KR20190092297A - Pattern configurable dielectric resonator antenna - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a dielectric resonator antenna capable of controlling a pattern configuration, which comprises: a dielectric resonator; a plurality of excitation elements exciting a resonance mode to the dielectric resonator; a power supply device supplying power; and a switch controlling a power supply path from the power supply device to the excitation element, so as to supply power to at least one of the plurality of excitation elements.

Description

Dielectric resonator antenna with pattern configuration control {PATTERN CONFIGURABLE DIELECTRIC RESONATOR ANTENNA}

The technique described below relates to a dielectric resonator antenna.

Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology, the core technology of next-generation mobile communication, is a technology that transmits large-capacity data at high speed or simultaneously transmits information through multiple channels using a phased array antenna. According to the array antenna theory, the radiation pattern of the array antenna is expressed as the product of the radiation pattern of the antenna element and the array factor. In order to have a wide scanning range, the patterns of the individual antennas must have a wide elevation angle. There is a limit to the wide design of the antenna element itself. If the antenna elements are electrically steered to reconstruct the pattern, this can be overcome to ensure a wider scanning range.

An easy structure for pattern reconstruction is a dielectric resonator antenna. A dielectric resonator antenna is a device that emits electromagnetic waves by generating a resonance mode in a dielectric through various feeding methods. The use of a dielectric having a high dielectric constant has advantages in miniaturization, and the feeding structure is simple, making it easy to implement.

Korea Patent Registration No. 10-0710726

Conventional array antennas are limited in their design to have wide elevation angles. Dielectric resonator antennas are easy to reconstruct in azimuth angle, but also difficult to control the beam in elevation. The technique described below is to provide a dielectric resonator antenna capable of designing or providing various beam patterns.

The dielectric resonator antenna capable of pattern configuration control includes a dielectric resonator, a plurality of excitation elements for exciting a resonant mode to the dielectric resonator, a power supply device for supplying power, and a feed path from the power supply device to the excitation element to control the plurality of excitation elements. And a switch for controlling the power supply to at least one of the excitation elements.

In another aspect, the dielectric resonator antenna capable of controlling the pattern configuration may supply a dielectric resonator, a plurality of excitation elements for exciting a resonance mode to the dielectric resonator, and at least one of the plurality of excitation elements, A power feeding device capable of controlling a power feeding path and a control device for controlling the power feeding device to feed power to any one of the plurality of excitation elements, some of the plurality of devices, or all of the elements.

The technique described below may be configured or designed in a beam pattern not only in the azimuth angle but also in the elevation direction. The technique described below enables various beam pattern designs using a relatively simple structure called a dielectric resonator antenna.

1 is an example of an environment using wireless communication.
2 is an example of a dielectric resonator antenna.
3 is an example of a resonance mode of a dielectric resonator antenna.
4 is an example of a block diagram of a pattern dielectric resonator antenna capable of pattern configuration control.
5 is an example of a switch operation.
6 is another example of a block diagram of a pattern dielectric resonator antenna capable of pattern configuration control.
7 is an example of a reflection coefficient and a radiation pattern in an antenna subjected to resonance mode control.

The following description may be made in various ways and have a variety of embodiments, specific embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail. However, this is not intended to limit the technology described below to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all changes, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the technology described below.

The terms first, second, A, B, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited by the terms, but merely for distinguishing one component from other components. Only used as For example, the first component may be referred to as the second component, and similarly, the second component may be referred to as the first component without departing from the scope of the technology described below. The term and / or includes a combination of a plurality of related items or any item of a plurality of related items.

As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It is to be understood that the present invention means that there is a part or a combination thereof, and does not exclude the presence or addition possibility of one or more other features or numbers, step operation components, parts or combinations thereof.

Prior to the detailed description of the drawings, it is to be clear that the division of the components in the present specification is only divided by the main function of each component. That is, two or more components to be described below may be combined into one component, or one component may be provided divided into two or more for each function. Each of the components to be described below may additionally perform some or all of the functions of other components in addition to the main functions of the components, and some of the main functions of each of the components are different. Of course, it may be carried out exclusively by.

