Phased reflector array and an antenna including such an array
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for intercepting incident electromagnetic wave energy with a given wavelength and reflecting such wave energy with a controlled direction, comprisingconductive means for forming a ground plane,a semiconductive wafer having a front and a back surface supported on the ground plane with its back surface adjacent the conductive means,an array of separate dipoles each having two legs and arranged on said front surface along regularly spaced rows and columns, the legs of each dipole being parallel to said columns and the distance between adjacent rows and between adjacent columns being of the order of half said wavelength,a plurality of conductive strips disposed on said front surface of the semiconductive wafer and parallel to said rows, one of the two legs of each of the dipoles aligned along a given row being electrically connected to one another by one of said strips and formed in said one strip, the other of the legs of each of said dipoles aligned along said given row being electrically connected to one another by an adjacent strip and formed in said adjacent strip,a plurality of junction diodes, at least one being connected between the two legs of each separate dipole, andbiasing means, connected to each of said diodes through said conductive strips, for applying to said diodes a biasing voltage for controlling the reactive impedance of said diodes between a short-circuit value and a value matched to said incident electromagnetic wave energy, thereby controlling the amount of said incident electromagnetic wave energy reflected by the respective dipole associated with a respective diode from a maximal value to a minimal value, respectively,the portion of the incident electromagnetic wave energy not reflected by said respective dipole being transmitted to the ground plane and then reflected by said ground plane after impinging it,the portion of the incident electromagnetic energy reflected by said respective dipole and the portion thereof reflected by said ground plane combining together in an electromagnetic wave locally exhibiting a controlled variable phase shift depending on the relative amount of the respectively reflected portions.
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Abstract
The present invention provides phased arrays using monolithic technology of diffusions over whole wafers for working in millimetric wave frequency bands. The reflector array includes a plurality of metallizations connected together by diodes whose capacity can be varied. Thus direct control of reactive impedances is obtained. With the metallized strips placed at a distance substantially equal to λ/4 from a ground plane, it is possible to control locally the phase of the reflected signal.
38 Citations
14 Claims
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1. Apparatus for intercepting incident electromagnetic wave energy with a given wavelength and reflecting such wave energy with a controlled direction, comprising
conductive means for forming a ground plane, a semiconductive wafer having a front and a back surface supported on the ground plane with its back surface adjacent the conductive means, an array of separate dipoles each having two legs and arranged on said front surface along regularly spaced rows and columns, the legs of each dipole being parallel to said columns and the distance between adjacent rows and between adjacent columns being of the order of half said wavelength, a plurality of conductive strips disposed on said front surface of the semiconductive wafer and parallel to said rows, one of the two legs of each of the dipoles aligned along a given row being electrically connected to one another by one of said strips and formed in said one strip, the other of the legs of each of said dipoles aligned along said given row being electrically connected to one another by an adjacent strip and formed in said adjacent strip, a plurality of junction diodes, at least one being connected between the two legs of each separate dipole, and biasing means, connected to each of said diodes through said conductive strips, for applying to said diodes a biasing voltage for controlling the reactive impedance of said diodes between a short-circuit value and a value matched to said incident electromagnetic wave energy, thereby controlling the amount of said incident electromagnetic wave energy reflected by the respective dipole associated with a respective diode from a maximal value to a minimal value, respectively, the portion of the incident electromagnetic wave energy not reflected by said respective dipole being transmitted to the ground plane and then reflected by said ground plane after impinging it, the portion of the incident electromagnetic energy reflected by said respective dipole and the portion thereof reflected by said ground plane combining together in an electromagnetic wave locally exhibiting a controlled variable phase shift depending on the relative amount of the respectively reflected portions.
