Low cost multiple pattern antenna for use with multiple receiver systems

• US 20070210974A1
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Published: 09/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bing Chiang
• Original Assignee: Bing Chiang
• Inventors: Chiang, Bing
• Granted Patent: US 7,696,943 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/757
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/32 the primary active element being end-fed and elongated
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/002 providing at least two patterns of different beamwidth; Variable beamwidth antennas

Abstract

An antenna assembly includes at least two active or main radiating omni-directional antenna elements arranged with at least one beam control or passive antenna element used as a reflector. The beam control antenna element(s) may have multiple reactance elements that can electrically terminate it to adjust the input or output beam pattern(s) produced by the combination of the active antenna elements and the beam control antenna element(s). More specifically, the beam control antenna element(s) may be coupled to different terminating reactances to change beam characteristics, such as the directivity and angular beam width. Processing may be employed to select which terminating reactance to use. Consequently, the radiator pattern of the antenna can be more easily directed towards a specific target receiver/transmitter, reduce signal-to-noise interference levels, and/or increase gain. A Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) processing technique may be employed to operate the antenna assembly with simultaneous beam patterns.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

multiple active antenna elements; and

multiple beam control antenna elements electromagnetically coupled to the active antenna elements and electromagnetically disposed between the active antenna elements, the multiple beam control antenna elements being offset from an axis defined by at least two active antenna elements.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 further including at least one device operatively coupled to the beam control antenna elements to effect at least one antenna beam pattern formed by the apparatus.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said at least one device is operatively coupled to said beam control antenna elements to affect the electromagnetic coupling between the active antenna elements.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said at least one device provides at least two modes of operation for the apparatus.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said at least two modes of operation include a non-omni-directional mode and a substantially omni-directional mode.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said at least two modes have different electromagnetic coupling between the active antenna elements.

7. The apparatus according to claim 2 further including a processor coupled to the active antenna elements and said at least one device, the processor used to select state settings for said at least one device based on a signal received by the active antenna elements.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein at least one beam control antenna element is directly attached to electrical ground.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein at least one beam control antenna element is coupled to electrical ground through a reactance.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said at least one device includes a switch.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the switch includes a number of switch states and a like number of reactance elements coupled to the switch.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the spacing between the active antenna elements is about half of the wavelength of a carrier signal transmitted or received by the active antenna elements.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the spacing between the electromagnetically coupled active antenna elements and at least one beam control antenna element of the multiple beam control antenna elements is about one-quarter of the wavelength of a carrier signal transmitted or received by the active antenna elements.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the active antenna elements are arranged in a one-dimensional array or curvilinear array.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the active antenna elements are arranged in a two dimensional array.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the two dimensional array is substantially a circular pattern with the beam control elements being offset from one another.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the beam control antenna elements are arranged in a one dimensional array.

18. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the beam control antenna elements are arranged in a two dimensional array.

19. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the multiple beam control antenna elements are offset from a second axis spanning between at least two beam control antenna elements with which the at least two active antenna elements are electromagnetically coupled.

20. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the beam control antenna elements are spaced father apart from each other than they are from respective active antenna elements with which they are electromagnetically coupled.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the beam control antenna elements are positioned substantially along the axis with the respective active antenna elements with which they are electromagnetically coupled.

22. The apparatus according to claim 1 further including a multiple-input multiple-output (IMO) processing unit having multiple transmitters or receivers adapted to operate with the multiple active antenna elements.

23. The apparatus according to claim 1 used in a base station, handset, wireless access point, or client or station device.

24. The apparatus according to claim 1 used in a cellular network, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) system, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, or GSM system.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

multiple active antenna elements arranged in a linear configuration; and

multiple beam control antenna elements electromagnetically coupled to the multiple active antenna elements and electromagnetically disposed between at least two of the active antenna elements, the multiple beam control antenna elements interspersed among the multiple active antenna elements in a configuration approximating at least a portion of a trigonometric function.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising:

multiple second active antenna elements arranged in a second linear configuration; and

multiple second beam control antenna elements electromagnetically coupled to the multiple second active antenna elements and electromagnetically disposed between at least two of the second active antenna elements, the multiple second beam control antenna elements interspersed among the multiple second active antenna elements in a second configuration approximating at least a portion of a trigonometric function.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the trigonometric function is a sine wave.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the plurality of beam control antenna elements are positioned outside of the array by respective predetermined distances.

28. An apparatus, comprising:

multiple active antenna elements; and

multiple beam control antenna elements electromagnetically coupled to the multiple active antenna elements and electromagnetically disposed between at least two of the active antenna elements;

at least a subset of the multiple active antenna elements and at least a subset of the multiple beam control antenna element being disposed in a plurality of rows for a predetermined array; and

a plurality of beam control antenna elements being positioned outside of the array configured to provide for active antenna gain of the array.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the predetermined array comprises the beam control antenna elements approximating a portion of a sine wave.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the plurality of beam control antenna elements being positioned outside of the array comprise at least a first beam control antenna element spaced from a first lateral side of the array and at least a second beam control antenna element spaced from a second lateral side of the array with the first and the second beam control antenna elements being generally aligned relative to one another.

32. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of active antenna elements, the plurality of active antenna elements being configured to operate in different frequency ranges; and

at least one beam control antenna element electromagnetically disposed between the active antenna elements.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the active antenna elements individually support multiple frequency bands.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein at least two active antenna elements of different frequency bands are isolated with at least two beam control elements electromagnetically disposed between at least two active elements of different frequency bands.

35. An apparatus comprising:

at least two active antenna elements each coupled to a respective receiver and transmitter, and configured to form multiple simultaneous beams;

a beam control antenna element being coupled to a switch, the switch operatively coupling the beam control antenna elements a device to effect at least one antenna beam pattern formed by the at least two active antenna elements; and

a controller coupled to the beam control antenna element and coupled to the respective receiver and transmitter, the controller configured to switch between transmitting and receiving in a directional mode or transmitting and receiving in an omni-directional mode.