Claims
- 1. A phased array antenna of an active electronically scanned antenna system, comprising:one or more antenna tile structures, each of said antenna tile structures further comprising, a laminated assembly including a plurality of contiguous layers of dielectric material having patterns of metallization formed on one or more surfaces thereof and selectively interconnected by an arrangement of surface conductors and conductive vias for implementing transmission, reception, and control of RF signals between an RF input/output terminal and a plurality of radiator elements of an antenna assembly; and wherein said radiator elements comprise elements of a space-fed patch antenna assembly including first and second mutually adjacent arrays of aligned patch radiators located on respective layers of foam material on one side of the antenna tile structure.
- 2. A phased array antenna according to claim 1 and further comprising,a plurality of MEMS type switched time delay units (TDUs) coupled between said radiator elements and a signal circulator comprising one circuit element of a plurality of intermediate transmit/receive (TR) circuits each including a transmit RF signal amplifier, a receive RF signal amplifier and a TR switch, each of said TDUs including like sets of delay transmission lines having a plurality of different time delay portions selectively connected by a plurality of microelectromechanical switch (MEMS) devices to a respective radiator element of said antenna assembly.
- 3. A phased array antenna according to claim 2 wherein sets of four TDUs of said plurality of TDUs are packaged in a plurality of Quad time delay units (Quad TDUs).
- 4. A phased array antenna according to claim 3 wherein each Quad TDU further includes a set of signal splitters connected to the four TDUs packaged therein.
- 5. A phased array antenna according to claim 4 wherein said plurality of Quad TDUs are mounted on said other side of the antenna tile structure.
- 6. A phased array antenna according to claim 5 and further comprising another said Quad TDU coupled, via respective signal splitters, between said plurality of intermediate TR circuits and a signal circulator comprising one element of a common TR circuit, said common TR circuit also including a transmit RF signal amplifier, a receive RF signal amplifier and a TR switch.
- 7. A phased array antenna according to claim 5 and further comprising a second common TR circuit connected in tandem to said intermediate TR circuits via a signal splitter circuit, said common TR circuit including another transmit RF amplifier and another receive RF amplifier switched between a variable RF signal attenuator.
- 8. A phased array antenna according to claim 7 and further comprising an RF signal time delay unit coupled between said variable RF signal attenuator and said RF signal input/output terminal for providing a common time delay for all RF signals propagating between said radiator elements and said input/output terminal.
- 9. A phased array antenna according to claim 8 wherein said RF signal time delay unit comprises a variable time delay unit providing a larger time delay than that provided by the time delay portions of said TDUs and comprising a plurality of discrete transmission line elements of selectively varying lengths of RF transmission line.
- 10. A phased array antenna according to claim 9 wherein the transmission line elements of said RF signal time delay unit are fabricated on a surface of one of said layers of dielectric material.
- 11. A phased array antenna according to claim 10 wherein said transmission line elements of said RF signal time delay unit comprise lengths of stripline and being isolated from other circuit elements by adjacent lines of vias on both sides thereof.
- 12. A phased array antenna according to claim 2 wherein said radiator elements are respectively coupled to said TDUs by RF transmission line elements passing through said layers of dielectric material and including a configuration of conductor vias including an inner via of conductor material and a set of ring type vias forming a coaxial transmission line, and additionally including exciter elements connected to said inner vias and being located in respective resonant cavities formed of stripline metallization on at least one of said layers of dielectric material, and respective radiation slots located adjacent said exciter elements formed in a pattern of stripline metallization on a lowermost layer of said plurality of layers of dielectric material adjacent the patch radiators.
- 13. A phased array antenna according to claim 12 wherein said resonant cavities comprise annular members of stripline material respectively surrounding the exciter elements.
- 14. A phased array antenna according to claim 12 wherein said inner vias terminate in tuning stub elements at said lowermost layer.
- 15. A phased array antenna of an active electronically scanned antenna system, comprising:one or more antenna tile structures, each of said antenna tile structures further comprising, a laminated assembly including a plurality of contiguous layers of dielectric material having patterns of metallization formed on one or more surfaces thereof and selectively interconnected by an arrangement of surface conductors and conductive vias for implementing transmission, reception, and control of RF signals between an RF input/output terminal and a plurality of radiator elements of an antenna assembly; wherein said radiator elements comprise elements of a space-fed patch antenna assembly including first and second mutually adjacent arrays of aligned patch radiators located on one side of the antenna tile structure; a plurality of switched time delay units (TDUs) coupled between said radiator elements and a signal circulator comprising one circuit element of a plurality of intermediate transmit/receive (TR) circuits each including a transmit RF signal amplifier, a receive RF signal amplifier and a TR switch, each of said TDUs including like sets of delay transmission lines having a plurality of different time delay portions selectively connected by a plurality of switch devices to a respective radiator element of said antenna assembly; and wherein sets of four TDUs of said plurality of TDUs are packaged in a plurality of Quad time delay units (Quad TDUs).
