Antenna system comprising an antenna and a passive device for angular deflection of a main radiation lobe of the antenna

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12463346-B2
Application number	US-202418406127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2024
Priority date	Jan 13, 2023
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

An antenna system includes an antenna and a passive device for angular deflection of a main radiation lobe of the antenna, characterized in that the device consists of a lens, said lens having a constant thickness and having a progressive relative permittivity between an inner edge of the lens located on the side of the geometric center of the antenna and an outer edge of the lens located on the side of a periphery of the antenna, the profile of the relative permittivity as a function of distance to the geometrical center of the antenna being adapted such that the lens deflects the main radiation lobe of the antenna by a predefined deflection angle over at least a portion of an operating frequency band of the antenna.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . Antenna system comprising:
an antenna; and a device for a passive angular deflection of a main radiation lobe of said antenna, a reference frame being attached to the antenna system, the X and Y axes of the reference frame lying in a radiation plane of the antenna and the Z axis of the reference frame being normal to the radiation plane, an origin of the reference frame coinciding with a geometric center of the radiating plane of said antenna, wherein the device comprises a lens having a constant thickness and having a progressive relative permittivity between an inner edge of the lens located on an inner edge located in the vicinity of the geometrical center of said antenna and an outer edge of the lens located in the vicinity of a periphery of said antenna, a profile of the relative permittivity as a function of a distance to the geometrical center of said antenna being adapted in such a way that the lens deflects the main radiation lobe of said antenna by a predefined deflection angle over at least one portion of an operating frequency band of the antenna.

2 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein, said antenna is a broadband antenna, the least one portion of the frequency band extends between a minimum frequency and a maximum frequency, such that the ratio between the maximum frequency and the minimum frequency is greater than six.

3 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein, said antenna is a broadband antenna, the least one portion of the frequency band extends between a minimum frequency and a maximum frequency, such that the ratio between the maximum frequency and the minimum frequency is greater than nine.

4 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one portion of the frequency band extends between a minimum operating frequency of said antenna and a maximum operating frequency of said antenna.

5 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the predefined deflection angle is constant over the at least one portion of the operating frequency band of the antenna.

6 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , further comprising a radome protecting said antenna and said lens from external attacks.

7 . The antenna system according to claim 6 , wherein said lens is attached by a film of adhesive or by screwing to said radome.

8 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein said lens is attached by a film of adhesive or by screwing to said antenna.

9 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein said antenna comprises:
a ground plane; a printed circuit carrying a radiating element, the printed circuit being arranged above the ground plane; and a cavity between the ground plane and the printed circuit, said lens being arranged parallel to the radiating element, above said radiating element or below said radiating element, inside the cavity.

10 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein said antenna is a spiral antenna, a logarithmic antenna, a log-periodic antenna, a sinuous antenna or a Vivaldi antenna.

11 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein said antenna is a horn antenna.

12 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein said lens has a progressive relative permittivity along a thickness thereof and/or along a polar angle thereof, the polar angle being evaluated with respect to an axis of symmetry of said lens.

13 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein said lens is inscribed in an angular sector.

14 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein said lens results from assembly of a plurality of elementary sections, each elementary section being characterized by a constant relative permittivity.

15 . The antenna system according to claim 14 , wherein a size of the patterns is adjusted so that said lens locally exhibits the desired relative permittivity.

16 . The antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein said lens is manufactured using an additive technique, a structure of said lens including a plurality of patterns.

17 . The antenna system according to claim 16 , wherein a first dielectric material is used to make the patterns and a second dielectric material is used to fill recesses in the pattern, the second dielectric material being a low-loss or lossy material.

18 . The antenna system according to claim 16 , wherein a size of the patterns is adjusted so that said lens locally exhibits the desired relative permittivity.

Assignees

• Thales Sa

Inventors

• Mallegol Stéphane
• Renard Christian

Classifications

• H01Q15/10

  comprising three-dimensional [3D] array of impedance discontinuities, e.g. holes in conductive surfaces or conductive discs forming artificial dielectric · CPC title

• H01Q19/08

  for modifying the radiation pattern of a radiating horn in which it is located {(corrugated horns H01Q13/0208; producing a circular polarisation H01Q13/0241)} · CPC title

• H01Q13/02

  Waveguide horns · CPC title

• H01Q1/42

  Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome · CPC title

• H01Q15/08 Primary

  formed of solid dielectric material · CPC title