This application is a National Phase entry of PCT Application no. PCT/SE2004/001178 filed on Aug. 9, 2004, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119(e), 120 and 365(c) to Swedish Patent SE 0302175-5, filed on Aug. 7, 2003.
The present invention relates to a broadband multi-dipole antenna, and in particular an antenna that has low input reflection coefficient, low cross polarization, rotationally symmetric beam and constant beam width and phase centre location over several octaves bandwidth.
Reflector antennas find a lot of applications such as in e.g. radio-link point-to-point and point-to-multipoint systems, radars and radio telescopes. Modern reflector antennas are often fed by different types of corrugated horn antennas. They have the advantage compared to other feed antennas that they can provide a rotationally symmetric radiation pattern with low cross polarization over a large frequency band. It is also possible with appropriate choice of dimensions to obtain a beam width that does not vary with frequency. Still, the bandwidth is normally limited to about an octave. Corrugated horns are also expensive to manufacture, in particular at low frequency where their physical size and weight become large.
Some reflector antennas are mass produced, in particular when they are small and up to about a meter in diameter, such as e.g. for application to satellite TV reception or as communication links between base stations in a mobile communication network. Even within radio astronomy there are proposals for radio telescopes that consist of several cheap mass produced antennas, such as the Allen telescope array (ATA) and the square kilometer array (SKA). ATA is already in the process of being realized in terms of mass produced large reflector antennas, and there exist similar realistic proposals for SKA. The requirement for bandwidth is incredible in both ATA and SKA, covering several octaves. In some proposed future mobile and wireless communication systems there are also requirements for antennas with large bandwidth. Such systems are often referred to as ultra wide band (UWB) systems and the broadband antenna technology as UWB antennas. As a result of the above there will be a need for new types of broadband antennas in the future, in particular antennas that can be used to feed reflectors in an efficient way.
There have recently been developed broadband feeds for reflectors that are much more broadband, lighter and cheaper to manufacture than corrugated horns. They have been obtained by locating four logperiodic antennas together in a pyramidal geometry, see Greg Engargiola “Non-planar log-periodic antenna feed for integration with a cryogenic microwave amplifier”, Proceedings of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society international symposium, page 140-143, 2002. The beam width is constant and the reflection coefficient at the input port is low over several octaves bandwidth. However, for known log-periodic antennas of this kind the phase centre moves with frequency. This causes problems with reduced directivity due to defocusing at most frequencies. Also, the known log-periodic pyramidal feed represents a rather complex mechanical solution.
It is therefore the purpose of the invention to provide an antenna that alleviates the above-mentioned drawbacks of previously known antennas. In particular, the antenna of the present invention is a relatively small and simple antenna, with at least one, and preferably all, of the following properties: constant beam width and directivity, low cross polarization as well as crosspolar sidelobes, low input reflection coefficient and constant phase centre location over a very large frequency band of several octaves. Typical numerical values are between 8 and 12 dBi directivity, lower than −12 dB crosspolar sidelobes, and, lower than −6 dB reflection coefficient at the antenna port. At the same time the antenna is preferably cheap to manufacture and has a light weight. This object is achieved with the antenna of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.
The antenna can be used to feed a single, dual or multi-reflector antenna in a very efficient way. However, the application is not limited to this. It can be used whenever a small, lightweight broadband antenna is needed, and in particular when there is a requirement that the beam width, directivity, polarisation or phase centre or any combination of these measures should not vary with frequency.
The basic component, from which the desired radiation characteristics of the antenna is constructed, is a pair of parallel dipoles, preferably located 0.5 wavelengths apart and about 0.15 wavelengths over a ground plane. This is known to give a rotationally symmetric radiation pattern according to e.g. the book Radiotelescopes by Christiansen and Högbom, Cambridge University Press, 1985. Such a dipole pair is also known to have its phase centre in the ground plane. However, the bandwidth is limited to the 10-20% bandwidth of a single dipole.
The broadband behaviour of the invention is obtained by locating several such dipole pairs of different sizes in such a way that their geometrical centres coincide. This means that the dipole pair operating at the lowest frequency is located outermost, and that the smaller higher frequency dipole pairs are located inside the outermost with the highest frequency pair in the innermost position. In addition there may be a set of similar, but orthogonally oriented, dipole pairs with the same geometrical centre to provide dual linear or circular polarization.
The present invention also provides an advantageous solution to feed the dipole pairs appropriately from one or a few feed points. This can according to the invention be done in many ways, as described in the patent claims and illustrated in the drawings. The two basic feeding techniques are also described in the next two paragraphs. The invention is not limited to these techniques.
The term wire is used in the description below. This term must not be taken literary, as it can also mean a conducting tube or strip as described in the patent claims.
