This application relates to low profile, conformal antennas.
It is known that wide bandwidth, miniaturized antennas can be provided using planar conductors fed through frequency-dependent impedance elements such as meander lines. By arranging these components in an appropriate configuration, the electrical properties of the antenna can be passively and automatically optimized over a wide bandwidth. In one arrangement, a conductive surface placed over a conductive cavity serves as a primary radiator, and meander line components are embedded within the conductive cavity. This approach is particularly useful in aircraft and other vehicle applications since no part of the antenna needs to protrude beyond the skin of the vehicle. The approach can also be adapted to wireless devices and laptop computers and the like where the antenna height can be minimized.
In one specific implementation, a wideband antenna can be provided using these techniques that covers not only the cellular telephone frequencies, but also the Personal Communicator System (PCS), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) and GPS frequency bands. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 7,436,369 issued to Apostolos.
According to various teachings herein, a low profile antenna is provided by a cavity-backed central radiating surface. The central radiator is further surrounded by one or more additional conductive surfaces that act as ground plane elements. Passively reconfigurable surface impedances operate as a frequency dependent coupling between the central radiator and the ground plane elements(s). The surrounding ground plane elements are further connected to cavity walls with the passively reconfigurable couplings.
The center radiating element is designed to operate efficiently, decoupled from the ground plane elements, at a relatively high radiation frequency of interest. The ground plane elements, being coupled to the central radiator in a frequency-dependent fashion, only become active as the frequency decreases. As the radiating frequency decreases, the active ground plane gradually expands to eventually the entire top surface of the structure when the lowest design frequency is reached.
The frequency dependent couplings may be implemented using meander line structures. The meander line structures may take various forms such as interconnected, alternating, high and low impedance sections disposed over a conductive surface.
The frequency dependent couplings may also take the form of a Variable Impedance Transmission Line (VITL) that consists of a meandering metallic transmission line with gradually decreasing section lengths, with interspersed dielectric portions to isolate the conductive segments. Specific embodiments of the VITL structure may further include electroactive actuators that alter the spacing between dielectric and metal layers to provide a Tunable Variable Impedance Transmission Line (TVITL).
In other embodiments, the canonical center radiating element may take the form of a generally rectangular (or other quadrilateral) radiating structure with four facing triangular conductive sections. The triangular sections are electrically connected into two crossed, bow-tie structures to provide circular polarization. With this arrangement of conductive surfaces, coverage can be provided in a hemispherical radiation pattern from the horizon to the zenith (or nadir, depending on installation orientation) using a planar, conformal structure.
In still other arrangements, an array of center radiating cells can be placed in a common plane. The entire array is then surrounded with one or more ground plane sections. In this arrangement the array of radiating cells can approach the operation of a monopole antenna with a conformal planar surface.
In one particular implementation, the center radiating cell may be duplicated on both sides of a common cavity. This arrangement thus consists of four triangular elements disposed back to back, providing two outward radiating surfaces. These elements may then stacked in a vertical array to provide even broader bandwidth coverage than is possible with a single cell. The multiple stacked elements are coupled to one another through additional variable impedance couplings such as meander lines, VITL, or TVITLs.
The foregoing will be apparent from the following more particular description of example embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating embodiments of the present invention.
A description of example embodiments follows.
The teachings of all patents, published applications and references cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
This document describes various low-profile, conformal antenna solutions that incorporate ground plane, element array, and electroactive materials in novel ways. The approaches discussed here are particularly useful in aircraft and other vehicle communication uses. However, they can also be used to provide antennas wherever low profile is important, such as in portable wireless communication devices. In general, the solutions presented here combine conformal and/or low-profile antenna technology with passive tuning technology to yield a reconfigurable surface impedance structure that can cover a wide range of frequencies.
The general approach is to provide a cavity-backed surface radiator as a center radiating element with one or more surrounding ground plane structure(s). The ground plane(s) and center radiator are connected to one another using passive, frequency dependent, coupling circuits. These couplers provide the desired turning to achieve high power capability (100 Watts) and low Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) within the low-profile form factor.
