Patent Description:
An antenna apparatus is an essential component for wireless communication capable of transmitting information in the form of electromagnetic waves having a specific frequency wirelessly. In particular, an antenna apparatus of a communication satellite such as a military satellite requires functions such as high gain and beam steering, and accordingly, it is essential to design an arrangement of an antenna apparatus mounted on the communication satellite. In addition, for beam steering of the array designed antenna apparatus, it is advantageous that the distance between the arrays of the antenna apparatus be less than half the wavelength of the transmitted electromagnetic wave, and accordingly, miniaturization of the antenna apparatus is required.

Meanwhile, when the ridge structure is applied in the waveguide of the antenna apparatus, it is suitable for miniaturization, but an impedance mismatch matter occurs due to the miniaturization. The impedance mismatch matter causes an electrical performance matter related to at least one of a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) and a return loss, and thus negatively affects the operation of the antenna apparatus. Accordingly, research is being actively conducted to solve the impedance mismatch matter while applying the ridge structure in the waveguide of the antenna apparatus. <CIT>, <NPL>,<CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT> and <CIT> are all useful for understanding the invention.

The present disclosure is for the purpose of providing an antenna apparatus as defined in the appended claims and including a detailed structure for impedance matching.

The technical matters to be achieved by the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described technical matters, and other technical matters may be inferred from the following example embodiments.

Specific details of other example embodiments are included in the detailed description and the drawings.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to solve the impedance mismatch matter through at least one impedance matching structure applied together with the ridge, thereby providing a miniaturized array design antenna apparatus.

Also, according to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an antenna apparatus including a ridge and an impedance matching structure which is easily manufactured using an additive manufacturing method, which is one of <NUM>-dimensional (3D) printing methods.

Effects of the disclosure are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

The terms used in the example embodiments are selected as currently widely used general terms as possible while considering the functions in the present disclosure. In addition, in certain cases, there are also terms arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in this case, the meaning will be described in detail in the corresponding description. Therefore, the terms used in the present disclosure should be defined based on the meaning of the term and the contents of the present disclosure, rather than the simple name of the term.

In the entire specification, when a part "includes" a certain component, it means that other components may be further included, rather than excluding other components, unless otherwise stated.

The expression "at least one of a, b, and c" described throughout the specification may cover 'a alone', 'b alone', 'c alone', 'a and b', 'a and c', 'b and c', or 'all a, b, and c'.

In describing the example embodiment, descriptions of technical contents that are well known in the technical field to which the present disclosure pertains and are not directly related to the present disclosure will be omitted.

For the same reason, some components are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In addition, the size of each component does not fully reflect the actual size. In each figure, the same or corresponding components are assigned the same reference numerals.

Advantages and features of the present disclosure, and a method for achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the following embodiments, but may be implemented in various different forms, and merely the present embodiments are provided to complete the present disclosure and to fully inform those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains to the scope of the disclosure, the present disclosure is merely defined by the scope of the claims.

Hereinafter, the example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<FIG> is a conceptual diagram for explaining various types of waveguides of an antenna apparatus according to example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, an antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may include a hollow pillar shaped waveguide <NUM> extending in a first direction, and the waveguide <NUM> may have various shapes. In this case, <FIG> shows a cross-section of the waveguide <NUM> cut in a plane perpendicular to the first direction. For example, the waveguide <NUM> may have a hollow polygonal column or a hollow cylindrical shape.

According to the example embodiments, the waveguide <NUM> may be provided as a plurality of waveguides <NUM>. In this case, the plurality of waveguides <NUM> may be arranged in an array form having a constant interval (that is, designed as an array). The distance between the plurality of waveguides <NUM> arranged in an array form may be, for example, less than half the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the antenna apparatus.

Also, the antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may further include at least one ridge <NUM> protruding from the inner circumferential surface <NUM> (or inner wall) of the waveguide <NUM>. The ridge <NUM> may extend in the first direction along the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM>. The ridge <NUM> may have a rectangular cross-section in view of the cross-sectional area according to <FIG>.

According to the example embodiments, the ridge <NUM> may be provided as a plurality of ridges <NUM>. In this case, the length in the radial direction of each of the ridges <NUM> (that is, the direction from the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM> toward the central axis of the waveguide <NUM>) may be substantially the same. For example, when the antenna apparatus includes two ridges <NUM>, the two ridges <NUM> may be provided to face each other. Also, for example, when the antenna apparatus includes three ridges <NUM>, the three ridges <NUM> may be provided to form an angle of about <NUM> degrees to each other. Also, for example, when the antenna apparatus includes four ridges <NUM>, the four ridges <NUM> may be provided to form about <NUM> degrees to each other. In this case, each of the ridges <NUM> may face the other one of the ridges <NUM>.

