Wideband twin beam antenna array

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10033111-B2
Application number	US-201414329503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2014
Priority date	Jul 12, 2013
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

A wideband antenna includes a plurality of radiating elements arranged in an array and a feed network. The feed network includes at least one frequency dependent power divider for varying the amplitude of a signal provided to at least two of the plurality of radiating elements as a function of a frequency of a signal. The feed network may further comprise a plurality of inputs and the antenna may produce a plurality of beams. The frequency dependent divider may comprise a power divider having a first output and a second output, a 90° hybrid, having a first input coupled to the first output of the power divider, and a second input, and a delay line, coupled between the second output of the power divider and the second input of the 90° hybrid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wideband antenna array, comprising:
a plurality of radiating elements arranged in an array; and
a feed network coupled to the plurality of radiating elements, the feed network further comprising at least one frequency dependent power divider;
wherein the frequency dependent power divider is configured to vary an amplitude ratio between output signals provided to at least two of the plurality of radiating elements as a function of a frequency of an input signal;
wherein the feed network further comprises a first 90° hybrid comprising two inputs, the input signal being received on a first one of the two inputs, a first output coupled to a first one of the plurality of radiating elements, and a second output; and
wherein the frequency dependent power divider comprises:
a power divider comprising a first input coupled to the second output of the first 90° hybrid, a first output, and a second output;
a second 90° hybrid having a first input coupled to the first output of the power divider, a second input, a first output coupled to a second one of the plurality of radiating elements, and a second output coupled to a third one of the plurality of radiating elements; and
a delay line coupled between the second output of the power divider and the second input of the second 90° hybrid.

2. The wideband antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the feed network increasingly tapers a power distribution to radiating elements at each end of the wideband array as a function of increasing frequency.

3. The wideband antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the antenna array is configured to produce a plurality of beams.

4. The wideband antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the antenna array is configured to produce two beams.

5. The wideband antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the delay line is a regular transmission line.

6. The wideband antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the delay line is a regular transmission line combined with a Shiffman phase shifter.

7. The wideband antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the delay line comprises series inductances and parallel capacitors.

8. A dual beam wideband array, comprising:
at least first, second and third radiating elements, the first, second and third radiating elements comprising an array;
a first 90° hybrid having a first beam input and a second beam input, the 90° hybrid further having a first output and a second output, the second output being coupled to the first radiating element; and
a first frequency dependent power divider comprising:
a power divider comprising a first input coupled to the first output of the first 90° hybrid, a first output, and a second output;
a second 90° hybrid having a first input coupled to the first output of the power divider, a second input, a first output coupled to the second radiating element, and a second output coupled to the third radiating element; and
a delay line coupled between the second output of the power divider and the second input of the second 90° hybrid.

9. The dual beam wideband array of claim 8 , wherein the second and third radiating elements being located at opposite ends of the array, and the second output of the first frequency dependent power divider is coupled to the third radiating element with a 180° phase shift.

10. The dual beam wideband array of claim 8 , wherein the array comprises four radiating elements, and the second and third radiating elements are positioned at opposing ends of the array.

11. The dual beam wideband array of claim 8 , wherein the power divider is a first power divider, the dual beam wideband array further comprising:
a second frequency dependent power divider; and
a second power divider, the second power divider coupling the first output of the first 90° hybrid to the first input of the first power divider and an input of the second frequency dependent power divider; and
a fourth radiating element and a fifth radiating element;
wherein the second frequency dependent power divider is coupled to the fourth and the fifth radiating elements with respective intervening 180° phase shifts.

12. The dual beam wideband array of claim 8 , where directly adjacent ones of the at least first, second, and third radiating elements are spaced apart from one another at unequal distances, respectively.

13. The dual beam wideband array of claim 9 , further comprising a plurality of arrays each including a different number of radiating elements.

14. The wideband antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the amplitude ratio is given by A 1 /A 3 =[(1−sin φ)/(1+sin φ)]½, wherein φ comprises a phase delay applied to the signal provided to the input of the frequency dependent power divider, and wherein A 1 is an amplitude of a first output signal from the dependent power divider provided to the first radiator and A 3 is an amplitude of a second output signal from the frequency dependent power divider provided to the third radiator.

15. The dual beam wideband array of claim 8 , wherein the first frequency dependent power divider is configured to vary an amplitude ratio between respective signals at the first and second outputs of the second 90° hybrid as a function of a frequency of a signal provided to the first input of the power divider.

16. The dual beam wideband array of claim 15 wherein the amplitude ratio is given by A 1 /A 3 =[(1−sin φ)/(1+sin φ)]½, wherein φ comprises a phase delay applied to the signal provided to the first input of the power divider, and wherein A 1 is an amplitude of a first output signal from the first output of the second 90° hybrid provided to the second radiating element and A 3 is an amplitude of a second output signal from the second output of the second 90° hybrid provided to the third radiating element.

17. A wideband antenna, comprising:
a frequency dependent power divider that is configured to receive an input signal, split the received input signal into first and second output components, wherein a ratio of an amplitude of the first output component to the second output component varies based on a frequency of the input signal; and
a first radiating element; and;
a second radiating element,
wherein the frequency dependent power divider comprises:
a power divider comprising a first input configured to receive the input signal, a first output, and a second output;
a first 90° hybrid having a first input coupled to the first output of the power divider, a second input, a first output coupled to the first radiating element, and a second output to the second radiating element; and
a delay line coupled between the second output of the power divider and the second input of the first 90° hybrid;

wherein the first and second radiating elements are part of an array of radiating elements.

18. The wideband antenna of claim 17 , further comprising a second 90 degree hybrid and a third radiating element that is part of the array of radiating elements, wherein the first input of the power divider is coupled to a first output of the second 90 degree hybrid and the third radiating element is coupled to a second output of the second 90 degree hybrid.

19. The wideband antenna array of claim 1 , wherein the wideband antenna array comprises a wideband dual beam antenna array, where the second 90° hybrid provides constant 90° phase shift over a wide frequency band.

20. The wideband antenna array of claim 7 , wherein the wideband antenna array comprises a wideband dual beam antenna array, wherein the delay line comprises a periodic structure including short sections of wide mi

Assignees

• Commscope Technologies Llc
• Commscope Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Timofeev Igor E
• Deng Gangyi

Classifications

• H01Q21/22

  Antenna units of the array energised non-uniformly in amplitude or phase, e.g. tapered array or binomial array · CPC title

• H01Q21/0075 Primary

  Stripline fed arrays (H01Q21/065 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q3/34

  by electrical means (active lenses or reflecting arrays H01Q3/46) · CPC title

• H01Q3/22

  varying the orientation in accordance with variation of frequency of radiated wave · CPC title