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7. Apparatus for intercepting incident electromagnetic wave energy with a given wavelength reflecting such wave energy with a controlled direction, comprising
conductive means for forming a ground plane, a semiconductive wafer having a front and a back surface supported on the ground plane with its back surface adjacent the conductive means, an array of separate dipoles each having two legs and arranged on said front surface along regularly spaced rows and columns, the legs of each dipole being parallel to said columns and the distance between adjacent rows and between adjacent columns being of the order of half said wavelength, a plurality of conductive strips disposed on said front surface of the semiconductive wafer and parallel to said rows, one of the two legs of certain groups of the dipoles aligned along a given row being electrically connected to certain groups of the dipoles by one of said strips and formed in said one strip, the other of the legs of certain groups of said dipoles aligned along said given row being electrically connected to certain groups of the dipoles by an adjacent strip and formed in said adjacent strip, a plurality of junction diodes, at least one being connected between the two legs of each separate dipole, and biasing means, connected to each of said diodes through said conductive strips, for applying to said diodes a biasing voltage for controlling the reactive impedance of said diodes between a short-circuit value and a value matched to said incident electromagnetic wave energy, thereby controlling the amount of said incident electromagnetic wave energy reflected by the respective dipole associated with a respective diode from a maximal value to a minimal value, respectively, the portion of the incident electromagnetic wave energy not reflected by said respective dipole being transmitted to the ground plane and then reflected by said ground plane after impinging it, the portion of the incident electromagnetic energy reflected by said respective dipole and the portion thereof reflected by said ground plane combining together in an electromagnetic wave locally exhibiting a controlled variable phase shift depending on the relative amount of the respectively reflected portions wherein each of said conductive strips is divided into a plurality of discrete segments so that the diodes may be biased whereby the direction of the radiated electromagnetic wave energy may be controlled.
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8. Apparatus for intercepting incident electromagnetic wave energy with a given wavelength and reflecting such wave energy with a controlled direction, comprising
conductive means for forming a ground plane, a semiconductive wafer having a front and a front and back surface supported on the ground plane with its back surface adjacent the conductive means, an array of separate dipoles each having two legs and arranged on said front surface along regularly spaced rows and columns, the legs of each dipole being parallel to said columns and the distance between adjacent rows and between adjacent columns being of the order of half said wavelength, a plurality of conductive strips disposed on said front surface of the semiconductive wafer and parallel to said rows, one of the two legs of certain groups each of the dipoles aligned along a given row being electrically connected to certain groups of the dipoles by one of said strips and formed in said one strip, the other of the legs of certain groups of said dipoles aligned along said given row being electrically connected to certain groups of the dipoles by an adjacent strip and formed in said adjacent strip, a plurality of junction diodes, at least one being connected between the two legs of each separate dipole, and biasing means, connected to each of said diodes through said conductive strips, for applying to said diodes a biasing voltage for controlling the reactive impedance of said diodes between a short-circuit value and a value matched to said incident electromagnetic wave energy thereby controlling the amount of said incident electromagnetic wave energy reflected by the respective dipole associated with a respective diode from a maximal value to a minimal value, respectively, the portion of the incident electromagnetic wave energy not reflected by said respective dipole being transmitted to the ground plane and then reflected by said ground plane after impinging it, the portion of the incident electromagnetic energy reflected by said respective dipole and the portion thereof reflected by said ground plane combining together in an electromagnetic wave locally exhibiting a controlled, variable phase shift depending on the relative amount of the respectively reflected portions, in which each of the plurality of conductive strips is divided into discrete segments and segments of adjacent pairs of said strips are connected in series by diodes.
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9. Apparatus for intercepting incident electromagnetic wave energy with a given wavelength and reflecting such wave energy with a controlled direction, comprising
conductive means for forming a ground plane, a semiconductive wafer having a front and a back surface supported on the ground plane with its back surface adjacent the conductive means, an array of separate dipoles each having two legs and arranged on said front surface along regularly spaced rows and columns, the legs of each dipole being parallel to said columns and the distance between adjacent rows and between adjacent columns being of the order of half said wavelength, a plurality of conductive strips disposed on said front surface of the semiconductive wafer and parallel to said rows, one of the two legs of certain groups of the dipoles aligned along a given row being electrically connected to certain groups of the dipoles by one of said strips and formed in said one strip, the other of the legs of certain groups of said dipoles aligned along said given row being electrically connected to certain groups of the dipoles by an adjacent strip and formed in said adjacent strip, a plurality of junction diodes, at least one being connected between the two legs of each separate dipole, and biasing means, connected to each of said diodes through said conductive strip, for applying to said diodes a biasing voltage for controlling the reactive impedance of said diodes between a short-circuit value and a value matched to said incident electromagnetic wave energy, thereby controlling the amount of said incident electromagnetic wave energy reflected by the respective dipole associated with a respective from a maximal value to a minimal value, respectively, the portion of the incident electromagnetic wave energy not reflected by said respective dipole being transmitted to the ground plane and then reflected by said ground plane after impinging it the portion of the incident electromagnetic energy reflected by said respective dipole and the portion thereof reflected by said ground plane combining together in an electromagnetic wave locally exhibiting a controlled variable phase shift depending on the relative amount of the respectively reflected portions, in which each of the plurality of conductive strips is divided into discrete segments and segments of adjacent pairs of said strips are interconnected by groups of diodes in parallel.
