The present invention relates to wide-band antennas and more particularly to those which may be mounted on base stations of a wireless communications network.
The antenna is an indispensable element of a wireless communications network.
Particularly performing antenna solutions are therefore sought, notably in terms of bandwidth and of radiation purity, and having low manufacturing complexity.
Solutions of antennas of the dipole type mounted facing a ground plane playing the role of a reflector at a distance equal to a quarter of the wavelength are conventionally known.
These dipoles with a total length equal to half a wave length typically consist of two collinear strands and are energized via a balun. Both strands are positioned parallel to the reflecting plane.
However, present antennas do not have many degrees of freedom as for their adjustments with which good performances may be obtained in the desired frequency bands, and are complex to make.
The present invention proposes a wide-band antenna solution comprising several degrees of freedom as for its adjustments and it may be made in a simple way and at low cost.
According to a first aspect, the invention relates to a wide-band antenna comprising: a ground plane; at least one assembly comprising: a layer of dielectric material arranged perpendicularly to the ground plane, the layer having a thickness; a first metal element arranged on one face of the layer; a second metal element arranged on a face of the layer opposite to the face where the first metal element is arranged so that the metal elements are not facing each other; a power line associated with one of the two metal elements, the power line extending from the edge of the metal element which is the closest to a central axis of symmetry of the antenna, towards the ground plane.
The antenna may further have the following characteristics:
According to a second aspect, the invention relates to a base station comprising at least one wide-band antenna according to the first aspect of the invention.
Other features and advantages of the invention will further become apparent from the following description which is purely an illustration and not a limitation and should be read with reference to the appended drawings wherein:
a and 4b respectively illustrate the adaptation levels in a Cartesian coordinate system and on a Smith abacus for the antenna according to the second embodiment of the invention;
a, 5b and 5c illustrate the diagrams with co-polarization (solid line) and with cross-polarization (dotted line) in the plane E at frequencies of 2 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3 GHz for the antenna according to the second embodiment of the invention;
a, 6b and 6c illustrate the diagrams with co-polarization (solid line)and with cross-polarization (dotted line) in the plane H at frequencies of 2 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3 GHz for the antenna according to the second embodiment of the invention;
a and 8b respectively illustrate the adaptation levels in a Cartesian coordinate system and on a Smith abacus for the first of the two antennas nested according to the third embodiment of the invention;
a, 9b and 9c illustrate the diagrams with co-polarization (solid line) and with cross-polarization (dotted line) in the plane E at frequencies of 2 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3 GHz for the first of the two antennas nested according to the third embodiment of the invention;
a, 10b and 10c illustrate the diagrams with co-polarization (solid line) and with cross-polarization (dotted line)in the plane H at frequencies of 2 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3 GHz for the first of the two antennas nested according to the third embodiment of the invention;
a and 12b respectively illustrate the adaptation levels in a Cartesian coordinate system and on a Smith abacus for the second of the two antennas nested according to the third embodiment of the invention;
a, 13b and 13c illustrate the diagrams with co-polarization (solid line) and with cross-polarization (dotted line) in the plane E at frequencies of 2 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3 GHz for the second of both antennas nested according to the third embodiment of the invention;
a,
14
h and 14c illustrate the diagrams with co-polarization (solid line) and with cross-polarization (dotted line) in the plane H at frequencies of 2 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3 GHz for the second of the two antennas nested according to the third embodiment of the invention;
Structure of the Antenna
The metal elements have a small thickness of the order of a few pm or tens of pm (for elements etched on a pre-metallized substrate) or even a few hundred of pm (for making the elements in a technology of the cut-out metal pattern type).
The antenna further comprises a power line 21. This power line is preferably a 50Ω microstrip line of a known type which uses one of the two metal elements as a reference ground plane for this line.
The antenna comprises a central axis Δ of symmetry.
The metal elements are apart and the space between them forms a central coupling slot (the slot is arranged at the central axis of symmetry of the antenna).
In this antenna, an assembly E1 formed with the metal elements and the power line is defined.
This assembly E1 notably comprises a layer of dielectric material arranged perpendicularly to the ground plane (PM).
Each metal element is positioned on a face of the dielectric material layer. The metal elements are in particular positioned so that they are not facing each other.
The thickness of the dielectric layer is of the order of a few hundreds of μm to a few mm.
The power line is connected at its lower end to an energizing probe 31 which crosses the ground plane pierced for this purpose. The probe is preferably a 50Ω coaxial probe, the outer conductor 32 of which is connected to the ground plane.
