Antennas, Devices and Systems Based on Metamaterial Structures
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A device, comprising:
- a plurality of antenna elements spaced from one another and structured to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure, each antenna element being of a dimension of one tenth of a wavelength of a signal in resonance with the CRLH metamaterial structure, two adjacent antenna elements spaced from each other by one quarter of the wavelength or less.
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Abstract
Techniques, apparatus and systems that use one or more composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structures in processing and handling electromagnetic wave signals. Antenna, antenna arrays and other RF devices can be formed based on CRLH metamaterial structures. The described CRLH metamaterial structures can be used in wireless communication RF front-end and antenna sub-systems.
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Citations
66 Claims
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1. A device, comprising:
a plurality of antenna elements spaced from one another and structured to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure, each antenna element being of a dimension of one tenth of a wavelength of a signal in resonance with the CRLH metamaterial structure, two adjacent antenna elements spaced from each other by one quarter of the wavelength or less. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A device, comprising:
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a substrate; an antenna formed on the substrate and comprising a plurality of unit cells structured to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure; and an RF circuit element formed on the substrate in a second CRLH metamaterial structure and coupled to the antenna. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A device, comprising:
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a substrate; an antenna array formed on the substrate and comprising a plurality of antenna elements, each antenna element structured to comprise a plurality of unit cells to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure; a plurality of signal filters formed on the substrate, each signal filter coupled to a signal path of a respective antenna element of the antenna array; a plurality of signal amplifiers formed on the substrate, each signal amplifier coupled to a signal path of a respective antenna element of the antenna array; and an analog signal processing circuit formed on the substrate and coupled to the antenna array via the plurality of signal filters and the plurality of signal amplifiers, the analog signal processing circuit operable to process signals directed to or received from the antenna array. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A device, comprising:
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a dielectric substrate having a first surface on a first side and a second surface on a second side opposing the first side; a plurality of conductive patches formed on the first surface and separated from one another; a ground conductive layer formed on the second surface; a plurality of conductive via connectors formed in the substrate to connect the conductive patches to the ground conductive layer, respectively, to form a plurality of unit cells each comprising a volume having a respective conductive patch on the first surface, and a respective via connector connecting the respective conductive path to the ground conductive layer; and a conductive feed line having a distal end located close to and electromagnetically coupled to a conductive patch among the conductive patches; wherein the device is structured to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure from the unit cells, and wherein each unit cell has a dimension not greater than one sixth of a wavelength of a signal in resonance with the CRLH metamaterial structure. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A device, comprising:
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a dielectric substrate having a first surface on a first side and a second surface on a second side opposing the first side; a plurality of conductive patches formed on the first surface and separated from one another; a ground conductive layer formed on the second surface; and a plurality of conductive via connectors formed in the substrate to connect the conductive patches to the ground conductive layer, respectively, to form a plurality of unit cells each comprising a volume having a respective conductive patch on the first surface, and a respective via connector connecting the respective conductive path to the ground conductive layer, wherein the device is structured to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure from the unit cells, and wherein the ground conductive layer is patterned to have a dimension underneath a respective conductive patch to be less than a dimension of the respective conductive patch. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A device, comprising:
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a dielectric substrate having a first surface on a first side and a second surface on a second side opposing the first side; a plurality of conductive patches formed on the first surface and separated from one another to form a two-dimensional array; a conductive feed line formed on the first surface and electromagnetically coupled to one of said conductive patches; a ground conductive layer formed on the second surface; and a plurality of conductive via connectors formed in the substrate to connect the conductive patches to the ground conductive layer, respectively, to form a plurality of unit cells in a two-dimensional array which exhibits a spatial anisotropy, each unit cell comprising a volume having a respective conductive patch on the first surface, and a respective via connector connecting the respective conductive path to the ground conductive layer, wherein the device is structured to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure from the unit cells, and where the conductive feed line is coupled to a unit cell that is off a symmetric position of the two-dimensional array to excite two modes at two different frequencies.
