KR102375208B1 - metasurface lens relay device - Google Patents

Abstract

As a repeater for repeating a millimeter wave band radio signal, it is installed at a first position on a window of a building, and adjusts the phase of a radio signal transmitted from either a base station or a terminal to output a phase-adjusted radio signal 1 mounting unit, and a second mounting unit installed to be coupled to the first mounting unit on the opposite surface of the glass window on which the first mounting unit is installed, and outputting a phase-adjusted wireless signal output through the first mounting unit to the outside; The mounting unit includes a metamaterial to adjust the phase of the radio signal.

Description

metasurface lens relay device

The present invention relates to a metasurface lens relay device for a next-generation mobile communication service based on ultra-high frequency.

Recently, in order to provide various and high-quality services such as portable ultra-high definition (UHD) TVs, service providers require more frequency bands. The band below 6 GHz, which was mainly used in the 1st to 4th generation communication systems, is already saturated, and frequencies above 6 GHz are attracting attention. In particular, the sub millimeter wave (sub millimeter radio wave) or millimeter wave (millimeter wave) band is attracting attention because it can secure a bandwidth of about 1 GHz.

Due to the characteristics of electromagnetic waves, the higher the frequency band, the higher the directivity, the narrower the beam width than the electromagnetic wave of a lower frequency band for the same antenna type, and the higher the reflectivity than the transmittance. In the case of LTE, the 700 MHz to 4 GHz band is mainly used, and depending on the cell environment, an urban area has a cell radius of several hundred meters, and a suburban open area can have a coverage of up to several kilometers.

Since millimeter waves have many obstacles blocking the line of sight (LOS) in urban areas, the coverage of wireless signals is reduced compared to LTE according to the characteristics of electromagnetic waves. Therefore, it is difficult to design cell coverage in the same way as LTE. In particular, the attenuation is severe enough to cause a coverage hole due to the leaves of a street tree because the millimeter radio wave is blocked with respect to moisture. In the case of relatively open suburban areas, LOS obstacles are few except for planting water such as shrubs, so coverage may not be reduced or rather expanded compared to LTE.

Due to insufficient transmittance of the millimeter wave band, it is impossible to secure O2I (outdoor to indoor) coverage in a city center. Moreover, since it is not easy to secure O2I coverage even in LTE, which is a relatively low frequency band, the inside of a building is treated as a single morphology along with the city center and the suburbs.

In existing LTE, various repeaters are used depending on the size of the building to secure coverage within the building. In the case of a small unit of service target such as a general house or apartment, an RF repeater is used as a wireless backhaul, and in the case of a medium/large building or subway, a multi-band digital repeater is used. Since most of the time and data used by users for wireless communication is used in buildings and buildings, the function and performance of the repeater are very important, and accordingly, the equipment price rises and the construction cost rises.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a metasurface lens repeater for expanding the mobile communication service area by utilizing the ultra-high frequency band of the millimeter wave band.

As a relay device for relaying a radio signal of a millimeter wave band, which is a feature of the present invention for achieving the technical problem of the present invention,

A first mounting unit installed at a first position of a building glass window, adjusting the phase of a radio signal transmitted from either a base station or a terminal, and outputting a phase-adjusted radio signal, and the opposite side of the glass window in which the first mounting unit is installed and a second mounting unit installed on a surface to be coupled to the first mounting unit and outputting a phase-adjusted wireless signal output through the first mounting unit to the outside, wherein the first mounting unit adjusts the phase of the radio signal Metamaterials are included to

The first mounting part includes a front part which is seen as an outside of the first mounting part and implemented with a waterproofing material, and a rear part which is provided on the first side of the front part and adjusts the phase of the radio signal, the rear part is, the meta-material is distributed in a preset position, and the distributed meta-material adjusts the phase of the radio signal to output the phase-adjusted radio signal to be focused on an arbitrary focus of the glass window. may include wealth.

The metasurface lens unit may include a plurality of unit cells each adjusting the phase of the radio signal to a different phase according to the distribution of the metamaterial.

Each of the plurality of unit cells may include a substrate having an arbitrary thickness and width, and a dielectric patch in which the metamaterial is distributed to adjust the phase of a radio signal based on a preset radio phase value on the substrate. .

