CN114374081A - Patch radiating element and antenna - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a patch radiating element comprising a feeding post and a patch radiator mounted on a front end of the feeding post, the patch radiator comprising a first patch part extending in a first direction and a second patch part extending away from an outer end of the first patch part in a second direction, wherein the second direction is different from the first direction. Thereby, the spatial separation between adjacent patch radiating elements can be increased, thereby improving the isolation between adjacent patch radiating elements, so that the beam forming of the antenna is optimized.

Description

Patch radiating element and antenna

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to radio communications, and more particularly to a compact antenna patch radiating element and antenna.

Background

Cellular communication systems are well known in the art. In a cellular communication system, a geographical area is divided into a series of areas, which are referred to as "cells" served by respective base stations. The base station may include one or more base station antennas configured to provide two-way radio frequency ("RF") communication with mobile subscribers within a cell served by the base station.

In many cases, each base station is divided into "sectors. In the most common configuration, the hexagonal cell is divided into three 120 ° sectors, each served by one or more base station antennas, with an azimuthal half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of about 65 °. Typically, the base station antenna is mounted on a tower structure, wherein the radiation pattern generated by the base station antenna is directed outwards. The base station antenna is typically implemented as a linear or planar phased array of radiating elements.

Patch radiating elements are gaining increasing attention due to their advantages of low height, light weight, low cost, high polarization purity, and the like. Such an array of patch radiating elements may be used, for example, in beamforming antennas or to support massive MIMO communications. As the number of patch radiating element arrays mounted on the reflector plate increases, the spacing between patch radiating elements of different arrays decreases, which results in stronger coupling interference between the arrays, and thus the isolation performance of the patch radiating elements deteriorates, the cross-polarization discrimination is low, and the beam forming characteristics of the antenna are ultimately affected.

Disclosure of Invention

It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide a patch radiating element and an antenna that overcome at least one of the deficiencies of the prior art.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a patch radiating element, characterized in that the patch radiating element comprises a feeding post and a patch radiator mounted on a front end portion of the feeding post, the patch radiator comprising a first patch part extending in a first direction and a second patch part extending away from an outer end portion of the first patch part in a second direction, wherein the second direction is different from the first direction. According to the design scheme of the patch radiating elements disclosed by the disclosure, the space interval between the adjacent patch radiating elements can be increased, so that the isolation between the adjacent patch radiating elements is improved, and the beam forming of the antenna is optimized.

In some embodiments, the patch radiator is configured as a sheet metal part radiator, such as a copper sheet radiator or an aluminum sheet radiator.

In some embodiments, the patch radiating element is configured as an air dielectric patch radiating element.

In some embodiments, the first patch portion is constructed as a square piece of metal.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an antenna, characterized in that it comprises a reflector and an array of a plurality of patch radiating elements according to embodiments of the present disclosure mounted on the reflector. In some embodiments, the antennas are configured as beam forming antennas.

Drawings

Various aspects of the disclosure will be better understood upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings in which:

fig. 1 is a perspective view of a patch radiating element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a front view of a patch radiator of the patch radiating element of fig. 1;

fig. 3 is a perspective view of a patch radiating element according to further embodiments of the present disclosure;

figure 4a shows a metal pattern on a first major surface of a feed post of the patch radiating element of figure 1;

figure 4b shows a metal pattern on the second major surface of the feed post of the patch radiating element of figure 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view with an antenna assembly according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is an elevation view with an antenna assembly according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several embodiments of the disclosure. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, the embodiments described below are intended to provide a more complete disclosure of the present disclosure, and to fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. It is also to be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in various ways to provide further additional embodiments.

It should be understood that like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the several views. In the drawings, the size of some of the features may be varied for clarity.

It is to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in the specification have the meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art unless otherwise defined. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

As used in this specification, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. The terms "comprising," "including," and "containing" when used in this specification specify the presence of stated features, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features. The term "and/or" as used in this specification includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The terms "between X and Y" and "between about X and Y" as used in the specification should be construed to include X and Y. The term "between about X and Y" as used herein means "between about X and about Y" and the term "from about X to Y" as used herein means "from about X to about Y".

In the description, when an element is referred to as being "on," "attached" to, "connected" to, "coupled" to, or "contacting" another element, etc., another element may be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled to, or contacting the other element, or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on," "directly attached to," directly connected to, "directly coupled to," or "directly contacting" another element, there are no intervening elements present. In the description, one feature is disposed "adjacent" another feature, and may mean that one feature has a portion overlapping with or above or below an adjacent feature.