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50. A device, comprising:
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a dielectric substrate having a first surface on a first side and a second surface on a second side opposing the first side; a plurality of conductive patches formed on the first surface and separated from one another to form a two-dimensional array; a first conductive feed line formed on the first surface and electromagnetically coupled to one of said conductive patches that is along a central symmetric line of the two-dimensional array along a first direction; a second conductive feed line formed on the first surface and electromagnetically coupled to one of said conductive patches that is along a central symmetric line of the two-dimensional array along a second direction; a ground conductive layer formed on the second surface; and a plurality of conductive via connectors formed in the substrate to connect the conductive patches to the ground conductive layer, respectively, to form a plurality of unit cells in a two-dimensional array, each unit cell comprising a volume having a respective conductive patch on the first surface, and a respective via connector connecting the respective conductive path to the ground conductive layer, wherein the device is structured to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure from the unit cells, and wherein the CRLH metamaterial structure formed by the unit cells is spatially anisotropic to support two modes at two different frequencies that are in the first feed line and the second feed line, respectively.
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51. A device, comprising:
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a metamaterial antenna comprising a dielectric substrate, a common conductive layer formed on one side of the dielectric substrate;
an array of conductive pads spaced from one another on the other side of and in contact with the dielectric substrate, and a plurality of conductive via connectors respectively connecting the conductive pads to the common conductive layer, wherein the metal material antenna is structured to exhibit a first resonance along a first direction of the metamaterial antenna at a first frequency and a second resonance along a second direction of the metamaterial antenna at a second, different frequency;a first conductive feed line coupled to the metamaterial antenna to guide a signal at the first frequency; a second conductive feed line coupled to the metamaterial antenna to guide a signal at the second frequency; and a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) circuit comprising a receiver port connected to the first conductive feed line to receive a signal at the first frequency and comprising a transmission port connected to the second conductive feed line to produce a transmission signal at the second frequency which is directed to the metamaterial antenna for transmission, wherein there is not a separate frequency duplexer coupled between the metamaterial antenna and the FDD circuit. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54)
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55. A method for implementing Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), comprising:
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providing a metamaterial antenna comprising a dielectric substrate, a common conductive layer formed on one side of the dielectric substrate;
a two-dimensional array of conductive pads spaced from one another on the other side of and in contact with the dielectric substrate, and a plurality of conductive via connectors respectively connecting the conductive pads to the common conductive layer;configuring the metal material antenna to exhibit a first resonance along a first direction of the metamaterial antenna at a first frequency and a second resonance along a second direction of the metamaterial antenna at a second, different frequency; connecting a first conductive feed line to the metamaterial antenna to guide a signal at the first frequency received by the metamaterial antenna to a FDD circuit as a reception signal to be processed by the FDD circuit, without using a separate frequency duplexer to separate signals at the first and the second frequencies; and connecting a second conductive feed line to the metamaterial antenna to guide a signal at the second frequency from the FDD circuit to the metamaterial antenna for transmission by the metamaterial antenna, without using a separate frequency duplexer to separate signals at the first and the second frequencies. - View Dependent Claims (56)
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57. A method, comprising:
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providing a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure comprising a plurality of unit cells formed on a dielectric substrate by a plurality of separated conductive patches formed one side of the substrate, a ground conductive layer formed on another side of the substrate, and a plurality of conductive via connectors formed in the substrate to respectively connect the conductive patches to the ground conductive layer, respectively; and coupling a conductive feed line to the CRLH metamaterial structure to excite TE modes that are mixtures of right handed TEM modes and left handed TEM modes to achieve a wider bandwidth in each TE mode than a bandwidth in each of the TEM modes. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59)
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60. A device, comprising:
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an antenna array; an RF circuit element electromagnetically coupled to the antenna array; and an analog RF circuit coupled to the RF circuit element, wherein the RF circuit element comprises a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A device, comprising:
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an RF transceiver module to transmit and receive RF signals, wherein the RF transceiver module comprises an antenna array which comprises a plurality of antenna elements spaced from one another and structured to form a composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure, each antenna element being of a dimension greater than one tenth of a wavelength of a signal in resonance with the CRLH metamaterial structure, two adjacent antenna elements spaced from each other by a spacing equal to or greater than one sixth of the wavelength. - View Dependent Claims (66)
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Specification