Doppler direction finding device based on four-dimensional antenna array
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of antenna engineering, relates to radar detection and array signal processing, and particularly relates to a receiving and transmitting shared four-dimensional antenna array based on periodic time modulation and adopting two time sequences to cooperatively work, which can be flexibly used for radar direction-finding systems with different detection requirements.
Background
In 1963, american scholars Kummer et al proposed the concept of time-modulated antenna arrays: by periodically switching the excitation of the antenna on and off, the radiation aperture size of the antenna can be controlled in the "time" dimension. The time modulation antenna array belongs to one of four-dimensional antenna arrays. The four-dimensional antenna array adopts the radio frequency switch to control the working state of each unit according to a preset working time sequence, so that the aperture of the antenna array changes along with time, namely the antenna array has a time modulation characteristic, and the design freedom of the antenna array is greatly increased. The four-dimensional antenna array has advantages in the aspects of synthesizing low/ultra-low sidelobe directional diagrams and shaped beams, and has achieved a plurality of achievements. In recent years, the engineering application research of the four-dimensional antenna array is increasingly emphasized. At present, there are reports on the application of four-dimensional antenna arrays in simultaneous multi-beam scanning, pulsed doppler radar, secure communication, etc. As a novel array antenna with high design flexibility, the four-dimensional antenna has a very large application space and potential advantages in the fields of radar and communication. At present, no report is found about the application of the four-dimensional antenna array in radar direction finding.
Radio direction finding technology has gained increasing attention as an important technical means for radio monitoring, technical investigation and electronic countermeasure. According to different direction-finding principles, direction-finding systems can be divided into an amplitude method, a phase method, a Doppler method, a time difference method, a spatial spectrum estimation method and the like. The most common of these are amplitude-based direction finding and phase-based direction finding. The amplitude method measures the direction by using the amplitude change of a received signal caused by the directivity of an antenna according to the constant velocity linear propagation characteristic of radio waves; the physical basis for direction finding by the phase method is that radio waves propagate straight at a constant velocity with phase differences occurring at different distances. The amplitude method direction finding principle is simple, the equipment construction cost is low, the method is the radio direction finding technology which is used earliest and is used most widely in engineering, and the technology comprises a maximum signal method, a minimum signal method, an equal signal method, a signal comparison method and the like.
In patent publication CN 105929361a, a single antenna optimized amplitude-comparison radio direction finding system is proposed. The system adopts a pair of directional antennas with known directional characteristics and fixed direction to receive radio signals, processes the received radio signals and carries out direction finding through an optimization method. Although this system does not require high consistency of parts, the antenna needs to be mechanically rotated when in use due to the use of a single antenna with directional radiation. Compared with electrical scanning, the mechanical scanning speed is slow, and the direction-finding speed is influenced; the beam pointing deviation of mechanical scanning is large, and the direction finding precision of the system is influenced; in addition, the technology is based on amplitude-contrast direction finding, and the performance is sharply reduced in an interference and noise environment.
In patent publication CN 102478652a, a doppler difference direction finding method based on a mobile platform is proposed. The method utilizes three antennas to construct an L-shaped array with two base lines perpendicular to each other, wherein one base line is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mobile platform, and the other base line is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the mobile platform. Obtaining a sine angle of an incident wave according to the direction cosine change rate by using Doppler frequency difference received by two antenna arrays parallel to the longitudinal axis; and obtaining the cosine angle of the incident wave according to the direction cosine change rate by using the Doppler frequency difference received by the two antenna arrays vertical to the longitudinal axis. The resulting directional tangent angle is only related to the known doppler frequency difference and the base length. The method is simple and suitable for broadband work and multi-target detection. But the technology is based on a mobile platform and has a limited application range; and the Doppler frequency difference generated by mechanical movement is below 100Hz in magnitude, so that the signal processing system has high detection difficulty and actually influences the direction finding precision.
In view of the above application requirements, the present invention provides a doppler direction-finding device based on a four-dimensional antenna array, which utilizes the unidirectional phase center motion of the four-dimensional antenna array to generate doppler frequency, and determines the target direction by measuring the doppler frequency component of echo signals with different frequency values for echo signals in different directions. Compared with the conventional direction finding method, the method provided by the invention is simpler in system implementation; and the direction finding range and the direction finding precision are simultaneously related to the number of the conducting units of the receiving antenna at any time, and when the antenna is applied, the number of the conducting units can be changed in real time according to the situation, so that the direction finding range and the direction finding precision can be flexibly adjusted.
Disclosure of Invention
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a radar direction-finding device based on a four-dimensional antenna array, using a doppler frequency generated by a phase center motion of the four-dimensional antenna array.