A standard way to feed a dipole is to connect a two-wire feed line to a feed gap close to the centre of the dipole. By this method several neighbouring and parallel dipoles can be connected together with very short feed lines. Such feeding is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,437, said document hereby incorporated by reference. In this feeding, the two wires of the feed line must cross each other between two neighbouring and parallel dipoles in order to function as intended. This means that the right wire that is connected to the right arm of the first dipole must be connected to the left arm of the second dipole, and thereafter to the right arm of the third dipole, and so on, and visa versa for the wire connected to the left arm of the first dipole. The two wires thereby have to cross each other without touching each other. This makes it difficult and cumbersome to realize the antenna mechanically with high precision, in particular at high frequency when the dimensions are small and the dipoles and wires preferably are made as metal patterns on one side of a thin dielectric substrate. Three of the two feeding techniques described in the present invention do not suffer from this disadvantage of crossing lines, as described in the two next paragraphs, respectively. The remaining feeding techniques, which are also part of the invention, have crossing wires but solve the problem associated with them in new ways.
The dipoles according to the invention can be made as folded dipoles, i.e. each dipole is made as two parallel wires connected together at their two outer ends. Such a folded dipole has, seen at a feed gap at the centre of one of the wires, an input impedance closer to that of the two-wire feed line than normal single-wire arms. Numerical experiments have shown that it is advantageous in the case of the invention to connect such parallel folded dipoles together by making a gap also at the centre of the second wire, and continue the two-wire line from this gap to the feed gap of the next neighbouring dipole. Thereby, neighbouring dipoles and their feed lines form two opposing serpentine-shaped wires. This feed method opens an extra possibility to tune the reflections at the input, by making each dipole arm consist of a two-wire inner part and a single-wire outer part, and adjusting the location of the transition from two-wire to single-wire line. The folded dipole feeding is also later described in connection with
It is also possible to feed dipoles from a single-wire line supporting a wave between the ground-plane and the line. This can be done by connecting together endpoints of neighbouring dipoles, in such a way that shorter high frequency dipoles act as feed lines for longer low frequency dipoles. Thereby, neighbouring dipoles and their feed lines form a single serpentine-shaped line. This is later described in connection with
The crossing wires of the feed line can also be avoided by locating the two wires of the feed line on opposite sides of a thin dielectric sheet and locating every second of the dipole arms on opposite sides of it as well, in such a way that the two arms of the same dipoles are located on opposite sides of the dielectric sheet. This will be further described in connection with
As already mentioned the invention is not limited to the three feeding techniques described above and in
The invention makes use of a dipole pair as the basic building component. This does not necessarily mean that two such dipoles are connected together mechanically to one unit, e.g. by locating them on the same thin dielectric substrate, in such a way that if one is removed the other is removed as well. On the contrary, the dipole pair is only a basic electromagnetic building component when we construct the radiation pattern from electric current sources, i.e., we need two equal dipoles that radiate at the same frequency and are spaced about 0.5 wavelengths apart to get the desired rotationally symmetric radiation pattern. Actually, the dipoles on one side of the geometrical centre will normally be mechanically connected by their feed lines, so that removing one of the dipoles of a pair will mean that we at the same time remove one of the dipoles of all the pairs. The connected dipoles may also be located on the same supporting material, such as a dielectric substrate.
The dipoles in the description are normally thought of as being straight and about half a wavelength long. However, they may also be V-shaped or slightly curved or serpentined, as long as the radiation pattern gets a rotationally symmetric beam at the frequency of radiation of the considered dipole pair.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,796 describes an antenna with zig-zag shaped dipoles similar to the invention. This antenna is, however, not located above a ground plane and is therefore not used to provide a beam in one direction with a high directivity. Also, the feeding shown in this US patent is not of the type specified in the invention. There dipoles are not folded as in
The dipoles and feed lines can be realized as wires, tubes, or thin metal strips. They can also be etched out from a metal layer on a dielectric substrate. They can also be located on both sides of one or more thin dielectric layers, e.g. the dipoles on one side and the feed lines on the other side, or part of the dipoles and feed lines on one side and the rest on the other side.
The different feed lines must be correctly excited in such a way that the radiating currents on the two dipoles of the same dipole pair are excited with the same phase, amplitude and direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,390 describes a phased antenna array including log-periodic antennas above a ground plane. However, it is clear from our description above that the invention is not a phased array antenna, but rather that each dipole chain is excited so that the dipoles of each dipole pair radiate with the same phase.
The present application describes a broadband multi-dipole antenna that has several advantages over the prior art, such as simultaneous low input reflection coefficient, low cross polarization, low crosspolar sidelobes, rotationally symmetric beam and almost constant directivity, beam width and phase centre location over several octaves bandwidth. Further, the dipoles are fed from one or a few centrally located feed points, and they may with advantage have log-periodic dimensions.
The antenna is more compact, has lighter weight and is cheaper to manufacture than other solutions. It is very well suited for feeding single, dual or multi-reflector antennas.
