Reconfigurable radiating phase-shifting cell based on complementary slot and microstrip resonances
First Claim
1. A radiating phase-shifting cell comprising:
- a plurality of conducting elements formed on a surface of a substrate, above and separated from a ground plane and situated on a periphery, each conducting element being positioned symmetrically around and connected to at least one central conducting element and to neighbouring conducting elements on the periphery by controlled variable capacitive loads, the conducting elements being separated by radially-oriented slots,an arrangement of the slots forming an equivalent resonator whose electrical shape configures a phase-shift applied to a wave to be reflected, wherein the radiating phase-shifting cell comprises the controlled variable capacitive loads, which are capable of varying at least one of an electrical length and of an electrical width of the slots,wherein the conducting elements and the controlled variable capacitive loads are arranged so that, according to at least a first configuration of the controlled variable capacitive loads, a surface conductor of microwave signals is formed to create a resonator that is predominantly inductive, and so that, according to at least a second configuration, the slots are formed around the at least one central conducting element to create a resonator that is predominantly capacitive, anda conducting surface formed by the plurality of conducting elements arranged around the at least one central conducting element and being separated from each other by the slots to not completely encircle the at least one central conducting element.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A radiating phase-shifting cell is designed to favour the excitation of an equivalent resonance of the “slot” type in a first part of the phase cycle, and to favour an equivalent resonance of the “microstrip” type in a second part of the phase cycle. This property notably allows the bandwidth of the phase-shifting cells to be optimized. A phase range of 360° can in effect be segmented into two sub-ranges of around 180°. This segmentation into two sub-ranges is made possible by the complementarity of the resonant modes of the slot or microstrip type. The radiating phase-shifting cell is notably applicable to reflector arrays for an antenna designed to be installed on a space craft such as a telecommunications satellite or on a terrestrial terminal for satellite telecommunications or broadcasting systems.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A radiating phase-shifting cell comprising:
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a plurality of conducting elements formed on a surface of a substrate, above and separated from a ground plane and situated on a periphery, each conducting element being positioned symmetrically around and connected to at least one central conducting element and to neighbouring conducting elements on the periphery by controlled variable capacitive loads, the conducting elements being separated by radially-oriented slots, an arrangement of the slots forming an equivalent resonator whose electrical shape configures a phase-shift applied to a wave to be reflected, wherein the radiating phase-shifting cell comprises the controlled variable capacitive loads, which are capable of varying at least one of an electrical length and of an electrical width of the slots, wherein the conducting elements and the controlled variable capacitive loads are arranged so that, according to at least a first configuration of the controlled variable capacitive loads, a surface conductor of microwave signals is formed to create a resonator that is predominantly inductive, and so that, according to at least a second configuration, the slots are formed around the at least one central conducting element to create a resonator that is predominantly capacitive, and a conducting surface formed by the plurality of conducting elements arranged around the at least one central conducting element and being separated from each other by the slots to not completely encircle the at least one central conducting element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A reflector array antenna comprising:
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a plurality of radiating phase shifting cells forming a reflecting surface of the reflector array, wherein each said radiating phase shifting cell comprises a plurality of conducting elements formed on a surface of a substrate, above and separated from a ground plane and situated on a periphery, each conducting element being positioned around and connected to at least one central conducting element and to neighboring conducting elements on the periphery by controlled variable capacitive loads, the plurality of conducting elements being separated by slots, an arrangement of the slots forming an equivalent resonator whose electrical shape configures a phase-shift applied to a wave to be reflected, wherein each said radiating phase shifting cell comprises the controlled variable capacitive loads, which are capable of varying at least one of an electrical length and of an electrical width of the slots, the plurality of conducting elements, the slots and the controlled variable capacitive loads being disposed on the cell according to a center of symmetry placed in the center of the cell and being arranged so that, according to at least a first configuration of the controlled variable capacitive loads, a surface conductor of microwave signals is formed to create a resonator that is predominantly inductive, and so that, according to at least a second configuration, the slots are formed around the at least one central conducting element to create a resonator that is predominantly capacitive, and a conducting surface formed by the plurality of conducting elements surrounded by the slots surrounding the at least one central conducting element and being separated from each other by portions of the slots having a radial orientation with respect to the at least one central conducting element.
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Specification