Patent Application
20190044247
The present disclosure relates to antenna designs. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a small, inexpensive, omni-directional, printable meta-antenna with a broad impedance bandwidth and near constant gain.
Wireless communication is a key component of mobile computing technology. Network applications such as web browsing, streaming, and other forms of data consumption are increasingly moving to mobile devices. In addition, the continued growth of Internet of Things (IoT) further stimulates the demand for more advanced wireless communication technologies.
Among various wireless communication technologies, antenna design remains a critically important part. Many antennas used in mobile devices are based on a dipole or planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) design, which suffers from a number of drawbacks. In general, especially in digital communication based on quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) where amplitude is a key part of the signal, a dipole antenna often requires the dimension of the antenna to be approximately half the wavelength corresponding to the transmission frequency. Such antennas can be too large to be used in many applications without performance compromises. Moreover, dipole-based antennas typically have a narrow impedance bandwidth, for instance a bandwidth of approximately 10% of the target frequency. As a result, these antennas are not easily adaptable for wide-bandwidth applications and often suffer performance degradation when used in diverse environments. In addition, conventional antennas might not have the ideal directionality for the intended use.
One embodiment described herein provides an antenna. This antenna comprises a main element with a shape of a loop and two parasitic elements enclosed by the main element. Each parasitic element is shaped as a loop with an opening. The openings of the two parasitic elements are positioned adjacent to opposing sides of the main element, respectively.
In a variation on this embodiment, the main element has a substantially rectangular shape.
In a variation on this embodiment, a long edge of the main element is substantially equal to one-quarter of a desired transmission wavelength.
In a variation on this embodiment, a short edge of the main element is substantially equal to one-eighth of a desired transmission wavelength.
In a variation on this embodiment, the main element comprises an opening that serves as a feed point. The opening of the main element is positioned approximately at a midpoint of a long edge of the main element.
In a variation on this embodiment, the antenna has a nominal impedance of approximately 100 Ohms.
In a variation on this embodiment, the main element and parasitic elements comprise conductive ink printed on a surface.
In a variation on this embodiment, the main element and parasitic elements comprise metal traces deposited on a substrate.
In a variation on this embodiment, the main element is configured to be driven directly by a differential RF signal.
In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same figure elements.
The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the embodiments, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.
Embodiments of the present invention solve the problems associated with the large size, narrow bandwidth, and directionality of dipole-based antennas by providing a small and inexpensive antenna system, which is printable on a substrate with conductive ink. In addition to being smaller than conventional antennas, the disclosed antenna system can be omni-directional, with a broader gain window and better efficiency, and therefore robust in different operating environments. The disclosed antenna system can include a main antenna element and a resonator inductively coupled to the main antenna element. The main antenna element may include a conductive circuit (which can be a trace) on a plane. The resonator may include two non-intersecting resonant elements on the same plane and enclosed within the conductive circuit of the main antenna element. Because the present inventive antenna system makes use of principles similar to those used in metamaterials, this antenna system can also be referred to as a “meta-antenna.”
The present meta-antenna system can achieve wider bandwidth, be fed directly with a differential RF signal, and facilitate a significantly reduced size by including a two-element inductively coupled resonator. Specifically, existing dipole or loop antennas typically have a height of approximately half the wavelength of the resonant frequency (assuming the antenna is positioned vertically). By contrast, the disclosed meta-antenna system can have a height of approximately one-quarter the resonant wavelength. Thus, the meta-antenna is approximately half the size of a comparable dipole antenna.
Moreover, the disclosed antenna system can provide a flat gain profile over a much larger bandwidth (about 40% of the resonant frequency). The system can operate in diverse environments and can tolerate a wider impedance variation. In addition, this meta-antenna system can be fed directly with a differential RF signal, which obviates the need of a balun. As a result, fewer components are needed, which reduces production costs.
The small size, versatility, and low cost of the disclosed meta-antenna make it excellent for mobile applications, especially IoT. In particular, the meta-antenna system is well-suited for multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) devices. For example, for a Wi-Fi device such as a router, the meta-antenna makes it technically and economically viable to include multiple high-performance antennas within a small router, providing multiple wireless channels. The meta-antenna can be manufactured using a conventional process (e.g., by etching Cu deposited on a film or substrate), which can produce a flexible circuit to which components can be soldered. The meta-antenna can also be printed on a substrate (such as polyethylene naphthalate or PEN), either as part of a circuit, or as a separate unit that can be attached to other devices.
These desirable properties are due to the meta-antenna's unique design. As will be described below, the disclosed antenna system features a two-element resonator mechanism, wherein two parasitic elements interact with a main antenna element and with each other. This multi-element resonant system can behave as a family of closely coupled arrays.
In one embodiment, main antenna element 104 can have a rectangular or substantially rectangular shape, with its longer edge substantially equal to (e.g., within ±10% of) or slightly longer than (e.g., no more than 110% of) a quarter of the desired transmission wavelength, and its shorter edge substantially equal to (e.g., within ±10% of), slightly longer than (e.g., no more than 110% of), or slightly shorter than (e.g., no less than 90% of) an eighth of the desired wavelength. For many applications, vertically polarized radiation is desirable (as most transmission and receiving antennas are positioned vertically). Assuming that the meta-antenna is positioned vertically (for example, along the length of a typical smart phone held vertically), the height of the meta-antenna is approximately a quarter of the desired transmission wavelength, and the width is approximately an eighth of this wavelength. By contrast, a conventional vertically positioned dipole antenna would require half the wavelength in the vertical direction. The space savings of the meta-antenna can be significant.
