Patent Application
20240332795
This application claims priority to European Patent Application No. EP 21179301.3 filed Jun. 14, 2021, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
The disclosure herein relates to a planar antenna array for multiple band satellite communication. Further, the disclosure herein relates to a communication and/or entertainment system comprising such planar antenna array. Further, the disclosure herein relates to an aircraft comprising such communication and/or entertainment system and/or at least one of such planar antenna arrays.
Planar antenna arrays are already on market and well known. For example, planar phased antenna arrays are widely used in radar equipment.
In recent time, the demand on further communication possibilities during travel in aircrafts or other vehicles is increasing. A possible solution can be found in broad band satellite communication. There are different providers on the market offering communication services over different satellite communication frequency bands, especially the Ku-band and the Ka-band.
A problem to be solved by the disclosure herein is to provide an antenna structure optimized for installation and use on a vehicle such as an aircraft and enabling both transmitting and receiving data over different frequency bands.
As a solution for the problem, the disclosure herein provides a planar antenna array.
Advantageous embodiments are disclosed herein.
Communication and/or entertainment systems for vehicles or ground terminals as well as an aircraft equipped with such systems or with the planar antenna array are disclosed herein.
The disclosure herein provides a planar antenna array for multiple band satellite communication comprising an array of flat RF tiles wherein each RF tile includes a structure of antenna elements including:
a first antenna element arrangement configured to radiate in an uplink and downlink portion of a first satellite communication frequency band (e.g. whole satcom Ka-band range); and a second antenna element arrangement configured to radiate in an uplink and downlink portion of a second satellite communication frequency band (e.g. whole satcom Ku-band range).
According to a preferred embodiment, the disclosure herein provides a planar antenna array with two nested antenna elements comprised in a unit cell to provide service in multiple satellite communication bands. The disclosure herein comprises an array of flat RF tiles wherein each RF tile includes a structure of couple radiation elements including a first antenna element arrangement configured to radiate in an uplink and downlink portion of a first satellite communication frequency band and a second antenna element arrangement configured to radiate in an uplink and downlink portion of a second satellite communication frequency band.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement is arranged above the second antenna arrangement.
Preferably, a first lattice formed by the first antenna element arrangements of the RF tiles radiates at the first band and a second lattice formed by the second antenna element arrangements of the RF tiles radiates at the second band.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes first dual polarized antenna elements.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes at least one dipole antenna.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes cavity backed dipole elements.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes a first dipole antenna with a first polarization.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes a second dipole antenna with a second polarization.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes a via fence formed by vias connected to a ground plane and surrounding first antenna elements.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes a ground plane formed by a metallization of the second antenna element arrangement.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes a distribution layer between first antenna elements and a ground plane, wherein the distribution layer comprises a disc placed below the first antenna elements in order increase the capacitance of the first antenna elements counteracting the inductance of the ground plane and the inductance of the vias attached to the first antenna element such as the dipole element.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes vias for connecting each of a first and second dipole antenna with a feeding point at the bottom of the RF tile.
Preferably, the first antenna element arrangement includes a balun formed by a first via connection connecting one dipole arm to a feeding point and a second via connection connecting the other dipole arm to a ground plane. Preferably, the second antenna element arrangement includes second dual polarized antenna elements.
Preferably, the second antenna element arrangement includes at least one slot antenna.
Preferably, the second antenna element arrangement includes cavity backed slot antennas.
Preferably, the second antenna element arrangement includes a first slot antenna with a first polarization.
Preferably, the second antenna element arrangement includes a second slot antenna with a second polarization.
Preferably, the second antenna element arrangement includes a metallization in which at least one slot antenna is formed and which is configured to act as a ground plane for antenna elements of the first antenna element arrangement.
Preferably, the second antenna element arrangement includes a shorted strip line below a slot antenna configured to couple radiation energy into the slot.
Preferably, the first satellite communication frequency band is the Ka-band and the second satellite communication frequency band is the Ku-band, and wherein each RF tile is configured to operate in the Ku-band RX, the Ku-band TX, the Ka-band RX, and the Ka-band TX.
Preferably, each RF tile has a rectangular structure. Preferably, at least one RF tile comprises several cell units. Preferably, a group of cell units form one RF tile. Preferably, the cell units have a rectangular structure, more preferable a quadratic structure, with a maximum side length of 15 mm, preferably 10 mm.