Each of the plurality of unit cells is based on the distance from the center of the metasurface lens repeater to the center of each unit cell, the focal length of the metasurface lens repeater, the wavenumber in free space, and the wavelength length of light. A metamaterial may be distributed based on a phase value to adjust the phase of the radio signal.

The rear part may further include a first coupling part for binding the first mounting part with the second mounting part and the glass window interposed therebetween, and a first waterproof part for protecting the rear part including the meta surface lens part from the external environment. .

The second mounting part is a front part that is seen as an outside of the second mounting part and is implemented with a waterproofing material, is installed at the lower end of the front part, and binds to the first binding part with the first mounting part and the glass window interposed therebetween. It may include a second fastening part for binding the second mounting part to the glass, and a second waterproofing part for protecting the second mounting part from the external environment.

When processing an uplink radio signal, the first mounting unit is installed inside a building, and the second mounting unit is installed outside a building. When processing a downlink radio signal, the first mounting unit is installed outside the building, and the second mounting unit is installed inside the building. can be installed on

According to the present invention, it is possible to extend the coverage of millimeter wave, which is a band capable of providing a very large data service.

In addition, according to the present invention, a relay device can be installed in a short time with simple binding through an ultra-thin device of a circuit material that does not consume power rather than an expensive relay device, so the construction time and cost of 5G or later generations of communication systems can be greatly reduced.

1 is an exemplary diagram of a metasurface lens relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram of a first device unit of a metasurface lens relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram of a second device unit of a metasurface lens relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is an exemplary view of a meta-surface lens unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is an exemplary view of a unit cell constituting a meta-surface lens unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is an exemplary view of a metasurface lens relay device installed in a building according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is an exemplary diagram in which the metasurface lens repeater relays a wireless signal to the inside of a building according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can easily implement them. However, the present invention may be embodied in several different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. And in order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part "includes" a certain element, it means that other elements may be further included, rather than excluding other elements, unless otherwise stated.

Hereinafter, a metasurface lens relay device for a next-generation mobile communication service based on ultra-high frequency according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a relay device using a meta material will be described as an example. Here, the meta-material refers to a processed artificial material having physical properties that do not exist in nature. A metamaterial is a material composed of meta atoms.

A meta atom has an internal structure designed according to its purpose, and has various properties depending on the structure, size, and periodic/quasi-periodic arrangement. For example, it is possible to have a negative refractive index and an infinite refractive index through an electromagnetic wave meta-atom, and through this, a transparent cloak can be implemented by arbitrarily modifying the path of light.

The size of meta atoms is very small, about 1/10 of the wavelength, and it is designed to control the dielectric constant and permeability of electromagnetic waves rather than just the refractive index. An embodiment of the present invention proposes a metasurface lens relay device for a millimeter wave band in the form of an electromagnetic wave lens through a metasurface composed of two-dimensional electromagnetic wave meta atoms among metamaterials.

First, a metasurface lens relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 .

1 is an exemplary diagram of a metasurface lens relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the metasurface lens relay device 100 includes a first device unit 110 installed outside the building, and a second device installed inside the building at the same location as the location of the first device unit 110 . 2 includes the device unit 120 .

When the radio signal is a downlink signal transmitted from an externally installed base station (not shown) to indoor terminals (not shown), the first device unit 110 is configured to transmit the downlink radio signal indoors. is installed outdoors and the second device unit 120 is installed indoors. And when the radio signal is a downlink signal, the first device unit 110 is installed outdoors and the second device unit 120 is installed indoors to transmit the downlink radio signal to the outdoors.

Here, the first device unit 110 and the second device unit 120 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 . In the embodiment of the present invention, for convenience of description, the metasurface lens repeater 100 in the case of processing a downlink radio signal will be described as an example.

2 is a configuration diagram of a first device unit of a metasurface lens relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a second device part of a metasurface lens relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, as shown in (a) of FIG. 2 , the front part 111 of the first device part 110 is a part shown on the outside of the glass window and is made of a waterproof material. Here, various materials may be used for the waterproofing material of the front part 111 , and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to any one material.