- 16. A phased array antenna of an active electronically scanned antenna system, comprising:one or more antenna tile structures, each of said antenna tile structures further comprising, a laminated assembly including a plurality of contiguous layers of dielectric material having patterns of metallization formed on one or more surfaces thereof and selectively interconnected by an arrangement of surface conductors and conductive vias for implementing transmission, reception, and control of RF signals between an RF input/output terminal and a plurality of radiator elements of an antenna assembly; and wherein said radiator elements comprise elements of a space-fed patch antenna assembly including first and second mutually adjacent arrays of aligned patch radiators located on respective layers of support material on one side of the antenna tile structure; and a plurality of switched time delay units (TDUs) coupled between said radiator elements and a signal circulator comprising one circuit element of a plurality of intermediate transmit/receive (TR) circuits each including a transmit RF signal amplifier, a receive RF signal amplifier and a TR switch, each of said TDUs including like sets of delay transmission lines having a plurality of different time delay portions selectively connected by a plurality of switch devices to a respective radiator element of said antenna assembly; further comprising a common TR circuit connected in series to said intermediate TR circuits via a signal splitter circuit, said common TR circuit including another transmit RF amplifier, another receive RF amplifier switched between a variable RF signal attenuator and an RF signal time delay unit coupled between said variable RF signal attenuator and said RF signal input/output terminal for providing a common time delay for all RF signals propagating between said radiator elements and said input/output terminal.
- 17. A phased array antenna according to claim 16 wherein said TDUs are comprised of MEMS type switched time delay units and said switch devices are comprised of microelectromechanical switch (MEMS) devices.
- 18. A phased array antenna according to claim 16 wherein said RF signal time delay unit comprises a variable time delay unit providing a larger time delay than that provided by the time delay portions of said TDUs and comprising a plurality of discrete transmission line elements of selectively varying lengths of RF transmission line.
- 19. A phased array antenna of an active electronically scanned antenna system, comprising:one or more antenna tile structures, each of said antenna tile structures further comprising, a laminated assembly including a plurality of contiguous layers of dielectric material having patterns of metallization formed on one or more surfaces thereof and selectively interconnected by an arrangement of surface conductors and conductive vias for implementing transmission, reception, and control of RF signals between an RF input/output terminal and a plurality of radiator elements of an antenna assembly; wherein said radiator elements comprise elements of a space-fed patch antenna assembly including first and second mutually adjacent arrays of aligned patch radiators located in spaced apart relationship on one side of the antenna tile structure; a plurality of switched time delay units (TDUs) coupled between said radiator elements and a signal circulator comprising one circuit element of a plurality of intermediate transmit/receive (TR) circuits each including a transmit RF signal amplifier, a receive RF signal amplifier and a TR switch, each of said TDUs including like sets of delay transmission lines having a plurality of different time delay portions selectively connected by a plurality of switch devices to a respective radiator element of said antenna assembly; wherein said radiator elements are respectively coupled to said TDUs by RF transmission line elements passing through said layers of dielectric material and including a configuration of conductor vias including an inner via of conductor material and a set of ring type vias forming a coaxial transmission line, and additionally including exciter elements connected to said inner vias and being located in respective resonant cavities formed of stripline metallization on at least one of said layers of dielectric material, and respective radiation slots located adjacent said exciter elements formed in a pattern of stripline metallization on a lowermost layer of said plurality of layers of dielectric material adjacent the patch radiators.
- 20. A phased array antenna according to claim 19 wherein said resonant cavities comprise annular members of stripline material respectively surrounding the exciter elements.
- 21. A phased array antenna according to claim 19 wherein said inner vias terminate in tuning stub elements at said lowermost layer.
- 22. A phased array antenna according to claim 19 wherein said TDUs comprise MEMS type switched time delay units.
- 23. A phased array antenna according to claim 19 wherein said switch devices comprise microelectromechanical switch (MEMS) devices.
- 24. A phased array antenna according to claim 19 wherein said radiation elements are comprised of generally rectangular patch radiator elements.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This invention is related to the invention shown and described in U.S. Ser. No. 10/157,935 entitled “Microelectromechanical Switch”, filed on May 31, 2002 in the names of L. E. Dickens et al. This application is assigned to the assignee of the subject application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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