According to another aspect, the disclosure herein provides a communication system for a vehicle or a ground terminal configured for a multiple band satellite communication, comprising at least one planar antenna array according to any of the embodiments as described above.
According to another aspect, the disclosure herein provides an entertainment system for a vehicle, comprising such a communication system or at least one planar antenna array according to any of the above-mentioned embodiments.
According to another aspect, the disclosure herein provides an aircraft, comprising a communication system, such an entertainment system and/or at least one or a plurality of planar antenna array according to any of the above-mentioned embodiments.
Advantages, effects and preferred features of preferred embodiments of the disclosure herein are described in the following.
Preferred embodiments relate to multi-band satcom systems.
Preferred embodiments of the disclosure herein refer to RF couple structures for satellite dual band systems.
According to a most preferred embodiment, a planar antenna array with two nested antenna element is proposed to provide service in Ku and Ka band satcom.
There are currently no antennas which can cope simultaneously within the same aperture with TX/RX signals at Ku-band and Ka-band. Some approaches discussed previously would require two different apertures (double area).
Up to now, antenna suppliers prefer to have independent antennas to optimize their performance and then deliver only either the Ku or the Ka-band antenna. However, embodiments of the disclosure herein allow to have one aperture which can provide access to both Ku-band and Ka-band satellite links. This feature provides a lot of flexibility during installation in an aircraft, reduces the shadowing effect and enables an airline to be agnostic to the satellite service provider.
One basic idea underlying preferred embodiments of the disclosure herein is to combine different bands in one RF tile. Especially, the disclosure herein proposes flat RF tiles for multiple band electrical steerable antennas.
Preferred embodiments of the disclosure herein relate to an antenna concept which is suitable to be installed on an aircraft or other similar vehicles and allows a very flexible connection to different data communication sources. RF tiles according to embodiments of the disclosure herein can be used to build up a planar array antenna at Ku and Ka-band in both TX and RX direction. The array antenna could be part of the communication and/or entertainment system in an aircraft, drone, helicopter or even a ground terminal (including ground vehicles).
Planar phased array antennas are already on the market, but they do not combine typically different RX/TX satellite bands, such as Ku- and Ka-band, on the same aperture. The upside of not doing it is the clear optimization of the antenna elements for a specific band, whereas the downside is the need of a larger area (at least one aperture per band).
Embodiments of the disclosure herein have the following advantages over conventional antenna designs when it is required to use different bands, such as Ku- and Ka-bands:
According to a preferred embodiment, the proposed antenna array design is based on a scalable antenna design built up by several flat RF tiles (preferably <10 mm). Each of these tiles is preferably formed by a structure of couple radiating elements. One lattice on top radiates at one band, whereas a lattice at the bottom radiates at the other one.
For example, each RF tile can operate in:
One aperture is formed by several RF tiles.
When a vehicle may require the use of different bands, such as this is the case for Ka and Ku-band satcom links, the advantage of the proposed aperture is:
Embodiments of the disclosure herein are explained in more detail referring to the attached drawings in which:
For radiation of corresponding RF signals, the aircraft 10 has a planar antenna array 20 which is configured to transmit and receive signals over an uplink and downlink portion of a first satellite communication frequency band 22 and over an uplink and downlink portion of a second satellite communication frequency band 24. According to a preferred embodiment, the first satellite communication frequency band 18 is the Ka-band, and the second satellite communication frequency band 20 is the Ku-band.
In embodiments shown, the aperture is larger than required for Ka band satcom services, therefore the planar antenna array may not necessarily be fully populated with Ka band transceivers. As a consequence, the phased array systems at Ka band might also be implemented as a sparse array.
The antenna concept is based on a fully federated antenna system. In a fully federated antenna system, the radiating elements share the same aperture for the different transmit and receive bands.
The coupling among elements is defined to avoid the influence of one element with another of the same type, and with another of different type. To achieve a good decoupling among elements is key to avoid leakage between bands, which would degrade the overall antenna performance.
Two different types of dual polarized antenna elements 38, 40 operating either in the Ku or the Ka band are used. The top system architecture is shown in
In the following embodiments of RF tiles 28 that fulfil the afore mentioned requirements are explained below with reference to
Each RF tile 27 is comprised of several RF unit cells 28. For example, four, six, eight, . . . RF unit cells form one RF tile 27. According to preferred embodiments, 2n unit cells 28 form one RF tile 27. In the embodiment of
The unit cell 28 is a rectangular structure which can be duplicated in both lateral directions to form a tile 27. In the fully federated approach, the unit cell 28 contains both antenna elements 38, 40 for the Ku and Ka band.