In the specification, spatial relations such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear", "high", "low", and the like may explain the relation of one feature to another feature in the drawings. It will be understood that the spatial relationship terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, features originally described as "below" other features may be described as "above" other features when the device in the figures is inverted. The device may also be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the relative spatial relationships may be interpreted accordingly.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 1-2, fig. 1 is a perspective view of a patch radiating element 10 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; fig. 2 is a front view of the patch radiator 20 of the patch radiating element 10 of fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 1, the patch radiating element 10 may include a feeding post 30 and a patch radiator 20 mounted on the feeding post 30. The feeding post 30 may extend forward from the feeding board 2 (see fig. 6) and be mechanically and electrically connected to the patch radiator 20 at a front end (i.e., an upper end in the drawing) of the feeding post 30 in order to feed the patch radiator 20 with an RF signal.

To meet the bandwidth and return loss requirements of modern base station antennas (e.g., 15dB or higher), the patch radiating element 10 may be constructed as an air dielectric patch radiating element. The feed post 30 may extend forward from the feed plate 2 by a length between 0.05-0.15 λ, 0.08-0.12 λ, or may be about 0.1 λ, where λ is the wavelength length corresponding to the center frequency of the operating band of the patch radiating element 10. Thus, the height of the patch radiating element 10 may be selectively lower compared to the feed post height where some conventional radiating elements approach 0.25 λ. Of course, the feeding post with the higher size is not limited herein. Furthermore, the patch radiating element 10 may be designed as a dual polarized patch radiating element. As shown in fig. 1, the patch radiating element 10 may include a first feeding post 301 and a second feeding post 302 arranged to cross the first feeding post 301. The first feeding post 301 may be configured for feeding the patch radiator 20 with an RF signal from the first polarized port, and the second feeding post 302 may be configured for feeding the patch radiator 20 with an RF signal from the second polarized port.

With continued reference to fig. 1, the patch radiator 20 may include a first patch part 21 extending in a first direction and a second patch part 22 extending away from an outer end of the first patch part 21 in a second direction. In other words, the patch radiator 20 can be converted from a conventional two-dimensional planar radiator to a three-dimensional radiator, thereby reducing the size of the patch radiator 20 in a two-dimensional plane while satisfying a certain radiation area. The actual length of each patch radiator 20 is the sum of the length of the horizontally extending first patch part 21 plus the length of the vertically extending second patch part 22, for example on both sides, respectively. Thereby, the horizontal extension of the radiating element is reduced, so that the spacing between adjacent patch radiating elements 10 is enlarged, improving the isolation between adjacent patch radiating elements 10. In some embodiments, the upper limit value of the quotient of the sum of the areas of the second patch parts 22 divided by the area of the first patch part 21 may be 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1.

In some embodiments, the second patch part 22 may extend away from the outer end of the first patch part 21 at any angle, for example the angle between the second patch part 22 and the first patch part 21 may be between 60 ° and 120 °, 80 ° and 100 °. In the embodiment of fig. 1, the second patch part 22 may be bent towards the feeding panel 2 substantially perpendicular to the first patch part 21. In other embodiments, the second patch part 22 may also be bent forward, i.e. away from the feeding board 2. As shown in fig. 3, the second patch part 22 may be bent away from the feeding panel 2 substantially perpendicular to the first patch part 21.

Additionally or alternatively, the patch radiator 20 may be a sheet metal part radiator. Sheet metal part radiators are advantageous: firstly, the sheet metal part radiator is easy to bend the metal plate, so that each second patch part 22 can be integrally formed with the first patch part 21; secondly, the cost of the sheet metal part radiator is cheaper; third, the sheet metal part radiator can have any desired thickness and can exhibit improved impedance matching and/or reduced signal transmission losses; fourth, sheet metal component radiators can be readily obtained with a low level of surface roughness and can exhibit improved passive intermodulation ("PIM") distortion performance.

Additionally or alternatively, the first patch part 21 may be constructed as a regular shape, for example a polygonal metal sheet, a rectangular metal sheet or a square metal sheet. In the embodiment of fig. 1 and 2, the first patch part 21 may be constructed as a substantially square metal sheet. The square first patch portion 21 facilitates a balanced current distribution, thereby further improving the polarization purity of the radiation pattern of the patch radiating element 10. Furthermore, it can be seen from the figure that each side of the first patch part 21 may be connected with a respective second patch part 22, thereby maintaining the symmetry and balance of the patch radiator 20.

It should be understood that the number, shape and connection relationship of the first patch parts 21 and/or the second patch parts 22 are not restrictive. In other embodiments, the first patch part 21 may also be constructed as a metal sheet with a circular arc. In other embodiments it is also possible that part of the side edges of the first patch part 21 is connected to a corresponding second patch part 22.

