Tunable spatial phase shifter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9640867-B2
Application number	US-201514672632-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2015
Priority date	Mar 30, 2015
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

A tunable phase shifter is provided that includes a spatial phase shift element and a conducting sheet. The spatial phase shift element includes a dielectric substrate and a conductive antenna element mounted on the dielectric substrate. The conducting sheet is mounted a distance from the spatial phase shift element and configured to reflect an electromagnetic wave through the spatial phase shift element. The conductive antenna element is configured to radiate a second electromagnetic wave in response to receipt of the reflected electromagnetic wave. The distance between the conducting sheet and the spatial phase shift element can be changed to adjust a phase shift of the reflected electromagnetic wave.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tunable phase shifter comprising:
a spatial phase shift element comprising
a dielectric substrate; and
a conductive antenna element mounted on the dielectric substrate;

a conducting sheet mounted a distance from the spatial phase shift element and configured to reflect an electromagnetic wave through the spatial phase shift element; and
an actuator mounted to the conducting sheet and configured to move the conducting sheet relative to the spatial phase shift element to change the distance between the conducting sheet and the spatial phase shift element,
wherein the conductive antenna element is configured to radiate a second electromagnetic wave in response to receipt of the reflected electromagnetic wave, wherein the distance between the conducting sheet and the spatial phase shift element can be changed to adjust a phase shift of the reflected electromagnetic wave.

2. The tunable phase shifter of claim 1 , wherein the conductive antenna element is selected from the group consisting of a patch antenna element, a resonant dipole antenna element, a tri-pole antenna element, a Jerusalem cross antenna element, a split ring resonator antenna element, a multi-element dipole antenna element, and a leaky wave antenna element.

3. The tunable phase shifter of claim 1 , wherein the conducting sheet is formed of a flexible membrane coated with a conductor.

4. The tunable phase shifter of claim 3 , wherein the flexible membrane is moved relative to an anchor point of the flexible membrane to change the distance between the conducting sheet and the spatial phase shift element.

5. The tunable phase shifter of claim 4 , wherein the flexible membrane is anchored at a plurality of points.

6. The tunable phase shifter of claim 1 , wherein the conducting sheet is tilted relative to the spatial phase shift element to change the distance between the conducting sheet and the spatial phase shift element.

7. The tunable phase shifter of claim 1 , further comprising a spacer positioned between the conducting sheet and the spatial phase shift element, wherein the spacer is filled with a dielectric material.

8. The tunable phase shifter of claim 7 , wherein the dielectric material is air.

9. A phased array antenna comprising:
a feed antenna configured to radiate an electromagnetic wave;
a plurality of spatial phase shift elements distributed linearly in a direction, wherein each spatial phase shift element of the plurality of spatial phase shift elements comprises
a dielectric substrate; and
a conductive antenna element mounted on the dielectric substrate; and

a conducting sheet mounted a distance from the plurality of spatial phase shift elements and configured to reflect the radiated electromagnetic wave through the plurality of spatial phase shift elements;
wherein the conductive antenna element of each of the plurality of spatial phase shift elements is configured to radiate a second electromagnetic wave in response to receipt of the reflected electromagnetic wave, wherein the distance between the conducting sheet and the plurality of spatial phase shift elements can be changed to adjust a phase shift of the reflected electromagnetic wave.

10. The phased array antenna of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of spatial phase shift elements are distributed linearly in two directions to form a two-dimensional array.

11. The phased array antenna of claim 9 , further comprising an actuator mounted to the conducting sheet and configured to tilt the conducting sheet relative to the plurality of spatial phase shift elements to change the distance between the conducting sheet and the plurality of spatial phase shift elements.

12. The phased array antenna of claim 9 , wherein the conducting sheet comprises a plurality of sections, wherein the plurality of sections are independently moveable.

13. The phased array antenna of claim 12 , further comprising an actuator mounted to each of the plurality of sections, wherein the actuator is configured to move the section to which it is mounted to change the distance between the section and the plurality of spatial phase shift elements.

14. The phased array antenna of claim 12 , wherein a number of the plurality of sections is equal to a number of the plurality of spatial phase shift elements.

15. The phased array antenna of claim 12 , wherein a number of the plurality of sections is less than a number of the plurality of spatial phase shift elements.

16. The tunable phase shifter of claim 9 , wherein the feed antenna is selected from the group consisting of a patch antenna, a dipole antenna, a monopole antenna, a helical antenna, a microstrip antenna, a fractal antenna, a feed horn, a slot antenna, an end fire antenna, and a parabolic antenna.

17. The phased array antenna of claim 9 , wherein the feed antenna is mounted between the plurality of spatial phase shift elements and the conducting sheet.

18. The phased array antenna of claim 9 , further comprising a spacer positioned between the conducting sheet and the plurality of spatial phase shift elements, wherein the spacer is filled with a dielectric material.

19. A phased array antenna system comprising:
a feed antenna configured to radiate an electromagnetic wave;
a radiating antenna comprising
a plurality of spatial phase shift elements distributed linearly in a direction, wherein each spatial phase shift element of the plurality of spatial phase shift elements comprises
a dielectric substrate; and
a conductive antenna element mounted on the dielectric substrate; and

a conducting sheet mounted a distance from the plurality of spatial phase shift elements and configured to reflect the radiated electromagnetic wave through the plurality of spatial phase shift elements, wherein the conductive antenna element of each of the plurality of spatial phase shift elements is configured to radiate a second electromagnetic wave in response to receipt of the reflected electromagnetic wave; and

an actuator mounted to the radiating antenna and configured to change the distance between the conducting sheet and the plurality of spatial phase shift elements.

20. The phased array antenna system of claim 19 , further comprising a spacer positioned between the conducting sheet and the plurality of spatial phase shift elements, wherein the spacer is filled with a dielectric material.

Assignees

• Wisconsin Alumni Res Found

Inventors

• Behdad Nader
• Booske John

Classifications

• H01Q3/32 Primary

  by mechanical means · CPC title

• H01P1/18

  Phase-shifters (H01P1/165 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q3/36 Primary

  with variable phase-shifters · CPC title

• H01Q21/061

  Two dimensional planar arrays · CPC title

• H01Q15/148

  with means for varying the reflecting properties (H01Q15/147 takes precedence) · CPC title