PATCH ANTENNA ARRAY

• US 20190319364A1
• Filed: 04/09/2019
• Published: 10/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Yang, Taesik, Fabrega Sanchez, Jorge, Tassoudji, Mohammad Ali, Wang, Kevin Hsi Huai, Kim, Jeongil
• Granted Patent: US 11,652,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2283 mounted in or on the surface of a semiconductor substrate as a chip-type antenna or integrated with other components into an IC package
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/005 Patch antenna using one or more coplanar parasitic elements
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/065 Patch antenna array
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/08 the units being spaced along or adjacent to a rectilinear path waveguide fed H01Q21/0037
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/00 Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/364 Creating multiple current paths
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/385 Two or more parasitic elements
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0414 in a stacked or folded configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0435 using two feed points
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0457 electromagnetically coupled to the feed line

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. According to one or more aspects, the described apparatus includes one or more stacks of patch radiators (such as patch antennas) comprising at least a first patch radiator and a second patch radiator. The first patch radiator is associated with a low-band frequency; the second patch radiator is associated with a high-band frequency. The first patch radiator and the second patch radiator may overlap a ground plane, which may be asymmetric. Some or all patch radiators in a stack may be rotated relative to the ground plane, such that some or all edge of a patch radiator may be nonparallel with one or more edges of the ground plane. Further, each patch radiator stack may include separate feeds for each of at least two frequencies and two polarizations, and thus at least four feeds (one for each frequency/polarization combination) in total.

Claims

1. An antenna system, comprising:

a ground plane at a first layer of a printed circuit board (PCB), wherein a first edge of the ground plane is perpendicular to and longer than a second edge of the ground plane; and

an array of patch radiator stacks overlapping the ground plane, wherein a first patch radiator stack in the array comprises a first patch radiator at a second layer of the PCB, the first patch radiator having a first edge that is nonparallel with the first edge of the ground plane and with the second edge of the ground plane.

2. The antenna system of claim 1, wherein at least four edges of the first patch radiator are nonparallel with the first edge of the ground plane and with the second edge of the ground plane.

3. The antenna system of claim 1, wherein the first edge of the first patch radiator is oriented at a forty-five (45) degree angle relative to the first edge of the ground plane and relative to the second edge of the ground plane.

4. The antenna system of claim 1, wherein the first patch radiator stack in the array further comprises:

a second patch radiator at a third layer of the PCB, the second patch radiator having a first edge that is nonparallel with the first edge of the ground plane and with the second edge of the ground plane.

5. The antenna system of claim 4, wherein the first edge of the second patch radiator is parallel with the first edge of the first patch radiator.

6. The antenna system of claim 4, wherein each edge of the second patch radiator is nonparallel with the first edge of the ground plane and with the second edge of the ground plane.

7. The antenna system of claim 4, wherein each edge of the second patch radiator is nonparallel with each edge of the ground plane.

8. The antenna system of claim 1, wherein a second edge of the first patch radiator is parallel with the first edge of the ground plane.

9. The antenna system of claim 8, wherein:

the second edge of the first patch radiator is shorter than the first edge of the first patch radiator;

a midpoint of the first edge of the first patch radiator is separated from the first edge of the ground plane by a first distance; and

a midpoint of the second edge of the first patch radiator is separated from the first edge of the ground plane by a second distance that is less than the first distance.

10. The antenna system of claim 1, wherein a third edge of the first patch radiator is parallel with the second edge of the ground plane.

11. The antenna system of claim 1, wherein the first patch radiator stack in the array further comprises:

a second patch radiator at a third layer of the PCB and a third patch radiator at a fourth layer of the PCB, the second patch radiator and the third patch radiator both overlapping with the first patch radiator, wherein a first edge of the third patch radiator is parallel with the first edge of the first patch radiator.

12. The antenna system of claim 11, wherein the first patch radiator stack in the array further comprises:

a set of parasitic patch radiators at the fourth layer of the PCB, the third patch radiator disposed between at least two parasitic patch radiators of the set within the fourth layer of the PCB.

13. The antenna system of claim 1, wherein the first patch radiator stack in the array further comprises:

a set of parasitic patch radiators at a fourth layer of the PCB, each patch radiator of the set having a first edge that is parallel with the first edge of the first patch radiator.

14. The antenna system of claim 13, wherein each parasitic patch radiator of the set has a second edge that is parallel with the first edge of the ground plane.

15. The antenna system of claim 13, wherein each parasitic patch radiator of the set has at least four edges that are nonparallel with the first edge of the ground plane and with the second edge of the ground plane.

16. The antenna system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second patch radiator stack in the array that is rotated one-hundred and eighty (180) degrees relative to the first patch radiator stack in the array.

