Single substrate ultra-wideband antenna and antenna array

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11757204-B2
Application number	US-202217677261-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2022
Priority date	Aug 22, 2019
Publication date	Sep 12, 2023
Grant date	Sep 12, 2023

Abstract

A modular wideband antenna includes a ground plane, first and second antenna elements disposed on a first surface of a substrate, a first portion of a two-layer feed balun disposed on the first surface of the substrate, and electrically coupled to the first and second antenna elements, and to the ground plane, a second portion of the two-layer feed balun disposed on a second surface of the substrate, the second portion of the two-layer feed balun being electrically coupled to a signal feed, and being capacitively coupled to the first portion of the two-layer feed balun, first and second coupling capacitances disposed on the second surface of the substrate, the first coupling capacitance being capacitively coupled to the first antenna element, and the second coupling capacitance being capacitively coupled to the second antenna element, and first and second grounding posts being electrically coupled to the first and second coupling capacitances.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A modular wideband antenna comprising:
a ground plane;
a first antenna element and a second antenna element disposed on a first surface of a substrate;
a first portion of a two-layer feed balun disposed on the first surface of the substrate, the first portion of the two-layer feed balun being electrically coupled to the first and second antenna elements, and the first portion of the two-layer feed balun being electrically coupled to the ground plane;
a second portion of the two-layer feed balun disposed on a second surface of the substrate, the second portion of the two-layer feed balun being electrically coupled to a signal feed, and the second portion of the two-layer feed balun being capacitively coupled to the first portion of the two-layer feed balun;
a first coupling capacitance and a second coupling capacitance disposed on the second surface of the substrate, the first coupling capacitance being capacitively coupled to the first antenna element, and the second coupling capacitance being capacitively coupled to the second antenna element; and
a first grounding post and a second grounding post, the first grounding post being electrically coupled to the first coupling capacitance and the ground plane, the second grounding post being electrically coupled to the second coupling capacitance and the ground plane.

2. The modular wideband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the two-layer feed balun comprises a first conductor and a second conductor, the first conductor being electrically coupled to the first antenna element and the ground plane, and the second conductor being electrically coupled to the second antenna element and the ground plane.

3. The modular wideband antenna of claim 2 , wherein the first conductor and the second conductor are separated by a gap.

4. The modular wideband antenna of claim 2 , wherein the first conductor and the second conductor are of substantially constant width.

5. The modular wideband antenna of claim 2 , wherein the first conductor and the second conductor are of substantially equal width.

6. The modular wideband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the second portion of the two-layer feed balun comprises:
a tapered first portion electrically coupled to the signal feed;
a curved second portion electrically coupled to the tapered first portion;
a curved third portion electrically coupled to the curved second portion; and
a rectangular fourth portion electrically coupled to the curved third portion.

7. The modular wideband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the two-layer feed balun, the first antenna element, and the second antenna element comprise a first metallization layer.

8. The modular wideband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the second portion of the two-layer feed balun, the first coupling capacitance, and the second coupling capacitance comprise a second metallization layer.

9. The modular wideband antenna of claim 8 , wherein the second metallization layer further comprises the first grounding post and the second grounding post.

10. The modular wideband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a single layer substrate.

11. An antenna array comprising:
a ground plane; and
a plurality of modular wideband antennas, each modular wideband antenna comprising,
a first antenna element and a second antenna element disposed on a first surface of a substrate,
a first portion of a two-layer feed balun disposed on the first surface of the substrate, the first portion of the two-layer feed balun being electrically coupled to the first and second antenna elements, and the first portion of the two-layer feed balun being electrically coupled to the ground plane,
a second portion of the two-layer feed balun disposed on a second surface of the substrate, the second portion of the two-layer feed balun being electrically coupled to a signal feed, and the second portion of the two-layer feed balun being capacitively coupled to the first portion of the two-layer feed balun, and
a first coupling capacitance and a second coupling capacitance disposed on the second surface of the substrate, the first coupling capacitance being capacitively coupled to the first antenna element, and the second coupling capacitance being capacitively coupled to the second antenna element.

12. The antenna array of claim 11 , wherein each modular wideband antenna further comprises a first grounding post and a second grounding post, the first grounding post being electrically coupled to the first coupling capacitance and the ground plane, the second grounding post being electrically coupled to the second coupling capacitance and the ground plane.

13. The antenna array of claim 11 , wherein the antenna array comprises a single polarized array, and the first antenna element and the second antenna element are arranged in a plurality of parallel planes.

14. The antenna array of claim 11 , wherein the antenna array comprises a dual polarized array, first antenna elements and second antenna elements of a first subset of a plurality of modular wideband antenna elements are arranged in a plurality of first parallel planes, and first antenna elements and second antenna elements of a second subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements are arranged in a plurality of second parallel planes.

15. The antenna array of claim 14 , wherein the first parallel planes and the second parallel planes are orthogonal.

16. The antenna array of claim 14 , wherein first grounding posts of the first subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements are electrically coupled to second grounding posts of the first subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements, and first grounding posts of the second subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements are electrically coupled to second grounding posts of the second subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements.

17. The antenna array of claim 16 , wherein the first grounding posts and the second grounding posts of the first subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements are electrically coupled to the first grounding posts and the second grounding posts of the second subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements.

18. The antenna array of claim 16 , wherein the first grounding posts and the second grounding posts of the first subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements are electrically decoupled from the first grounding posts and the second the of the second subset of the plurality of modular wideband antenna elements.

19. The antenna array of claim 11 , wherein the substrate is a single layer substrate.

20. The antenna array of claim 11 , further comprising a metasurface or a superstrate disposed over a plurality of modular wideband antenna elements.

21. The antenna array of claim 11 , wherein orientations of substrates of the plurality of modular wideband antennas are diagonal to an orientation of the antenna array.

22. The antenna array of claim 11 , wherein the antenna array is fabricated using a three-dimensional printing process.

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc
• Novaa Ltd

Inventors

• Novak Markus
• Abdelrahman Ahmed Hassan Abdelaziz
• Ma Zhengxiang
• Kermalli Munawar
• Piazzi Leonard

Classifications

• H01Q1/48 Primary

  Earthing means; Earth screens; Counterpoises · CPC title

• H01Q21/0043 Primary

  Slotted waveguides (combination with horns H01Q13/0233) · CPC title

• H01Q9/285

  Planar dipole (H01Q9/065 takes precedence; patch antenna H01Q9/0407) · 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

• H01Q21/064

  using horn or slot aerials (slotted waveguides arrays H01Q21/005) · CPC title