unité rayonnante comprend un élément diviseur de puissance et quatre éléments rayonnants allongés. L'élément diviseur de puissance comprend un port d'entrée et quatre ports de sortie allongés. En outre, chacun des quatre éléments rayonnants est attaché à un port de sortie de l'élément diviseur de puissance, et chaque élément rayonnant est tourné de 45° par rapport à chaque port de sortie de l'élément diviseur de puissance. La conception spécifique des unités rayonnantes permet de former une antenne à panneau plat comprenant un réseau d'unités rayonnantes par un processus de moulage par injection utilisant seulement deux moules.
PCT/EP2019/050284 2019-01-08 2019-01-08 Antenne à panneau plat et procédé de fabrication WO2020143903A1 (fr)

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
PCT/EP2019/050284 WO2020143903A1 (fr) 2019-01-08 2019-01-08 Antenne à panneau plat et procédé de fabrication

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
PCT/EP2019/050284 WO2020143903A1 (fr) 2019-01-08 2019-01-08 Antenne à panneau plat et procédé de fabrication

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Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN112332113A (zh) * 2020-11-03 2021-02-05 北京交通大学 宽带高增益空气波导阵列天线

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6285323B1 (en) * 1997-10-14 2001-09-04 Mti Technology & Engineering (1993) Ltd. Flat plate antenna arrays
DE10150086A1 (de) * 2001-10-14 2003-04-17 Uhland Goebel Gruppenantenne mit einer regelmäßigen Anordnung von Durchbrüchen
US20130120205A1 (en) * 2011-11-16 2013-05-16 Andrew Llc Flat panel array antenna
US20180358709A1 (en) * 2017-06-09 2018-12-13 Ningbo University Waveguide slotted array antenna

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6285323B1 (en) * 1997-10-14 2001-09-04 Mti Technology & Engineering (1993) Ltd. Flat plate antenna arrays
DE10150086A1 (de) * 2001-10-14 2003-04-17 Uhland Goebel Gruppenantenne mit einer regelmäßigen Anordnung von Durchbrüchen
US20130120205A1 (en) * 2011-11-16 2013-05-16 Andrew Llc Flat panel array antenna
US20180358709A1 (en) * 2017-06-09 2018-12-13 Ningbo University Waveguide slotted array antenna

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN112332113A (zh) * 2020-11-03 2021-02-05 北京交通大学 宽带高增益空气波导阵列天线

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