The centrally located feed area may contain a balun or a 180 deg hybrid which provides a transition from a coaxial line to the two opposite directed two-wire lines feeding opposite located dipole chains. The balun may be active, meaning that it is combined with a receiver or transmitter circuit. In the case of a dual polarized antenna there need to be two such baluns or 180 deg hybrids located in the central area. The baluns or 180 deg hybrids can also be located behind the ground plane.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to preferred embodiments. However, it should be understood that different features in the specific embodiments are, unless otherwise stated, exchangeable between the embodiments. Further, all embodiments relate to locating the radiating dipole parts of a multi-dipole antenna in such a way that the radiation pattern gets rotational symmetry with low cross polarization and a frequency independent beam width over a large bandwidth.
The dipole pair in
A dipole antenna preferably has a feed gap 2 in the center so that two dipole arms 3 are formed, as shown in
Several dipole pairs 1 can be arranged as shown in
The dipoles 1 of the invention are preferably located above a ground plane 4 as shown in
An antenna according to the invention can also be used for dual linear or circular polarization. In such cases the dipole pairs must be arranged as shown in
The dipoles in
In
The antenna of
The embodiments in
In
The drawings in the figures show multi-dipole antennas where the dimensions of the different dipole pairs appear to vary approximately log-periodically. This means that the dimensions of all dipole pair are scaled relative to the dimensions of the closer inner pair of each of them by the same constant factor. This is done in order to provide an environment for each dipole pair that looks the same independent of whether it has large dimensions for operation at some of the lowest frequencies or small dimensions for operation at some of the highest frequencies. This log-periodic scaling is not necessary, although it is expected to give the best and most continuous broadband performance. In particular, this log-periodic choice of dimensions may not be needed if multiband instead of broadband performance is asked for.
It is according to the invention possible to provide the antenna with several feed points, even within one quadrant of the antenna. With a quadrant we mean in this case the geometry in
Feeding of the dipoles could be provided in various ways, as is indicated in the foregoing discussion. Other further advantageous feeding systems will now be discussed in more detail. These feeding systems may also be used in the previously discussed embodiments, as complements or alternatives to the already disclosed feeding systems.
The following feeding systems are particularly advantageous for dipoles comprising strips etched or milled on a thin dielectric sheet. It is preferred to feed the dipoles in each pair by two different two-wire feed lines, both of which originate at a common port in the center between the innermost dipoles. Embodiments of such feeding systems are illustrated in
In the embodiment illustrated in
The feed line consists of two separate conducting strips, one strip 153 arranged on the upper side of the substrate and the other 154 on the lower side. The upper feed strip is connected to the dipole arms on the upper side, and the strip on the lower side is connected to the dipole arms there, thereby exciting the dipoles in the desired manner.
The antenna according to this embodiment could preferably be realised by means of e.g. etching or milling of a printed card board (PCB).
Consequently, the antenna according to this embodiment has dipole arms and feed strips arranged on opposite sides of the substrate. The substrate is preferably relatively thin, in order to avoid any significant alteration of the antenna performance due to this separation of the dipole arms in the thickness direction of the substrate.
In the embodiment illustrated in
The first wire is arranged on the upper side of the substrate, and connected to one arm of each dipole, and more specifically successively to dipole arms on alternating sides of the centre line through the feed gaps of the dipoles. Accordingly, the feeding line 163 preferably has a zigzag shape, and it is preferably etched or milled from a metal cover on the supporting dielectric sheet in the same way as the dipoles. As in the embodiment of
The antenna according to this embodiment could preferably also be realised by means of e.g. etching on a printed card board (PCB). The wire on the lower side can be realized by etching as well, and with vias making the connections 165 through the dielectric sheet, or it can be realized by a several pieces of thin wires which are bent and shaped to be soldered to the connection points of the dipole arms. Then, there will also be holes in the substrate at the connection points, and the endpoints of the wires pieces will be inserted into these holes and soldered to the dipole arms. The wire pieces could then be located not only on the lower side of the substrate, but also on the upper side of it, at sufficient distance above the etched conducting strips of the upper wire of the transmission line.
In the embodiment illustrated in
In an alternative embodiment, illustrated in
Another alternative embodiment is illustrated in
The arms 194 of the other pairs of dipoles are arranged between said dipoles 191 fed by the feed line. The two arms 194 of each other dipoles are connected together by means of a wire 195 located under the substrate as shown in
In another alternative, illustrated in
The above-discussed embodiments of antennas according to the invention have many features in common. For example, all, or at least most, of said embodiments encompass the following features:
Specific embodiments of the invention have now been described. However, several alternatives are possible, as would be apparent for someone skilled in the art. For example, different arrangement designs of the dipoles are possible, different combination of antenna planes are possible, various feeding arrangements are feasible, etc.
Such and other obvious modifications must be considered to be within the scope of the present invention, as it is defined by the appended claims. It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/SE2004/001178 | 8/9/2004 | WO | 00 | 5/8/2008 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2005/015685 | 2/17/2005 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20080204343 A1 | Aug 2008 | US |