Systems and methods for reducing intermodulation for electronically controlled adaptive antenna arrays
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system comprising:
- a shared feed;
an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element, wherein the adjustment element comprises a tunable material and the adjustment element is controlled to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and
a transition control component configured to selectively induce a change in an electromagnetic property of the tunable material to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element;
wherein the tunable material is substantially nonresponsive to electromagnetic fields provided by the shared feed prior to the induced change in the electromagnetic property of the tunable material.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present disclosure provides a system and methods for mitigating, or reducing, the intermodulation of an adaptive antenna array'"'"'s radiating elements. A tunable element or tunable material, such as a phase change material or a state change material, may be used to increase linearity of the RF transmission properties. These phase or state change materials may modify a radiating element'"'"'s electromagnetic response. In some embodiments, variable couplers may further be added to a system to reduce intermodulation. An adaptive antenna array using the techniques described herein may have all or some of the elements co-located.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a shared feed; an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element, wherein the adjustment element comprises a tunable material and the adjustment element is controlled to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and a transition control component configured to selectively induce a change in an electromagnetic property of the tunable material to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the tunable material is substantially nonresponsive to electromagnetic fields provided by the shared feed prior to the induced change in the electromagnetic property of the tunable material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system comprising:
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a shared feed; an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element, wherein the adjustment element comprises a tunable material and the adjustment element is controlled to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and a transition control component configured to selectively induce a change in an electromagnetic property of the tunable material to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the tunable material comprises a phase change material and wherein the transition control component is configured to selectively induce a phase change in the phase change material; and wherein the transition control component is configured to provide heating or cooling to the phase change material for a temperature-induced transition from a first material phase to a second material phase. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
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8. A system comprising:
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a shared feed; an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element, wherein the adjustment element comprises a tunable material and the adjustment element is controlled to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and a transition control component configured to selectively induce a change in an electromagnetic property of the tunable material to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the tunable material comprises a phase change material and wherein the transition control component is configured to selectively induce a phase change in the phase change material; and wherein the transition control component is configured to increase or reduce a magnetic field induced in the phase change material to induce a transition from a first material phase to a second material phase.
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9. A system comprising:
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a shared feed; an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element, wherein the adjustment element comprises a tunable material and the adjustment element is controlled to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and a transition control component configured to selectively induce a change in an electromagnetic property of the tunable material to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the tunable material comprises the state change material and wherein the transition control component is configured to selectively change the electromagnetic property of the state change material. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system comprising:
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a shared feed; an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element, wherein the adjustment element comprises a tunable material and the adjustment element is controlled to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and a transition control component configured to selectively induce a change in an electromagnetic property of the tunable material to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the radiating elements comprise resonant elements, wherein the adjustment element corresponding to a radiating element is configured to modify a response of the resonant elements to the shared feed to control the at least one of the activation or the degree of radiation of the corresponding radiating element.
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17. A method comprising:
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delivering an electromagnetic signal to a shared feed; feeding an electromagnetic signal from the shared feed to an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element; controlling at least one adjustment element to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and modifying, via a transition control component of the at least one adjustment element, an electromagnetic property of a tunable material of the at least one adjustment element to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the tunable material comprises a phase change material and wherein the transition control component is configured to selectively induce a phase change in the phase change material; and wherein the transition control component is configured to provide heating or cooling to the phase change material for a temperature-induced transition from a first material phase to a second material phase. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A method comprising:
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delivering an electromagnetic signal to a shared feed; feeding an electromagnetic signal from the shared feed to an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element; controlling at least one adjustment element to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and modifying, via a transition control component of the at least one adjustment element, an electromagnetic property of a tunable material of the at least one adjustment element to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the tunable material comprises the state change material and wherein the transition control component is configured to selectively change the electromagnetic property of the state change material. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method comprising:
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delivering an electromagnetic signal to a shared feed; feeding an electromagnetic signal from the shared feed to an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element; controlling at least one adjustment element to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and modifying, via a transition control component of the at least one adjustment element, an electromagnetic property of a tunable material of the at least one adjustment element to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the radiating elements comprise resonant elements, wherein the adjustment element corresponding to a radiating element is configured to modify a response of the resonant elements to the shared feed to control the at least one of the activation or the degree of radiation of the corresponding radiating element. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. A method comprising:
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delivering an electromagnetic signal to a shared feed; feeding an electromagnetic signal from the shared feed to an adaptive array of unit cells, wherein each unit cell comprises a radiating element and an adjustment element co-located with the radiating element; controlling at least one adjustment element to reduce amounts of signal intermodulation between two or more unit cells in the adaptive array of unit cells; and modifying, via a transition control component of the at least one adjustment element, an electromagnetic property of a tunable material of the at least one adjustment element to control at least one of an activation or a degree of radiation of the radiating element; wherein the adjustment element comprises a switch to control activation or the degree of radiation of the radiating element, wherein the tunable material modifies a resistance of the switch. - View Dependent Claims (30)
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31. A system comprising:
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a first layer comprising a shared feed; a second layer comprising an array of radiating elements, wherein a radiating element is reactively coupled with one or more neighboring radiating elements within the second layer; a third layer comprising an array of near-field coupling elements coupled to the radiating elements in the second layer, wherein each coupling element is configured to selectively control a field coupling level between one or more radiating elements and the shared feed, a plurality of coupling control components configured to control the field coupling level between the one or more radiating elements, wherein the coupling control components are substantially nonresponsive to electromagnetic fields provided by the shared feed. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification