Radar antenna

• US 9,910,147 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2015
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Original Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Inventors: Atsumi, Koji, Takemoto, Dai, Miyagawa, Tetsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): Bythrow, Peter M
• Application Number:
  US14/613,362
• Publication Number:
  US 20150219759A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,126 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/937 of marine craft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/03 Details of HF subsystems specially adapted therefor, e.g. common to transmitter and receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/125 Means for positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/34 Adaptation for use in or on ships, submarines, buoys or torpedoes for subaqueous use H01Q1/04
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/42 Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A radar antenna is provided. The radar antenna includes a radar case having a front side and a rear side, a signal processor provided inside the radar case and configured to perform signal processing on a reception signal that is received by an EM radiator configured to transceive an electromagnetic wave, and a wireless LAN antenna fixed inside the radar case, having a horizontal directivity, and configured to transmit the reception signal processed by the signal processor to an external terminal device, the wireless LAN antenna being oriented such that a direction of the horizontal directivity of the wireless LAN antenna is in parallel to the front-and-rear directions of the radar case.

Claims

1. A radar antenna, comprising:

a radar case having a front side and a rear side;

a signal processor provided inside the radar case and configured to perform signal processing on a reception signal that is received by an EM radiator configured to transceive an electromagnetic wave; and

a wireless LAN antenna fixed inside the radar case, having a radio wave intensity with a horizontal directivity that is a sensitive direction, and configured to transmit the reception signal processed by the signal processor to an external terminal device, the wireless LAN antenna being oriented such that the sensitive direction of the horizontal directivity of the wireless LAN antenna is in parallel to a longitudinal direction extending through the front side and the rear side of the radar case.

2. The radar antenna of claim 1, wherein the wireless LAN antenna is either one of a monopole antenna and a dipole antenna, and the wireless LAN antenna is fixed inside the radar case such that a wire conductor direction that is an extending direction of a pole-shaped antenna element constituting the either one of the monopole antenna and the dipole antenna intersects with the longitudinal direction of the radar case at a right angle.

3. The radar antenna of claim 1, wherein the radar case has a positioning mark applied to any one of the front and rear sides and left and right sides of the radar case, indicating a side to which the positioning mark is applied.

4. The radar antenna of claim 1, wherein the EM radiator is disposed inside the radar case.

5. The radar antenna of claim 1, wherein a reflective surface is disposed above the wireless LAN antenna.

6. The radar antenna of claim 1, further comprising a metal case disposed inside the radar case,

wherein the wireless LAN antenna is disposed outside the metal case, and the signal processor is disposed inside the metal case.

7. The radar antenna of claim 6, the metal case further comprising a lower case and an upper case, wherein a concave portion is formed in the lower case of the metal case, and the wireless LAN antenna is disposed near the concave portion.

8. The radar antenna of claim 6, further comprising an oscillation element provided inside the radar case and configured to generate a transmission signal, the oscillation element being disposed on one side of the metal case opposite to the wireless LAN antenna.

9. The radar antenna of claim 1, wherein the wireless LAN antenna is fixed to a bottom of the radar case.

10. The radar antenna of claim 1, wherein the radar case has attachment portions to orient an object to which the radar antenna is to be attached, such that front-and-rear directions of the object is in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the radar case.

11. The radar antenna of claim 10, wherein the wireless LAN antenna is fixed to a bottom of the radar case, on the front side of the radar case relative to the attachment portions.

12. The radar antenna of claim 10, wherein the object to which the radar antenna is to be attached is a movable body.