And, as shown in (b) of FIG. 2, the meta-surface lens unit 113, which serves as a relay to the rear part 112 of the first device part 110 provided at the lower end of the front part 111, 2 includes a binding part 114 for binding the device 120 and a waterproofing part 115 for increasing the degree of safety to the external environment.

Here, the binding part 114 is implemented as a strong magnet or a device corresponding thereto. And the meta surface lens unit 113 includes a plurality of unit cells.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 3 for the second device unit 120 coupled to the first device unit 110 described in FIG. 2 , as shown in FIG. 3A , the second device unit 120 . is provided with the front part 121 and the rear part 122 as shown in FIG. 3(b).

The front part 121 is made of the same waterproof material as the front part 111 of the first device part 110 . The rear part 122 includes a binding part 123 coupled to the first device part 110 and a waterproof part 124 for indoor waterproofing.

Here, the meta surface lens unit 113 provided in the first device unit 110 will be described with reference to FIG. 4 .

4 is an exemplary view of a meta-surface lens unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4 , the meta surface lens unit 113 provided in the relay device is composed of a plurality of unit cells 116 . And each unit cell 116 transmits an outdoor signal indoors by adjusting the phase of an uplink radio signal or a downlink radio signal in accordance with the focus of the pre-designed metasurface lens repeater 100, or transmits an indoor signal to the outdoors send.

In the embodiment of the present invention, although 289 unit cells 116 constitute one meta-surface lens unit 113 as an example, the description is not necessarily limited thereto. Here, a unit cell that is one of the plurality of unit cells 116 will first be described with reference to FIG. 5 .

5 is an exemplary view of a unit cell constituting a meta-surface lens unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5 , the unit cells 116 constituting the metasurface lens unit 113 are installed on a substrate 117 having an arbitrary thickness H and a width W, and the substrate 117 and set in advance. The phase of the radio signal introduced through the dielectric patch 118 in which the metamaterial is distributed is changed to adjust the phase of the radio signal based on the phase value. Here, the dielectric patch 118 is installed in various patterns in the center of the substrate 117 .

In FIG. 5 , a first pattern having an arbitrary thickness B is provided at the end of the substrate 117 , and a square second pattern is inserted into the first pattern. Assume that the height of the first pattern is C and the length of the second pattern is A. When a millimeter wave radio signal is introduced into this type of unit cell, the phase is adjusted to match the focus of the repeater in the first pattern and the second pattern, and then the radio signal is output.

4, the phase value Φ of the radio signal adjusted by each unit cell 116 is determined through Equation 1 below.

Here, r is the distance from the center of the metasurface lens repeater 100 to the center of the unit cell, f is the focal length of the metasurface lens repeater 100, and n ₀ is a wavenumber in free space, 2π/ It is calculated as λ0, and λ0 means the wavelength of light. According to the phase value of Equation 1, the configuration of the dielectric patch for each unit cell having a fixed thickness may be determined.

In order to make the focal length shorter in a general optical lens, in the case of a convex lens, the thickness of the lens itself should be increased. Therefore, when a convex lens is used, it is inconvenient to install the repeater and the design becomes difficult. However, when using the metasurface lens relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the relay device can be implemented using only a thin flat substrate, so that installation is easy.

When the metasurface lens relay device 100 composed of the first device unit 110 and the second device unit 120 described above is installed in a building, referring to FIG. 6 for examples of the relay device viewed from outdoors and indoors. Explain.

6 is an exemplary view of a metasurface lens relay device installed in a building according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 (a) is an exemplary view looking at the metasurface lens repeater 100 installed in a building outdoors, Figure 6 (b) is an exemplary view looking at the metasurface lens repeater 100 installed in a building indoors am.

As shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. 6 , the first device unit 110 is positioned outdoors, and the second device unit 120 is positioned indoors, based on the glass window 200 . Then, by aligning and closely contacting the binding parts 123 and 114 respectively provided in the first device unit 110 and the second device unit 120 , the first device unit 110 and the second device unit 120 . Install the meta-surface lens relay device 100 in a closely attached form.

6 (a) and (b) show an example of installation of the metasurface lens repeater 100 for processing a downlink radio signal. If the metasurface lens repeater 100 for processing uplink radio signals is installed, the positions of the first device unit 110 and the second device unit 120 are positioned oppositely with respect to the glass window 200 . can be installed later.