In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme. Consider a four-dimensional array of N equally spaced elements d. The pulse signal bandwidth is B (the pulse time domain width T is 1/B), and the pulse repetition period T
p(pulse repetition frequency)
Rate prf 1/T
p). The working sequence of the antenna during transmission is recorded
The working sequence during antenna reception is recorded
The time modulation period of the high-speed radio frequency switch is T
m=T。
When the antenna works in receiving, M units are kept on at any time and the duration is tau, and the phase center of the antenna moves from left to right. Then
The velocity of the equivalent phase-centered motion is
Vp=(N-M)B·d (2)
The movement of the phase centre causes a Doppler shift in the signal at a Doppler frequency of theta from the normal
If the central operating frequency of the antenna is f0The signal transmitted by the four-dimensional antenna array is
If the target is located at theta0Direction, distance R from the antenna, target echo signal received by the four-dimensional antenna array
Observing the formulas (3) and (5), the carrier wave of the signal has the existence of the Doppler frequency when the four-dimensional antenna array adopting the unidirectional phase center motion time sequence is used for transmitting/receivingA frequency shift of carrier frequency from f0Is changed into f0+fdAnd the frequency shift is directional. The Doppler frequency shift of the radiation signal or the incoming wave signal in the normal direction of the array is zero, and the Doppler frequency shift of the signal is larger when the angle of deviation from the normal direction is larger. When the motion direction of the phase center is toward the observation point, the Doppler frequency shift is positive; away from the observation point, the doppler shift is negative. Therefore, the angle information of the target can be measured by using the Doppler frequency shift amount of the four-dimensional antenna array (unidirectional phase motion center modulation timing) to the target echo signals in different directions.
As can be seen from FIG. 3(d), when fd>prf/2, line fdWill exceed prf-fdThe doppler frequency cannot be correctly extracted, and a strobe occurs. If the envelope modulation frequency of the output pulse train of the phase detector (i.e. the Doppler frequency recognized by the direction-finding system) is recorded as FdWhen f isdWhen prf/2 is not more thand=fd(ii) a When f isd>prf/2, F detecteddNot equal to the actual Doppler frequency fd. FIG. 4 depicts FdWith fdThe change rule of (2). Strobing can cause a blurring of the direction finding, and the measured angle is not the true azimuth of the target. To avoid the ambiguity of direction finding, it is necessary to satisfy
fd≤prf/2 (6)
Substituting formula (6) for formula (3) to obtain
The direction-finding range of the direction-finding system is deduced by the formula (7), and the maximum deflection angle of the target which can be measured is
Targets beyond this angle cannot accurately determine directional information. The maximum angle measurement range is composed of unit spacing (d/lambda), pulse repetition frequency/signal bandwidth ratio (prf/B), and the number of disconnected units (N) of the receiving antenna at any time
r-M) a decision.
Differentiating the two sides of the formula (3) simultaneously to obtain
And (8) deducing the direction-finding precision of the direction-finding system. It can be found that, like the conventional direction-finding method, the direction-finding range and the direction-finding accuracy of the direction-finding system based on the four-dimensional antenna array are still contradictory. The direction-finding precision is improved, direction-finding blurring can be caused, and the angle-finding range is severely limited. In contrast to conventional direction finding methods, direction finding systems based on four-dimensional antenna arrays have a direction finding range (or direction finding accuracy) that is simultaneously related to N-M. Therefore, in the radar detection process, the N-M can be dynamically changed in time according to specific conditions so as to meet the requirements of direction-finding range and direction-finding precision. For example, in the initial stage of target search, N-M is reduced, and the direction finding range is increased as much as possible; after the target is found, and the target is close to the main beam at the moment, the timing sequence can be adjusted to increase N-M, so that the direction finding precision is improved.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a four-dimensional antenna array doppler direction-finding system including 8 elements. The figure is that from top to bottom: (1) an antenna unit; (2) a phase shifter; (3) a radio frequency switch; (4) a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) control board; (5) a series of signal processing devices.
Fig. 2 is a working timing sequence of the four-dimensional antenna array of the direction-finding system. Wherein, the time sequence keeps the phase center of the antenna fixed in the transmitting stage; the antenna phase center is kept moving in one direction during the receiving phase.
Fig. 3 shows the signal spectrum at each stage of direction finding. FIG. 3(a) is a spectrum of pulses emitted by a four-dimensional antenna array; FIG. 3(b) is a pulse spectrum received by a four-dimensional antenna array; FIG. 3(c) is a spectrum of coherent voltages from an oscillator for mixing; fig. 3(d) shows the output spectrum of the phase detector, i.e., the difference frequency between the coherent voltage and the received signal.
