Plasma switched array antenna

• US 10,230,166 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2017
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Savage, Larry L., Dabrowski, Ted R., Diehl, Colin A., Williams, John D., Ruiz, Enrique J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanglaude, Jean B
• Application Number:
  US15/490,750
• Publication Number:
  US 20180301803A1
• Time in Patent Office: 693 Days
• Field of Search: 343374, 343876, 343785, 343701, 343753, 343904
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 15/0033 used for beam splitting or combining, e.g. acting as a quasi-optical multiplexer H01Q19/191 and H01Q19/195 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 15/08 formed of solid dielectric material
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/06 using refracting or diffracting devices, e.g. lens radome H01Q1/42
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/0031 Parallel-plate fed arrays; Lens-fed arrays multibeam arrays H01Q25/008
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/067 using endfire radiating aerial units transverse to the plane of the array
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/22 Antenna units of the array energised non-uniformly in amplitude or phase, e.g. tapered array or binomial array
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/00 Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/245 in the focal plane of a focussing device

Abstract

A reconfigurable antenna comprises a plurality of antenna feed elements, a plurality of plasma switches respectively associated with the antenna feed elements, and control circuitry for independently operating the plasma switches to selectively activate and deactivate the antenna feed elements. Each plasma switch may comprise a volume of inert gas, and a pair of electrodes spanning the respective volume of inert gas. The reconfigurable antenna may comprise a power supply for supplying a voltage to the pair of electrodes of each of plasma switch sufficient to ignite the respective inert gas volume into a plasma field to deactivate the respective antenna feed element. Each plasma switch may optionally be operated to attenuate each antenna feed element.

Claims

1. A reconfigurable antenna, comprising:

a plurality of antenna feed elements;

a plurality of plasma switches respectively associated with the antenna feed elements,

wherein each of the plasma switches comprises a volume of inert gas and a pair of electrodes spanning the respective inert gas volume; and

control circuitry for independently operating the plasma switches to selectively activate and deactivate the antenna feed elements.

2. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 1, further comprising a focusing element having a focal plane on which the antenna feed elements are located.

3. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 2, wherein the focusing element is a dielectric lens.

4. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 3, wherein the dielectric lens is a spherical dielectric lens.

5. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 1, further comprising a dielectric chamber containing the inert gas volumes.

6. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is for independently operating the plasma switches to attenuate the antenna feed elements.

7. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 1, further comprising a radio frequency (RF) combiner coupled to the antenna feed elements via the respective plasma switches.

8. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 1, further comprising a power supply for supplying a voltage to the pair of electrodes of each of the plasma switches sufficient to ignite the respective inert gas volume into a plasma field.

9. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 8, wherein the control circuitry is for selectively controlling the supply of the voltage from the power supply to the respective plasma switches to selectively turn the respective antenna feed elements on or off.

10. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is for independently operating the plasma switches to dynamically steer an RF beam.

11. The reconfigurable antenna of claim 10, wherein the control circuitry is for independently operating the plasma switches to selectively activate and then deactivate the respective antenna feed elements one at a time.

12. An antenna, comprising:

at least one antenna feed element;

at least one plasma switch respectively associated with the at least one antenna feed element, wherein each of the at least one plasma switch comprises a volume of inert gas, and a pair of electrodes spanning the respective volume of inert gas; and

a power supply for supplying a voltage to the pair of electrodes of each of the at least one plasma switch sufficient to ignite the respective inert gas volume into a plasma field.

13. The antenna of claim 12, further comprising a focusing element having a focal plane on which the antenna feed element is located.

14. The antenna of claim 13, wherein the focusing element is a dielectric lens.

15. The antenna of claim 14, wherein the dielectric lens is a spherical dielectric lens.

16. The antenna of claim 12, wherein the plasma field is capable of deactivating the respective antenna feed element.

17. The antenna of claim 12, wherein the plasma field is capable of attenuating the respective antenna feed element.

18. The antenna of claim 12, wherein the at least one antenna feed element comprises a plurality of antenna feed elements, and the at least one plasma switch comprises a plurality of plasma switches.

19. The antenna of claim 18, further comprising a radio frequency (RF) combiner coupled to the antenna feed elements.

20. A method of operating an antenna comprising a focusing element having a focal plane, a plurality of antenna feed elements located on the focal plane, a plurality of plasma switches respectively associated with the antenna feed elements, and a radio frequency (RF) combiner coupled to the antenna feed elements via the plasma switches, the method comprising:

(a) conveying RF energy between the focusing element and the RF combiner;

(b) selecting a subset of the antenna feed elements;

(c) independently operating the plasma switches to activate the subset of the antenna feed elements, thereby passing the RF energy through the corresponding subset of the plasma switches, and to deactivate remaining ones of the antenna feed elements, thereby blocking the RF energy through the corresponding remaining ones of the plasma switches, such that the antenna generates at least one RF beam having a characteristic;

(d) selecting a different subset of the antenna feed elements;

(e) repeating step (c) with the different subset of antenna feed elements, such that the characteristic of the at least one RF beam is modified.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the characteristic of the at least one RF beam is a directional angle of the at least one RF beam.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the characteristic of the at least one RF beam is an aperture of the at least one RF beam.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the characteristic of the at least one RF beam is a group size of the at least one RF beam.