Phased array antenna
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An array antenna apparatus for radiating RF energy comprising:
- a plurality of apertures, each aperture having a first side and a second side and an opening between the first side and the second side;
a plurality of antenna feeds, one or more antenna feeds of the plurality of antenna feeds located on a first side or a second side of each aperture;
a plurality of switches deployed proximate to each aperture of the plurality of apertures, each switch of the plurality of switches connected to at least one antenna feed and controllable to selectively couple RF energy from at least one antenna feed located on one side of an adjacent aperture across the opening of the aperture to the other side of the adjacent aperture.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A reconfigurable wide band phased array antenna for generating multiple antenna beams for multiple transmit and receive functions. The antenna array comprises multiple long non-resonant TEM slot antenna apertures with RF MEMS switches disposed within the slots. The RF MEMS switches are positioned directly within the feed lines across the slots to directly control the coupling of RF energy to the slots. Multiple RF MEMS switches are used within each slot, which allows multiple transmit/receive functions and/or multiple frequencies to be supported by each slot. The frequency coverage provided by the slot antenna has a greater than 10:1 frequency range.
43 Citations
32 Claims
-
1. An array antenna apparatus for radiating RF energy comprising:
-
a plurality of apertures, each aperture having a first side and a second side and an opening between the first side and the second side; a plurality of antenna feeds, one or more antenna feeds of the plurality of antenna feeds located on a first side or a second side of each aperture; a plurality of switches deployed proximate to each aperture of the plurality of apertures, each switch of the plurality of switches connected to at least one antenna feed and controllable to selectively couple RF energy from at least one antenna feed located on one side of an adjacent aperture across the opening of the aperture to the other side of the adjacent aperture. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A method of radiating and receiving RF energy with an antenna array having a shortest operating wavelength and a longest operating wavelength, the method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a plurality of apertures; providing a plurality of switches, one or more of said switches being disposed in proximity to each aperture, each of said switches having a first position coupling RF energy to the aperture in proximity to the switch and having a second position isolating RF energy from the aperture in proximity to the switch; switching a portion of the plurality of switches to the first position; switching the remaining switches to the second position; and applying RF energy to the switches. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A beam-steered antenna array apparatus comprising:
-
a plurality of apertures, each aperture having a first side and a second side and an opening between the first side and the second side; a plurality of groups of switches, each group of switches comprising a plurality of switches deployed proximate to the antenna apertures, the switches controllable to selectively couple RF energy at different points across the opening of each aperture; a plurality of beamformers, each beamformer connected to a separate group of switches in the plurality of groups of switches; and
an RF switch selectively controllable to couple RF energy to a selected one of beamformers in the plurality of beamformers. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. A method of antenna beamforming, comprising the steps of:
-
providing a plurality of apertures in an antenna array; providing a plurality of groups of switches, each group of switches comprising a plurality of switches deployed at different positions proximate to the apertures, each of said switches having a first position coupling RF energy to the aperture in proximity to the switch and having a second position isolating RF energy from the aperture in proximity to the switch; providing a plurality of beamformers, each beamformer connected to a separate group of switches in the plurality of groups of switches; coupling RF energy to a selected one of the beamformers in the group of beamformers; switching the switches in the group of switches connected to the selected beamformer to either the first position or the second position; and
switching the remaining switches to We second position. - View Dependent Claims (26)
-
-
27. A phased array antenna system apparatus having a shortest operating wavelength and a longest operating wavelength, the phased array system apparatus supporting multiple transmit/receive functions, the phased array antenna system apparatus comprising:
-
a plurality of transmit/receive modules, each transmit/receive module coupled to RF hardware providing one or more of the multiple transmit/receive functions, each transmit/receive module having one or more channels, each channel being coupled out of the transmit/receive module at one or more transmit/receive ports; one or more apertures, each aperture having a first side and a second side and an opening between the first side and the second side; a plurality of antenna feeds, one or more antenna feeds of the plurality of antenna feeds located on a first side or a second side of a corresponding one of the apertures, each antenna feed coupled to one transmit/receive port of the one or more transmit/receive ports on one transmit/receive module of the plurality of transmit/receive modules; and a plurality of switches disposed proximate to the apertures, each switch of the plurality of switches connected to one antenna feed and controllable to selectively couple RF energy from the antenna feed located on one side of the corresponding aperture across the opening of the corresponding aperture to the other side of the corresponding aperture. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
Specification