Reflectarray antenna system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11575214-B2
Application number	US-201916264272-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2019
Priority date	Oct 15, 2013
Publication date	Feb 7, 2023
Grant date	Feb 7, 2023

Abstract

A reflectarray antenna system includes an antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a wireless signal occupying a frequency band. The system also includes a reflector having a reflectarray. The reflectarray includes a plurality of reflectarray elements, where each of the reflectarray elements includes a dipole element. The dipole element of at least a portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a crossed-dipole portion and a looped-dipole portion. The plurality of reflectarray elements can be configured to selectively phase-delay the wireless signal to provide the wireless signal as a coherent beam.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A reflectarray antenna system comprising:
a first antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a first wireless signal occupying a first frequency band;
a second antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a second wireless signal occupying a second frequency band; and
a reflector comprising a reflectarray and being configured to provide the first wireless signal and the second wireless signal as a first coherent beam and a second coherent beam, respectively, the reflectarray being configured to selectively phase-delay at least one of the first and second wireless signals to provide the respective at least one of the first and second coherent beams,
wherein the reflectarray comprises a plurality of reflectarray elements having a geometry that is tuned to be substantially transparent with respect to the first frequency band and is configured to selectively phase-delay the second wireless signal, and wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements each comprise variable dimensions with respect to each other and are selectively distributed on the reflector to provide the second wireless signal as the second coherent beam based on the selective phase-delay of the second wireless signal of each respective one of the plurality of reflectarray elements.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the reflector comprises one of a flat surface and a surface that is curved along a single dimension.

3. A reflectarray antenna system comprising:
a first antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a first wireless signal occupying a first frequency band;
a second antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a second wireless signal occupying a second frequency band; and
a reflector comprising a reflectarray and being configured to provide the first wireless signal and the second wireless signal as a first coherent beam and a second coherent beam, respectively, the reflectarray being configured to selectively phase-delay at least one of the first and second wireless signals to provide the respective at least one of the first and second coherent beams,
wherein the reflectarray comprises a plurality of reflectarray elements that are selectively distributed in a plurality of at least partial loops on the reflector, wherein the reflectarray elements in a given one of the plurality of at least partial loops have variable dimensions that are arranged in a decreasing gradient of dimensions from an inner portion of the given one of the plurality of at least partial loops to an outer portion of the given one of the plurality of at least partial loops.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the reflector comprises one of a flat surface and a surface that is curved along a single dimension.

5. A reflectarray antenna system comprising:
an antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a wireless signal occupying a frequency band;
a reflector comprising a reflectarray, the reflectarray comprising a plurality of reflectarray elements arranged on a substrate, each of the reflectarray elements comprising a dipole element, wherein the dipole element of at least a portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises, on the same surface of the substrate, a crossed-dipole portion and a looped-dipole portion, the plurality of reflectarray elements being configured to selectively phase-delay the wireless signal to provide the wireless signal as a coherent beam.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the surface is either flat or curved along a single dimension.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the antenna feed is a first antenna feed configured to transmit and/or receive a first wireless signal occupying a first frequency band, the system further comprising a second antenna feed configured to transmit and/or receive a second wireless signal occupying a second frequency band, wherein the reflectarray elements are configured to selectively phase-delay the first wireless signal and/or the second wireless signal to provide the first and second wireless signals as a first and second coherent beam, respectively.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:
a first sub-reflector configured to reflect the first wireless signal between the first antenna feed and the reflector; and
a second sub-reflector configured to reflect the second wireless signal between the second antenna feed and the reflector, wherein at least one of the first and second sub-reflectors are arranged substantially off-focus from the reflector.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the first and second antenna feeds is a horn feed.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the first and second antenna feeds is an active electronically scanned array (AESA).

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first frequency band is the Ka-band and the second frequency band is the W-band.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements have a geometry that is tuned to be substantially transparent with respect to the first frequency band and is configured to selectively phase-delay the second wireless signal.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements each have variable dimensions with respect to each other and are selectively distributed on the reflector to provide the second wireless signal as the coherent beam based on the selective phase-delay of the second wireless signal of each respective one of the plurality of reflectarray elements.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements are selectively distributed in a plurality of at least partial loops on the reflector, wherein the variable dimensions associated with reflectarray elements in a given one of the plurality of at least partial loops are arranged in a decreasing gradient of dimensions from an inner portion of the given one of the plurality of at least partial loops to an outer portion of the given one of the plurality of at least partial loops.

15. The system of claim 5 , wherein the dipole element associated with a first portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises the crossed-dipole portion and the looped-dipole portion, and wherein the dipole element associated with a second portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises the crossed-dipole portion absent the looped-dipole portion, wherein the first and second portions of the plurality of reflectarray elements are distributed in a substantially uniform state pattern distribution across the reflector with respect to the dipole element associated with each of the plurality of reflectarray elements.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the reflector comprises alternating curved spatial bands of:
(a) reflectarray elements comprising both crossed-dipole and looped-dipole portions, and
(b) reflectarray elements comprising only crossed-dipole portions without looped-dipole portions.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein, within each of the curved spatial bands having reflectarray elements comprising only crossed-dipole portions without looped-dipole portions, the reflectarray elements vary in size according to the gradient of the bands.

18. The system of claim 5 , wherein the crossed-dipole portion of the dipole element of each of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a contiguous conductive portion arranged as a pair of orthogonal intersecting strips disposed on a substrate and having a perimeter, and wherein the looped-dipole portion of the dipole element of each of the at

Assignees

• Hand Thomas H
• Cooley Michael E
• Sall David
• Kempic Gary L
• Northrop Grumman Systems Corp

Inventors

• Hand Thomas H
• Cooley Michael E
• Sall David
• Kempic Gary L

Classifications

• H01Q3/46

  Active lenses or reflecting arrays · CPC title

• H01Q19/18 Primary

  having two or more spaced reflecting surfaces (H01Q19/20 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q1/38

  formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support {(patch antennas H01Q9/0407; microstrip dipole antennas H01Q9/065; microstrip slot antennas H01Q13/106; transmission line microstrip antennas H01Q13/206; manufacturing reflecting surfaces using insulating material for supporting the reflecting surface  H01Q15/142)} · CPC title

• H01Q19/10

  using reflecting surfaces · CPC title

• H01Q21/26

  Turnstile or like antennas comprising arrangements of three or more elongated elements disposed radially and symmetrically in a horizontal plane about a common centre · CPC title