Antenna control system and control method

• US 7,019,712 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2002
• Issued: 03/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kanzaki, Akihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Clinger, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): A, MINH D
• Application Number:
  US10/362,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20030179145A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,490 Days
• Field of Search: 343/DIG.2, 343/915, 342/352
• US Class Current: 343/915
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/125 Means for positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/08 for varying two co-ordinates of the orientation

Abstract

The elevation angle and azimuth angle and the required angles of rotation for the first antenna 33 and the second antenna 34 are calculated using predetermined calculating means. The elevation adjustment mechanism and azimuth adjustment mechanism and rotating mechanisms of the first antenna 33 and the second antenna 34 are controlled so that the first antenna 33 and the second antenna 34 will be pointed toward respective communication targets T1 and T2 (the first satellite and the second satellite).

Claims

1. An antenna control system for use in a communication system made up of combination of an antenna device and communication targets, the antenna device of which the positional information being known, comprising:

first and second arms, which are arranged in parallel and in a non-opposing manner on the same plane, respectively having axes C1 and C2 along the same direction;

a first antenna which is supported by the first arm so that the attitude can be directed arbitrarily with respect to the axis C1;

a second antenna which is supported by the second arm so that the attitude can be directed arbitrarily with respect to the axis C2;

a first rotating mechanism for rotating the first antenna about the axis C1;

a second rotating mechanism for rotating the second antenna about the axis C2;

an arm elevation adjustment mechanism for common adjustment of the first arm and second arm; and

an arm azimuth adjustment mechanism for common adjustment of the first arm and second arm,

the communication targets including two communication targets T1 and T2 of which the positional information or movement information is known,

the antenna control system comprising;

a first rotational angle detecting means for detecting the rotational angle of the first rotating mechanism;

a first rotating mechanism control means for controlling the first rotating mechanism;

a second rotational angle detecting means for detecting the rotational angle of the second rotating mechanism;

a second rotating mechanism control means for controlling the second rotating mechanism;

an elevation detecting means for detecting the elevation angle of the arm elevation adjustment mechanism;

an arm elevation adjustment mechanism control means for controlling the arm elevation adjustment mechanism;

an azimuth detecting means for detecting the azimuth angle of the arm azimuth adjustment mechanism;

an arm azimuth adjustment mechanism control means for controlling the arm azimuth adjustment mechanism;

a means D for calculating the plane P containing a triangle defined by the two communication targets T1 and T2 and the installed position of the antenna device, based on the installed position of the antenna device, represented by the latitude, longitude and height and the positional information of the two communication targets T1 and T2;

a means E1 for calculating the elevation angle φ

of the first and second arms when they orthogonally intersect the plane P, based on the calculation result from the means D;

a means E2 for calculating the azimuth angle θ

of the first and second arms when they orthogonally intersect the plane P, based on the calculation result from the means D;

a means F1 for calculating the required angle of rotation RB of axis B that is orthogonal to the axes C1 and C2 so that the elevation angle of the first and second arms will be set at φ

, based on the current elevation of the first and second arms, detected by the elevation detecting means and the calculation result from the means E1;

a means F2 for calculating the required angle of rotation RA of axis A that is orthogonal to the axis B as well as to the axes C1 and C2 so that the azimuth angle of the first and second arms will be set at θ

, based on the current azimuth of the first and second arms, detected by the azimuth detecting means and the calculation result from the means E2;

a means F3 for calculating the required angle of rotation RC1 of the axis C1 so that the first antenna is pointed at the communication target T1 when the elevation angle and azimuth angle of the first and second arms are set at φ and

at θ

; and

a means F4 for calculating the required angle of rotation RC2 of the axis C2 so that the second antenna is pointed at the communication target T2 when the elevation angle and azimuth angle of the first and second arms are set at φ and

at θ

,

characterized in that, based on the calculation results from the means F1, F2, F3 and F4, the elevation adjustment mechanism, the azimuth adjustment mechanism, the first rotating mechanism and the second rotating mechanism are controlled so that the first antenna and the second antenna can be pointed towards the communication targets T1 and T2, respectively.

2. The antenna control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the antenna device further comprises:

a first received signal level measuring means for measuring the received signal level at the first antenna; and

a second received signal level measuring means for measuring the received signal level at the second antenna and that the timing of start of tracking is determined based on the received signal levels measured by the first received signal level measuring means and the second received signal level measuring means.

