Patent Application
20240291157
The present disclosure relates to techniques for constructing antennas, including Vivaldi antennas.
A Vivaldi antenna (sometimes referred to as a tapered slot antenna) is traditionally a co-planar broadband-antenna. Vivaldi antennas may be constructed by forming an open space in a solid piece of sheet metal, a printed circuit board, or from a dielectric plate metalized on one or both sides. From the open space area the energy reaches an exponentially tapered pattern via a symmetrical slot line. In an antipodal Vivaldi antenna, a first Vivaldi arm is formed on a first side of a dielectric plate material, and a second Vivaldi arm is formed on a second side of the dielectric plate material. The open space is formed in areas of the dielectric plate material not covered by either radiating element. Vivaldi antennas may be made for linear polarized waves through the use of a single open space radiator. Using two radiators perpendicularly arranged allows for Vivaldi antennas that receive both horizontally and vertically polarized signals. If the arrangement is also concentric, the two radiating elements may be fed with 90-degree phase-shifted signals to provide circular polarized electromagnetic waves.
Vivaldi antennas may be configured for almost any frequency range, as the Vivaldi structure is scalable in size. Printed circuit technology makes this type of antenna cost effective at microwave frequencies exceeding 1 GHz. Advantages of Vivaldi antennas may include their broadband characteristics, their ease of manufacturing, and their ease of impedance matching using microstrip line modeling methods. However, dual-polarized Vivaldi antennas generally include heavy mechanical support structures.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus including: a ground plane element including: a non-conductive support layer, a conductive layer arranged on the non-conductive support layer, and at least one orifice through the non-conductive support layer and the conductive layer; one or more radiating elements including a feed line and a solder pad, wherein each of the one or more radiating elements is secured to and electrically connected to the ground plane element via soldering of the solder pad to the conductive layer; and at least one connector arranged in the at least one orifice and electrically connected to the feed line.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus including: a ground plane element including: a non-conductive support layer, a conductive layer arranged on the non-conductive support layer, and a plurality of orifices through the non-conductive support layer, and the conductive layer; a plurality of antenna elements arranged on the ground plane element, wherein each of the plurality of antenna elements includes a feed line and a solder pad, and wherein each of the plurality of antenna elements is secured to and electrically connected to the ground plane element via soldering of its respective solder pad to the conductive layer; and a plurality of connectors, wherein each of the plurality of connectors is arranged in a respective one of the plurality of orifices and electrically connected to a respective one of the feed lines.
In accordance with discussion above, provided for herein are techniques for providing wideband, lightweight, and low cost antenna elements. The antenna elements constructed according to the disclosed techniques may provide wideband radio frequency (RF) performance and polarization diverse capabilities from a single, light-weight antenna.
With reference made to
Turning to vertical element 117 (illustrated in detail in
Horizontal element 105 and vertical element 117 are arranged on ground plane element 130, as illustrated in
According to another example, the conductive layer 132 may be constructed from a spun metal layer, and the non-conductive support layer 131 may be constructed from a polyimide material. As understood by the skilled artisan, polyimide materials are polymers containing imide groups belonging to the class of high-performance plastics, such as those used in power electronics found in high speed switch devices.
As understood from the example materials described above, conductive layer 132 may be formed from a thin conductive layer, such as a copper or other metallic foil or a thin spun metal layer. The use of such materials for ground plane element 130 enables AVA 100 to have a lightweight design while retaining desirable performance characteristics. Specifically, ground plane element 130 may provide a lightweight ground plane with strong radio frequency (RF) performance. Typical related art Vivaldi antennas rely on heavy aluminum mechanical structures to achieve similar RF performance. Accordingly, AVA 100 maintains similar RF performance with significantly lighter weight mechanical structures.
Ground plane element 130 includes two orifices-orifice 133 and orifice 134. Orifice 133 allows SMPM connector 140 to pass through ground plane element 130 and connects antenna feed pin 141 to feed line connection pad 113. Orifice 134 allows SMPM connector 142 to pass through ground plane element 130 and connects antenna feed pin 143 to feed line connection pad 124.
To secure horizontal element 105 to ground plane element 130, solder pad 106 is soldered to conductive layer 132. Similarly, vertical element 117 is secured to substrate 130 by soldering solder pad 125 to conductive layer 132. The use of solder 150 to connect vertical element 117 to conductive layer 132 is illustrated in
Further structural integrity is provided to AVA 100 by epoxying SMPM connectors 140 and 142 to non-conductive support layer 131 of ground plane element 130, as illustrated in
Based upon the feeding provided by SMPM connector 140 and SMPM connector 142, AVA 100 may radiate linear horizontal polarization by feeding only SMPM connector 140, radiate linear vertical polarization by feeding only SMPM connector 142, and radiate dual-circular polarization by connecting to a 90° hybrid coupler to provide a 90° phase shift between SMPM connector 140 and SMPM connector 142.