The power line is formed by a first section 21′ extending from the metal element 11 with which it is associated parallel to the ground plane and a section 21″ connected to the first section extending from the first section 21′ perpendicularly towards the ground plane.
This power line further comprises on the second section 21″, an area 21′″ having a width greater than the width of the first 21′ and of the second 21″ section so as to ensure a capacitive adaptation effect. This area 21′″ is preferably positioned in proximity to the connection point with the 50Ω energizing probe.
The metal elements as well as the power line may be collectively printed on a dielectric substrate.
The substrate is of course perpendicular to the ground plane and plays the role of the dielectric material layer described up to here.
In this case, the assembly formed by the metal element 11 and the power line is printed on a face of the substrate so that the metal element 12 printed on the other face acts as a ground plane for the power line.
A first embodiment of the antenna is illustrated in
In this embodiment, the metal elements 11, 12 are rectangular.
A second embodiment of the antenna is illustrated in
In this embodiment, the metal elements are flared from the ground plane.
The flaring is rectilinear and preferably perpendicular for the edge which is closest to the central axis Δ of symmetry of the antenna.
The metal elements are of a general trapezoidal shape and each form a fin.
Such metal elements have very many possibilities for the geometry.
Generally, these elements correspond to flared patterns with a convex surface from their base to their apex.
A third embodiment is illustrated in
In this embodiment, the antenna comprises 4 metal elements and the antenna is of the bipolarization type.
It notably comprises a first assembly E1 and a second assembly E2 each formed by two metal elements and the associated power line.
The first assembly E1 corresponds to a first dielectric material layer P and the second assembly corresponds to a second dielectric material layer P′.
Both layers P, P′ of dielectric material are perpendicular to each other and the metal elements 11, 12, 13, 14 on each layer are identical.
The layers of dielectric material are in identical materials.
In other words, in this embodiment, the metal elements are nested perpendicularly at the central coupling slots without any contact between them.
This embodiment may be seen as the nesting of two antennas of the second embodiment described earlier.
The nested metal elements are identical and only the position of the connection point of the power line on the metal element coplanar with this line, as well as the position and the dimensions of the capacitive adaptation line area, differ.
The distinct heights associated with these connection points on the elements, allow both antennas to be combined without any electrical contact between them. With regard to the exterior circuits, each antenna remains energized at the lower end of the power line by an external 50Ω coaxial cable, for example. With this it is possible to operate this structure according to two perpendicularly crossed linear polarizations.
Performances
First Prototype
An antenna according to the second embodiment was made and characterized experimentally.
This antenna operates in a frequency band centered on 2.5 GHz.
Both metal elements as well as the 50Ω microstrip energizing line bearing the capacitive adaptation line section, are collectively printed on a dielectric substrate with a dielectric permittivity εr=2.55 and with a thickness h=800 μm.
This substrate is positioned perpendicularly to the lower square-shaped ground plane, in which a drill hole was made so as to be able to mount the 50Ω coaxial cable ensuring the external power supply of the antenna.
a and 4b give the adaptation levels respectively in a Cartesian coordinate system and on a Smith abacus. It may be noted that this adaptation remains less than −10 dB over a wide band of frequencies, ranging from 2 GHz to more than 3 GHz, which corresponds to a relative bandwidth of more than 40%.
As regards the radiation characteristics,
In the same way as for the previous figures,
Second Prototype
An exemplary solution of the bipolarization type, based on two perpendicularly crossed antennas, as this is shown in
For this structure, one of the two antennas, subsequently called “first antenna”, is strictly identical with the one described in the second embodiment. The other antenna, called a “second antenna”, is only distinguished from the previous one by a higher position of the connection point of the 50Ω microstrip line and by a slight modification of the capacitive adaptation line area.
In terms of distribution of the electric field, the same distribution is obtained for each of the two nested antennas as for each antenna taken separately.
In the case when only the first antenna is energized,
Like for the distribution of the electric field on the antenna, the performances are quite compliant with those obtained for a single antenna (see the performance of the first prototype).
Similarly, in the case when only the second antenna is energized,
Even if this second antenna slightly differs from the first, the obtained answers are always highly compliant with those illustrated in
As this may be seen, the isolation between both antennas remains excellent, since, on the whole of this frequency band, the coupling always remains less than −30 dB.
For this structure of the bipolarization type combining two antennas, the very strong isolation level between the latter is one of the major advantages of the proposed solution.
The antenna described above may also be used within the scope of a satellite link or be implemented in a base station of a communications network and it may be used on frequency bands comprised between 10 and 15 GHz.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0951677 | Mar 2009 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2010/053398 | 3/16/2010 | WO | 00 | 1/19/2012 |