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10. An antenna comprising a primary radiation source with a given wavelength, and a reflector in the path of the radiation from said source for redirecting the radiation, said reflector comprising
conductive means forming a ground plane, a semiconductive wafer having front and back surfaces, said back surface being supported on the ground plane, an array of separate dipoles each having two legs and arranged on said front surface along regularly spaced rows and columns, the legs of each dipole being parallel to asid columns and the distance between adjacent rows and between adjacent columns being of the order of half said wavelength, a plurality of conductive strips disposed on said front surface of the semiconductive wafer and parallel to said rows, one of the two legs of each of the dipoles aligned along a given row being electrically connected to one another by one of said strips and formed in said one strip, the other of the legs of each of said dipoles aligned along said given row being electrically connected to one another by an adjacent strip and formed in said adjacent strip. a plurality of junction diodes, at least one being connected between the two legs of each separate dipole and biasing means, connected to each of said diodes through said conductive strips, for applying to said diodes a biasing voltage for controlling the reactive impedance of said diodes between a short-circuit value and a value matched to said radiation thereby controlling the amount of said radiation reflected by the respective dipole associated with a respective diode from a maximal value to a minimal value, respectively, the portion of the radiation not reflected by said respective dipole being transmitted to the ground plane and then reflected by said ground plane after impinging it, the portion of the radiation reflected by said respective dipole and the portion thereof reflected by said ground plane combining together in an electromagnetic wave locally exhibiting a controlled, variable phase shift depending on the relative amount of the respectively reflected portions.
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12. An antenna having a radiation source with a given wavelength, a main mirror, and phased array apparatus for varying the position of focus of the main mirror comprising
conductive means forming a ground plane, a semiconductive wafer having front and back surfaces, said back surface being supported on the ground plane, an array of separate dipoles each having two legs and arranged on said front surface along regularly spaced rows and columns, the legs of each dipole being parallel to said columns and the distance between adjacent rows and between adjacent columns being of the order of half said wavelength. a plurality of conductive strips disposed on said front surface of the semiconductive wafer and parallel to said rows, one of the two legs of each of the dipoles aligned along a given row being electrically connected to one another by one of said strips and formed in said one strip, the other of the legs of each of said dipoles aligned along said given row being electrically connected to one another by an adjacent strip and formed in said adjacent strip. a plurality of junction diodes at least one being connected between the two legs of each separate dipole, and biasing means, connected to each of said diodes through said conductive strips, for applying to said diodes a biasing voltage for controlling the reactive impedance of said diodes between a short-circuit value and a value matched to incident electromagnetic wave energy thereby controlling the amount of said incident electromagnetic wave energy reflected by the respective dipole associated with a respective diode from a maximal value to a minimal value, respectively, the portion of the incident electromagnetic wave energy not reflected by said respective dipole being transmitted to the ground plane and then reflected by said ground plane after impinging it, the portion of the incident electromagnetic energy reflected by said respective dipole and the portion thereof reflected by said ground plane combining together in an electromagnetic wave locally exhibiting a controlled, variable phase shift depending on the relative amount of the respectively reflected portions.
Specification
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Current AssigneeThomson-CSF
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Original AssigneeThomson-CSF
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InventorsGautier, Francois, Commault, Yves
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Primary Examiner(s)Wimer, Michael C.
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Application NumberUS07/566,546Time in Patent Office764 DaysField of Search343/701, 343/753, 343/754, 343/701, 343/755, 343/802, 343/909, 343/812-815, 343/846, 342/373, 342/374US Class Current343/754CPC Class CodesH01Q 15/14 Reflecting surfaces; Equiva...H01Q 3/46 Active lenses or reflecting...
