Broadband surface scattering antennas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10431901-B2
Application number	US-201615387987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2016
Priority date	Dec 28, 2015
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

A surface scattering antenna with a tightly-coupled or tightly-connected array of radiators provides an adjustable antenna with broadband instantaneous bandwidth.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An antenna, comprising:
a transmission line;
a tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators; and
a respective array of adjustable feed structures joining the transmission line to the radiators;
wherein each of the adjustable feed structures includes:
a feed line having an input port with an evanescent coupling to the transmission line and an output port that is coupled to the respective radiator; and
a variable impedance component connected to the feed line and adjustable to vary the evanescent coupling.

2. The antenna of claim 1 , where the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators is a tightly coupled array of radiators that are capacitively coupled.

3. The antenna of claim 1 , where the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators is a connected array of radiators that are inductively coupled.

4. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the transmission line is a one-dimensional transmission line providing a one-dimensional aperture for the antenna.

5. The antenna of claim 4 , wherein the one-dimensional transmission line is a microstrip line.

6. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the transmission line is a two-dimensional transmission line providing a two-dimensional aperture for the antenna.

7. The antenna of claim 6 , wherein the two-dimensional transmission line includes a set of parallel one-dimensional transmission lines.

8. The antenna of claim 7 , wherein the two-dimensional transmission line further includes a corporate feed network for the set of parallel one-dimensional transmission lines.

9. The antenna of claim 7 , wherein the set of parallel one-dimensional transmission lines is a set of parallel microstrip lines.

10. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators is an array of subwavelength elements having an inter-element mutual coupling that provides an antenna bandwidth substantially greater than an isolated individual bandwidth of any of the radiators in the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators.

11. The antenna of claim 10 , wherein the array of subwavelength elements is an array of subwavelength patch elements.

12. The antenna of claim 10 , wherein the tightly-coupled or connected array of broadband radiators includes one or more reactive structures extending across and coupled to the array of subwavelength elements to enhance the inter-element mutual coupling.

13. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein:
the feed line includes a stub positioned adjacent to the transmission line to provide the evanescent coupling.

14. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the variable impedance component is a lumped element having a first terminal connected to the feed line and a second terminal connected to a ground plane.

15. The antenna of claim 14 , wherein the lumped element is a varactor.

16. The antenna of claim 14 , wherein the lumped element is a MEMS device.

17. The antenna of claim 14 , wherein the lumped element is a transistor.

18. The antenna of claim 14 , wherein each of the adjustable feed structures includes a bias voltage line connected to the feed line.

19. The antenna of claim 14 , wherein each of the adjustable feed structures includes a bias voltage line connected to a third terminal of the lumped element.

20. An antenna, comprising:
a transmission line;
a tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators; and
a respective array of adjustable feed structures joining the transmission line to the radiators;
wherein the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators is an array of subwavelength elements having an inter-element mutual coupling that provides an antenna bandwidth substantially greater than an isolated individual bandwidth of any of the radiators in the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators;
wherein the array of subwavelength elements is an array of subwavelength patch elements; and
wherein the array of subwavelength patch elements is an array of coplanar patches having small gaps between neighboring patches, the small gaps providing the inter-element mutual coupling as a coplanar capacitance between neighboring patches.

21. An antenna, comprising:
a transmission line;
a tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators; and
a respective array of adjustable feed structures joining the transmission line to the radiators;
wherein the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators is an array of subwavelength elements having an inter-element mutual coupling that provides an antenna bandwidth substantially greater than an isolated individual bandwidth of any of the radiators in the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators;
wherein the tightly-coupled or connected array of broadband radiators includes one or more reactive structures extending across and coupled to the array of subwavelength elements to enhance the inter-element mutual coupling; and
wherein the one or more reactive structures include an inductive surface.

22. The antenna of claim 21 , wherein:
the array of subwavelength elements is an array of subwavelength patch elements; and
the inductive surface is a respective array of interconnected crosses forming a conductive grid positioned above and parallel to the subwavelength patch elements.

23. An antenna, comprising:
a transmission line;
a tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators; and
a respective array of adjustable feed structures joining the transmission line to the radiators;
wherein the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators is an array of subwavelength elements having an inter-element mutual coupling that provides an antenna bandwidth substantially greater than an isolated individual bandwidth of any of the radiators in the tightly-coupled or connected array of radiators;
wherein the tightly-coupled or connected array of broadband radiators includes one or more reactive structures extending across and coupled to the array of subwavelength elements to enhance the inter-element mutual coupling; and
wherein the one or more reactive structures include a capacitive surface.

24. The antenna of claim 23 , wherein:
the array of subwavelength elements is an array of subwavelength patch elements; and
the capacitive surface is a respective array of patches positioned above and parallel to the subwavelength patch elements.

Assignees

• Searete Llc
• The Invent Science Fund Llc

Inventors

• Black Eric J
• Deutsch Brian Mark
• Katko Alexander Remley
• Machado Melroy
• Mccandless Jay Howard
• Urzhumov Yaroslav A

Classifications

• H01Q13/26

  Surface waveguide constituted by a single conductor, e.g. strip conductor · CPC title

• H01Q23/00

  Antennas with active circuits or circuit elements integrated within them or attached to them · CPC title

• H01Q15/0066

  said selective devices being reconfigurable, tunable or controllable, e.g. using switches · CPC title

• H01Q9/0407

  Substantially flat resonant element parallel to ground plane, e.g. patch antenna (dipole H01Q9/285; monopole H01Q9/40) · CPC title

• H01Q21/06 Primary

  Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart · CPC title