In addition, in carrying out the method or operation method, each process constituting the method may occur differently from the stated order unless the context clearly indicates a specific order. That is, each process may occur in the same order as specified, may be performed substantially simultaneously, or may be performed in the reverse order.

The technique described below relates to a dielectric resonator antenna. The technique described below is a technique for easily designing a beam pattern in various directions including an elevation angle in a dielectric resonator antenna. Dielectric resonators can be used as useful antennas. Dielectric resonator antennas are small in size and simple in structure. Dielectric resonator antennas have high radiation efficiency and are easy to feed to almost all transmission lines. Furthermore, the dielectric resonator antenna can control the radiation pattern using other resonance modes. The dielectric resonator may have various shapes such as a sphere, a cylinder, a cube, and the like. The technique described below corresponds to a technique for generating various beam patterns by controlling a feed path or a feed region for a dielectric resonator.

1 is an example of an environment using wireless communication. 1 illustrates an example of a full dimensional multiple input multiple output (FD-MIMO) communication environment. As is well known, FD-MIMO is one of the key technologies for 5G communication. The base station 10 communicates with the plurality of terminals 21, 22, 23, and 24 located in the coverage. 1 illustrates an example in which the base station 10 communicates with each of a plurality of terminals 21, 22, 23, and 24 using individual beams.

The terminal 21 and the terminal 22 are located in the vertical direction in the same building. The base station 10 performs elevation angle beamforming (Beam 1 and Beam 2) to provide a communication channel to the terminal 21 and the terminal 22. Meanwhile, the terminal 23 and the terminal 24 are located in the horizontal direction. The base station 10 performs azimuth beamforming (Beam 3 and Beam 4) to provide a communication channel to the terminal 23 and the terminal 24.

As described above, an antenna used by a communication device in a MIMO or FD-MIMO communication environment may transmit and receive information through a beam having a constant directionality. The antenna needs to be beamformed in the elevation direction as well as in the azimuth direction. In the FD-MIMO environment, a wide range of elevation control may be required.

Furthermore, in addition to MIMO communication, an antenna for communicating in a dynamic environment such as vehicle communication (V2X) may need a wide range of elevation angles.

As described above, the dielectric resonator antenna may be implemented in a small and simple structure. Designing a dielectric resonator antenna having a wide elevation range as well as an azimuth angle can be usefully used in devices such as portable terminals.

2 is an example of a dielectric resonator antenna 100. The dielectric resonator antenna 100 includes a substrate 110, excitation elements 121 and 122, and a dielectric resonator 130. 2 does not show a power feeding device. The substrate 110 may be a PCB substrate. The excitation elements 121 and 122 receive power from the power feeding device to excite the dielectric resonator 130. In FIG. 2, dielectric resonator 130 is in contact with two excitation elements 121 and 122. The dielectric resonator 130 may receive power from at least one of the excitation elements 121 and 122. That is, the excitation elements 121 and 122 may operate one by one (121 or 122), respectively, or the two 121 and 122 may operate simultaneously to feed the dielectric resonator 130.

Although two excitation elements are illustrated as an example in FIG. 2, the dielectric resonator antenna may include a plurality of excitation elements. The plurality of excitation elements can feed a dielectric resonator. The plurality of excitation elements contact the surface of the dielectric resonator and may be disposed at different positions. The excitation element may be disposed on a substrate as shown in FIG. In addition, the excitation element may be in contact with the surface of the dielectric resonator, which is not in contact with the substrate, unlike in FIG. 2. In this case, the excitation element may be connected to the substrate by a conductive line. The excitation element receives power from the power feeding device to feed the dielectric resonator. The excitation element may be part of the power feeding device. The excitation element may be composed of various materials for feeding. Furthermore, the excitation element may be implemented in various forms or shapes.

In FIG. 2, the dielectric resonator 130 has a sphere shape. However, the spherical dielectric resonator is one example, and the dielectric resonator 130 may have various other forms.

