3D tripolar antenna and method of manufacture
AssigneesUniversity of South Florida, University of Vermont and State Agricultural College
InventorsRamiro A. Ramirez, Marcia Golmohamadi, Thomas M. Weller, Jeffrey Frolik
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In various embodiments, a three-dimensional (3D) printed tripolar antenna fabricated through additive manufacturing techniques to match the geometries of various commercial wireless node packages is provided. The antenna systems are designed to mitigate harsh channel conditions by implementing polarization diversity between three mutually orthogonal monopoles.
Claims18
A 3D tripolar antenna system, the system comprising:
- a 3D dielectric substrate comprising a substantially flat bottom dielectric substrate and at least three sloped dielectric substrate walls extending from the flat bottom dielectric substrate;
- three mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna, each one of the three mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna printed on a different one of the sloped dielectric substrate walls;
- and
- a microstrip line printed on the substantially flat bottom dielectric substrate and connected to each of the three mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna.
A 3D tripolar antenna system, comprising:
- four sloped dielectric substrate walls extending from the flat bottom dielectric substrate;
- and
- three pairs of mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna, wherein each first one of a pair of mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna is printed on a first substrate wall that is opposite to a second substrate wall on which the second one of the pair of mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna is printed.
An additive manufacturing method for a 3D tripolar antenna system, the method comprising:
- forming a 3D dielectric substrate using fused deposition modeling (FDM), wherein the 3D dielectric substrate comprises a substantially flat bottom dielectric substrate and at least three dielectric substrate walls extending from the flat bottom dielectric substrate;
- forming three mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna on the 3D dielectric substrate using micro-dispensing of a conductive material, wherein each one of the three mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna is printed on a different one of the dielectric substrate walls;
- and
- forming a microstrip line using micro-dispensing of the conductive material on the substantially flat bottom dielectric substrate, wherein the microstrip line is connected to each of the three mutually orthogonal λ/4 monopole antenna.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.