Reflectarray antenna system

• US 10,263,342 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2013
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Inventors: Hand, Thomas H., Cooley, Michael E., Sall, David, Kempic, Gary L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Trinh V
• Application Number:
  US14/054,267
• Publication Number:
  US 20150102973A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,009 Days
• 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 15/14 Reflecting surfaces; Equivalent structures electromagnetic shields H01Q1/526
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/10 using reflecting surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/18 having two or more spaced reflecting surfaces H01Q19/20 takes precedence
• 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 3/46 Active lenses or reflecting arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop

Abstract

One embodiment describes a reflectarray antenna system. The system includes an antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a wireless signal occupying a frequency band. The system also includes a reflector comprising a reflectarray. The reflectarray includes a plurality of reflectarray elements, where each of the reflectarray elements includes a dipole element. The dipole element of at least a portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a crossed-dipole portion and a looped-dipole portion. The plurality of reflectarray elements can be configured to selectively phase-delay the wireless signal to provide the wireless signal as a coherent beam.

Claims

1. A reflectarray antenna system comprising:

an antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a wireless signal occupying a frequency band; and

a reflector comprising a reflectarray, the reflectarray comprising a plurality of reflectarray elements, each of the reflectarray elements comprising a dipole element, wherein the dipole element of at least a portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a crossed-dipole portion and a looped-dipole portion, the plurality of reflectarray elements being configured to selectively phase-delay the wireless signal to provide the wireless signal as a coherent beam,

wherein the dipole element associated with a first portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises the crossed-dipole portion and the looped-dipole portion, and wherein the dipole element associated with a second portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises the crossed-dipole portion absent the looped-dipole portion, wherein the first and second portions of the plurality of reflectarray elements are distributed in a substantially uniform state pattern distribution across the reflector with respect to the dipole element associated with each of the plurality of reflectarray elements.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the reflector comprises one of a flat surface and a surface that is curved along a single dimension.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the antenna feed is a first antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a first wireless signal occupying a first frequency band, the system further comprising a second antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a second wireless signal occupying a second frequency band, wherein the reflectarray elements are configured to selectively phase-delay at least one of the first and second wireless signals to provide the first and second wireless signals as a first and second coherent beam, respectively.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a first sub-reflector configured to reflect the first wireless signal between the first antenna feed and the reflector; and

a second sub-reflector configured to reflect the second wireless signal between the second antenna feed and the reflector, wherein at least one of the first and second sub-reflectors are arranged substantially off-focus from the reflector.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements have a geometry that is tuned to be substantially transparent with respect to the first frequency band and is configured to selectively phase-delay the second wireless signal.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements each comprise variable dimensions with respect to each other and are selectively distributed on the reflector to provide the second wireless signal as the coherent beam based on the selective phase-delay of the second wireless signal of each respective one of the plurality of reflectarray elements.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements are selectively distributed in a plurality of at least partial loops on the reflector, wherein the variable dimensions associated with reflectarray elements in a given one of the plurality of at least partial loops are arranged in a decreasing gradient of dimensions from an inner portion of the given one of the plurality of at least partial loops to an outer portion of the given one of the plurality of at least partial loops.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the crossed-dipole portion of the dipole element of each of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a contiguous conductive portion arranged as a pair of orthogonal intersecting strips disposed on a substrate and having a perimeter, and wherein the looped-dipole portion of the dipole element of each of the at least a portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a second contiguous conductive portion that extends at least partially around the first contiguous portion and has a perimeter that is concentric with respect to the perimeter of the first contiguous conductive portion.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the dipole element of each of the plurality of reflectarray elements is disposed on a single layer substrate that interconnects the dipole element and a conductive ground layer.

10. A reflectarray antenna system comprising:

an antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a wireless signal occupying a frequency band; and

a reflector comprising a reflectarray, the reflectarray comprising a plurality of reflectarray elements, each of the reflectarray elements comprising a dipole element, wherein the dipole element of at least a portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a crossed-dipole portion and a looped-dipole portion, the plurality of reflectarray elements being configured to selectively phase-delay the wireless signal to provide the wireless signal as a coherent beam,

wherein the crossed-dipole portion of the dipole element of each of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a contiguous conductive portion arranged as a pair of orthogonal intersecting strips disposed on a substrate and having a perimeter, and wherein the looped-dipole portion of the dipole element of each of the at least a portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a second contiguous conductive portion that extends at least partially around the first contiguous portion and has a perimeter that is concentric with respect to the perimeter of the first contiguous conductive portion,

wherein the second contiguous portion surrounds the first contiguous portion and is spaced apart from the first contiguous portion at each end of the pair of orthogonal intersecting strips and along each point of the pair of orthogonal intersecting strips by an approximately equal distance.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the reflector comprises one of a flat surface and a surface that is curved along a single dimension.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the antenna feed is a first antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a first wireless signal occupying a first frequency band, the system further comprising a second antenna feed configured to at least one of transmit and receive a second wireless signal occupying a second frequency band, wherein the reflectarray elements are configured to selectively phase-delay at least one of the first and second wireless signals to provide the first and second wireless signals as a first and second coherent beam, respectively.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a first sub-reflector configured to reflect the first wireless signal between the first antenna feed and the reflector; and

a second sub-reflector configured to reflect the second wireless signal between the second antenna feed and the reflector, wherein at least one of the first and second sub-reflectors are arranged substantially off-focus from the reflector.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements have a geometry that is tuned to be substantially transparent with respect to the first frequency band and is configured to selectively phase-delay the second wireless signal, and wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements each comprise variable dimensions with respect to each other and are selectively distributed on the reflector to provide the second wireless signal as the coherent beam based on the selective phase-delay of the second wireless signal of each respective one of the plurality of reflectarray elements.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of reflectarray elements are selectively distributed in a plurality of at least partial loops on the reflector, wherein the reflectarray elements in a given one of the plurality of at least partial loops have variable dimensions that are arranged in a decreasing gradient of dimensions from an inner portion of the given one of the plurality of at least partial loops to an outer portion of the given one of the plurality of at least partial loops.

16. A method for providing dual-band wireless transmission via a reflectarray antenna system, the method comprising:

one of transmitting and receiving a first wireless signal occupying a first frequency band between a first antenna feed and a reflector comprising a plurality of reflectarray elements selectively distributed on the reflector, the plurality of reflectarray elements having a geometry that is substantially transparent with respect to the first frequency band; and

one of transmitting and receiving a second wireless signal occupying a second frequency band between a second antenna feed and the reflector, the geometry of the plurality of reflectarray elements providing selective phase-delay of the second wireless signal to provide a coherent beam associated with the second wireless signal.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of reflectarray elements comprises a dipole element comprising a dipole portion configured as a contiguous conductive portion arranged as a pair of orthogonal intersecting strips disposed on a substrate and having a perimeter.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the dipole portion is a first dipole portion comprising a first contiguous conductive portion, wherein the dipole element of each of at least a portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements further comprises a second dipole portion arranged as a second contiguous conductive portion that extends at least partially around the first contiguous portion and has a perimeter that is concentric with respect to the perimeter of the first contiguous conductive portion, and wherein the second contiguous portion surrounds the first contiguous portion and is spaced apart from the first contiguous portion at each end of the pair of orthogonal intersecting strips and along each point of the pair of orthogonal intersecting strips by an approximately equal distance.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the dipole element of each of the plurality of reflectarray elements is disposed on a single layer substrate that interconnects the dipole element and a conductive ground layer.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the dipole element is a dipole element associated with a first portion of the plurality of reflectarray elements, the plurality of reflectarray elements comprising a second portion comprising a dipole element that comprises a looped dipole portion, wherein the first and second portions of the plurality of reflectarray elements are distributed in a substantially uniform state pattern distribution across the reflector with respect to the dipole element associated with each of the plurality of reflectarray elements.