Vertical combiner for overlapped linear phased array
AssigneeHuawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
InventorsWenyao Zhai, Vahid Miraftab
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vertical combiner for an overlapping linear phased array is provided. The vertical vector combiner enables two strip-line signals from different layers to be combined, or divided, by vertical transitions between substrate layers and produce a desired output signal phase. The combiner can terminate in a short to act as an antenna. In an antenna application, the antenna provides multiple substrate layers for each strip-line signal, each having a metal ground plane. The ground planes are be coupled by vertical transitions access enabling a stepped ground within the structure which increases bandwidth. The multi-layer combiner architecture enables integration with phased array feed networks for millimeter wave phased array antennas.
Claims20
An N row×M column array of combiners comprising:
- a first feed substrate layer includes a plurality of first strip-line signal feeds, each first strip-line signal feed being configured to provide a column high frequency signal to the N combiners of a respective one of M columns;
- a second feed substrate layer includes a plurality of second strip-line signal feeds, each second strip-line signal feed being configured to provide a row high frequency signal to the M combiners of a respective one of N rows;
- and
- a combiner substrate layer interposed between the first feed substrate layer and the second feed substrate layer, the combiner substrate layer having the N×M combiners;
- each combiner being coupled to a respective first strip-line signal feed and a respective second strip-line signal feed by vertical signal transitions through, respectively, the first feed substrate layer and the combiner substrate layer and wherein the combiner provides a respective resultant high frequency signal having a desired phase that is a vector sum of a phase of the respective received column high frequency signal from the respective first strip-line signal feed and a phase of the respective received row high frequency signal from the respective second strip-line.
An overlapped linear sub-array comprising:
- a plurality of antenna elements arranged in an N row×M column array;
- an N row×M column array of combiners comprising:
- a first feed substrate layer includes a plurality of first strip-line signal feeds, each first strip-line signal feed being configured to provide a column high frequency signal to the N combiners of a respective one of M columns;
- a second feed substrate layer includes a plurality of second strip-line signal feeds, each second strip-line signal feed being configured to provide a row high frequency signal to the M combiners of a respective one of N rows;
- and
- a combiner substrate layer interposed between the first feed substrate layer and the second feed substrate layer, the combiner substrate layer having the N×M combiners;
- each combiner being coupled to a respective first strip-line signal feed and a respective second strip-line signal feed by vertical signal transitions through, respectively, the first feed substrate layer and the combiner substrate layer wherein the combiner provides a respective resultant high frequency signal having a desired phase that is a vector sum of a phase of the received column high frequency signal from the respective first strip-line signal feed and a phase of the respective received row high frequency signal from the respective second strip-line;
- wherein the plurality of antenna elements positioned above the first feed substrate layer being configured to receive the respective resultant high frequency signals from the corresponding combiners;
- a feeding network for providing the respective column high frequency signal to a respective first strip-line signal feed, and the respective row high frequency signal to a respective second strip-line signal feed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.