In the design of the embodiments shown, dipole antennas 42 for the Ka band and slot antennas 44 for the Ku band are deployed in an interleaved fashion. By exploiting the self-diplexing properties of this interleaved array configuration, the implementation of a diplexer separation the Ku and Ka band satcom services can be avoided.
In the embodiment of the planar antenna array 20 as shown in
Referring now to
As shown in
As especially shown in
The slot antenna 44 comprises a first slot 52 for the first polarization defined at a first edge of a metallization layer 54 and a second slot 56 for the second polarization defined at a second edge of the metallization layer 54.
In this design approach the metallization layer 54 in which the slot antenna 44 is situated also serves as a ground plane 58 for the dipole antenna 42.
On a bottom layer 60 below the ground plane 58, microstrip lines 62 are used to route the feeding network of the antennas 42, 44, see
Below the slot antenna 44 a shorted strip line 64 is used to couple the energy into the slot 52, 56, see
Below the dipole antenna 42 an additional distribution layer 66 is provided. In this layer 66 a disc 68 is placed under the dipole antenna 42 to increase the capacitance of the dipole antenna 42 counteracting the inductance of the ground plane 58. Also, connect strip lines 70 are used to connect two parts of a via 72 which can't be realized in one via process. These vias 72 are connected to one of the two dipole arms 48a, 48b, 50a, 50b for each polarization to suppress the common mode.
The signal from the feeding point on the bottom of the unit cell 28 is guided by signal vias 76 to the antenna elements 38, 40. In the case of the dipole antenna 42, one dipole arm 48a, 50a is connected by a signal via 76 to the feeding and the other is shorted by a ground via 78 via to the ground plane 58. This structure acts as a balun 80.
By a central feeding of the dipole antenna 42 a larger distance can be obtained to the slot antenna 44 so that there is less tendency for inter-element couplings.
The slots 52, 56 are arranged between the ground plane metallization layer 54 of adjacent unit cells 28, and hence at the borders of the unit cells 28.
A via fence 82 has been implemented as an additional countermeasure to overcome inter-element couplings and mutual coupling. The via fence 82 comprises uniformly spaced vias 84 surrounding the slot antenna. By introducing the via fence 82, the coupling coefficient between the dipole antennas 42 in the Ka-band could be reduced. Another positive aspect of this approach is the increase of the slot antenna's 44 radiation efficiency. The reason can be found in the more confident electromagnetic fields of the slot antenna due to the via fence. Preferably the height of the via fence 82 is chosen to be about half the distance between slot antenna 44 and the dipole antenna 42.
As a further measure for decoupling, cuts 86 can be provided in the ground plane 58 to disturb a current flow between the dipole antenna 42 and the slot antenna 44, see
The subject matter disclosed herein can be implemented in or with software in combination with hardware and/or firmware. For example, the subject matter described herein can be implemented in or with software executed by a processor or processing unit. In one exemplary implementation, the subject matter described herein can be implemented using a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor of a computer control the computer to perform steps. Exemplary computer readable mediums suitable for implementing the subject matter described herein include non-transitory devices, such as disk memory devices, chip memory devices, programmable logic devices, and application specific integrated circuits. In addition, a computer readable medium that implements the subject matter described herein can be located on a single device or computing platform or can be distributed across multiple devices or computing platforms.
While at least one example embodiment of the present invention(s) is disclosed herein, it should be understood that modifications, substitutions and alternatives may be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the example embodiment(s). In addition, in this disclosure, the terms “comprise” or “comprising” do not exclude other elements or steps, the terms “a”, “an” or “one” do not exclude a plural number, and the term “or” means either or both. Furthermore, characteristics or steps which have been described may also be used in combination with other characteristics or steps and in any order unless the disclosure or context suggests otherwise. This disclosure hereby incorporates by reference the complete disclosure of any patent or application from which it claims benefit or priority.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21179301.3 | Jun 2021 | EP | regional |
| 22173966.7 | May 2022 | EP | regional |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20220399643 A1 | Dec 2022 | US |