3. An antenna control method for controlling the antenna control system for use in a communication system made up of combination of an antenna device and communication targets, the antenna device of which the positional information being known, comprising:

first and second arms, which are arranged in parallel and in a non-opposing manner on the same plane, respectively having axes C1 and C2 along the same direction;

a first antenna which is supported by the first arm so that the attitude can be directed arbitrarily with respect to the axis C1;

a second antenna which is supported by the second arm so that the attitude can be directed arbitrarily with respect to the axis C2;

a first rotating mechanism for rotating the first antenna about the axis C1;

a second rotating mechanism for rotating the second antenna about the axis C2;

an arm elevation adjustment mechanism for common adjustment of the first arm and second arm; and

an arm azimuth adjustment mechanism for common adjustment of the first arm and second arm,

the communication targets including two communication targets T1 and T2 of which the positional information or movement information is known,

the antenna control system comprising;

a first rotational angle detecting means for detecting the rotational angle of the first rotating mechanism;

a first rotating mechanism control means for controlling the first rotating mechanism;

a second rotational angle detecting means for detecting the rotational angle of the second rotating mechanism;

a second rotating mechanism control means for controlling the second rotating mechanism;

an elevation detecting means for detecting the elevation angle of the arm elevation adjustment mechanism;

an arm elevation adjustment mechanism control means for controlling the arm elevation adjustment mechanism;

an azimuth detecting means for detecting the azimuth angle of the arm azimuth adjustment mechanism;

an arm azimuth adjustment mechanism control means for controlling the arm azimuth adjustment mechanism;

a means D for calculating the plane P containing a triangle defined by the two communication targets T1 and T2 and the installed position of the antenna device, based on the installed position of the antenna device, represented by the latitude, longitude and height and the positional information of the two communication targets T1 and T2;

a means E1 for calculating the elevation angle φ

of the first and second arms when they orthogonally intersect the plane P, based on the calculation result from the means D;

a means E2 for calculating the azimuth angle θ

of the first and second arms when they orthogonally intersect the plane P, based on the calculation result from the means D;

a means F1 for calculating the required angle of rotation RB of axis B that is orthogonal to the axes C1 and C2 so that the elevation angle of the first and second arms will be set at φ

, based on the current elevation of the first and second arms, detected by the elevation detecting means and the calculation result from the means E1;

a means F2 for calculating the required angle of rotation RA of axis A that is orthogonal to the axis B as well as to the axes C1 and C2 so that the azimuth angle of the first and second arms will be set at θ

, based on the current azimuth of the first and second arms, detected by the azimuth detecting means and the calculation result from the means E2;

a means F3 for calculating the required angle of rotation RC1 of the axis C1 so that the first antenna is pointed at the communication target T1 when the elevation angle and azimuth angle of the first and second arms are set at φ and

at θ

; and

a means F4 for calculating the required angle of rotation RC2 of the axis C2 so that the second antenna is pointed at the communication target T2 when the elevation angle and azimuth angle of the first and second arms are set at φ and

at θ

,

the antenna control method comprising;

a step of calculating the plane P1 containing a triangle defined by the two communication targets T1 and T2 and the installed position of the antenna device, using the means D;

a step of calculating the elevation angle φ

1 and azimuth angle θ

1 of the first and second arms when they orthogonally intersect the plane P1 based on the calculation result from the means D, using the means E1 and E2;

a step of actuating the elevation adjustment mechanism and azimuth adjustment mechanism so that the direction of the first and second arms represented by the elevation angle φ

1 and the azimuth angle θ

1 will orthogonally intersect the plane P1, based on the calculation results from the means E1 and E2; and

a step of actuating the first rotating mechanism and the second rotating mechanism so that the first antenna and the second antenna will be pointed toward respective communication targets T1 and T2, based on the calculation results from the means E3 and E4, whereby the first arm and the second arm and each of the antennae are moved to point the antennae toward the communication targets T1 and T2.

4. The antenna control method according to claim 3, wherein the antenna includes:

a first received signal level measuring means for measuring the received signal level at the first antenna; and

a second received signal level measuring means for measuring the received signal level at the second antenna, the method further comprising a step of maintaining the received signal level by starting a tracking operation when the received signal level measured by either the first received signal level measuring means or the second received signal level measuring means becomes lower than the predetermined reference value for actuating a tracking operation.

5. The antenna control method according to claim 3, wherein the antenna includes:

a first received signal level measuring means for measuring the received signal level at the first antenna; and

a second received signal level measuring means for measuring the received signal level at the second antenna, the method further comprising a step of maintaining the received signal level by starting a tracking operation of one of the communication targets by both the first antenna and the second antenna when the received signal level measured by either the first received signal level measuring means or the second received signal level measuring means becomes lower than the predetermined reference value for actuating a tracking operation whereby both the first antenna and the second antenna track one communication target.