3 is an example of a resonance mode of a dielectric resonator antenna. 3 is an example of a TE301 mode occurring in a dielectric resonator. 3 shows the TE301 mode generated in the dielectric resonator by each excitation element. The TE301 mode has a symmetrical structure as shown in FIG. 3. Due to the symmetry of the resonance mode, by placing a plurality of excitation elements on the surface of the dielectric resonator, the beam pattern can be reconfigured in a desired direction. This is not limited to spherical dielectric resonators, but is applicable to all types of dielectrics in which a symmetrical resonance mode occurs. Accordingly, the dielectric resonator used in the dielectric resonator antenna may use various types of dielectric resonators capable of generating a resonance mode having a symmetrical structure.

4 is an example of a block diagram of a pattern dielectric resonator antenna 300 capable of pattern configuration control. The dielectric resonator antenna 300 includes a dielectric resonator 310, an excitation element 320, a switch 330, and a power feeding device 340.

The dielectric resonator 310 is configured to generate resonance. The dielectric resonator 310 is a dielectric resonator capable of generating a resonance mode having a symmetrical structure as described above. The excitation element 320 is configured to excite the resonance mode to the dielectric resonator 310. There are a plurality of excitation elements 320-320-1, 320-2, ..., 320-N. The excitation element 320 is disposed in contact with the dielectric resonator 310. The plurality of excitation elements 320-1, 320-2,..., 320 -N may be disposed in the representation of the dielectric resonator 310, but may be disposed at different positions.

The power feeding device 340 is a device for supplying power to the excitation element 320. The power feeding device 340 may be implemented in various forms.

The switch 330 is a device for controlling a feeding path from the power feeding device 340 to the plurality of excitation elements 320-1, 320-2,..., 320 -N. The switch 330 may control the feeding path to supply power to any one of the plurality of excitation elements, the excitation element belonging to a specific group, or the entire excitation element.

5 is an example of a switch operation. For convenience of description, the switch 330 of FIG. 4 will be described as a reference. The switch 330 supporting the multi-feed is basically configured in an N: 1 structure. The switch 330 may feed the excitation elements 320 one by one or may simultaneously feed the plurality of excitation elements 320 according to an operation mode. The switch 330 may switch the N excitation elements 320 to switch multiple beams or to combine these beams. 5A illustrates an example in which the switch 330 feeds N excitation elements 320 one by one. 5B is an example in which the switch 330 feeds two excitation elements 320 out of N. FIG. 5C illustrates an example in which the switch 330 feeds three excitation elements 320 out of N units. 5D illustrates an example in which the switch 330 feeds the entire N excitation elements 320.

The switch 330 can control all cases where power can be supplied to the N excitation elements 320. For example, suppose there are four (N = 4) excitation elements. Four excitation elements are represented by E1, E2, E3 and E4. The switch 330 may provide all types of power supplies to the plurality of excitation elements E1, E2, E3, and E4. For example, all possible forms in which the plurality of excitation elements E1, E2, E3, and E4 are fed are as follows. {(E1), (E2), (E3), (E4), (E1, E2), (E1, E3), (E1, E4), (E2, E3), (E2, E4), (E1, E2, E3), (E1, E2, E4), (E2, E3, E4), (E1, E2, E4, E4)}. Here, square brackets {} denote sets for all possible cases, and parentheses () denote excitation elements to be fed. The specific form in which the plurality of excitation elements E1, E2, E3, and E4 are fed is called a feed pattern. The feeding pattern may vary according to the number of excitation elements. The switch 330 may generate (excite) the power feeding pattern in all possible cases. Through this, the dielectric resonator antenna may form various beam patterns.

Meanwhile, a dielectric resonator antenna having a structure different from that of FIG. 4 is also possible. For example, a feeding structure is individually connected to the plurality of excitation elements 320-1, 320-2,..., 320 -N, and the switch controls to feed a connected excitation element by transmitting a signal to the feeding structure. can do. In this case, unlike FIG. 4, the power supply device 340 is connected to the excitation element, and the switch 330 has a structure for transmitting an external control command to the power supply device 340.

6 is another example of a block diagram of a pattern dielectric resonator antenna 410 capable of pattern configuration control. The dielectric resonator antenna 400 includes a dielectric resonator 410, an excitation element 420, a power feeding device 430, and a control device 440.