Furthermore, assuming that meta-antenna 100 is positioned vertically for most applications, parasitic elements 106 and 108 can both be horizontally oriented, rectangular conductive paths. The bottom edge of parasitic element 106 can be positioned slightly above horizontal mid plane 110 of main antenna element 104, and parasitic element 108 can be positioned slightly below mid plane 110. Both parasitic elements 106 and 108 can be completely enclosed by main antenna element 104. Parasitic element 106 can have opening 112 in the middle of its top side; similarly, parasitic element 108 can have opening 114 of approximately the same size on the bottom side, such that parasitic elements 106 and 108 are mirror images about mid plane 110 of main antenna element 104.
In addition, an opening 103 is positioned near the center of one of the longer edges of main antenna element 104. Opening 103 can serve as a differential feed point and be coupled to a feeding circuit 102, which can feed a differential RF signal to meta-antenna 103. In one embodiment, opening 103 produces a 100 Ohm nominal impedance in the meta-antenna. This nominal impedance can be adjusted (e.g., to 75 Ohms or 300 Ohms), to suit different applications, by modifying the geometry of meta-antenna 100 (e.g., changing the size of opening 103, and/or changing the length/width of meta-antenna 100).
In some embodiments, the size of openings 112 and 114, and the space separating parasitic elements 106 and 108 from main element 104, can be varied. Such structural variation allows the meta-antenna to have different impedances. In particular, the meta-antenna can be optimized for resonant frequency, bandwidth, and/or directionality for a given application.
If meta-antenna 100 is implemented using conductive traces (e.g., conductive material etched or printed on a film), the width of such traces can take various values. For example, the width of the conductive trace for both the main antenna element 104 and parasitic elements 106 and 108 can range from 0.1 mm to 10 mm. Other ranges are also possible.
During operation, opening 103 in main antenna element 104 serves as an entry for a differential RF signal, wherein half the input power is fed at zero phase angle into one branch of opening 103 and the other half of the input power is fed at 180° phase angle to the other branch of opening 103. One of the signal currents flows outward into one side of the loop of main antenna element 104, while the other signal current flows inward from the other side of the loop. The conductive path of main antenna element 104 is in close proximity to the side paths of parasitic elements 106 and 108, thereby inducing current flow in both. This induced current results in resonance in both elements 106 and 108, which in turn produces a highly vertically polarized, omni-directional radiation in a toroidal pattern with a gain exceeding that of a dipole of twice the length.
The meta-antenna system is not limited to the geometry shown in
The shape of the meta-antenna, including the main antenna element and conductive resonator, need not be limited to rectangular.
As in a conventional dipole or loop antenna, the current in main element 304 can form a standing wave. This standing wave resonates at a wavelength corresponding to the perimeter of main element 304, as discussed previously. As a result, the induced currents in parasitic elements 306 and 308 also form standing waves. Parasitic elements 306 and 308 thereby behave like oscillatory circuit elements, storing electrical energy within the vicinity of the meta-antenna's main loop 304 and emitting the stored energy as electromagnetic radiation. These resonant mechanisms reinforce the signal transmission as in a closely coupled array, providing the meta-antenna with greater efficiency and better, broader gain with a small size. In addition, in some embodiments, the system can operate without a separate balun, in contrast with a conventional dipole antenna. This is because the main antenna element forms a closed circuit loop, so that the equivalent of a balun is included within the antenna.
This symmetry results in highly isotropic or omni-directional operability of the system, for both transmission and reception. Moreover, the meta-antenna can operate in close proximity of a ground plane, and still maintain this omni-directional pattern. This isotropy is another advantage of the disclosed system, in contrast with existing systems (e.g., typical antennas for cellular phones) that do not provide isotropic radiation pattern, and thus may provide sub-optimal gain in certain directions.
The disclosed system has a flat, broad gain function, enabling it to operate over a bandwidth range of up to approximately 40% of the peak frequency (that is, the frequency at which gain is maximized). The flat gain is attributable to both the system's impedance bandwidth, and its radiation pattern bandwidth, being very wide. In digital communication systems, a more flat and constant gain profile over a broader frequency range typically results in better bit error rate (BER) performance.
Such a flat gain function allows the antenna to cope effectively with diverse environments having different impedances, e.g. for operation in proximity of a ground plane or a printed circuit board, or mounted on different types or thicknesses of wall.
In some embodiments, the disclosed meta-antenna system can be used in a phased array for applications that require strong directionality, such as a radar. Using the meta-antenna in a phased array involves sending a signal to a set of meta-antennas arranged in a predetermined pattern, with phase shifters introducing a phase delay between the meta-antennas.
These devices can communicate with router 802 or via network 806, or can communicate with each other directly using wireless signals transmitted and received by the disclosed meta-antenna system (e.g., machine-to-machine (M2M) or other communications protocols). For example, mobile device 810 can send commands from a user to smart appliance 812, e.g. to adjust the thermostat's settings. Likewise, smart lighting system 814 and smart thermostat 812 can communicate, for example to execute a pre-existing rule to turn on heating and cooling systems automatically when a user enters the building and turns on a light. The meta-antenna's broad bandwidth enables it to cope particularly effectively with diverse environments, such as walls of differing thicknesses and materials. Hence, lighting system 814 and thermostat 812, which may be ceiling- or wall-mounted, can nonetheless communicate with each other reliably and efficiently according to the disclosed system and methods.
The methods and systems described herein can also be integrated into hardware modules or apparatus. These modules or apparatus may include, but are not limited to, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a system on a chip (SoC), and/or other circuit devices now known or later developed. When the hardware modules or apparatus are activated, they perform the circuit functions included within them.
The foregoing descriptions of various embodiments have been presented only for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the forms disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. Additionally, the above disclosure is not intended to limit the present invention.
This invention was made with U.S. government support under Contract No. DE-AR0000542 awarded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the Department of Energy (ARPA-E). The U.S. government has certain rights in this invention.