Additionally or alternatively, the second patch part 22 may be constructed as a rectangular metal strip or as a metal strip with circular arcs. In the embodiment of fig. 1, the second patch parts 22 may be configured as rectangular metal strips, and each second patch part 22 extends away from a respective side of the first patch part 21 along the second direction. Advantageously, each second patch part 22 may have approximately the same shape, whereby the entire patch radiator 20 may have an approximately symmetrical structure. The symmetric patch radiator 20 facilitates a balanced current distribution thereon, thereby further improving the polarization purity of the radiation pattern of the patch radiating element 10.

Next, the feeding column 30 of the patch radiating element 10 according to some embodiments of the present invention is explained in further detail with reference to fig. 4a and 4b, wherein fig. 4a shows a first metal pattern 31 on a first main surface of the feeding column 30 and fig. 4b shows a second metal pattern 32 on a second main surface of the feeding column 30. As shown in fig. 1, the feeding column 30 may be configured as a PCB feeding column, which may comprise a pair of printed circuit boards, i.e. a first feeding column for RF signals having a first polarization and a second feeding column for RF signals having a second polarization. The pair of printed circuit boards may cross each other, for example, oriented at an angle of 90 ° so as to have a cross section in the form of an X. Each feeding post 30 may be mounted on the feeding plate 2 by means of an end portion, i.e. a lower end portion 33. A patch radiator 20 may be mounted on the opposite end portion (i.e., the upper end portion 34) of each feeding post 30. A tab 35 may be provided on the upper end 34 of each feed post 30, the tab 35 being embedded within the feed opening 23 of the first patch part 21 of the patch radiator 20 for mounting the patch radiator 20 to the feed post 30. The first patch part 21 may comprise a first and a second feed port for RF signals having a first polarization and a third and a fourth feed port for RF signals having a second polarization. The first feeding post 301 may be electrically connected, e.g., soldered, to the first and second feeding ports, respectively, and the second feeding post 302 may be electrically connected, e.g., soldered, to the third and fourth feeding ports, respectively, thereby providing a signal path from the feeding board 2 to the corresponding patch radiator 20 via the feeding post 30.

As shown in fig. 4a, the feed post 30 may be printed with a first metal pattern 31 on its first main surface, the first metal pattern 31 comprising a printed feed circuit. The first metal pattern 31 may comprise a first feeding end 41, which may be arranged on a lower end portion 33 of the feeding post 30, by means of which lower end portion 33 the feeding post 30 may be mounted on the feeding board 2 and electrically connected with the feeding line on the feeding board 2. The first metal pattern 31 may further include a power divider 44, a second feeding terminal 42, and a third feeding terminal 43. The power divider 44 may be configured to divide the RF signal from the first feeding end 41. Referring to fig. 4a, the power divider 44 may be configured as a one-to-two power divider 44 for dividing the RF signal from the first feeding terminal 41 into a first sub RF signal and a second sub RF signal, which are approximately of equal amplitude and in phase. The first sub RF signal may reach the second feeding end 42 via the first transmission line 401, and the second sub RF signal may reach the third feeding end 43 via the second transmission line 402. Compared with the conventional L-shaped feeding mode, the feeding mode based on the dual-feeding branch shown in the embodiment can achieve more balanced feeding, and the balanced feeding is beneficial to improving the shape of a radiation pattern and improving polarization purity.

A second metal pattern 32 is provided on a second major surface of the feed post 30 opposite the first major surface. As shown in fig. 4b, the second metal pattern 32 may comprise a ground metal area 36, which may be electrically connected, e.g. soldered, to the patch radiator 20 on the upper end 34 of the feeding post 30 and to the ground layer of the feeding board 2 on the lower end 33 of the feeding post 30, thereby forming a return path for the RF signal and enabling an efficient transmission of the RF signal on the feeding post 30 in interaction with the feeding circuitry in the first metal pattern 31.

Additionally or alternatively, the ground metal area 36 in the second metal pattern 32 may further comprise a first inductive circuit loop 37 with a first gap 371 and a second inductive circuit loop 38 with a second gap 381, wherein the first transmission line 401 in the first metal pattern 31 corresponds to the first inductive circuit loop 37 and the second transmission line 402 in the first metal pattern 31 corresponds to the second inductive circuit loop 38. That is, the first transmission line 401 falls within the extension of the first inductive circuit loop 37 opposite on the first main surface, and the second transmission line 402 falls within the extension of the second inductive circuit loop 38 opposite on the first main surface. Further, the second feeding terminal 42 and the third feeding terminal 43 in the first metal pattern 31 may be respectively configured as open stubs functioning as capacitances. Thereby, a double LC resonator may be formed on the feeding column 30, i.e. the first inductive circuit loop 37 and the second feeding end 42 function as a first LC resonator and the second inductive circuit loop 38 and the third feeding end 43 function as a second LC resonator. The dual LC resonator may provide more flexible and balanced tuning for the patch radiator 20, since the patch radiator 20 may be equivalent to one RLC parallel resonator. Since the patch radiator 20 is converted from a conventional two-dimensional planar radiator to a three-dimensional radiator, the equivalent capacitance and/or equivalent inductance parameters of the patch radiator 20 itself are changed. The LC parameter variations of the patch radiator 20 can be at least partially compensated or balanced by the dual LC resonator on the feed column 30 to maintain good RF performance, such as return loss, operating bandwidth or cross-polarization discrimination, while reducing the horizontal size of the patch radiator 20.