The dielectric resonator 410 is configured to generate resonance. The dielectric resonator 410 is a dielectric resonator capable of generating a resonance mode having a symmetrical structure as described above. The excitation element 420 is configured to excite the resonance mode to the dielectric resonator 410. The plurality of excitation elements 420 is 420-1, 420-2, ..., 420-N. The excitation element 420 is disposed in contact with the dielectric resonator 410. The plurality of excitation elements 420-1, 420-2,..., 420 -N may be disposed in the representation of the dielectric resonator 410, but may be disposed at different positions.

The power feeding device 440 is a device for supplying power to the excitation element 420. The power supply device 440 includes a switch 431 and a power supply unit 432. The power supply unit 432 supplies its own power or external power to the switch 431.

The switch 431 is a device for controlling a feed path from the power supply unit 432 to the plurality of excitation elements 420-1, 320-2,..., 320 -N. The switch 431 may control the feed path to supply power to any one of the plurality of excitation elements, the excitation element belonging to a specific group, or the entire excitation element. As described above, the switch 431 may control the power supply so that the power supply pattern is any one of all possible power feeding patterns.

Furthermore, the power supply device 440 may include a power divider (eg, a half power divider) that divides the power transmitted from the power supply unit 432 evenly. The power divider may distribute the power supplied and deliver it to the plurality of output paths. In general, the power supply device 440 may supply the same power to a plurality of excitation elements to which power is supplied. Meanwhile, the power supply device 440 may differently control the amount of power supplied according to the plurality of excitation elements to which power is supplied according to the arrangement of the power divider and the switch. In this case, the power supply device 440 may generate more various beam patterns by controlling the excitation element to which power is supplied and the power to be supplied.

The control device 440 controls the power feeding device 430 to allow the dielectric resonator antenna 400 to form various beam patterns. The control device 440 may include a computing device 441 and a memory 442. The control device 440 may be implemented in the form of a circuit or chipset on the antenna substrate. The memory 442 stores information about the power feeding pattern. The feeding pattern is determined by the excitation element to be fed. The feeding pattern may be defined as a location or an identifier of an excitation element to be fed. The memory 442 may store information about specific patterns defined by the location or identifier of the excitation element. Assuming that there are four elements E1, E2, E3 and E4 here, the memory 442 may store information in a table form as shown in Table 1 below.

Excitation device identifier Feeding pattern Beam pattern E1, E2, E3 000 B1 E2 001 B2 E1, E4 010 B3 .
.
. .
.
. .
.
. E2, E3, E4 111 BN

The control device 440 finds a list of corresponding excitation elements in the memory 442 based on the information about the power feeding pattern or the beam pattern included in the external control command. The control device 440 transmits a power supply command to the power supply device 430 so that the selected excitation element can be powered. According to the power supply command, the switch 431 operates so that only a specific excitation element is supplied. As a result, the control device 440 causes the dielectric resonator 410 to emit a particular beam pattern.

7 is an example of a reflection coefficient and a radiation pattern in an antenna subjected to resonance mode control. FIG. 7 is an example of a reflection coefficient and a radiation pattern that can be generated by controlling feeding of two excitation elements as shown in FIG. 2. 7 (A) and 7 (B) show two resonant mode excitation elements each feeding one. Fig. 7A is a case where the resonance mode excitation element 1 is fed, and Fig. 7B is a case where the resonance mode excitation element 2 is fed. When two resonant mode excitation elements are fed one by one, the beam can be steered in two directions. Fig. 7C is a case where two resonance mode excitation elements are fed simultaneously. When two resonance mode excitation elements are fed simultaneously, it can be seen that the beams are coupled to form a beam in the center direction. Therefore, by placing N resonance mode excitation elements in one dielectric resonator and switching them, a pattern can be reconstructed by switching multiple beams or combining these beams.

In addition, the above-described process of controlling the beam pattern or the method of controlling the beam pattern may be implemented as a program (or an application) including an executable algorithm that may be executed in a computer. The program may be stored and provided in a non-transitory computer readable medium.

The non-transitory readable medium refers to a medium that stores data semi-permanently and is readable by a device, not a medium storing data for a short time such as a register, a cache, a memory, and the like. Specifically, the various applications or programs described above may be stored and provided in a non-transitory readable medium such as a CD, a DVD, a hard disk, a Blu-ray disk, a USB, a memory card, a ROM, or the like.

