阅读说明：本技术 槽线体积天线 (Slot line volume antenna ) 是由 J.T.阿波斯托罗斯 W.穆约斯 J.冯 于 2018-02-23 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种槽馈电体积天线结构,所述槽馈电体积天线结构通过馈电点的选择性连接而在三个轴中激活天线波束。(slot fed volumetric antenna structure that activates an antenna beam in three axes through selective connection of feed points.)

An antenna of , comprising:

pairs of rectangular patches of conductive material arranged in a th top plane, the patches being spaced apart by slots,

a second pair of patches of conductive material, each patches of the second pair of patches being adjacent to a corresponding patches of the pair of conductive patches and being disposed in a respective left or right plane orthogonal to the plane and on either side of the slot,

, feed point A, is provided at the end of the selected patches of the pair,

a second feeding point B provided on the opposite side of the slot from the feeding point A and on the corresponding end of the other patches of the th pair of patches,

a hairpin stub coupled to a distal end of the th pair of patches away from the A, B feed point, an

An inductor is disposed across the slot between the feed points.

2. The antenna of claim 1, further comprising:

a third pair of patches of conductive material disposed in the same top plane as the th pair, each of the third pair of patches of conductive material being spaced apart from a corresponding of the th pair of patches to form a second slot;

the second pair of patches is spaced apart from both the th and third pairs of patches, thus forming two slots between the top plane and the respective planes that are adjacent in the left and right planes.

3. The antenna of claim 2, further comprising:

a third feeding point C provided on of the th pair of patches, and

a fourth feeding point D, opposite to feeding point C, is provided in patches of the third pair of patches.

4. The antenna of claim 3, further comprising:

a fifth feed point E provided on patches of the pairs of patches positioned adjacent to the slot between the selected patches of the second pair on the side plane, and

a sixth feeding point F is provided in the selected patches of the second pair of patches opposite to the feeding point E.

5. The antenna of claim 1, further comprising:

a second hairpin stub coupled across the ends of the third pair of patches;

an inductor disposed across opposite ends of the third pair of patches.

6. The antenna of claim 1, further comprising:

a polarization combining network coupled to the feed points a and B.

7. The antenna of claim 4, further comprising:

a polarization combining network coupled to selected ones of feed points a and B, or feed points C and D, or feed points E and F.

8. The antenna of claim 6, further comprising:

a controller for operating the polarization combining network to provide or more of horizontal, vertical, right-hand circular or left-hand circular polarization.

Technical Field

The present application relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to a volumetric antenna element with controllable beam direction.

Background information

Handheld wireless devices such as cellular telephones often use monopole antennas.

The phase shifts applied to different elements are varied in order to steer the directional pattern of the beam without the use of moving parts, so-called smart antennas are another applications of phased arrays where a digital signal processor can dynamically (on the fly) calculate the phase shift.

Government regulatory agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the united states have specified a maximum Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for radiation emitted from wireless devices, such regulations, as well as general concerns about potential adverse health effects caused by concentrated radio frequency emissions, have limited the adoption of directional antennas.

The ongoing push to internetwork physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items with embedded electronics, software, sensors, and actuators will enable many different types of objects to collect and exchange data.

Certain types of directional antennas , as described in the above-referenced co-pending patent application entitled "Super directional Array of Volumetric antenna for Wireless Device Applications," serial No. 15/362, 988, are configured as pairs of crossed dipoles formed by four patch elements.

Background

Disclosure of Invention

The volume antenna elements described herein may be configured to provide directional radiation along or more axes and in multiple polarizations.

In designs, the volume elements include planar rectangular radiators consisting of patches of conductive material two patches of conductive material may be placed along the (or "top") plane other patches are placed in two adjacent perpendicular (or "side") planes positioned on either side of the plane, spaced from the top patch by gaps or slots therefore, the patches generally form a "u" shape in cross-section that defines the volume, an inductor is placed across ends of the top patch, and a stub line is placed across the opposite ends.

In implementations, four conductive patches may be placed in the top plane, each of the patches being separated from the other patches by slots.

Selective connection of the feed point to the top planar element and the side planar elements activates the radiation beam along three axes.

In such implementations, three volume elements are provided on each side of the housing, the central element is a driven element, and the parasitic elements are placed on either sides of the central driven element.

In arrangements, the elements can each be pairs of crossed dipoles, or even two or more pairs of crossed dipoles.