Referring to fig. 5 and 6, a perspective view and a front view, respectively, of an antenna assembly 50 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The antenna assembly 50 may include a reflector 51 and an array of multiple patch radiating elements 10 mounted on the reflector 51. The reflector may serve as a ground plane structure for each patch radiating element 10, and each patch radiating element 10 may be mounted to extend forward from the reflector. In view of the conversion of the patch radiator 20 from a conventional two-dimensional planar radiator to a three-dimensional radiator, the center-to-center spacing between adjacent patch radiating elements 10 is reduced without reducing the isolation and/or cross-polarization discrimination of the patch radiating elements 10.

Additionally or alternatively, longitudinal and/or transverse barriers may be provided for the patch radiating elements 10 in order to further reduce coupling interference between adjacent patch radiating elements 10, thereby improving the radiation pattern of the antenna.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure without substantially departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, all changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims. .

Claims (9)

1. A patch radiating element, comprising a feed post and a patch radiator mounted on a front end of the feed post, the patch radiator comprising a first patch portion extending in a first direction and a second patch portion extending away from an outer end of the first patch portion in a second direction, wherein the second direction is different from the first direction.

2. A patch radiating element according to claim 1, wherein the patch radiator is configured as a sheet metal part radiator; and/or

The patch radiating element is formed as an air dielectric patch radiating element; and/or

The second patch part is integrally formed with the first patch part; and/or

The angle of the first direction relative to the second direction is between 80 ° and 100 °; and/or

A part or all of the second patch part is bent forwards relative to the first patch part; and/or

A portion or all of the second patch part is bent back in relation to the first patch part.

3. A patch radiating element according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first patch part is constructed as a rectangular metal sheet; and/or

The first patch part is formed into a square metal sheet; and/or

Each side edge of the first patch part is connected with a corresponding second patch part, and the second patch parts respectively extend out from the corresponding side edges of the first patch part along a second direction; and/or

The upper limit value of the quotient of the sum of the areas of the second patch parts divided by the area of the first patch part is 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1.

4. A patch radiating element according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said feed column is configured with an LC resonator for at least partially compensating for LC parameter variations caused by patch radiator shape variations; and/or

The feed column is configured with a dual LC resonator for at least partially compensating for LC parameter variations caused by patch radiator shape variations.

5. A patch radiating element according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said feeding post is configured as a PCB feeding post, a first metal pattern being provided on a first main surface of the feeding post, wherein the first metal pattern comprises a first feeding end, a power divider configured for dividing an RF signal from the first feeding end into at least a first sub RF signal and a second sub RF signal, the first sub RF signal being reachable via a first transmission line to a second feeding end, the second sub RF signal being reachable via a second transmission line to a third feeding end, a second feeding end and a third feeding end; and/or

A second metal pattern is arranged on the second main surface of the feed column, the second metal pattern comprises a first inductive circuit ring with a first gap and a second inductive circuit ring with a second gap, wherein the first transmission line is oppositely arranged on the first main surface and falls into the extension range of the first inductive circuit ring, and the second transmission line is oppositely arranged on the first main surface and falls into the extension range of the second inductive circuit ring; and/or

The second feeding end and the third feeding end of the first metal pattern are respectively configured as open stubs functioning as capacitors, so that the first inductive circuit loop and the second feeding end function as a first LC resonator, and the second inductive circuit loop and the third feeding end function as a second LC resonator.

6. A patch radiating element according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said power divider is configured as a one-to-two power divider and is configured to divide the RF signal from the first feed end into first and second sub-RF signals of equal amplitude and in phase.

7. A patch radiating element according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the patch radiating element comprises a first feed column for RF signals from a first polarization and a second feed column for RF signals from a second polarization, said first feed column being interdigitated with the second feed column; and is

The first patch part of the patch radiator comprises a first feed port and a second feed port for RF signals from the first polarization, and a third feed port and a fourth feed port for RF signals from the second polarization, the first feed post being welded to the first feed port and the second feed port, respectively, and the second feed post being welded to the third feed port and the fourth feed port, respectively.

8. An antenna comprising a reflector and an array of a plurality of patch radiating elements as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 mounted on the reflector.

9. The antenna of claim 8, wherein the antenna is configured as a beam forming antenna.

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