6. The antenna control method according to claim 5, wherein in the case where the tracking operation of both the first antenna and the second antenna have started to track one of the communication targets, when the received signal levels measured by both the first received signal level measuring means and the second received signal level measuring means have exceeded the predetermined reference value for restarting the normal tracking operation, for a period longer than a fixed period of time, tracking of the other communication target which has been abandoned is restarted.

7. The antenna control method according to claim 3, wherein, when the number of communication targets is one, the first antenna and the second antenna are caused to acquire the single communication target at the same time so as to increase the transmitted signal level and received signal level compared to the case where the target is tracked by either the first antenna or the second antenna alone.

8. An antenna control method for controlling the antenna control system for use in a communication system made up of combination of an antenna device and communication targets, the antenna device of which the positional information being known, comprising:

first and second arms, which are arranged in parallel and in a non-opposing manner on the same plane, respectively having axes C1 and C2 along the same direction;

a first antenna which is supported by the first arm so that the attitude can be directed arbitrarily with respect to the axis C1;

a second antenna which is supported by the second arm so that the attitude can be directed arbitrarily with respect to the axis C2;

a first rotating mechanism for rotating the first antenna about axis C1;

a second rotating mechanism for rotating the second antenna about axis C2;

an arm elevation adjustment mechanism for common adjustment of the first arm and second arm; and

an arm azimuth adjustment mechanism for common adjustment of the first arm and second arm,

the communication targets including two communication targets T1 and T2 of which the positional information or movement information is known,

the antenna control system comprising;

a first rotational angle detecting means for detecting the rotational angle of the first rotating mechanism;

a first rotating mechanism control means for controlling the first rotating mechanism;

a second rotational angle detecting means for detecting the rotational angle of the second rotating mechanism;

a second rotating mechanism control means for controlling the second rotating mechanism;

an elevation detecting means for detecting the elevation angle of the arm elevation adjustment mechanism;

an arm elevation adjustment mechanism control means for controlling the arm elevation adjustment mechanism;

an azimuth detecting means for detecting the azimuth angle of the arm azimuth adjustment mechanism;

an arm azimuth adjustment mechanism control means for controlling the arm azimuth adjustment mechanism;

a means D for calculating the plane P containing a triangle defined by two communication targets T1 and T2 and the installed position of the antenna device, based on the installed position of the antenna device, represented by the latitude, longitude and height and the positional information of the two communication targets T1 and T2;

a means E1 for calculating the elevation angle φ

of the first and second arms when they orthogonally intersect the plane P, based on the calculation result from the means D;

a means E2 for calculating the azimuth angle θ

of the first and second arms when they orthogonally intersect the plane P, based on the calculation result from the means D;

a means F1 for calculating the required angle of rotation RB of axis B that is orthogonal to the axes C1 and C2 so that the elevation angle of the first and second arms will be set at φ

, based on the current elevation of the first and second arms, detected by the elevation detecting means and the calculation result from the means E1;

a means F2 for calculating the required angle of rotation RA of axis A that is orthogonal to the axis B as well as to the axes C1 and C2 so that the azimuth angle of the first and second arms will be set at θ

, based on the current azimuth of the first and second arms, detected by the azimuth detecting means and the calculation result from the means E2;

a means F3 for calculating the required angle of rotation RC1 of the axis C1 so that the first antenna is pointed at the communication target T1 when the elevation angle and azimuth angle of the first and second arms are set at φ and

at θ

; and

a means F4 for calculating the required angle of rotation RC2 of the axis C2 so that the second antenna is pointed at the communication target T2 when the elevation angle and azimuth angle of the first and second arms are set at φ and

at θ

,

the antenna control method comprising;

a system whereby one of the communication targets to be communicated with is switched from the communication target T2 to a communication target T3 which is located in a direction different from the communication target T2,

a step of calculating the plane P2 containing a triangle defined by the communication targets T1 and T3 and the installed position of the antenna device, using the means D;

a step of calculating the elevation angle φ

2 and azimuth angle θ

2 of the first and second arms when they orthogonally intersect the plane P2 based on the calculation result from the means D, using the means E1 and E2; and

a step of rotating the first antenna when the arm elevation adjustment mechanism and the arm azimuth adjustment mechanism are actuated, in a manner that the direction of the first antenna being pointed at the first communication target T1 remains as is, canceling the influence on the direction of the antenna due to change of the elevation and azimuth of the arm, whereby the communication target can be switched from the communication target T2 to the communication target T3 while communication with the communication target T1 is maintained.