Turning attention to
The center radiator 102 and ground plane cells 110, 120 are positioned over a cavity 130 that is defined by conductive walls 132.
Passive frequency dependent tuning structures, herein called couplers 150, are disposed between the center cell 102 and first ground plane cell 110, and between the first ground plane cell 110 and second ground plane cell 120, and between the second ground plane cell 120 and walls 132 of cavity 130.
The resulting antenna pattern is hemispherical when the center element is circularly polarized. Circular polarization can be achieved by implementing the center element as a pair of crossed bow-tie radiators. As shown, these include four, generally triangular shaped, radiating surfaces 103-1, 103-2, 103-3, 103-4 arranged within the confines of the generally rectangular center radiator 102. The triangular radiating surfaces are arranged with their respective bases along a corresponding side of the rectangle, and their peaks adjacent one another. Each triangular section 103 has a respective feed point 106 that is electrically combined with the feed points from the other sections 103 such as by using hybrid combiners. The resulting radiation pattern extends in a hemispherical pattern from the horizon to zenith (or nadir, depending on the orientation installation).
Two of the elements 103-1, 103-3 thus form a first bowtie and the two other elements 103-2, 103-4 form the other bowtie.
Each of the center radiator cell 102 and ground plane cells 110, 120 are generally defined by conductive surfaces with a dielectric or other non-conductive spacing in between each cell 102, 110, 120. For example, spaces 104 are provided between the various conductive surfaces of center radiator 102 and between center radiator 102 and the innermost ground plane cell 110, and space 105 similarly is provided between the first ground plane cell 110 and the second ground plane cell 120.
Various types of coupling structures 150 can be used, preferred implementations of which are described in greater detail below. What is important is that the couplers 150 provide frequency dependent, passive change in impedance.
The coupling structures 150 disposed between the center cell 102 and ground plane cells 110, 120 either prevent coupling, provide partial coupling, or allow coupling of electromagnetic energy between the cells 102, 110, 120 depending upon the frequency band of operation. Currents generated in each of the respective ground planes from the central radiator coupling are therefore significant and greater than that of a passive ground plane depending on operating frequency. More particularly, only the center cell 102 is active at the highest operating frequency, with the couplings isolating both of the ground plane cells 110, 120. However as the radiating frequency decreases, the inner ground plane cell 110 becomes active, and as the frequency increases further, the outer ground plane cell 120 becomes active. As the operating frequency reaches the lowest designed frequency, both ground plane cells 110, 120 become active and the radiating surface eventually expands to include the entire surface of the antenna structure 100.
The size of the cavity 130 dictates the gain of the overall structure 100. For example, based on the Chu-Harrington relationship, for a minimum frequency of operation of 30 MHz, the cavity 130 should scale to a form factor of approximately 64″×64″×2″ in depth. With these dimensions, the antenna structure 100 and is expected to provide a gain of −7 dBi (decibels isotropic).
The nature of the antenna structure 100 including the center radiating cell 102 and surface impedance ground plane cells 110, 120 is conformal to a plane with less than two inches of thickness. The nature of the structures is therefore to appear as a solid metallic surface using incorporated into the aircraft electro magnetic design time or other vehicles.
The walls of the cavity 230 are connected to their respective adjacent triangular elements by couplers 150, which are preferably fixed-tuned to the desired wideband operation.
A vertical array of radiating unit cells 202 can also be realized. For example, three center cells 302-1, 302-2, 302-3 can be vertically stacked. This is shown in
A first cell 302 may provide coverage in a low frequency range of interest (such as from 30-88 MHz, and from 116-174 MHz), a second cell 302-2 may provide coverage in a medium bandwidth of interest (such as from 225-400 MHz), and a third radiating cell 302-3 provide coverage in an upper frequency band of interest (452-512 MHz).
