Fiber Based RF Phased-Array Antennas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023378649-A1
Application number	US-202318199564-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 19, 2023
Priority date	May 20, 2022
Publication date	Nov 23, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

Described is a flexible thermally-drawn receive phased array antenna and antenna system and a process for making the same. The phased array antenna system includes a plurality of antenna elements and one or more low noise amplifiers (LNAs) encapsulated in a fiber such as flexible polyetherimide (PEI) fiber material. A DC bias for the LNAs and other components is provided by one or more electrically conducting wires disposed in proximity to the antenna elements and also encapsulated in the fiber. In embodiments, the antenna elements are provided as dipole antenna elements and the phased array antenna is provided as a flexible thermally-drawn linear dipole receive phased array antenna operable at UHF frequencies.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A photonics/radio frequency (RF) array antenna system comprising:
a plurality of dipole antenna elements; one or more optical input signal paths coupled to the plurality of RF/optical modules; one or more optical output signal paths coupled to the plurality of RF/optical modules; a plurality of RF/optical modules coupled to respective ones of the plurality of dipole antenna elements, and coupled to at least one of the one or more optical input signal paths and at least one of the one or more optical output signal paths, the RF/optical modules configured to process RF signals provided thereto from the respective one of the plurality of dipole antenna elements and provide optical signals at one or more outputs thereof; and a fiber material encapsulating the plurality of dipole antenna elements, the plurality of RF/optical modules, the one or more optical input signal paths and the one or more optical output signal paths.

2 . The photonics/RF array antenna system of claim 1 further comprising at least one power bus coupled to the plurality of RF/optical modules.

3 . The photonics/RF array antenna system of claim 2 wherein the plurality of dipole antenna elements are arranged in the fiber material as a linear array of dipole antenna elements.

4 . The photonics/RF array antenna system of claim 3 further comprising a plurality of offset RF feed circuits, each of the plurality of offset RF feed circuits coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of dipole antenna elements at a point which is offset from a center point of the dipole antenna element to which the offset RF feed circuit is coupled.

5 . The photonics/RF array antenna system of claim 4 wherein an amount of offset of the offset RF feed circuit is selected based upon a characteristic of the at least one power bus.

6 . The photonics/RF array antenna system of claim 5 wherein an amount of offset of the offset RF feed circuit is selected based upon a distance of the at least one power bus to a dipole antenna element.

7 . The photonics/RF array antenna system of claim 5 wherein the at least one power bus comprises a pair of electrically conducting wires and an amount of offset of the offset RF feed circuit is selected based upon one or more characteristics of the pair of electrically conducting wires.

8 . The array antenna system of claim 1 wherein:
the fiber material is a flexible polyetherimide (PEI) fiber material; and
the plurality of dipole antenna elements are encapsulated in the flexible PEI fiber material.

9 . The array antenna system of claim 1 wherein the RF/optical modules comprise:
means for coupling RF signals from each fiber encapsulated antenna elements to a respective one of the RF/optical modules to;
one or more RF amplifiers configured to receive RF signals from a corresponding one of the fiber encapsulated antenna elements; and
one or more RF-to-optical converters, coupled to receive an RF signal provided to a first input port thereof, an optical signal provided to a second input port thereof and to provide a corresponding optical signal at an output port thereof.

10 . A flexible thermally-drawn dipole receive phased array antenna comprising:
a plurality of dipole antenna elements; one or more low noise amplifiers (LNAs), each of the one or more LNAs configured to receive signals from one or more of the plurality of dipole antenna elements; a pair of electrically conducting wires disposed proximate at least some of the plurality of dipole antenna elements wherein the pair of electrically conducting wires are configured to couple one or more DC bias signals to the one or more LNAs; a like plurality of offset feed circuits, each offset feed circuit coupled to a corresponding one the plurality of dipole antenna elements at a point which is offset from a center point of the dipole antenna elements wherein an amount of the offset is selected to provide a selected impedance match between the plurality of dipole antenna elements and corresponding ones of the one or more low noise amplifiers (LNAs) to which the dipole antenna elements are coupled; and a fiber material encapsulating the plurality of dipole antenna elements and the one or more LNAs.

11 . The flexible thermally-drawn dipole receive phased array antenna of claim 10 wherein an amount by which each offset feed circuit is offset from the center point of the dipole antenna element to which it is coupled is selected based upon a location of the pair of electrically conducting wires.

12 . The flexible thermally-drawn dipole receive phased array antenna of claim 10 wherein the one or more LNAs correspond to a plurality of LNAs, each of the plurality of LNAs configured to receive signals from one or more of the plurality of dipole antenna elements.

13 . The flexible thermally-drawn dipole receive phased array antenna of claim 10 wherein the one or more LNAs correspond to a plurality of LNAs, each of the plurality of LNAs configured to receive signals from a corresponding one of the plurality of dipole antenna elements.

14 . The flexible thermally-drawn dipole receive phased array antenna of claim 10 wherein the plurality of dipole antenna elements are arranged as a linear array of dipole antenna elements.

15 . The flexible thermally-drawn dipole receive phased array antenna of claim 10 further comprising a plurality of radio frequency (RF)/optical modules, each of the plurality of RF/optical modules coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of dipole antenna elements wherein the fiber material encapsulates the plurality of RF/optical modules.

16 . A phased array system comprising:
a plurality of dipole antenna elements; a plurality of radio frequency (RF)/optical modules, each of the plurality of RF/optical modules coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of dipole antenna elements; one or more optical input signal paths coupled to the plurality of RF/optical modules; one or more optical output signal paths coupled to the plurality of RF/optical modules; and one or more electrically conducting wires disposed to couple one or more DC bias signals to the plurality of RF/optical modules; and a fiber material encapsulating the plurality of dipole antenna elements, the plurality of RF/optical modules, the one or more electrically conducting wires, the one or more optical input signal paths and the one or more optical output signal paths.

17 . The phased array system of claim 16 wherein the one or more electrically conducting wires are disposed in proximity to at least some of the plurality of dipole antenna elements.

18 . The phased array system of claim 16 further comprising a plurality of offset feed circuits, selected to provide an input impedance match between the dipole antenna element and the RF/optical module to which the dipole antenna element is coupled.

19 . The phased array system of claim 18 wherein an amount of offset of each of the respective ones of the plurality of offset feed circuits is selected based upon a distance of the one or more electrically conducting wires to the respective ones of the plurality of dipole antenna elements.

20 . The phased array system of claim 19 wherein the plurality of RF/optical modules comprise:
one or more RF amplifiers configured to receive RF signals from a corresponding one of the plurality of fiber encapsulated dipole antenna elements; and
one or more RF-to-optical converters, coupled to receive an RF signal provided to a first input port

Assignees

• Massachusetts Inst Technology

Inventors

• Fenn Alan J
• Stolyarov Alexander
• Yegnanarayanan Siva
• Cantley Lauren

Classifications

• H01Q5/48 Primary

  Combinations of two or more dipole type antennas · CPC title

• H04B10/25759

  Details of the reception of RF signal or the optical conversion before the optical fibre · CPC title

• H01Q5/22

  RF wavebands combined with non-RF wavebands, e.g. infrared or optical · CPC title

• H01Q21/10

  Collinear arrangements of substantially straight elongated conductive units · CPC title

• H01Q9/16

  with feed intermediate between the extremities of the antenna, e.g. centre-fed dipole (H01Q9/44 takes precedence) · CPC title