Compact waveguide power combiner/divider for dual-polarized antenna elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9893431-B2
Application number	US-201715398640-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2017
Priority date	Aug 25, 2015
Publication date	Feb 13, 2018
Grant date	Feb 13, 2018

Abstract

A waveguide architecture for a dual-polarized antenna including multiple antenna elements. Aspects are directed to dual-polarized antenna architectures where each antenna element includes a polarizer having an individual waveguide with dual-polarization signal propagation and divided waveguides associated with each basis polarization. The waveguide architecture may include unit cells having corporate waveguide networks associated with each basis polarization connecting each divided waveguide of the polarizers of each antenna element in the unit cell with a respective common waveguide. The waveguide networks may have waveguide elements located within the unit-cell boundary with a small or minimized inter-element distance. Thus, unit cells may be positioned adjacent to each other in a waveguide device assembly for a dual-polarized antenna array without increased inter-element distance between antenna elements of adjacent unit cells. Antenna waveguide ports may be connected to unit cell common waveguides using elevation and azimuth waveguide networks of the corporate type.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An antenna comprising:
a plurality of unit cells, each unit cell comprising:
a first common waveguide associated with a first polarization; a second common waveguide associated with a second polarization; a two-by-two array of antenna elements, each antenna element comprising a septum polarizer coupled between an individual waveguide and an, a first intermediate waveguide associated with the first polarization, and a second intermediate waveguide associated with the second polarization, wherein a cross-section of the individual waveguides of the two-by-two array defines a unit cell boundary for each unit cell; and a first waveguide network comprising at least one waveguide combiner/divider and connecting each of the first intermediate waveguides of the antenna elements with the first common waveguide via a continuous waveguide signal path,
a second waveguide network comprising at least one waveguide combiner/divider and connecting each of the second intermediate waveguides of the antenna elements with the second common waveguide via a continuous waveguide signal path,
wherein the first and second waveguide network is networks are entirely within a projection of the unit cell boundary along a direction that is normal to the cross-section that defines the unit cell boundary, and wherein the at least one waveguide combiner/divider of the first waveguide network and the at least one waveguide combiner/divider of the second waveguide network are aligned with each other along the direction that is normal to the cross-section that defines the unit cell boundary.

2. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein
the first waveguide network is interleaved with the second waveguide network.

3. The antenna of claim 2 , wherein the first common waveguide and the second common waveguide are aligned in a first dimension, and offset in a second dimension.

4. The antenna of claim 2 , wherein the first common waveguide and the second common waveguide are offset in two-dimensions.

5. The antenna of claim 2 , further comprising:
a third waveguide network comprising at least one waveguide combiner/divider connecting each of the first common waveguides of the plurality of unit cells with a third common waveguide via a continuous waveguide signal path; and
a fourth waveguide network comprising at least one waveguide combiner/divider connecting each of the second common waveguides of the plurality of unit cells with a fourth common waveguide via a continuous waveguide signal path.

6. The antenna of claim 5 , wherein the antenna comprises a layered assembly comprising the third waveguide network and the fourth waveguide network.

7. The antenna of claim 5 , wherein the antenna comprises a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns of unit cells, and wherein the at least one waveguide combiner/divider of the third waveguide network connecting the first common waveguides for a first unit cell and a second unit cell and the at least one waveguide combiner/divider of the fourth waveguide network connecting the second common waveguides for the first unit cell and the second unit cell are entirely within a boundary of the first unit cell and the second unit cell.

8. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the first and second waveguide networks have a depth that is less than 2.5 times at least one of a width and a height of the cross-section that defines the unit cell boundary.

9. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the antenna comprises a layered assembly comprising the plurality of unit cells, the layered assembly comprising a plurality of layers oriented orthogonal to the cross-section that defines the unit cell boundary.

10. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein each individual waveguide shares waveguide walls with two other individual waveguides of the two-by-two array.

11. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein adjacent individual waveguides of adjacent unit cells of the plurality of unit cells share waveguide walls with each other.

12. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the waveguide network is ridged waveguide.

13. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the septum polarizers convert between circular polarizations in the individual waveguides and linear polarization in the intermediate waveguides.

14. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein every other septum polarizer along a dimension of the antenna is inverted.

15. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the septum polarizers of every other unit cell of the plurality of unit cells along a dimension of the antenna are inverted.

16. The antenna of claim 1 , further comprising a third waveguide network comprising at least one waveguide combiner/divider connecting each of the common waveguides of the plurality of unit cells with a third common waveguide via a continuous waveguide signal path.

17. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the first common waveguide and the second common waveguide extend along the direction that is normal to the cross-section that defines the unit cell boundary.

18. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein a first port of the first common waveguide and a second port of the second common waveguide are located on an opposing side of the unit cell from the individual waveguides of the two-by-two array of antenna elements.

19. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein the first waveguide network is symmetric to the second waveguide network about an axis in the direction that is normal to the cross-section that defines the unit cell boundary.

Assignees

• Viasat Inc

Inventors

• Jensen Anders
• Nguyen Dominic Q
• Runyon Donald L

Classifications

• H01Q13/18 Primary

  the slot being backed by, or formed in boundary wall of, a resonant cavity (longitudinally slotted cylinder H01Q13/12 ){; Open cavity antennas} · CPC title

• H01Q21/064

  using horn or slot aerials (slotted waveguides arrays H01Q21/005) · CPC title

• H01Q21/0037

  linear waveguide fed arrays · CPC title

• H01Q13/06 Primary

  Waveguide mouths (horns H01Q13/02) · CPC title

• H01Q21/24

  Combinations of antenna units polarised in different directions for transmitting or receiving circularly and elliptically polarised waves or waves linearly polarised in any direction {(circularly polarised patch antennas H01Q9/0428; circularly polarised horns H01Q13/0241; cross-polarised horns H01Q13/0258; polarisation converters H01Q15/242; cross-polarised rear feeds H01Q19/136; crossed polarisation dual antenna H01Q25/001)} · CPC title