According to the example embodiments, the antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure extends from one end of the waveguide <NUM> in the first direction, and it may further include a horn portion (that is, having a cone shape) having a radius increasing in the first direction. That is, the antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may be a ridged horn antenna.

<FIG> is a graph for explaining a change in cut-off frequency according to a length of a ridge of an antenna apparatus according to example embodiments of the present disclosure.

In this case, the horizontal axis represents the ratio of the length of the ridge in the radial direction to the radius of the waveguide of the antenna apparatus (that is, the normalized ridge length), and the vertical axis represents the ratio of the cut-off frequency of the fundamental mode of the antenna apparatus including the ridge to the cut-off frequency of the antenna apparatus without the ridge (that is, the normalized cut-off frequency).

<FIG> is a measurement for an antenna apparatus including four ridges and a hollow cylindrical waveguide. In this case, the length of each of the ridges in the circumferential direction of the waveguide (that is, the direction rotating along the outer circumferential or inner circumferential surface of the waveguide on a plane intersecting the first direction) may be about <NUM> times the radius of the waveguide.

Referring to <FIG>, as the length of the ridge in the radial direction increases, the cut-off frequency may decrease. For example, when the normalized ridge length is from about <NUM> to about <NUM> (that is, the length in the radial direction of the ridge is from about <NUM> to about <NUM> times the radius of the waveguide), the normalized cut-off frequency may be from about <NUM> to <NUM>. Accordingly, as the length of the ridge in the radial direction increases, the antenna apparatus may be easily miniaturized. Accordingly, the miniaturized antenna apparatus may easily suppress unwanted grating lobe during beam steering.

<FIG> and <FIG> are cross-sectional perspective views illustrating an antenna apparatus not falling under scope of the appended claims.

Referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, the antenna apparatus may include a hollow pillar shaped waveguide <NUM> extending in a first direction D1, and the ridge <NUM> protrudes from the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM> in the radial direction of the waveguide <NUM> and extends in the first direction D1. In this case, the ridge <NUM> may have at least one recessed groove formed in the first direction D1. The recessed groove may be a structure in which a surface in a direction toward the central axis of the waveguide <NUM> is concavely recessed as a part of the ridge <NUM>. According to the example embodiments, the recessed groove may be referred to as one of a recessed portion of the ridge <NUM>, and a concave portion of the ridge <NUM>.

The ridge <NUM> may include a first portion <NUM> having a recessed groove and a second portion <NUM> at one side of the first portion <NUM>. A length of the first portion <NUM> in the radial direction may be smaller than a length of the second portion <NUM> in the radial direction. For example, the length of the second portion <NUM> in the radial direction may be about <NUM> times to about <NUM> times the radius of the waveguide <NUM>, and the length of the first portion <NUM> in the radial direction may be smaller than the length of the second portion <NUM> in the radial direction by about <NUM> times to about <NUM> times the radius of the waveguide <NUM>.

The first portions <NUM> having a recessed groove may be provided as a plurality of first portions <NUM>. The first portions <NUM> may be spaced apart from each other in the first direction D1. The lengths of the first portions <NUM> in the radial direction may be different from each other. According to the example embodiments, the length of the first portions <NUM> in the radial direction may increase in the first direction D1. The length in the radial direction of each of the first portions <NUM> may be, for example, about <NUM> times to about <NUM> times the radius of the waveguide <NUM>. The lengths of the first portions <NUM> in the first direction D1 may be different from each other. According to the example embodiments, the length of the first portions <NUM> in the first direction D1 may decrease in the first direction D1. A length of each of the first portions <NUM> in the first direction D1 may be, for example, about <NUM> times to about <NUM> times the radius of the waveguide <NUM>.

The antenna apparatus may be manufactured using, for example, a 3D printing method. More specifically, the antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may be manufactured using an additive manufacturing method. In this case, the direction of the additive manufacturing may be, for example, a direction opposite to the first direction D1. Accordingly, referring to <FIG>, at least a portion of a surface of each of the first portions <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> in a direction toward the central axis of the waveguide <NUM> may have a curved shape. In other words, at least one portion of each of the first portions <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> may be a portion whose length in the radial direction increases as a distance from the second portion <NUM> decreases (that is, decreases in the first direction D1). A portion of the ridge <NUM> whose length in the radial direction is changed may support the structures inside the waveguide <NUM> during the additive manufacturing process, and thus the manufacture of the antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may be facilitated.

<FIG> and <FIG> are cross-sectional perspective views for explaining an antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, descriptions of the items substantially the same as those described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG> will be omitted and differences will be described in detail.

Referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, the antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure includes of the hollow pillar shaped waveguide <NUM> extending in the first direction D1, the ridge <NUM> protruding from the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM> in the radial direction of the waveguide <NUM> and extending in the first direction D1 and the iris structures 130a and 130b protruding from the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM> along a plane intersecting the first direction D1.

Each of the iris structures 130a and 130b may have, for example, a ring shape extending along the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM>. The iris structures 130a and 130b may include a first iris structure 130a and a second iris structure 130b. The first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b may be spaced apart from each other in the first direction D1.

The length of each of the first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b in the radial direction is smaller than the length of the ridge <NUM> in the radial direction. For example, the length of the ridge <NUM> in the radial direction may be about <NUM> times to about <NUM> times the radius of the waveguide <NUM>, and the length of each of the first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b in the radial direction may be about <NUM> times to about <NUM> times the radius of the waveguide <NUM>.

The first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b may have different lengths in the radial direction. For example, the length of the first iris structure 130a in the radial direction may be greater than the length of the second iris structure 130b in the radial direction. According to the example embodiments, the lengths of the iris structures 130a and 130b in the radial direction may decrease in the first direction D1. Also, according to the example embodiments, the lengths of the first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b in the first direction D1 may be different from each other.

An antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may be manufactured using an additive manufacturing method. In this case, the direction of the additive manufacturing may be, for example, a direction opposite to the first direction D1. Accordingly, referring to <FIG>, at least a portion of each of the iris structures 130a and 130b may have the length in the radial direction, and the length may decrease in the first direction D1. A portion of the iris structures 130a and 130b having varying lengths in the radial direction may support the structures inside the waveguide <NUM> during the additive manufacturing process, and accordingly, manufacturing an antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may be facilitated.

<FIG> and <FIG> are cross-sectional perspective views for explaining an antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, descriptions of items substantially the same as those described with reference to <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG> and <FIG> will be omitted and differences will be described in detail.

Referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, the antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may include the hollow pillar shaped waveguide <NUM> extending in the first direction D1, the ridge <NUM> protruding from the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM> in the radial direction of the waveguide <NUM> and extending in the first direction D1 and the iris structures 130a and 130b protruding from the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM> along a plane intersecting the first direction D1. In this case, the ridge <NUM> may have at least one recessed groove formed in the first direction D1. The recessed groove may be a structure in which a surface in a direction toward the central axis of the waveguide <NUM> is concavely recessed as a part of the ridge <NUM>.

The ridge <NUM> may include a first portion <NUM> having a recessed groove and a second portion <NUM> at one side of the first portion <NUM>. The iris structures 130a and 130b may include a first iris structure 130a and a second iris structure 130b. The first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b may be spaced apart from each other in the first direction D1. Each of the first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b may extend from a side surface of the second portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> in the circumferential direction of the waveguide <NUM>. The first portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> may be provided between the first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b, and may be spaced apart from each of the first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b in the first direction D1.

A length of the first portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> in the radial direction may be smaller than a length of the second portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> in the radial direction. As an example, the length of the first portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> in the radial direction may be smaller than the length of each of the first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b in the radial direction. As another example, the length of the first portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> in the radial direction may be smaller than the length of the first iris structure 130a in the radial direction and greater than the length of the second iris structure 130b in the radial direction. As another example, the length of the first portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> in the radial direction may be greater than the length of each of the first iris structure 130a and the second iris structure 130b in the radial direction.

An antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may be manufactured using an additive manufacturing method. In this case, the direction of the additive manufacturing may be, for example, a direction opposite to the first direction D1. Accordingly, referring to <FIG>, at least a portion of the surface of the first portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> in the direction toward the central axis of the waveguide <NUM> may have a curved shape. In other words, at least one portion of the first portion <NUM> of the ridge <NUM> may be a portion in which the length in the radial direction increases as a distance from the second portion <NUM> decreases (that is, decreasing in the first direction D1). In addition, at least a portion of each of the iris structures 130a and 130b has a length in the radial direction that decreases in the first direction D1.

