Wide band array antenna

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016190683-A1
Application number	US-201414910081-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 7, 2014
Priority date	Aug 8, 2013
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An antenna array ( 106 ) which in use emits radiation in two respectively orthogonally polarised directions, the array including a plurality of elements, the elements including at least one element of a first type and at least four elements of a second type wherein the element of the first type comprises part of two balanced feeds with two elements of the second type and the element of the first type is capacitively coupled to two further elements of the second type, wherein the elements used to produce radiation in a first direction lie in a first plane ( 104 ), the elements used to produce radiation in a second direction lie in a second plane ( 102 ), and the first and second planes are spaced apart, and the element of the first type includes two portions, one of which lies in the first plane and one of which lies in the second plane.

First claim

1 . An antenna array which in use emits radiation in two respectively orthogonally polarised directions,
the array including a plurality of elements, the elements including at least one element of a first type and at least four elements of a second type wherein
the element of the first type comprises part of two balanced feeds with two elements of the second type and
the element of the first type is capacitively coupled to two further elements of the second type,
wherein
the elements used to produce radiation in a first direction lie in a first plane, the elements used to produce radiation in a second direction lie in a second plane, and the first and second planes are spaced apart, and
the element of the first type includes two portions, one of which lies in the first plane and one of which lies in the second plane.

2 . An antenna array according to claim 1 wherein the preferred separation between the first and second planes is between 5 and 25 mm.

3 . An antenna array according to claim 1 wherein the preferred separation between the first and second planes is between 5 and 10 mm.

4 . An antenna array according to claim 1 further including a second array of elements, the antenna array including one or more signal feeds to only the first array.

5 . An antenna array according to claim 4 wherein the elements of the second array are arranged in two planes, wherein those elements of the second array which match the elements of the first array in the first plane lie in a third plane, and those elements of the second array which match the elements of the first array in the second plane lie in a fourth plane.

6 . An antenna array according to claim 5 wherein the preferred separation between the third and fourth planes is between 5 and 25 mm.

7 . An antenna array according to claim 5 wherein the preferred separation between the third and fourth planes is between 5 and 10 mm.

8 . An antenna array according to claim 5 wherein the separation between the third and fourth planes is equal to the separation between the first and second planes.

9 . An antenna array according to claim 1 including further elements of the first type and arranged such that each element of the second type is both capacitively coupled to an element of the first type and also forms part of a balanced feed with an element of the first type.

10 . An antenna array according to claim 9 wherein each element of the second type is only capacitively coupled to one element of the first type and also forms part of only one balanced feed with an element of the first type.

11 . An antenna array according to claim 1 wherein the elements are non-dipole in shape.

12 . An antenna array according to claim 11 wherein the elements are circular or polygonal in shape.

13 . An antenna array according to claim 12 wherein the elements have an area of non-conductive material in their centres.

14 . An antenna array according to claim 13 wherein the elements are ring-shaped.

15 . An antenna array according to claim 14 wherein each element is shaped as an octagonal ring.

16 . An antenna array according to claim 1 further including a ground plane separated from the planar element array by a layer of dielectric material.

17 . An antenna array according to claim 16 wherein the dielectric material layer is expanded polystyrene foam.

18 . An antenna array according to claim 1 wherein for each element of the first type the four elements of the second type associated with it are spaced equally around it.

19 . An antenna array according to claim 1 in which the capacitive coupling between elements is achieved by areas of those elements being interdigitated.

Assignees

• Univ Manchester

Inventors

• Brown Anthony Keith
• Zhang Yongwei

Classifications

• H01Q1/36

  Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella; {Particular materials used therewith}(H01Q1/08, H01Q1/14 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q9/285

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

• H01Q15/24

  Polarising devices; Polarisation filters  (H01Q15/12, H01Q15/22 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q1/523 Primary

  between antennas of an array · CPC title

• H01Q21/062

  using dipole aerials; (H01Q21/067, H01Q21/068 take precedence) · CPC title