17. The antenna system of claim 16, wherein the first edge of the first patch radiator is nonparallel with an axis that intersects a centroid of the first patch radiator of the first patch radiator stack and a centroid of at least one patch radiator of the second patch radiator stack.

18. The antenna system of claim 1, wherein the first patch radiator stack in the array further comprises:

a first feed configured to receive a first signal having a first polarization and associated with a first frequency band;

a second feed configured to receive a second signal having a second polarization and associated with the first frequency band;

a third feed configured to receive a third signal having the first polarization and associated with a second frequency band; and

a fourth feed configured to receive a fourth signal having the second polarization and associated with the second frequency band.

19. The antenna system of claim 18, wherein the first patch radiator stack in the array further comprises:

a first low pass filter included in the first feed and configured to reject signals associated with the second frequency band;

a second low pass filter include in the second feed and configured to reject signals associated with the second frequency band;

a first high pass filter included in the third feed and configured to reject signals associated with the first frequency band; and

a second high pass filter include in the fourth feed and configured to reject signals associated with the first frequency band.

20. The antenna system of claim 19, further comprising:

a first notch filter included in the first feed and configured to extract signals associated with the first frequency band;

a second notch filter include in the second feed and configured to extract signals associated with the first frequency band;

a third notch filter included in the third feed and configured to extract signals associated with the second frequency band; and

a fourth notch filter include in the fourth feed and configured to extract signals associated with the second frequency band.

21. The antenna system of claim 18, wherein the first feed and the second feed are capacitively coupled with the first patch radiator.

22. The antenna system of claim 18, wherein the third feed and the fourth feed are capacitively coupled with a second patch radiator, the second patch radiator at a third layer of the PCB.

23. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

receiving, at a stack of patch radiators that comprises at least one patch radiator having an edge that is nonparallel with at least two edges of a ground plane, a first signal having a first polarization and associated with a first frequency band via a first feed;

receiving, at the stack of patch radiators, a second signal having a second polarization and associated with the first frequency band via a second feed;

receiving, at the stack of patch radiators, a third signal having the first polarization and associated with a second frequency band via a third feed;

receiving, at the stack of patch radiators, a fourth signal having the second polarization and associated with the second frequency band via a fourth feed; and

transmitting, using the stack of patch radiators, a signal based at least in part on the first signal and the second signal, the third signal and the fourth signal, or a combination thereof.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

passing the first signal through a first low pass filter and a first bandpass filter both configured to reject signals associated with the second frequency band; and

passing the second signal through a second low pass filter and a second bandpass filter both configured to reject signals associated with the second frequency band;

passing the third signal through a first high pass filter and a third bandpass filter both configured to reject signals associated with the first frequency band; and

passing the fourth signal through a second high pass filter and a fourth bandpass filter both configured to reject signals associated with the first frequency band.

25. An antenna system, comprising:

first radiating means for radiating in a first frequency band and disposed in a second layer of a printed circuit board (PCB) above a rectangular ground plane disposed in a first layer of the PCB; and

second radiating means for radiating in a second frequency band and disposed in a third layer of the PCB above the first radiating means in a stacked configuration, wherein;

each of the first radiating means and the second radiating means comprises at least one edge that is angled relative to both the first edge of the rectangular ground plane and the second edge of the rectangular ground plane.

26. The antenna system of claim 25, further comprising:

third radiating means for radiating in the second frequency band and disposed in a fourth layer of the PCB above the second radiating means in the stacked configuration, at least one edge of the third radiating means being angled relative to both the first edge of the rectangular ground plane and the second edge of the rectangular ground plane; and

a plurality of parasitic radiating means for radiating in the first frequency band and disposed in the fourth layer of the PCB, at least one edge of the each parasitic radiating means in the plurality being angled relative to both the first edge of the rectangular ground plane and the second edge of the rectangular ground plane.

27. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a set of patch radiators comprising a first patch radiator associated with a first frequency band and a second patch radiator associated with a second frequency band that is higher than the first frequency band, wherein the first patch radiator and the second patch radiator are disposed in a stacked configuration;

a first feed for the set of patch radiators, the first feed configured to receive a first signal having a first polarization and associated with the first frequency band;

a second feed for the set of patch radiators, the second feed configured to receive a second signal having a second polarization and associated with the first frequency band;

a third feed for the set of patch radiators, the third feed configured to receive a third signal having the first polarization and associated with the second frequency band; and

a fourth feed for the set of patch radiators, the fourth feed configured to receive a fourth signal having the second polarization and associated with the second frequency band.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

a third patch radiator in the set of patch radiators, the third patch radiator disposed in the stacked configuration and capacitively coupled with at least the second patch radiator.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first polarization is orthogonal to the second polarization.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

a ground plane, wherein the first patch radiator comprise an edge that is oriented at a forty-five (45) degree angle relative to at least one edge of the ground plane.