FIG. 4 shows the envelope modulation frequency F of the output pulse train of the phase detectordWith the actual Doppler frequency fdThe relationship between them.
FIG. 5 shows F for different N-M conditionsdGraph of the relationship with theta, vertical color line in the graphThe included range is the corresponding direction-finding range.
Detailed description of the preferred embodiments
Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a specific embodiment of the direction-finding system based on the four-dimensional antenna array. The whole direction-finding system consists of an antenna oscillator, a phase shifter, a radio frequency switch, a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a power amplifier, a pulse modulator, a continuous oscillator, a mixer, an intermediate frequency amplifier, a phase detector, a Doppler filter and the like. The antenna is shared for receiving and transmitting, and comprises N-8 units which are uniformly distributed, and the unit interval is half wavelength. Each array element is connected with a radio frequency switch, and the radio frequency switch is periodically switched on and off to perform time modulation on the antenna array.
In the antenna transmitting stage, modulating the array by adopting a variable aperture size time sequence (VAS); in the antenna reception phase, the array is modulated with a single direction motion phase center timing (BPCM). A specific form of such timing is given in figure 2. The phase center of the antenna is unchanged at any time during transmission and is always positioned at the geometric center of the antenna, so that the radiated wave has no Doppler frequency shift. At any time of receiving, M ═ 7 elements of the array are on, and the phase centers thereof change with time and move from left to right in cycles, so that the carrier frequency of the received target echo undergoes doppler shift. The loading of the timing function is realized by a complex programmable logic device.
The object to be measured is located at the azimuth angle theta. The continuous oscillator generates a continuous signal, the continuous signal is converted into a pulse signal (the signal bandwidth B is 200kHz) by the pulse modulator, and the pulse signal is radiated by the transmitting antenna after power amplification. After the echo signal of the target is received, the carrier frequency changes due to the doppler effect generated by the movement of the antenna phase center. And introducing reference voltage from the transmitter, carrying out down-conversion on the target echo signal, carrying out coherent detection, outputting a difference frequency voltage, filtering out a high-frequency component through a Doppler filter, and only keeping a Doppler frequency component.
Fig. 3 shows the frequency spectrum of the signal at each stage. The frequency spectrum of the rectangular signal is a sinc function with zero center frequency, the transmission pulse is the periodicity of the rectangular function and is high-frequency modulated, so that the frequency spectrum of the transmission signal is rectangularDiscretizing function frequency spectrum, shifting, and centering at f0At 2GHz, the line spacing is at a pulse repetition frequency prf of 100kHz, as shown in fig. 3 (a). Because the Doppler effect is generated by the movement of the phase center of the receiving antenna, the frequency spectrum of the received target echo signal has Doppler frequency shift fdAs shown in fig. 3 (b). The phase detector outputs a coherent voltage (fig. 3(c)) and the difference frequency of the received signal, the signal spectrum is shifted to near zero frequency, and the spectral lines appear at n × prf ± fdAs shown in fig. 3 (d). Finally, the high frequency component is filtered by a Doppler filter, and only the Doppler frequency component f is reserveddThe directional information of the target with respect to the radar can be determined.
According to the direction finding method based on the four-dimensional antenna array, the Doppler frequency is generated by the unidirectional phase center motion of the four-dimensional antenna array, the frequency values of echo signals in different directions are different, and the target direction can be determined by measuring the Doppler frequency component of the echo signals. Compared with the conventional direction finding method, the system of the method is simpler to realize. Meanwhile, the time modulation can finely and flexibly regulate the beam characteristics, so that the directional diagram has a lower maximum side lobe level and a lower average side lobe level. The method proposed herein has a higher measurement accuracy (df) compared to conventional direction finding methodsd/dθ>1600 Hz/degree, doppler spectrum is easily identifiable). The direction finding range and the direction finding precision are simultaneously related to the number M of the conducting units of the receiving antenna at any time, and the number of the conducting units can be changed in real time according to the situation when the direction finding device is applied, so that the direction finding range and the direction finding precision are adjusted. Once the conventional direction-finding system is built, the hardware structure cannot be changed, the direction-finding range and the direction-finding precision cannot be changed when the direction-finding system is used, and the direction-finding range and the direction-finding precision are a pair of contradictions, so that the direction-finding range and the direction-finding precision are inevitably lost (only one of the direction-finding range and the direction-finding precision can be obtained).
While a particular embodiment of the invention has been described above, it should be understood that it has been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. It will, therefore, be apparent to persons skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention without the use of inventive faculty. All of which are considered to be within the scope of the present invention.