As discussed above, the combination of solder 150 (illustrated in
In addition to the structural benefits discussed above, antennas constructed according to the disclosed techniques also exhibit beneficial electrical properties. For example, illustrated in
The disclosed techniques also provide for radiation patterns that are not only applicable to many different applications, but that also match their simulated performance. Illustrated in
In summary, provided for herein are techniques for providing an antenna and antenna structure that has a simple and light-weight construction. The disclosed techniques also provide for antennas that exhibit desirable gain, radiation patterns, and S-parameters in a small package. Furthermore, testing of antennas constructed according to the disclosed techniques exhibit performance that closely measures their simulated performance, indicating a successful and repeatable antenna design. Given the lightweight and high gain performance achievable through the disclosed techniques, the techniques may be particularly applicable to airborne applications, including satellite low earth orbit applications. When the disclosed techniques are leveraged to implement AVA elements, the techniques may be particularly applicable to airborne telemetry applications.
The techniques of this disclosure are not limited to antenna elements. Instead, as illustrated in
The above description of AVA 100 and antenna array 505 has been provided with regard to an example embodiment in which the radiating elements are embodied as Vivaldi elements, and in particular AVA elements. However, the techniques described herein may be applied to other types of antenna elements, including vertical tightly coupled dipole antenna elements and arrays, Planar Ultrawideband Modular Antenna (PUMA) element and arrays, and Stacked Patch elements and arrays. As understood by the skilled artisan from the present disclosure, the disclosed techniques may be implementing in conjunction with any number of different antenna elements to significantly reduce the weight, design complexity, cost, and schedule for designing and constructing antenna elements and arrays.
In summary, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus including: a ground plane element including: a non-conductive support layer, a conductive layer arranged on the non-conductive support layer, and at least one orifice through the non-conductive support layer and the conductive layer; one or more radiating elements including a feed line and a solder pad, wherein each of the one or more radiating elements is secured to and electrically connected to the ground plane element via soldering of the solder pad to the conductive layer; and at least one connector arranged in the at least one orifice and electrically connected to the feed line.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the one or more radiating elements includes a Vivaldi radiating element.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the Vivaldi radiating element includes an antipodal Vivaldi radiating element.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the one or more radiating elements include a first Vivaldi radiating element and a second Vivaldi radiating element arranged orthogonally and concentrically to each other.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the first Vivaldi radiating element is configured to transmit or receive radiation with a first linear polarization; and wherein the second Vivaldi radiating element is configured to transmit or receive radiation with a second linear polarization orthogonal to the first linear polarization.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the first Vivaldi radiating element and the second Vivaldi radiating element are configured to transmit or receive radiation with circular polarization.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the conductive layer includes a copper conductive laminate layer.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the non-
conductive support layer and the conductive layer include a copper clad laminate material.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the at least one connector is epoxied to the ground plane element.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, further including a support structure secured within a second orifice in the ground plane element and supporting an edge of the one or more radiating elements.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the one or more radiating elements includes a microstrip structure on a copper clad laminate substrate.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the solder pad includes a microstrip structure on a copper clad laminate substrate.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus including: a ground plane element including: a non-conductive support layer, a conductive layer arranged on the non-conductive support layer, and a plurality of orifices through the non-conductive support layer, and the conductive layer; a plurality of antenna elements arranged on the ground plane element, wherein each of the plurality of antenna elements includes a feed line and a solder pad, and wherein each of the plurality of antenna elements is secured to and electrically connected to the ground plane element via soldering of its respective solder pad to the conductive layer; and a plurality of connectors, wherein each of the plurality of connectors is arranged in a respective one of the plurality of orifices and electrically connected to a respective one of the feed lines.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein each of the plurality of antenna elements includes a Vivaldi antenna element.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein each of the plurality of antenna elements includes an antipodal Vivaldi antenna element.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the conductive layer includes a copper laminate layer.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein each of the plurality of connectors is epoxied to the non-conductive support layer.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, further including a cover arranged on the plurality antenna elements opposite to the ground plane element.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the cover is transparent to radiation sent or received by the plurality of antenna elements.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to an apparatus, wherein the cover includes a closed cell foam.
The above description is intended by way of example only. Although the techniques are illustrated and described herein as embodied in one or more specific examples, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
