COMPACT DUAL-BAND METAMATERIAL-BASED HYBRID RING COUPLER
First Claim
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- a ring of composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) material having both right handed (RH) and left handed (LH) characteristics;
a plurality of lumped elements comprising inductances and capacitances within said LH portions of said CRLH TL; and
a plurality of ports, including a sum port and a difference port, on said ring separated along a periphery of said ring by either phase delays φ
1, or phase advances φ
2, to form a hybrid ring coupler;
wherein dual frequency characteristics of each segment of said CRLH TL arise in response to an anti-parallel relationship between phase and group velocities below a transition frequency ω
0, within left handed material (LH) within the CRLH TL, and a parallel relationship between phase and group velocities above transition frequency ω
0 within the right-handed material (RH) within the CRLH TL;
said ring is compacted into a compact ring in response to constraining phase delay contributions to |φ
1|, |φ
2|≦
270°
, and configured to operate in at least two frequency bands comprising a first frequency band f1 and a second frequency band f2.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A compact multi-band hybrid ring (rat-race) coupler utilizing a ring of composite right-handed and left-handed (CRLH) transmission lines (TLs) and multiple ports, provides miniaturization and the ability to operate at arbitrary frequency bands unlike conventional couplers. The hybrid ring is made compact, such as by constraining phase delay contributions |φ1|, |φ2|≦270°. The coupler can be used in many applications, for example as a mode decoupling network in a dual-band front-end MIMO system. The inclusion of a CRLH delay line is also described which alters the phase relationship of the signals and is particularly well suited for extending pattern diversity in response to frequency.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
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a ring of composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) material having both right handed (RH) and left handed (LH) characteristics; a plurality of lumped elements comprising inductances and capacitances within said LH portions of said CRLH TL; and a plurality of ports, including a sum port and a difference port, on said ring separated along a periphery of said ring by either phase delays φ
1, or phase advances φ
2, to form a hybrid ring coupler;wherein dual frequency characteristics of each segment of said CRLH TL arise in response to an anti-parallel relationship between phase and group velocities below a transition frequency ω
0, within left handed material (LH) within the CRLH TL, and a parallel relationship between phase and group velocities above transition frequency ω
0 within the right-handed material (RH) within the CRLH TL;said ring is compacted into a compact ring in response to constraining phase delay contributions to |φ
1|, |φ
2|≦
270°
, and configured to operate in at least two frequency bands comprising a first frequency band f1 and a second frequency band f2. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system, comprising:
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a ring of composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) material having both right handed (RH) and left handed (LH) characteristics; a plurality of lumped elements comprising inductances and capacitances within said LH portions of said CRLH TL; a plurality of ports, including a first input/output port, a second input/output port, a sum port, and a difference port, on said ring separated along a periphery of said ring by either phase φ
1, or phase φ
2, to form a hybrid ring coupler;said ring is compacted into a compact ring in response to constraining phase delay contributions to |φ
1|, |φ
2|≦
270°
;wherein dual frequency characteristics of each segment of said CRLH TL arise in response to an anti-parallel relationship between phase and group velocities below a transition frequency ω
0, within left handed material (LH) within the CRLH TL, and a parallel relationship between phase and group velocities above transition frequency ω
0 within the right-handed material (RH) within the CRLH TL;said ring configured to operate in at least two frequency bands comprising a first frequency band f1 and a second frequency band f2; a MIMO antenna array having a first antenna element to said first input/output port, and a second antenna element coupled to said second input/output port; wherein signal excitation of either said sum port or said difference port generates a sum or a difference radiation pattern, on said first antenna element and said second antenna element, with said sum or difference radiation patterns having pattern diversity in response to being orthogonal to each other. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An apparatus, comprising:
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a dual-band CRLH hybrid ring coupler of composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) material having both right handed (RH) and left handed (LH) characteristics; a plurality of lumped elements comprising inductances and capacitances within said LH portions of said dual-band CRLH hybrid ring coupler; a plurality of ports on said dual-band CRLH hybrid ring comprising a first input/output port, a second input/output port, a sum port, and a difference port, with said ports separated along said dual-band CRLH hybrid ring by phase φ
1 or phase φ
2;wherein dual frequency characteristics of each segment of said CRLH TL arise in response to an anti-parallel relationship between phase and group velocities below a transition frequency ω
0, within left handed material (LH) within the CRLH TL, and a parallel relationship between phase and group velocities above transition frequency ω
0 within the right-handed material (RH) within the CRLH TL;said dual-band CRLH hybrid ring is configured to operate in at least two frequency bands comprising a first frequency band f1 and a second frequency band f2 having an arbitrary frequency relationship with f1; a CRLH-based phase delay line configured for tuning the phase excitation from said dual-band CRLH hybrid ring in response to introducing a first phase delay at a first frequency band, and a second phase delay at a second frequency band; and an antenna array having at least a first antenna element and a second antenna element coupled to said CRLH hybrid ring and said CRLH phase delay line. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification