Planar wideband antennas

• US 20030210207A1
• Filed: 02/06/2003
• Published: 11/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
• Original Assignee: Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
• Inventors: Suh, Seong-Youp, Stutzman, Warren L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,842,141 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/895
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/38 formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support patch antennas H01Q9/0407; microstrip dipole antennas H01Q9/065; microstrip slot antennas H01Q13/106; transmission line microstrip antennas H01Q13/206; manufacturing reflecting surfaces using insulating material for supporting the reflecting surface H01Q15/142
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/26 Turnstile or like antennas comprising arrangements of three or more elongated elements disposed radially and symmetrically in a horizontal plane about a common centre
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/28 Conical, cylindrical, cage, strip, gauze, or like elements having an extended radiating surface; Elements comprising two conical surfaces having collinear axes and adjacent apices and fed by two-conductor transmission lines waveguide horns or mouths H01Q13/00; slot antennas H01Q13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/40 Element having extended radiating surface

Abstract

Wideband antennas with omnidirectional coverage have both military and commercial applications. In one embodiment, the Planar Inverted Cone Antenna (PICA) is composed of a single flat element vertically mounted above a ground plane. A geometry of Planar Inverted Cone Antenna (PICA) is based on the conventional circular-disc antenna with trimmed top part having the shape of a planar-inverted cone. in a second embodiment, the Fourpoint antenna also provides balanced impedance over the operating band and has useful radiation patterns and dual polarization over its operating frequency.

Claims

1. An antenna element, comprising:

a ground plane; and

a flat radiating element perpendicular to the ground plane, said flat radiating element having a shape of an inverted cone intersecting an elliptical curve.

2. The antenna element as recited in claim 1, wherein said elliptical curve is semi-circular.

3. The antenna element as recited in claim 1, wherein said inverted cone is truncated to form an inverted trapezoid.

4. The antenna element as recited in claim 1, wherein a height of the flat radiating element measured from a base of the elliptical curve to an apex of the inverted cone is equal to a quarter wavelength of a lowest operating frequency of the antenna element.

5. The antenna element as recited in claim 1, further comprising a radiating element projecting from an apex of the inverted cone and functioning as a loading element.

6. The planar antenna as recited in claim 4, wherein said loading element is selected from the group comprising a straight wire, helix wire, zigzag wire, meander shaped wire, triangular shaped element, rectangular shaped element, or flat antenna of any shape.

7. An antenna element as recited in claim 1, further comprising a second flat radiating element perpendicular to the ground plane and perpendicular to said first mentioned flat radiating element, said second flat radiating element having a shape of an inverted cone intersecting an elliptical curve and identical in dimension to said first mentioned flat radiating element.

8. An antenna element, comprising:

a dielectric substrate;

a ground plane displaced from and parallel to said dielectric substrate;

four quadrilateral radiating elements, positioned on a top side of said dielectric substrate away from said ground plane, wherein each of said radiating elements comprises a four sided polygon with two adjacent shorter sides forming a right angle there between and two longer adjacent sides having an acute angle there between, said radiating elements positioned diagonally to each other; and

at least two feed lines connecting to feed points located near an inner corner on diametrically opposed ones of said four quadrilateral radiating elements.

9. The antenna element as recited in claim 8, further comprising a tuning plate on a bottom side of said dielectric substrate.

10. The antenna element as recited in claim 9, wherein said tuning plate shape is selected from the group comprising a square, a star, or a circle.

11. The antenna element as recited in claim 8, further comprising a first tuning plate on a bottom side of said dielectric substrate and at least one additional tuning plate positioned between said dielectric substrate and said ground plane.

12. The antenna element as recited in claim 8, wherein said radiating elements further comprise an additional metal tabs added to vertices of said two adjacent longer sides of said radiating elements.

13. The antenna element as recited in claim 12, wherein said additional metal tab is selected from the group comprising a thin wire, helix wire, zigzag wire, or triangle.