<FIG> and <FIG> are graphs for explaining a change in return loss according to a frequency of an antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure.

In this case, the horizontal axis represents the ratio of the measurement frequency to the sampling frequency (that is, normalized frequency), and the vertical axis represents the return loss. The unit of return loss is decibel (dB).

<FIG> is a case in which the sum of the number of recessed grooves described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG> and the number of iris structures described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG> is two (that is, a two-stage impedance matching structure), and <FIG> is a case in which the sum of the number of recessed grooves and the number of iris structures is three (that is, a three-stage impedance matching structure) as described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>.

Referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, in the case of the two-stage impedance matching structure, the graph has two peaks, and in the case of the three-stage impedance matching structure, the graph has three peaks. Accordingly, the bandwidth of the three-stage impedance matching structure (about <NUM>%) may be greater than that of the two-stage impedance matching structure (about <NUM>%) based on the return loss of about <NUM> dB. In other words, as the number (that is, the singular number) of the impedance matching structures increases, the return loss of the antenna apparatus according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure may decrease, and thus the bandwidth may increase.

Accordingly, the antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may transmit high output power as well as have broadband characteristics due to an increase in the number of impedance matching structures so that it may be used for an array antenna apparatus for communication of military satellites or an antenna apparatus for a radar/electronic warfare system. Military satellites including an antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure may increase their transmission capacity through frequency band expansion and application of a higher-order modulation scheme, and thus may maintain excellent communication quality even in a poor radio wave environment, and monitoring and reconnaissance, command and control, exchange of information between precision strike systems, and command and control between tactical maneuvers may be ensured.

<FIG> is a perspective view for explaining a cross-section of a waveguide of an antenna apparatus not falling under the scope of the appended claims. <FIG> and <FIG> are perspective views for explaining a cross-section of a waveguide of an antenna apparatus according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, descriptions of items substantially the same as those described with reference to <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG> and <FIG> will be omitted and differences will be described in detail.

Referring to <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>, an antenna apparatus including a waveguide <NUM> extending in a first direction and four ridges <NUM> protruding from an inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM> in a radial direction of the waveguide <NUM> is shown. In this case, each of the ridges <NUM> may have at least one recessed groove formed in the first direction D1. In other words, each of the ridges <NUM> may include a first portion <NUM> having a recessed groove and a second portion <NUM> at one side of the first portion <NUM>. In this case, the recessed groove of each of the ridges <NUM> may be provided symmetrically with respect to the central axis of the waveguide <NUM>. In other words, the first portion <NUM> of any one of the ridges <NUM> may face the first portion <NUM> of the other one of the ridges <NUM> facing any one of the ridges <NUM>. The antenna apparatus may further include an iris structure <NUM> protruding from the inner circumferential surface <NUM> of the waveguide <NUM> along a plane intersecting the first direction D1. Each of the recessed groove and the iris structure <NUM> may serve as an inductor or a capacitor in a circuit, and thus an impedance mismatch matter caused by miniaturization of the antenna apparatus may be solved.

As specific examples described in the present example embodiment, the technical scope is not limited in any way. For brevity of the specification, descriptions of other functional aspects of antenna-related components may be omitted. In addition, the connections or connecting members of the lines between the components shown in the drawings exemplarily represent functional connections and/or physical or circuit connections, and in an actual apparatus, it may be represented as a variety of alternative or additional functional connections, physical connections, or circuit connections.

Claim 1:
An antenna apparatus, comprising:
a hollow pillar shaped waveguide (<NUM>) extending in a first direction (D1); and
at least one ridge (<NUM>) protruding from an inner circumferential surface (<NUM>) of the waveguide (<NUM>) and extending in the first direction (D1) along the inner circumferential surface (<NUM>) of the waveguide (<NUM>),
wherein the ridge (<NUM>) has at least one recessed groove formed in the first direction (D1),
wherein the antenna apparatus further comprises an iris structure (<NUM>, 130a, 130b) protruding from the inner circumferential surface (<NUM>) of the waveguide (<NUM>) along a plane intersecting the first direction (D1), and
wherein a length of the iris structure (<NUM>, 130a, 130b) in a radial direction of the waveguide (<NUM>) is less than a length of the ridge (<NUM>) in the radial direction.