Patent Application
20240039170
This application claims priority of Taiwan Patent Application No. 111127883 filed on Jul. 26, 2022, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
The disclosure generally relates to an antenna system, and more particularly, to an antenna system for suppressing side lobe radiation.
With the advancements being made in mobile communication technology, mobile devices such as portable computers, mobile phones, multimedia players, and other hybrid functional portable electronic devices have become more common. To satisfy consumer demand, mobile devices can usually perform wireless communication functions. Some devices cover a large wireless communication area; these include mobile phones using 2G, 3G, and LTE (Long Term Evolution) systems and using frequency bands of 700 MHz, 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, and 2500 MHz. Some devices cover a small wireless communication area; these include mobile phones using Wi-Fi systems and using frequency bands of 2.4 GHz, 5.2 GHz, and 5.8 GHz.
Antennas are indispensable elements for wireless communication. If an antenna for signal reception and transmission has too high side lobe radiation, it will degrade the communication quality of the relative mobile device. Accordingly, it has become a critical challenge for antenna designers to design a small-size antenna system with relatively low side lobe radiation.
In an exemplary embodiment, the invention is directed to an antenna system that includes an antenna array and a floating metal element. The antenna array includes a plurality of antenna units. The floating metal element is adjacent to the antenna array. A coupling distance is formed between the floating metal element and the antenna array. The floating metal element is configured to suppress the side lobe radiation of the antenna array.
In some embodiments, the antenna units are divided into a central group, an edge group, and a corner group. The central group corresponds to relatively large RF (Radio Frequency) power. The edge group corresponds to relatively median RF power. The corner group corresponds to relatively small RF power.
In some embodiments, the antenna units are divided into a first group, a second group, a third group, and a fourth group. The first group corresponds to the original feeding phase. The second group corresponds to a first delay feeding phase. The third group corresponds to a second delay feeding phase. The fourth group corresponds to a third delay feeding phase.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
In order to illustrate the purposes, features and advantages of the invention, the embodiments and figures of the invention are shown in detail as follows.
Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claims to refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following description and in the claims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but not limited to . . . ”. The term “substantially” means the value is within an acceptable error range. One skilled in the art can solve the technical problem within a predetermined error range and achieve the proposed technical performance. Also, the term “couple” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct electrical connection. Accordingly, if one device is coupled to another device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections.
The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of the provided subject matter. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. For example, the formation of a first feature over or on a second feature in the description that follows may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in which additional features may be formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.
Furthermore, spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. The spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. The apparatus may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein may likewise be interpreted accordingly.
The shapes and types of the antenna units 120-1, 120-2, . . . , and 120-N are not limited in the invention. For example, any of the antenna units 120-1, 120-2, . . . , and 120-N may be a patch antenna, a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna, a loop antenna, a PIFA (Planar Inverted F Antenna), or a hybrid antenna.
The floating metal element 130 is disposed adjacent to the antenna array 110. The floating metal element 130 is completely separate from the antenna array 110. A coupling distance DG is formed between the floating metal element 130 and the antenna array 110. It should be noted that the term “adjacent” or “close” in the disclosure means that the distance (spacing) between two corresponding elements is smaller than the predetermined distance (e.g., 10 mm or the shorter), but it often does not mean that the two corresponding elements directly touch each other (i.e., the aforementioned distance or space between them is reduced to 0). According to practical measurements, the floating metal element 130 is configured to suppress any side lobe radiation of the antenna array 110. In some embodiments, the antenna system 100 further includes a nonconductive housing (not shown), and the floating metal element 130 is disposed on the inner side of the nonconductive housing. In some embodiments, the floating metal element 130 is adjacent to the center of the antenna array 110. For example, if the antenna array 110 is a 1D (One-dimensional) antenna array, the floating metal element 130 may be disposed between the antenna units 120-4 and 120-5 adjacent to the center of the antenna array 110, but its actual position is adjustable according to different requirements.
The following embodiments will introduce different configurations and detailed structural features of the antenna system 100. It should be understood that these figures and descriptions are merely exemplary, rather than limitations of the invention.
In some embodiments, the relative power distribution of the antenna array 510 are described in the following table, Table I (0<X<1 and 0<Y<1):
In some embodiments, the relative feeding phases of the antenna array 510 supporting RHCP are described in the following table, Table II (0°≤A<360° and 0°≤B<360°):
In some embodiments, the relative feeding phases of the antenna array 510 supporting LHCP are described in the following table, Table III (0°≤A<360° and 0°≤B<360°):
In some embodiments, the first branch tuning segment 651 provides an equal power split and a 180° feeding phase difference therebetween, and each of the second branch tuning segment 652 and the third branch tuning segment 653 provides an equal power split and a 90° feeding phase difference therebetween. In the above embodiments, the antenna units 620-1, 620-2, . . . , and 620-64 of the antenna array 610 are divided into a first group 661, a second group 662, a third group 663, and a fourth group 664. The first group 661 may correspond to the original feeding phase (e.g., 0 degrees). The second group 662 may correspond to a first delay feeding phase (e.g., −90 degrees). The third group 663 may correspond to a second delay feeding phase (e.g., −180 degrees). The fourth group 664 may correspond to a third delay feeding phase (e.g., −270 degrees).
In alternative embodiments, if a P×Q antenna array is used, it may correspond P×Q−4 branch tuning segments, where each of P and Q is a positive integer. For example, an 8×8 antenna array may correspond to 60 branch tuning segments, and a 10×8 antenna array may correspond to 76 branch tuning segments, but they are not limited thereto. Furthermore, the structures of these branch tuning segments are described in detail in the following embodiments.
It should be understood that the sizes of the above antenna arrays are merely exemplary. As a matter of fact, the sizes of these antenna arrays are adjustable according to different requirements. For example, they may be modified to 5×5, 6×6, 7×7, 9×9, or 10×10 antenna arrays but not limited thereto.
The invention proposes a novel antenna system and a novel antenna array. In comparison to the conventional design, the invention has at least the advantages of suppressing side lobes and increasing tolerance margins. Therefore, the invention is suitable for application in a variety of communication devices. In addition, if the invention is applied to the high-way ETC system, it can prevent two-side noise from degrading the whole communication quality.
Note that the above element sizes, element shapes, and frequency ranges are not limitations of the invention. An antenna designer can fine-tune these settings or values according to different requirements. It should be understood that the antenna system and antenna array of the invention are not limited to the configurations of
Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having the same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 111127883 | Jul 2022 | TW | national |
