The present invention is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/405,135, entitled Light Weight Stowable Antenna Lens Assembly, filed concurrently herewith on Mar. 16, 2009, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of microwave transmission lines and, more particularly, to an antenna lens array phase shifter for balanced microwave transmission lines.
2. Description of Related Art
State of the art phase array antennas need to be light weight and physically flexible for reusable deployment and stowage in a space and near-space environments. In some conventional dipole antenna arrays, power dividers couple each of the dipole antennas by unbalanced cables to a common transmit/receive point. Conventional unbalanced microwave transmission lines can include microstrip, waveguide, and coaxial transmission lines.
Conventional dipole antenna arrays often include conventional phase shifters having unbalanced line inputs/outputs such that additional circuitry is needed to transition, for example, to each of the balanced line dipole feeds. When using a conventional phase shifter with a balanced transmission line, a balanced-unbalanced (balun) transition is needed on the input side and the output side of the phase shifter as the balanced transmission line is coupled to both sides of the conventional unbalanced phase shifter. However, use of at least two baluns per conventional phase shifter for each antenna lens element pair results in increased size, weight and cost per element. As such, a need exists for a system and method for interfacing phase shifters to balanced transmission lines without the need for balun transitions.
Since state of the art phase array antennas need to be light weight, physically flexible for reusable deployment and stowage in a space and near-space environment, and since a key component to the state of the art antennas is the phase shifter, embodiments of the present invention provide a wideband microwave switchable 0 or 180 degrees phase shifter on a thin flexible coplanar strip (CPS) transmission line. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the thin flexible CPS transmission line is used as the principle transmission media to effect a switchable 0/180 degrees phase shift on the microwave signal while interfacing directly an antenna radiator without the need for a balun transition.
Embodiments of the present invention are directly applicable to current as well as future microwave systems and significantly improve upon current approaches by providing an ultra light-weight phased array lens antenna for space and near-space based platforms. Embodiments of the present invention are particularly suited for today's environment demanding thinner, lighter and better performing radar and communication systems, as well as other sensors and support equipment.
In one embodiment, the invention relates to an apparatus for providing 0°/180° phase shifting for a transmit/receive antenna pair including a transmit element and a receive element coupled by a balanced transmission line having two sections, the apparatus including a first section of the balanced transmission line, the first section including a first conductor and a second conductor, a second section of the balanced transmission line, the second section including a third conductor and a fourth conductor, and a switch disposed between the first section and the second section, wherein in a first configuration, the switch couples the first conductor to the third conductor and the second conductor to the fourth conductor, and in a second configuration, the switch couples the first conductor to the fourth conductor and the second conductor to the third conductor.
In another embodiment, the invention relates to a method for providing 0°/180° phase shifting for a transmit/receive antenna pair including a transmit element and a receive element, the method including coupling a balanced transmission line between the transmit element and the receive element of the transmit/receive antenna pair, the balanced transmission line including a first section including a first conductor and a second conductor, and a second section including a third conductor and a fourth conductor, switching a switch disposed between the first section and the second section to a first configuration, wherein the switch couples the first conductor to the third conductor and the second conductor to the fourth conductor, or switching the switch to a second configuration, wherein the switch couples the first conductor to the fourth conductor and the second conductor to the third conductor.
a is a perspective view of a portion of an antenna structure that can be used in conjunction with the antenna lens array of
b is a perspective view of a portion of the antenna structure of
c is a schematic diagram of the phase shifting switch of
d is a top view of a single transmit/receive dipole antenna pair coupled by a flexible feed cable that can be used in conjunction with the antenna structures of
e is a side view of the single transmit/receive dipole antenna pair coupled by the flexible feed cable of
a and 4b are schematic block diagrams illustrating respectively a 0° switching path and a 180° switching path for a balanced transmission line in accordance with the present invention.
Referring now to the drawings where like features are denoted by the same reference numbers throughout the drawings, embodiments of phase shifting switches disposed between sections of balanced transmission lines used for coupling radiating elements of antenna pairs provide 0 degrees or 180 degrees phase shifting. Embodiments of the phase shifting switches have a first configuration, or pass through configuration, providing 0 degrees phase shift. The embodiments of phase shifting switches also have a second configuration, or crossover configuration, providing 180 degrees phase shift. In a number of embodiments, the balanced transmission lines are coplanar strip transmission lines. In several embodiments, the coplanar strip transmission lines and phase shifting switches are disposed on flexible feed cables used for coupling radiating elements of the antenna pairs. In a number of embodiments, the phase shifting switches provide 0 degrees or 180 degrees phase shifting for the antenna pairs without requiring one or more baluns.
