Vault antenna for WLAN or cellular application
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A fringe-effect vault directional antenna, comprising:
- a communications vault having a non-conductive cover disposed substantially at ground level;
an antenna element coupled to a mounting bracket and positioned in the communications vault; and
a rectangular metallic reflector coupled to said mounting bracket disposed substantially adjacent said antenna element, said rectangular metallic reflector having four vertically-sloped surfaces coupled to a substantially horizontal straight edge at an upper end of the vertically-sloped surface, the edge being positioned substantially parallel to the ground, the metallic reflector and the edge being configured to cause a fringe effect upon the RF signals of the antenna to cause said RF signals to bend in a direction toward the ground.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A fringe-effect vault antenna includes a communications vault having a non-conductive cover disposed substantially at ground level. An antenna element is positioned in the communications vault. A metallic reflector has an edge, positioned substantially parallel to the ground, where the metallic reflector and the edge are configured to cause an edge diffraction, or “fringe-effect” upon the RF fields of the antenna to cause those RF fields to diffract in a direction toward the ground.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A fringe-effect vault directional antenna, comprising:
-
a communications vault having a non-conductive cover disposed substantially at ground level; an antenna element coupled to a mounting bracket and positioned in the communications vault; and a rectangular metallic reflector coupled to said mounting bracket disposed substantially adjacent said antenna element, said rectangular metallic reflector having four vertically-sloped surfaces coupled to a substantially horizontal straight edge at an upper end of the vertically-sloped surface, the edge being positioned substantially parallel to the ground, the metallic reflector and the edge being configured to cause a fringe effect upon the RF signals of the antenna to cause said RF signals to bend in a direction toward the ground. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A fringe effect vault antenna system, comprising:
-
an antenna element coupled to a mounting bracket and; a vault cover; a metallic deflector plate coupled to the mounting bracket having four vertically-sloped surfaces and a substantially straight edge coupled to a top portion of each vertically-sloped portion to provide a fringe effect to signals of the antenna; and a radio frequency cable, the antenna element, the deflector plate, and the radio frequency cable being integrated together into the vault cover, and the radio frequency cable being configured to couple energy from a received radio frequency signal into the at least one antenna element. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. Fringe-effect RF omni-directional antenna structure, comprising:
-
an antenna element coupled to a mounting bracket; a rectangular deflector coupled to said mounting bracket and having four vertically-sloped portions each configured to intersect a main beam of said antenna element; and a substantially straight edge coupled to a top portion of each vertically-sloped portion and positioned to have a fringe-effect on the RF signals of said antenna element to bend the RF signals in a direction downward from said substantially straight edge. - View Dependent Claims (22)
-
-
23. A method of propagating RF signals with respect to a communication vault having an antenna element below ground level, comprising:
-
disposing a rectangular vertically-sloped deflector having four portions to intersect a main beam of the antenna element wherein said deflector and antenna are coupled to a mounting bracket; and disposing a substantially straight edge coupled to a top portion of each vertically-sloped portion to cause a fringe effect on the RF signals of said antenna element to bend the RF signals in a direction toward the ground level.
-
Specification