Wide beamwidth antenna system and method for making the same

• US 5,838,285 A
• Filed: 04/29/1997
• Issued: 11/17/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tay, Roger Yew-Siow, Balzano, Quirino, Garay, Oscar M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Hoanganh T.
• Application Number:
  US08/841,022
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 343/895, 343/700 MS, 343/897, 343/825, 343/826, 343/829, 343/846, 343/848, 343/850, 343/853
• US Class Current: 343/895
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/38 formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support patch antennas H01Q9/0407; microstrip dipole antennas H01Q9/065; microstrip slot antennas H01Q13/106; transmission line microstrip antennas H01Q13/206; manufacturing reflecting surfaces using insulating material for supporting the reflecting surface H01Q15/142
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 11/08 Helical antennas

Abstract

A wide beamwidth antenna system (100) having a number of monopole antenna elements (102-108) disposed on at least one surface (111,113) of a single, flexible dielectric substrate (101), a number of antenna feed members (110-116), disposed on the first surface (111) of the dielectric substrate (101), each antenna feed member (110-116) being respectively coupled to one of the monopole antenna elements (102-108), a system feed member (118), disposed on the first surface (111) of the dielectric substrate (101), a first power splitter (120), disposed on the first surface (111) of the dielectric substrate (101) and coupled between the system feed member (118) and the first one of the monopole antennae (102) and a first phase shifter (130), disposed on the first surface (111) of the dielectric substrate (101) and coupled between the first (102) and the second (104) monopole antennae. A ground plane (140) is disposed on a portion of the second surface (113) of the dielectric substrate (101).

Claims

1. A wide beamwidth antenna system for communicating signals to and receiving signals from a communications device, said wide beamwidth antenna system comprising:

a single flexible dielectric substrate having a first and a second surface and presenting an elongated, tubular portion;

a plurality of monopole antennae, without short circuit connection, disposed on a surface of the dielectric substrate;

an antenna feed system, disposed on the first surface of the dielectric substrate for feeding the antenna system with an RF power signal; and

a ground plane disposed on the second surface of the single dielectric substrate and juxtaposed to the antenna feed system.

2. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 1 wherein the ground plane is disposed on the second surface of the dielectric substrate and not in juxtaposed position to the plurality of monopole antennae.

3. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 1 wherein the antenna feed system comprises:

a plurality of antenna feed members, disposed on the first surface of the dielectric substrate, each of said plurality of antenna feed members, respectively coupled to one of said plurality of monopole antennae;

a system feed member, disposed on the first surface of the dielectric substrate, for feeding the antenna system with the RF power signal;

a power splitter, disposed on the first surface of the dielectric substrate and coupled between the system feed member and a first one of said plurality of monopole antennae; and

a phase shifter, disposed on the first surface of the dielectric substrate, said first phase shifter being coupled between the first and a second one of said plurality of monopole antennae.

4. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 3 wherein the first power splitter directs at least some of the RF power to the first one of said plurality of monopole antennae, a remaining RF power signal being fed forward.

5. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 3 wherein the first phase shifter shifts the RF power signal phase by 360/N, where N is the number of monopole antennae disposed on the single dielectric substrate.

6. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 3 having an energy director coupled to the system feed member.

7. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 1 further comprising:

a second power splitter, disposed on the first surface of the dielectric substrate and coupled between the first phase shifter and the second one of said plurality of monopole antennae; and

a second phase shifter, disposed on the first surface of the dielectric substrate, said second phase shifter being coupled between the second and a next one of said plurality of monopole antennae.

8. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 7 wherein the second power splitter directs at least some of the remaining RF power signal from the first power splitter, to the second one of said plurality of monopole antennae.

9. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 7 wherein the second phase shifter shifts the remaining RF power signal phase by 360/N, where N is the number of monopole antennae.

10. The wide beamwidth antenna system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of monopole antennae are disposed on the first and the second surface of the single dielectric substrate.

11. A communications device for communicating broad beamwidth signals to and from a device, such as a satellite, said broad beamwidth communications device comprising:

an antenna including;

a flexible dielectric substrate presenting an elongated, tubular portion and having a first and a second surface;

N monopole antennae, without short circuit connection, disposed on at least one surface of the flexible dielectric substrate, where N is an integer greater than 1;

N antenna feed members, disposed on the first surface of the flexible dielectric substrate, for feeding the N monopole antennae with RF power;

a system feed member disposed on the first surface of the flexible dielectric substrate for supplying the antenna system with RF power;

a first power splitter, disposed on the first surface of the flexible dielectric substrate and coupled between the micro-strip feed member and a first one of the N monopole antennae;

a first phase shifter, disposed on the first surface of the flexible dielectric substrate, said first phase shifter being coupled between the first and a second one of said N monopole antennae; and

a ground plane disposed on the second surface of the flexible dielectric substrate; and

an RF transceiver, coupled to the system feed member for supplying the antenna system with RF power for communication to the satellite.

12. The communications device of claim 11 wherein the antenna comprises:

N-1 power splitters; and

N-1 phase shifters.

13. The communications device of claim 11 wherein the antenna further comprises an energy director integrated into the system feed member.

14. The communications device of claim 13 wherein the energy director is a loop in the system feed member, said loop having a diameter equal to the diameter of the tubular portion of the flexible dielectric substrate.

15. The communications device of claim 11 wherein the antenna further comprises an impedance transformer integrated into the antenna feed members and the system feed member.

16. The communications device of claim 15 wherein the antenna feed members and the system feed member have tapered widths.

17. A method for making a wide beamwidth antenna system comprising the steps of:

providing a single, flexible dielectric substrate having a first and a second surface presenting an elongated, tubular portion;

disposing N monopole antennae without short circuit connection, on at least one surface of the single, flexible dielectric substrate, where N is an integer greater than 1;

disposing an antenna feed system on a first surface of said flexible dielectric substrate by;

fashioning a tapered width system feed member on the first surface of the flexible dielectric substrate, said tapered width feed member for feeding the N monopole antennae,

fashioning a power splitter on the first surface of the flexible dielectric substrate, disposed between the system feed member and at least one of the N monopole antennae,

fashioning N-1 phase shifters on the first surface of the flexible dielectric substrate, each of said N-1 phase shifters being coupled between two of said N monopole antennae; and

disposing a ground plane on a portion of the second surface of the flexible dielectric substrate that is juxtaposed to the antenna feed system.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the step of forming the flexible dielectric substrate into the shape selected from the group consisting of:

a tube;

a triangle; and

a parallelogram.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the steps of fashioning and disposing are selected from the group consisting of:

etching;

plating;

printing; and

photolithography.