Antenna control unit and phased-array antenna

An antenna control unit including plural antenna terminals to which antenna elements are connected, a feeding terminal to which a high-frequency power is applied, and phase shifters which are connected to the respective antenna terminals by feeding lines that branch off from the feeding terminal and electrically change a phase of a high-frequency signal that passes through between the respective antenna terminals and the feeding terminal, said phase shifters being placed at some positions on the feeding lines, wherein

• said phase shifter includes:
• a hybrid coupler on a paraelectric transmission line layer that employs a paraelectric material as a base material;
• and
• a stub on a ferroelectric transmission line layer that employs a ferroelectric material as a base material,
• the paraelectric transmission line layer and the ferroelectric transmission line layer are laminated through a ground conductor, and the hybrid coupler and the stub are connected via a through hole that passes through the ground conductor, and
• a distance between conductors that form a transmission line on the ferroelectric transmission line layer is larger than a distance between conductors that form a transmission line on the paraelectric transmission line layer.

An antenna control unit including plural antenna terminals to which antenna elements are connected, a feeding terminal to which a high-frequency power is applied, and phase shifters which are connected to the respective antenna terminals by feeding lines that branch off from the feeding terminal and electrically change a phase of a high-frequency signal that passes through between the respective antenna terminals and the feeding terminal, said phase shifters being placed at some positions on the feeding lines, wherein

• said phase shifter includes:
• a hybrid coupler on a paraelectric transmission line layer that employs a paraelectric material as a base material;
• and
• a stub on a ferroelectric transmission line layer that employs a ferroelectric material as a base material,
• the paraelectric transmission line layer and the ferroelectric transmission line layer are laminated through a ground conductor, and the hybrid coupler and the stub are electromagnetically connected via a coupling window that is formed on the ground conductor, and
• a distance between conductors that form a transmission line on the ferroelectric transmission line layer is larger than a distance between conductors that form a transmission line on a paraelectric transmission line layer.

A phased-array antenna that includes, on a dielectric substrate:

• plural antenna elements;
• and an antenna control unit having a feeding terminal to which a high-frequency power is applied, and phase shifters that are connected with the respective antenna elements by feeding lines which branch off from the feeding terminal and electrically change a phase of a high-frequency signal that passes through between the respective antenna elements and the feeding terminal, said phase shifters being placed at some positions on the feeding lines, wherein
• said phase shifter includes:
• a hybrid coupler on a paraelectric transmission line layer that employs a paraelectric material as a base material;
• and
• a stub on a ferroelectric transmission line layer that employs a ferroelectric material as a base material,
• the paraelectric transmission line layer and the ferroelectric transmission line layer are laminated through a ground conductor, and the hybrid coupler and the stub are connected via a through hole that passes through the ground conductor, and
• a distance between conductors that form a transmission line on the ferroelectric transmission line layer is larger than a distance between conductors that form a transmission line on the paraelectric transmission line layer.

A phased-array antenna that includes, on a dielectric substrate:

• plural antenna elements;
• and an antenna control unit having a feeding terminal to which a high-frequency power is applied, and phase shifters that are connected with the respective antenna elements by feeding lines which branch off from the feeding terminal and electrically change a phase of a high-frequency signal that passes through between the respective antenna elements and the feeding terminal, said phase shifters being placed at some positions on the feeding lines, wherein
• said phase shifter includes:
• a hybrid coupler on a paraelectric transmission line layer that employs a paraelectric material as a base material;
• and
• a stub on a ferroelectric transmission line layer that employs a ferroelectric material as a base material,
• the paraelectric transmission line layer and the ferroelectric transmission line layer are laminated through a ground conductor, and the hybrid coupler and the stub are electromagnetically connected via a coupling window that is formed in the ground conductor, and
• a distance between conductors that form a transmission line on the ferroelectric transmission line layer is larger than a distance between conductors that form a transmission line on the paraelectric transmission line layer.

An antenna control unit including:

• a feeding terminal to which a high-frequency power is applied;
• a feeding line that branches off into m lines at a k-th branch stage from the feeding terminal when m=2ˆk (k-th power of 2) (m, k is an integer);
• m antenna terminals for connecting antenna elements, which are provided on ends of the m feeding lines and arranged in a row, said antenna terminals being referred to as first, second, . . . , and m-th antenna terminals, respectively;
• Mk phase shifters (Mk=M(k−1)×2+2ˆ(k−1) when k≧1 and M1=1) which all have the same characteristics and electrically change a phase of a high-frequency signal that passes through the feeding line;
• and
• Mk loss elements which all have the same characteristics and have a transmission loss amount that is equal to a transmission loss amount of the phase shifter, wherein
• the phase shifters are placed at some positions on the feeding line that branches off into m lines, such that the number of phase shifters which are located between a (n+1)-th antenna terminal (n is an integer that is from 1 to m−1) and the feeding terminal is one larger than the number of phase shifters which are located between an n-th antenna terminal and the feeding terminal, and
• the loss elements are placed at some positions on the feeding line that branches off into m lines, such that the transmission loss amount from the n-th antenna terminal to the feeding terminal is larger than the transmission loss amount from the (n+1)-th antenna terminal to the feeding terminal, by a transmission loss amount corresponding to one phase shifter.

An antenna control unit including:

• a feeding terminal to which a high-frequency power is applied;
• a feeding line that branches off into m lines at a k-th branch stage from the feeding terminal when m=2ˆk (k-th power of 2) (m, k is an integer);
• m antenna terminals for connecting antenna elements, which are provided on ends of the m feeding lines and arranged in a row, said antenna terminals being referred to as first, second, . . . , and m-th antenna terminals, respectively;
• Mk positive beam tilting phase shifters (Mk=M(k−1)×2+2ˆ(k−1) when k≧1 and M1=1) which all have the same characteristics and electrically change a phase of a high-frequency signal that passes through the feeding line in a positive direction;
• and
• Mk negative beam tilting phase shifters which all have the same characteristics and electrically change the phase of the high-frequency signal that passes through the feeding line in a negative direction, wherein
• the positive beam tilting phase shifters are placed at some positions on the feeding line that branches off into m lines, such that the number of the positive beam tilting phase shifters which are located between an (n+1)-th antenna terminal (n is an integer from 1 to m−1) and the feeding terminal is one larger than the number of the positive beam tilting phase shifters which are located between an n-th antenna terminal to the feeding terminal, and
• the negative beam tilting phase shifters are placed at some positions on the feeding line that branches off into m lines, such that the number of negative beam tilting phase shifters which are located between an n-th antenna terminal to the feeding terminal is one larger than the number of negative beam tilting phase shifters which are located between an (n+1)-th antenna terminal to the feeding terminal.