Next, an example in which the metasurface lens repeater 100 relays a wireless signal to the inside of a building according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 7 .

7 is an exemplary diagram in which the metasurface lens repeater relays a wireless signal to the inside of a building according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the meta-surface lens repeater 100 installed on the glass window of a building is installed. When a wireless signal is transmitted from an external base station (not shown), the first device unit 110 adjusts the phase of the wireless signal so that the wireless signal is transmitted indoors without being reflected by the glass window to focus on one focus.

The wireless signals focused on one focus are transmitted indoors through the second device unit 120 . Here, the focal length of Equation 1 for calculating each of the phase values for each of the plurality of unit cells provided in the first device unit 110 is set differently according to the thickness of the glass window.

In the above, the unit cell 116 of the metasurface lens unit 113 implemented using a metamaterial has been described as an example in which a phase value for each unit cell is determined and installed in advance. However, the metasurface lens repeater 100 may be implemented differently by automatically checking the phase value of the unit cell 116 according to the surrounding environment in which the metasurface lens repeater 100 is installed. Alternatively, the unit cell 116 fixed to one metasurface lens repeater 100 is not fixed according to the state in which the 28 GHz radio signal is transmitted, but it is implemented to dynamically arrange the meta material to take on a different shape. may be

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements by those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention as defined in the following claims are also provided. is within the scope of the right.

Claims (9)

A repeater for relaying a millimeter wave band radio signal, comprising:
A first mounting unit installed at a first position of a building glass window, adjusting the phase of a wireless signal transmitted from either a base station or a terminal, and outputting a phase-adjusted wireless signal; and
A second mounting unit installed to be coupled to the first mounting unit on the opposite surface of the glass window on which the first mounting unit is installed, and outputting a phase-adjusted wireless signal output through the first mounting unit to the outside
includes,
The first mounting unit is a metasurface lens repeater comprising a metamaterial to adjust the phase of the radio signal. According to claim 1,
The first mounting portion,
The front part which is seen as the outer part of the first mounting part and is implemented with a waterproofing material, and
The rear part is provided on the first side of the front part and adjusts the phase of the radio signal
includes,
The rear part,
The meta-material is distributed at a preset position, and the meta-surface lens unit outputs the distributed meta-material to adjust the phase of the radio signal so that the phase-adjusted radio signal is focused on an arbitrary focus of the glass window.
A metasurface lens repeater comprising a. 3. The method of claim 2,
The meta surface lens unit,
A plurality of unit cells each adjusting the phase of the radio signal to a different phase according to the distribution of the metamaterial
A metasurface lens repeater comprising a. 4. The method of claim 3,
Each of the plurality of unit cells,
A substrate having any thickness and width, and
On the substrate, a dielectric patch in which the metamaterial is distributed to adjust the phase of a radio signal based on a preset radio phase value
A metasurface lens repeater comprising a. 5. The method of claim 4,
Each of the plurality of unit cells,
The phase to adjust the phase of the radio signal based on the distance from the center of the metasurface lens repeater to the center of each unit cell, the focal length of the metasurface lens repeater, the wavenumber in free space, and the wavelength length of light A metasurface lens relay device in which metamaterials are distributed based on values. 6. The method of claim 5,
The rear part,
a first fastening part for fastening the first mounting part with the second mounting part and the glass window interposed therebetween; and
A first waterproof part that protects the rear part including the meta surface lens part from the external environment
A meta-surface lens relay device further comprising a. 7. The method of claim 6,
The second mounting portion,
The front part which is seen as the outside of the second mounting part and implemented with a waterproofing material,
a second binding part installed at the lower end of the front part and binding the second mounting part to the glass through binding with the first binding part with the first mounting part and the glass window interposed therebetween; and
A second waterproofing part for protecting the second mounting part from an external environment
A metasurface lens repeater comprising a. 8. The method of claim 7,
The first binding portion and the second binding portion is a meta-surface lens relay device implemented as a strong magnet. 8. The method of claim 7,
When processing an uplink radio signal, the first mounting unit is installed inside a building, and the second mounting unit is installed outside the building,
When processing a downlink radio signal, the first mounting unit is a metasurface lens repeater installed outdoors, and the second mounting unit is installed inside the building.

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