High power, polarization-diverse cloverleaf phased array

• US 7,372,424 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2006
• Issued: 05/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ITT Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc. (ITT, Inc.)
• Inventors: Beyerle, Peter A., Reigle, Kenneth Michael, Pekar, Michael Edward, Mohuchy, Wolodymyr
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens; Douglas W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Chuc
• Application Number:
  US11/352,785
• Publication Number:
  US 20070188398A1
• Time in Patent Office: 820 Days
• Field of Search: 343/700.MS, 343/795, 343/797, 343741-742, 343/793, 343/725, 343/853, 343/850, 343/757, 343/767
• US Class Current: 343/795
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/108 Combination of a dipole with a plane reflecting surface H01Q19/106 takes precedence; strip line H01Q9/065
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/062 using dipole aerials; H01Q21/067, H01Q21/068 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/245 provided with means for varying the polarisation polarising devices H01Q15/24; tracking by comparing linear polarisation compounds G01S3/146; reducing depolarisation effects H04B7/00; polarisation diversity H04B7/10
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/26 Turnstile or like antennas comprising arrangements of three or more elongated elements disposed radially and symmetrically in a horizontal plane about a common centre
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/30 varying the relative phase between the radiating elements of an array H01Q3/2605, H01Q3/2658, H01Q3/2682, H01Q3/44 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/285 Planar dipole H01Q9/065 takes precedence; patch antenna H01Q9/0407

Abstract

A phased array antenna includes a substrate, and multiple radiating elements conformally mounted as micro-strip on the substrate. Each of the radiating elements is of a triangular shape, and four of the radiating elements are arranged to form a crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiator. In addition, the four radiating elements form two pairs of radiating elements, and the two pairs of radiating elements are orthogonal to each other. The radiating elements are disposed on a front surface of the substrate, and a RF center conductor is orthogonally oriented toward a rear surface of the substrate and connected to one of the radiating elements for feeding a RF signal to the one radiating element.

Claims

1. A phased array antenna comprising

a substrate, and

multiple radiating elements conformally mounted as micro-strips on the substrate,

wherein each of the radiating elements is of a triangular shape,

four of the radiating elements are arranged to form a crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiator,

each of the triangular shaped radiating elements includes a vertex formed by two equal sides of an isosceles triangle extending from a base, and

a line extending from the vertex and intersecting a midpoint of the base of the isosceles triangle forms a 45 degree angle with respect to a scan axis of the phased array antenna.

2. The phased array antenna of claim 1 wherein

the four radiating elements form two pairs of radiating elements, and

the two pairs of radiating elements are orthogonal to each other.

3. The phased array antenna of claim 1 wherein

the radiating elements are disposed on a front surface of the substrate, and

a RF center conductor is orthogonally oriented toward a rear surface of the substrate and connected to each of the radiating elements for feeding a RF signal to the radiating element.

4. The phased array antenna of claim 1 including

the radiating elements disposed on a front surface of the substrate,

a metallic ground layer disposed facing a rear surface of the substrate, and

a fluted core layer sandwiched between the metallic ground layer and the substrate for channeled passage of coolant.

5. The phased array antenna of claim 1 wherein

each of the triangular shaped radiating elements includes a launch point disposed adjacent a vertex, and

a pair of triangular shaped radiating elements are arranged to have the launch point of one of the radiating elements to be adjacent to the launch point of the other radiating element to form a first bowtie configuration.

6. The phased array antenna of claim 5 including

another pair of triangular shaped radiating elements arranged to have the launch point of one of the radiating elements of the other pair to be adjacent to the launch point of the other radiating element of the other pair to form a second bowtie configuration, and

the first bowtie configuration is arranged to be orthogonal to the second bowtie configuration.

7. The phased array antenna of claim 1 including

a RF center conductor orthogonally oriented to one of the radiating elements for feeding a RF signal to the one radiating element, and

the RF center conductor including a coaxial center conductor at one end, remote from the one radiating element, and a thinned center conductor at the other end, adjacent to the one radiating element, and

the RF center conductor including a wide center conductor extending between the thinned center conductor and the coaxial center conductor.

8. The phased array antenna of claim 7 wherein

the thinned center conductor has a diameter that is smaller than the wide center conductor.

9. The phased array antenna of claim 7 wherein

the thinned center conductor is connected to a launch point of the one radiating element with a screw inserted into a threaded receptacle of the thinned center conductor.

10. The phased array antenna of claim 7 wherein

the wide center conductor includes an axial core for receiving the coaxial center conductor, and

the coaxial center conductor is positively connected to the wide center conductor by way of a set screw inserted radially into the axial core for contacting the coaxial center conductor.

11. The phased array antenna of claim 7 wherein

the coaxial center conductor passes transversely through a metallic ground layer, and

the wide center conductor and the thinned center conductor are a single RF conductor, which passes transversely through a fluted core layer sandwiched between the metallic ground layer and the substrate.

12. A phased array antenna comprising

a substrate, and

multiple crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiators conformally mounted as micro-strips on the substrate,

wherein each crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiator is shaped as identical first and second bowtie configurations,

the first and second bowtie configurations are oriented orthogonally to each others,

each radiating element has a shape of an isosceles triangle, with a launch point disposed adjacent to a vertex opposite to a base of the isosceles triangle,

a scan axis for the chased array antenna, and

a line extending from the vertex and intersecting a midpoint of a base of the isosceles triangle forms a 45 degree angle with respect to the scan axis.

13. The phased array antenna of claim 12 wherein

each of the first and second bowtie configurations includes two radiating elements,

the respective launch points of the two radiating elements are oriented proximate to each other, and the respective bases are oriented remote from each other.

14. The phased array antenna of claim 12 including

four RF center conductors orthogonally oriented to one of the crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiators, wherein

two of the four RF center conductors are connected to the first bowtie configuration, and

the other two of the four RF center conductors are connected to the second bowtie configuration.

15. The phased array antenna of claim 12 including

a plurality of sets of four RF center conductors orthogonally oriented to the multiple crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiators, wherein

two of a set of four RF center conductors are connected to a respective first bowtie configuration, and

the other two of the set of four RF center conductors are connected to a respective second bowtie configuration.

16. The phased array antenna of claim 12 including

each crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiator disposed on a front surface of the substrate,

a metallic ground layer disposed facing a rear surface of the substrate, and

a fluted core layer sandwiched between the metallic ground layer and the substrate for channeled passage of coolant.

17. A phased array antenna comprising

multiple crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiators mounted on a first dielectric layer,

cooling channels disposed within a second dielectric layer, and

a metallic ground formed as a third layer,

wherein the first, second and third layers are disposed in a sequence of first, second and third layers,

each of the crossed bowtie cloverleaf radiators includes at least two sets of four radiating elements arranged in a cross-configuration, and

the at least two sets of four radiating elements are mounted on a single, continuous layer of the first dielectric layer.

18. The phased array antenna of claim 17 including

multiple RF center conductors, wherein

each of the RF center conductors is coupled to a respective one of the four radiating elements in the set.