This single structure MultiBand Antenna solution (MBA) therefore consolidates three radiating unit cells 302 (sized respectively at 3 inches, 5 inches and 7 inches in height). Couplers 150 interconnect the stacked radiating units cells 302 to one another. This arrangement achieves low VSWR and broadband coverage. A single feed point can be connected to the bottom radiating unit cell 302-1 and diplexers provided (not shown) to further ensure isolation between the four frequency bands of interest.
An additional bowtie element 302-4, as shown in
The arrangement shown in
The low impedance sections 520 are connected by diagonal 550 or end 540 interconnects. The end interconnects 540 can be vertically (e.g., orthogonally) disposed metallic portions which connect the low impedance 520 and high impedance 510 sections to each other. Diagonal interconnects 550 can be used to connect a low impedance and high impedance section or to connect the high impedance section to a terminal (B). The serially interconnected alternating impedance sections provide mismatched switching along the underlying structure, which gives the meander line the desired “low-wave” propagation characteristics.
In this particular implementation of a conformed antenna in
In another implementation, a Variable Impedance Transmission Line (VITL) can provide the desired passively tunable coupling 150.
More particularly, the VITL implementation 150, shown in
Control voltages can be applied to the electroactive actuators according to the techniques described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/431,217 filed Mar. 27, 2012 entitled “Tunable Transversal Structures”, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to example embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/502,246, filed on Jun. 28, 2011, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/582,887 filed on Jan. 4, 2012; U.S. Provisional Application No. 61,590,894 filed on Jan. 26, 2012 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/596,972 filed on Feb. 9, 2012. The entire teachings of the above application(s) are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
6313716 | Apostolos | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6323814 | Apostolos | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6359599 | Apostolos | Mar 2002 | B2 |
6373440 | Apostolos | Apr 2002 | B2 |
6373446 | Apostolos | Apr 2002 | B2 |
6384792 | Apostolos | May 2002 | B2 |
6404391 | Apostolos | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6480158 | Apostolos | Nov 2002 | B2 |
6486850 | Apostolos | Nov 2002 | B2 |
6492953 | Apostolos | Dec 2002 | B2 |
6504508 | Apostolos | Jan 2003 | B2 |
6590543 | Apostolos | Jul 2003 | B1 |
6597321 | Thursby et al. | Jul 2003 | B2 |
6731247 | Apostolos | May 2004 | B2 |
6753816 | Apostolos | Jun 2004 | B1 |
6771224 | Apostolos | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6774745 | Apostolos | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6791502 | Apostolos et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6828947 | Apostolos et al. | Dec 2004 | B2 |
6833815 | Apostolos | Dec 2004 | B2 |
6839036 | Apostolos et al. | Jan 2005 | B1 |
6842154 | Apostolos | Jan 2005 | B1 |
6856288 | Apostolos et al. | Feb 2005 | B2 |
6882322 | Apostolos et al. | Apr 2005 | B1 |
6894656 | Apostolos et al. | May 2005 | B2 |
6900770 | Apostolos | May 2005 | B2 |
6903689 | Apostolos et al. | Jun 2005 | B2 |
7109927 | Gilbert et al. | Sep 2006 | B2 |
7167137 | Apostolos | Jan 2007 | B2 |
7190322 | Apostolos et al. | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7209092 | Apostolos et al. | Apr 2007 | B2 |
7358920 | Apostolos et al. | Apr 2008 | B2 |
7436369 | Apostolos | Oct 2008 | B2 |
7586453 | Apostolos | Sep 2009 | B2 |
7589684 | Apostolos | Sep 2009 | B2 |
7609215 | Apostolos | Oct 2009 | B2 |
7623075 | Apostolos | Nov 2009 | B2 |
8081130 | Apostolos et al. | Dec 2011 | B2 |
8816925 | Apostolos et al. | Aug 2014 | B2 |
Entry |
---|
Jay, Frank (Ed.), IEEE Standard Dictionary of Electrical and Electronics Terms, Second Edition, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., New York, NY, 1977, p. 636. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61502246 | Jun 2011 | US | |
61582887 | Jan 2012 | US | |
61596972 | Feb 2012 | US | |
61590894 | Jan 2012 | US |