Quasi-optical beam former with superposed parallel-plate waveguide

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12224494-B2
Application number	US-202318102052-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2023
Priority date	Jan 27, 2022
Publication date	Feb 11, 2025
Grant date	Feb 11, 2025

Abstract

A quasi-optical beam former includes a set of beam ports, a set of network ports, a quasi-optical device and at least one parallel-plate waveguide extending between the beam ports and the network ports, the beam ports and/or the network ports being superposed in at least two stages, each of the at least two stages being separated by a conductive plane common to two adjacent stages, the quasi-optical beam former comprising a resistive film placed in the continuity of the conductive plane.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A quasi-optical beam former comprising a set of beam ports, a set of network ports, a quasi-optical device and at least one parallel-plate waveguide extending between the beam ports and the network ports, the beam ports and/or the network ports being superposed in at least two stages, each of the at least two stages being separated by a conductive plane common to two adjacent stages, wherein the quasi-optical beam former comprises a resistive film placed in the continuity of the conductive plane.

2. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , comprising a plurality of superposed parallel-plate waveguides, each superposed parallel-plate waveguide being placed facing the beam ports and/or facing the network ports of a given stage, the beam former further comprising a common parallel-plate waveguide, placed in the continuity of the superposed parallel-plate waveguides, the resistive film being placed at the junction between each superposed parallel-plate waveguide and the common parallel-plate waveguide.

3. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the resistive film is adjacent to the beam ports.

4. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the resistive film is adjacent to the network ports.

5. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein, each beam port having an identical width (d 2 ) between two consecutive beam ports of the same stage, the beam ports of two adjacent superposed stages are shifted by the width of the beam port divided by the number of stages of beam ports.

6. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the beam ports are superposed in at least four stages, the length of each conductive plane in the direction of propagation of a wave through the quasi-optical beam former being variable from one stage to the next.

7. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the beam ports have different dimensions, from one stage to the next.

8. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein, each network port having an identical width between two consecutive network ports of the same stage, the network ports of two adjacent superposed levels are shifted by the width of the network port divided by the number of stages of network ports.

9. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the network ports of a stage are configured to all be coupled to one antenna, and the network ports of a superposed adjacent stage are configured to all be coupled to a load not connected to the antenna.

10. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , comprising, on each of the lateral edges, a plurality of absorbing devices configured to absorb energy not transmitted between the beam ports and the network ports, said absorbing devices being superposed in the at least two stages, the position of the absorbing devices being shifted by a distance corresponding to λ g /4, where λ g designates the wavelength guided in the quasi-optical beam former, the resistive film being placed between the absorbing devices of two superposed stages.

11. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 10 , wherein the absorbing devices comprise dummy ports or an absorber.

12. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , wherein the network ports and/or the beam ports comprise coaxial lines, coaxial guides, striplines or micro-strips.

13. The quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , said beam former taking the form of a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB), the parallel-plate waveguide being filled with a dielectric, the beam ports being produced in SIW technology.

14. An active antenna comprising a quasi-optical beam former according to claim 1 , and a plurality of radiating elements connected to the output of said beam former.

15. The active antenna according to claim 14 , wherein the dimensions of the network ports are smaller than the dimensions of the radiating elements.

Assignees

• Thales Sa

Inventors

• Fraysse Jean-Philippe
• Lassauce Léonin
• Tubau Ségolène
• Legay Hervé

Classifications

• H01Q21/0031

  Parallel-plate fed arrays; Lens-fed arrays (multibeam arrays H01Q25/008) · CPC title

• H01Q25/008

  lens fed multibeam arrays · CPC title

• H01Q19/10 Primary

  using reflecting surfaces · CPC title

• H01Q3/2664 Primary

  electrically moving the phase centre of a radiating element in the focal plane of a focussing device (switching H01Q3/245, phased-array feeds H01Q3/2658) · CPC title