In embodiments, the volumetric antenna element is disposed within the wireless device^TMiPhone^TMOr Android^TM or more of the volume antenna elements are placed along the side of the housing in this configuration the volume elements define a volume that encompasses not only the space along the edge of the housing, but also the space into the body of the device.

Drawings

The following description refers to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a basic slotline element;

FIG. 2 shows how different feed configurations can be selected to generate fields along different axes;

FIG. 3 is a three-element end-fire array;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a model of an array of three elements;

FIG. 5 is a more detailed view of the model;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are azimuth and elevation patterns;

FIG. 7 illustrates expected SAR performance; and

fig. 8A and 8B illustrate alternative polarizations with pairs of feed points.

Detailed Description

example implementations of slot line antenna element 100 are shown in the upper right corner of FIG. 1A. pairs of patches 110-1, 110-2 of conductive material disposed in the plane are spaced apart by slots each patch is folded in an L-shape so that the other conductive sections 120-1, 120-2 are positioned in another , preferably a vertical or orthogonal plane the patches 110-1, 120-1 are mirror images of the patches 110-2, 120-2 the patches may be r, usually to the edge of the device housing, as shown in the middle of the figure feed points A are provided at the ends of patches 110-1 and second feed points B are provided on the other patches 110-2. the length L is usually 0.2 wavelength, while the height H and width W are in the 0.1 wavelength range.

The volume slot line element 100 may include a hairpin stub 130 on the end opposite the A, B feed point, the hairpin stub 130 extending the effective length to 1/4 wavelengths. An inductor 140 placed across the feed point helps to resonate the element 100 and match the impedance, such as to 50 ohms.

Depending on the location of the feed point, the slot line element 100 can operate as a dipole to exhibit directivity along the x, y, or z axis. With the feed points a and B positioned on the top patches 110-1, 110-2 as shown in fig. 1A, the "endfire" beams are directed along the z-axis (i.e., the electric field (E-field) is along the z-axis), as shown in fig. 1B.

As described in more detail below, any type of polarization, such as circular, vertical or horizontal, is possible.

Fig. 2 shows how a radiation beam may be generated along the x, y or z axis with a slightly different configuration for the volume antenna element 200. Here, there are two patches 210-1, 210-2 arranged in the top plane and two additional patches 230-1, 230-2 also in the top plane, so that there are a total of four patches in the top plane. The side patches 220-1, 220-2 are placed along orthogonal side planes as in the configuration of fig. 1A. This configuration achieves a slot (identified by the thick dark line) between the six conductive patches. As shown, additional pairs of feed points C, D are provided on patches 210-2 and 230-2, and additional pairs of feed points E, F are provided on patches 210-2, 230-2. A PIN diode or similar short circuit control circuit is coupled across the slot to select the feed point A, B, C, D or E, F as the active feed point.

As indicated by the table on the left in fig. 2, selection of feed point A, B generates a field for the electric field along the z-axis, selection of feed point C, D generates a field along the x-axis, and selection of feed point E, F generates a field along the y-axis.

The slot line volume elements 100 or 200 only are adapted to be arranged in an array to create a traveling wave structure each element is a radiating slot line, which permits each element to act as a feed line for the next elements in the sequence.

such arrays are shown in FIG. 3-a three-element one-way endfire array operating at 2.45 GHz for WiFi applications FIG. 3 is a top view showing patches 310-1, 310-2, 410-1, 410-2, 510-1, 510-2 disposed only in the top plane, a corresponding side patch of each element not shown pairs of cross-connects 320 are provided between adjacent ends of the patches 310-1, 410-2 and between the patches 310-2, 410-1, a corresponding pairs of cross-connects 330 are provided between the patches 310-1, 510-2 and the adjacent ends of the patches 310-2, 510-1. the result is to excite currents on the patch elements with a relative delay that depends on the relative distance of the patch elements from the feed point along the length dimension of the array, the resulting fields from each element (which are generated in the direction of the indication when fed from the A, B point) are combined to create a coherent field in the direction of the antenna (i.e., towards the left side of the antenna in FIG. 3) to create a coherent gain configuration of the antenna, which is the expected gain when the antenna is measured in the 3 dBi, and the antenna is approximately 4 dBi, when the antenna, the antenna is measured in the free space, the antenna, where the antenna, and the antenna.

The direction of the main beam 350 is controlled by the position of the feed point A, B. For example, end-fire beams in opposite directions (toward the right in FIG. 3, as indicated by dashed arrows 360) may be generated by alternatively using feed points A ', B' positioned on opposite ends of patches 310-1, 310-2.

Although an endfire array is shown in fig. 3, it should be understood that a broadside feed arrangement is also possible, which generates beams along other axes, like the volume element described in the above-referenced U.S. patent application serial No. 15/362, 988, the array of elements may be placed around all four corners of the wireless device housing to provide beams in different directions.

Feed networks coupled to A, B, C, D or E, F feed points may also be provided for horizontal, vertical and other polarization modes see the combined networks in issued U.S. patents 9,118,116 and 9,013,360. another schemes for providing polarization modes are described in detail below.

While the depicted arrangement uses two patches arranged in a cross-sectional U-shape, it should be understood that other shapes, such as an L-shape, are also effective.

It is also possible to insert delay elements, meander lines or other structures at the crossover/feed points to further to assist in resonant tuning at the lower frequency range.

We have found that this arrangement is relatively insensitive to the presence of nearby dielectric structures such as the user's hand. This is because the driven A, B patches are oppositely withdrawn (180 degrees out of phase).

A high frequency electromagnetic field simulation (HFSS) model of the three-element array was created. Fig. 4 is an isometric view of the model, while fig. 5 is a close-up view of the feed end, showing the feed point 510, the inductor 520 (here set to 2 nH), and the hairpin connection 530. The patch 540 and the hairpin 530 are modeled as copper conductive material; the patch was placed on top of a dielectric substrate formed of RO3003 of 10 mil thickness. (intersection points have been modeled but are not shown in these figures).

The resulting elevation and azimuth mode plots for operation at 2.45 GHz are shown in fig. 6A and 6B, respectively. The directivity and gain plots are shown; the peak gain of 5 dBi was predicted by simulation.

It is also expected that the design will meet Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) emissions requirements for mobile devices as promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other agencies in the united states. FIG. 7 is a plot (in Watts/kilogram) of the expected SAR emission predicted by this mode; the radiation is determined at a distance of 2mm from the head of the person.

(the following discussion of polarization is taken from the "Juurcy FRUIT" patent application, this is the most relevant way

）。

The array of lines may also provide different polarizations such as circular (right or left hand), vertical, horizontal or a combination of some or all of such polarizations fig. 8A and 8B illustrate how different combination networks may be implemented to provide these different polarization modes the two crossed dipole patches 602-a, 602-B and 602-C, 602-D shown here correspond to the patches 310-1, 410-2 and 410-1, 310-2 shown in fig. 3 the switches 802-a and 802-B provide the ability to selectively control the th dipole (formed by the patches 602-a, 602-B) the switches connect the feed point to different locations on adjacent patches e.g. the switch 802-a permits the connection of the feed for patch 604-a to three different locations on adjacent patches 602-C (which include locations 808-2, 809-2 and 810-2) and of the fourth locations 808-1 on patch 602-D similarly the switch 802-B selectively connects the feed point on patch 602-B to the feed point on adjacent patch 602-C and to the corresponding locations 808-90-809-90 and 90-809-90 via the patches 808-C and the switches 810-809-3.

The table of fig. 8B shows four different alternative positions for each switch 802-a, 802-B and the resulting polarization in the E-plane and the H-plane. For example, placing switch 802-A in position 2 (connecting it to point 808-2) and switch 802-B in position 1 (connecting to point 808-1) provides horizontal polarization in the E-plane and vertical polarization in the H-plane. With switch 802-a in position 808-1 and switch 802-B in position 808-2, opposite horizontal and vertical polarizations are provided. The switch positions selected for the 90 ° phase shifter or the-90 ° phase shifter provide either right hand circular polarization or left hand circular polarization, respectively.

Thus, fig. 8A and 8B illustrate how the conductive patches may provide different polarizations. Adjacent parasitic elements (those not connected to feed point A, B) are similarly controlled by digital controller 850 (where it is understood that feed points a and B are not connected to the drive circuit).

Similar operation may also be provided for other C, D and E, F active feed configurations to provide polarizations for operation in the other two axes.

The controller 850 may include digital logic, an array, a programmable microprocessor, a digital signal processor, or other circuitry to control the state of the switch 802. in some embodiments, the selection of the vertical, horizontal, or circular polarization state may depend on the detected operating environment.in examples, the controller 850 may attempt various possible polarizations in an initial mode.then, the polarization mode with the highest received power is selected by the controller 850 for subsequent operation.