The embodiments and the drawings attached to this specification are merely to clearly show a part of the technical idea included in the above-described technology, and those skilled in the art can easily make it within the scope of the technical idea included in the description and the drawings of the above-described technology. It will be apparent that both the inferred modifications and the specific embodiments are included in the scope of the above-described technology.

100: dielectric resonator antenna
110: substrate
121, 122: excitation element
130: dielectric resonator
300: dielectric resonator antenna
310: dielectric resonator
320, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N: excitation element
330: switch
340: power supply unit
400: dielectric resonator antenna
410: dielectric resonator
420, 320-1, 320-2, 320-N: excitation element
430: power supply unit
431 switch
432: power supply
440: control unit
441 arithmetic unit
442: memory

Claims (16)

Dielectric resonators;
A plurality of excitation elements for exciting a resonance mode to the dielectric resonator;
A power feeding device for supplying power; And
And a switch configured to control a feed path from the power supply device to the excitation element to supply power to at least one of the plurality of excitation elements. The method of claim 1,
And the plurality of excitation elements are in contact with each other at a different position on the surface of the dielectric resonator. The method of claim 1,
The dielectric resonator is a dielectric resonator antenna capable of pattern configuration control to generate a resonant mode having a symmetrical structure. The method of claim 1,
The switch is a dielectric resonator antenna capable of pattern configuration control to control the power supply to any one of the plurality of excitation elements, some of the plurality of elements or all elements. The method of claim 1,
And a control device for transmitting a command for controlling the feed path to the switch. The method of claim 1,
The dielectric resonator is a dielectric resonator antenna capable of controlling the pattern configuration to emit a beam of a specific pattern according to the number of the excitation element to be fed or the position of the excitation element to be fed among the plurality of excitation elements. The method of claim 6,
And the specific pattern is a beam configuration in which at least one of a beam direction, a beam intensity, and an area covered by the beam is a different beam pattern. Dielectric resonators;
A plurality of excitation elements for exciting a resonance mode to the dielectric resonator;
A power supply device configured to supply power to at least one of the plurality of excitation elements, and to control a power supply path to the plurality of excitation elements; And
And a control device for controlling the power feeding device to feed power to any one of the plurality of excitation elements, some of the plurality of devices, or all of the elements. The method of claim 8,
The feeding device is
And a switch configured to control a feed path from a power supply unit to the excitation element to supply power to at least one of the plurality of excitation elements. The method of claim 8,
The dielectric resonator is a dielectric resonator antenna capable of pattern configuration control to generate a resonant mode having a symmetrical structure. The method of claim 8,
The control device
The apparatus may further include a memory configured to store information including a position or an identifier of an excitation element, and to select a piece of information matching the pattern information included in the control command to supply power to a specific excitation element among the plurality of excitation elements. But
And the pattern information includes information on a beam pattern or information on an excitation element that is a power supply target. The method of claim 8,
And the control device determines a power supply target among the plurality of excitation elements according to a control command, and enables pattern configuration control to control the power supply device to supply power to the excitation element that is the power supply target. The method of claim 8,
The dielectric resonator is a dielectric resonator antenna capable of controlling the pattern configuration to emit a beam of a specific pattern according to the number of the excitation element to be fed or the position of the excitation element to be fed among the plurality of excitation elements. The method of claim 13,
And the specific pattern is a beam configuration in which at least one of a beam direction, a beam intensity, and an area covered by the beam is a different beam pattern. Dielectric resonators;
A plurality of excitation elements for exciting a resonance mode to the dielectric resonator;
A plurality of power supply devices that respectively supply power to the plurality of excitation elements; And
And a switch configured to control a signal transmitted to the plurality of power supply devices to supply power to at least one of the plurality of excitation elements. The method of claim 15,
The dielectric resonator is a dielectric resonator antenna capable of controlling the pattern configuration to emit a beam of a specific pattern according to the number of the excitation element to be fed or the position of the excitation element to be fed among the plurality of excitation elements.

Images