JPH0237996B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] This invention controls a phase shifter and a semiconductor amplifier,
The present invention relates to active phased array radar, which achieves radar functions by electrical beam scanning, and particularly to its failure diagnosis.

[Prior art]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional active phased array radar. In the figure, 1 is an active module, 2 is a radiation section arranged on the same plane and connected to the active module 1, and 3 is a block diagram showing a conventional active phased array radar.
is the power supply connected to active module 1,
4 is a transmitter/receiver connected to the power feeding section 3; 5 is a control section connected to the active module 1 and the transmitter/receiver 4; and 6 is a computer connected to the control section 5.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the inside of the active module 1. In the figure, 11 is a high output amplifier, 12 is a low noise amplifier, 13 is a transmitter/receiver switch,
14 is a phase shifter.

The conventional active phased array radar is configured as described above. For example, when used as a radar, the transmission pulse from the transceiver 4 is transmitted to the power supply unit 3,
It is radiated into space via the active module 1 and the radiating section 2, and after a certain period of time, the reflected wave of the transmitted pulse, that is, the transmitted pulse, enters the transceiver 4 via the radiating section 2, the active module 1, and the power feeding section 3. It is processed.

At this time, the transmission pulse passes through the high-output amplifier 11 and phase shifter 14 controlled by the computer 6 and the control unit 5, and is therefore efficiently emitted in a predetermined direction in space. On the other hand, the received pulse passes through the low-noise amplifier 12 and phase shifter 14 controlled by the computer 6 and the control unit 5, and therefore efficiently enters the transceiver 4 from a predetermined direction in space.

As a result, for example, the distance of a distant place where a reflection occurs can be determined from the time difference between the transmitted pulse and the received pulse, thereby realizing a radar function.

A large number of such active modules 1, ie, a large number of high output amplifiers 11, and low noise amplifiers 1.
2. In the active phased array radar formed using the phase shifter 14, it is necessary to perform these fault diagnosis periodically.

However, the conventional active phased array radar has a drawback that it cannot diagnose the failure of the array element consisting of the radiating section 2, the active module 1, and the power feeding section 3 by itself. In other words, in order to diagnose the failure of array elements in conventional active phased array radar, it is necessary to install a measurement antenna and a measurement receiver to measure the output in the case of the transmission system. In this case, it was necessary to install a measurement antenna and a measurement transmitter to measure the gain.

As described above, the conventional active phased array radar cannot diagnose the failure of the array element, which is the main component, by itself, and has the disadvantage that measurement equipment must be installed separately in order to diagnose the failure. Ta.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention was made with the aim of improving such drawbacks, and consists of replacing the phase shifter in one or more active modules with a slow wave circuit having a delay time longer than the transmission pulse width, and This paper proposes an active phased array radar that is capable of diagnosing the failure of each array element by itself by utilizing the combination of the following.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an active phased array radar according to an embodiment of the present invention, and in the figure, numerals 1 to 6 are exactly the same as the above-mentioned conventional active phased array antenna. 7 is a test module, which, like the active module 1, is connected to the radiation section 2, the power supply section 3, and the control section 5.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the inside of the test module 7, and in the figure, numerals 11 to 13 are the same as the active module 1. Reference numeral 15 denotes a slow wave circuit, which has a delay time longer than the transmission pulse width.

The active phased array radar according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, and when used as a radar, for example, transmission pulses from the transceiver 4 are transmitted via the power feeding section 3, the active module 1, and the radiating section 2. It is radiated into space, and after a certain period of time, a reflected wave of the transmitted pulse, that is, a received pulse, enters the transceiver 4 via the radiating section 2, the active module 1, and the power feeding section 3, and is processed.

When used as a radar, test module 7
Both the transmitting system and the receiving system are turned off to eliminate any influence on the active module 1. Therefore, the conventional active phased array radar and the active phased array radar of the present invention have substantially the same radar functions.

Next, let us consider failure diagnosis of the array elements in the active phased array radar of the present invention.

For example, one active module 1 operates the transmitting system, that is, the high-power amplifier 11, and the test module 7 operates the receiving system, that is, the low-noise amplifier 12.
Activate. In this case, the transmission pulse from the transceiver 4 is radiated into space via the power feeding section 3, the operating active module 1 of the transmission system, and the radiating section 2 connected thereto. At this time, some of the transmitted pulses also enter the test module 7 due to the mutual coupling between the radiating parts 2.

The transmission pulse, ie, the combined pulse, which enters the test module 7 is delayed by a time delay greater than the transmission pulse width by the slow wave circuit 5, and then enters the transceiver 4 via the coupling section.

Therefore, the transmission pulse (leakage) and the combined pulse do not exist at the same time in the signal processing section of the transceiver 4, and the transceiver 4 can process the amount of the combined pulse. In other words, this means that a failure diagnosis of the transmission system of the array element consisting of the radiating section 2, the active module 1, and the power feeding section 3 is performed. On the other hand, failure diagnosis of the receiving system can be realized simply by reversing the operations of the test module 7 and the active module 1. In the active phased array radar of the present invention, each active module 1 can be operated in sequence by using the computer 6 and the control section 5, so that failure diagnosis of each array element can be performed within a short time. In addition, the radiation section 2
Calculator 6 with the amount of bond determined by the positional relationship between
By storing the values in the table, comparisons can be made with actual measured values, and highly accurate failure diagnosis can be achieved.

In the above embodiment, the explanation has been limited to the failure diagnosis of the vibration level of the array element, but the failure diagnosis of the phase shifter 14 can also be carried out by the method described below.

For example, by operating the transmission systems of two active modules 1 at the same time and sequentially changing the phase shift amount of one of the active modules 1 using the phase shifter 14, the coupling incoming to the test module 7 can be The pulse level changes sequentially as the phase shift amount changes. By analyzing this amount of change, it is possible to diagnose the failure of the phase shifter 14 in which the amount of phase shift is changed.

By the way, in the above explanation, test module 7 is 1.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to a case where a plurality of test modules 7 are used, the present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to a case where a plurality of test modules 7 are used in order to improve the reliability of fault diagnosis.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, this invention utilizes coupling between radiating parts by a simple configuration change of replacing the phase shifter in one or more active modules with a slow wave circuit having a delay time longer than the transmission pulse width. Therefore, there is an advantage that failure diagnosis of array elements can be carried out within a short time using the active phased array radar itself and without the need for other measuring equipment.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional active phased array radar, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the inside of an active module, and Fig. 3 shows an active phased array radar according to an embodiment of the present invention. Block Diagram FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the inside of the test module used in the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an active module, 2 is a radiation section, 3 is a power supply section, 4 is a transceiver, 5 is a control section, 6 is a computer, 7 is a test module, 11 is a high output amplifier, and 12 is a low noise amplifier. , 13 is a transmission/reception switch, 14 is a phase shifter, and 15 is a slow wave circuit.
In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A radiating section and a power feeding section are attached to each of a plurality of active modules formed by a high output amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a transmitting/receiving switch, and a phase shifter.The radiating section is arranged on the same plane, and the feeding section is used for transmitting and receiving In an active phased array radar in which each active module is connected to a control unit, and each control unit is connected to a computer and a transceiver, a phase shifter in one or more active modules is used. 1. An active phased array radar characterized in that a slow wave circuit having a delay time longer than the transmission pulse width is used to diagnose failures of each array element by utilizing coupling between radiating parts.