In the embodiment illustrated in
a is a perspective view of a portion of an antenna structure that can be used in conjunction with the antenna lens array of
b is a perspective view of a portion of the antenna structure of
Each of the sheets 21, 22, 24 can be made of a multi-layer flexible material. The multi-layer flexible composite material is described in detail in the co-pending application “Light Weight Stowable Antenna Lens Assembly”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/405,135, filed concurrently on Mar. 16, 2009 and incorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, the multi-layer material includes a 0.0005 inch thick polyimide film, such as Dupont's KAPTON ® film, on a bottom layer, a 0.0005 inch thick polyimide film, such KAPTON ® film, on a top layer with a 0.0005 thick inch 400 Denier patterned aromatic polyester fiber, such as VECTRAN fiber, as a middle layer sandwiched between the top and bottom layers. Adhesive, such as PYRALUX adhesive made by Dupont, is disposed on the surfaces of the bottom and top layers that face the middle layer and on both surfaces of the middle layer. These reinforced plastic sheets bond together to form a composite structure.
The bottom and top layers of the multi-layer flexible material allow the transfer of sheer load through the sheets, hold the fiber layer in place, and provide a surface that can be plated or printed on. The fiber layer provides tensile strength and a rip stop in case the sheet is punctured and begins to tear. The completed reinforced plastic sheet is soft and can be folded easily. As such, each of the sheets is very thin, flexible, strong and not prone to tearing or stretching. As such, it can provide an excellent platform for an antenna pattern. In other embodiments, other configurations of dipole antennas can be used.
c is a schematic diagram of the phase shifting switch 30 of
d is a top view of a single transmit/receive dipole antenna pair coupled by a flexible feed cable that can be used in conjunction with the antenna structures of
The radiating elements and conductors on the flexible feed cable can be formed of conductive metals that have been deposited or etched onto the cable. In many embodiments, the flexible feed cable is made of KAPTON ® film or another suitable flexible material for electrical circuitry.
The CPS transmission line consists of two conductors (20a, 20b) of the same type. These balanced lines are often operated with differential signals, where one signal is the inverse of the other (+/−V). The CPS impedance is determined by a combination of factors including the conductor width (e.g. 0.0010 inches), the spacing separating the two conductors (e.g. 0.080 inches), the flexible substrate thickness (e.g. <0.001 inches), and the dielectric constant “er”. Because of the configuration of electromagnetic fields across the transmission line illustrated in
In one embodiment of CPS balanced lines, the two strip line conductors (20a, 20b) are situated on a dielectric, such as a reduced weight flexible thin film, to interconnect, respectively, a transmit dipole radiator and a receive dipole radiator combination. The separation, the width, thickness of the conductors dictates the impedance of the transmission lines. Such a thin configuration allows the transmission line to be foldable, thereby allowing for collapsible/expandable configurations. Incorporating a wideband low loss phase shifter circuit directly with the thin and flexible transmission lines without impacting the weight and flexibility allows beam steering without affecting the overall size and weight of the antenna.
In the embodiment illustrated in
a and 4b are schematic block diagrams illustrating respectively a 0 degree switching path and a 180 degree switching path for a balanced transmission line in accordance with the present invention. In
While not bound by any particular theory, the strips/conductors of the transmission line (see
Typical devices used for this DPDT switch at microwave frequencies include PIN diodes, Field Effect Transistors (FETs), and micro-electromagnetic switch systems (MEMS). A microwave PIN diode is a semiconductor device that operates as a variable resistor at RF and microwave frequencies. Such microwave frequency switches have been used for switching multiple external antennas between a common transmitter and receiver as in the case of the 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz WiMax, WLAN MESH networks, fixed wireless access and other power systems. For such applications, these switches are typically configured for use on unbalanced transmission lines that require a ground plane. As contrasted with these uses, many of the phase shifting switches described herein are used with balanced transmission lines and generally do not require a ground plane. In the embodiment illustrated in
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that it is possible to modify and change the present invention in various ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims. For example, besides flexible CPS, other balanced transmission configurations may be considered, such as slotline, conductor-backed CPS, and twin lead, which is also known as “2-wire” line. As alternative examples with regard to the dipole antenna embodiments, flared notch radiators, flared dipole radiators, long slot radiators, and the like, may also be used.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3045237 | Marston | Jul 1962 | A |
3305867 | Miccioli et al. | Feb 1967 | A |
3568184 | Drabowitch | Mar 1971 | A |
3971022 | Lenz | Jul 1976 | A |
4939527 | Lamberty et al. | Jul 1990 | A |
4992761 | Seely et al. | Feb 1991 | A |
5355104 | Wolfson et al. | Oct 1994 | A |
5680079 | Inami et al. | Oct 1997 | A |
5680471 | Kanebako et al. | Oct 1997 | A |
6797891 | Blair et al. | Sep 2004 | B1 |
20050264448 | Cox et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20080030413 | Lee et al. | Feb 2008 | A1 |
20080197936 | Berg | Aug 2008 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20100231325 A1 | Sep 2010 | US |