GUIDED SURFACE WAVE TRANSMISSIONS THAT ILLUMINATE DEFINED REGIONS

• US 20170077752A1
• Filed: 09/10/2015
• Published: 03/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quantum Wave LLC
• Original Assignee: Cpg Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Corum, James F., Corum, Kenneth L., Lilly, James D.
• Granted Patent: US 10,498,006 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/00 Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas arrangements for varying orientation of directional pattern H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/00 Electrically-short antennas having dimensions not more than twice the operating wavelength and consisting of conductive active radiating elements

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments of systems and methods for transmitting guided surface waves that illuminate a defined region. In one embodiment, such a method comprises installing a plurality of guided surface waveguide probes across a defined region having set boundaries, and setting respective frequency values of operation for the plurality of guided surface waveguide probes that allow for respective service areas to be defined that in the aggregate cover the defined region with guided surface waves.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a guided surface waveguide probe adapted to launch a first guided surface wave within a portion of a defined region, wherein a first frequency of operation of the guided surface waveguide probe establishes a first service area in which the first guided surface wave propagates that is substantially constrained within the defined region and substantially coincides with the portion of the defined region; and

at least one additional guided surface waveguide probe adapted to launch a second guided surface wave within a remaining portion of the defined region, wherein a second frequency of operation of the at least one additional guided surface waveguide probe establishes a second service area in which the second guided surface wave propagates that is substantially constrained within the defined region and substantially coincides with the remaining portion of the defined region.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein propagation of first guided surface wave extends past a perimeter of the defined region by less than a defined distance.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the defined region is an asymmetrical polygon shape.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein an aggregation of the first service area and the second area substantially covers the defined region.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein individual ones of the guided surface waveguide probe and the at least one additional guided surface waveguide probe comprise a charge terminal elevated over a terrestrial medium configured to generate at least one resultant field that synthesizes a wave front incident at a complex Brewster angle of incidence (θ

_i,B) of the terrestrial medium.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the charge terminal is one of a plurality of charge terminals.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a feed network electrically coupled to the charge terminal, the feed network providing a phase delay (Φ

) that matches a wave tilt angle (Ψ

) associated with a complex Brewster angle of incidence (θ

_i,B) associated with the terrestrial medium in the vicinity of the individual ones of the first and the at least one additional guided surface waveguide probes.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first guided surface wave and the second guided surface wave embody amplitude modulated signals.

9. A method comprising:

transmitting, using a first guided surface waveguide probe, a first guided surface wave within a portion of a defined region, wherein a first frequency of operation of the first guided surface waveguide probe establishes a first service area in which the first guided surface wave propagates that is substantially constrained within the defined region and substantially coincides with the portion of the defined region; and

transmitting, using a second guided surface waveguide probe, a second guided surface wave within a remaining portion of the defined region, wherein a second frequency of operation of the second guided surface waveguide probe establishes a second service area in which the second guided surface wave propagates that is substantially constrained within the defined region and substantially coincides with the remaining portion of the defined region.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising positioning the first guided surface waveguide probe at a center of the portion of the defined region and setting a value of the first frequency of operation that allows for the first service area of the first guided surface wave to cover the portion of the defined region without extending past a defined distance outside a perimeter of the defined region.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising positioning the second guided surface waveguide probe at a center of the remaining portion of the defined region and setting a value of the second frequency of operation that allows for the second service area of the second guided surface wave to cover the remaining portion of the defined region without extending past the defined distance outside the perimeter of the defined region, wherein an aggregate of the first service area and the second area substantially covers the defined region.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising adjusting the first frequency of operation to change a size of the service area.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the defined region comprises an organizational campus footprint.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first guided surface wave and the second guided surface wave embody amplitude modulated signals.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the first guided surface wave or the second guided surface wave supplies electrical energy to an electrical load of a guided surface wave receive structure within the defined region.

16. A method comprising:

installing a plurality of guided surface waveguide probes across a defined region having set boundaries;

setting respective frequency values of operation for the plurality of guided surface waveguide probes that allow for respective service areas to be defined that in the aggregate illuminate the defined region with guided surface waves without extending past a defined distance outside a perimeter of the defined region, wherein a service area corresponds to a geographic area across which a guided surface wave propagates; and

transmitting a plurality of guided surface waves by the plurality of guided surface waveguide probes at the respective frequency values that illuminate the defined region but do not extend past the defined distance outside the perimeter of the defined region.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the defined region comprises an organizational campus footprint.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the respective frequency values comprise non-overlapping frequency values.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the respective service areas comprise overlapping geographic regions.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein a range of the plurality of guided surface waves does not extend beyond the defined region.

21. A system comprising:

a guided surface waveguide probe adapted to launch a guided surface wave within a defined region, wherein a frequency of operation of the guided surface waveguide probe establishes a service area in which the guided surface wave propagates that is substantially constrained within the defined region and substantially coincides with the defined region,

wherein access to the defined region is controlled by a barrier that surrounds a perimeter of the defined region.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the barrier defines a controlled point of ingress and a controlled point of egress for the defined region.