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US 11,056,801 B2Granted
Antenna aperture in phased array antenna systems
AssigneeSpace Exploration Technologies Corp.
InventorsAlireza Mahanfar, Javier Rodriguez De Luis, Nil Apaydin, Ersin Yetisir, Shaya Karimkashi Arani
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of present disclosure are directed to apparatuses, systems, and methods relating to antenna apertures in phased array antenna systems directed to configuring antenna lattices in a space tapered configuration and mapping from the antenna lattices, interspersing of antenna elements in an antenna aperture, and rotation of antenna element in the antenna aperture for purity polarization.
Claims28
A phased array antenna system, comprising:
- a first portion carrying an antenna lattice including a plurality of antenna elements, wherein the plurality of antenna elements are arranged in a first configuration, wherein the first configuration is a space tapered configuration, wherein the antenna lattice includes a first antenna element, a second antenna element and a third antenna element, wherein the first, second and third antenna elements are distributed between a center and a periphery of the first portion, with the first antenna element being closest to the center, the third antenna element being furthest from the center, and the second antenna element being positioned between the first and third antenna elements, wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna elements are separated by a first distance, and the second antenna element and the third antenna element are separated by a second distance different than the first distance, and wherein the second antenna element is the closest element along a line to both of the first antenna element and the third antenna element;
- and
- a second portion carrying a beamformer lattice including a plurality of beamformer elements, wherein the plurality of beamformer elements are arranged in a second configuration different from the first configuration, wherein each of the plurality of antenna elements are electrically coupled by mapping to one of the plurality of beamformer elements.
A phased array antenna system, comprising:
- a carrier;
- an antenna lattice including a plurality of antenna elements supported by the carrier, the antenna lattice having a space tapered configuration, wherein the antenna lattice includes a first antenna element, a second antenna element and a third antenna element, wherein the first, second and third antenna elements are distributed between a center and a periphery of the first portion, with the first antenna element being closest to the center, the third antenna element being furthest from the center, and the second antenna element being positioned between the first and third antenna elements, wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna elements are separated by a first distance, and the second antenna element and the third antenna element are separated by a second distance different than the first distance, and wherein the second antenna element is the closest element along a line to both of the first antenna element and the third antenna element;
- a beamformer lattice including a plurality of beamformer elements supported by the carrier having a configuration different from the antenna lattice configuration, wherein at least one of the beamformer elements is laterally displaced from at least one of the antenna elements;
- and
- mapping for electrically coupling the antenna lattice to the beamformer lattice.
2 more elements
An antenna lattice for a phased array antenna system, the antenna lattice comprising:
- a plurality of antenna elements configured in a space tapered configuration, wherein the plurality of antenna elements includes a first antenna element, a second antenna element and a third antenna element, wherein the first, second and third antenna elements are distributed between a center and a periphery of the first portion, with the first antenna element being closest to the center, the third antenna element being furthest from the center, and the second antenna element being positioned between the first and third antenna elements, wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna elements are separated by a first distance, and the second antenna element and the third antenna element are separated by a second distance different than the first distance, and wherein the second antenna element is the closest element along a line to both of the first antenna element and the third antenna element;
- and
- mapping from each of the plurality of antenna elements to one of a plurality of other elements, wherein the plurality of other elements are in a configuration different from the space tapered configuration of the antenna lattice.
A phased array antenna system, comprising:
- a first portion carrying an antenna lattice including a plurality of antenna elements, wherein the plurality of antenna elements are arranged in a first configuration wherein the first configuration is a space tapered configuration, wherein the antenna lattice includes a first antenna element, a second antenna element and a third antenna element, wherein the first, second and third antenna elements are distributed between a center and a periphery of the first portion, with the first antenna element being closest to the center, the third antenna element being furthest from the center, and the second antenna element being positioned between the first and third antenna elements, wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna elements are separated by a first distance, and the second antenna element and the third antenna element are separated by a second distance different than the first distance, and wherein the second antenna element is the closest element along a line to both of the first antenna element and the third antenna element;
- and
- a second portion carrying a beamformer lattice including a plurality of beamformer elements, wherein the plurality of beamformer elements are arranged in a second configuration different from the first configuration, wherein at least one of the plurality of antenna elements is laterally spaced from a corresponding one of the plurality of beamformer elements, wherein each of the plurality of antenna elements are electrically coupled to one of the plurality of beamformer elements.
A phased array antenna, comprising:
- a carrier;
- a first plurality of antenna elements carried by the carrier and configured to transmit and/or receive signals at a first value of a parameter, wherein the plurality of antenna elements includes a first antenna element, a second antenna element and a third antenna element, wherein the first, second and third antenna elements are distributed between a center and a periphery of the first portion, with the first antenna element being closest to the center, the third antenna element being furthest from the center, and the second antenna element being positioned between the first and third antenna elements, wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna elements are separated by a first distance, and the second antenna element and the third antenna element are separated by a second distance different than the first distance, and wherein the second antenna element is the closest element along a line to both of the first antenna element and the third antenna element;
- and
- a second plurality of antenna elements carried by the carrier and configured to transmit and/or receive signals at a second value of the parameter different from the first value of the parameter, wherein individual antenna elements of the first plurality of antenna elements are interspersed with individual antenna elements of the second plurality of antenna elements.
1 more element
A phased array antenna, comprising:
- an antenna lattice disposed on a carrier, the antenna lattice including a plurality of antenna elements arranged in an antenna lattice configuration, wherein the antenna lattice includes a first antenna element, a second antenna element and a third antenna element, wherein the first, second and third antenna elements are distributed between a center and a periphery of the first portion, with the first antenna element being closest to the center, the third antenna element being furthest from the center, and the second antenna element being positioned between the first and third antenna elements, wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna elements are separated by a first distance, and the second antenna element and the third antenna element are separated by a second distance different than the first distance, and wherein the second antenna element is the closest element along a line to both of the first antenna element and the third antenna element, wherein at least some antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements are physically rotated relative to other antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.