Antenna array radiation shielding
AssigneeViaSat, Inc.
InventorsJoseph Luna, Luis Astorga, Thomas Stutting
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An antenna array may include shielding elements that provide a degree of radiation shielding to other components of the antenna array, such as a substrate of the antenna array. In some examples, the shielding elements may be positioned to overlap with one or more gaps between antenna elements, or one or more gaps between ground elements (e.g., when viewed from a radiation source, when viewed in a direction perpendicular to a substrate). Thus, shielding elements of an antenna array may reflect, absorb, or otherwise dissipate radiation that passes through such gaps before the radiation is incident on the other components of the antenna array, such as the substrate of the antenna array.
Claims26
An antenna array comprising:
- a substrate;
- a plurality of antenna units, each of the plurality of antenna units comprising:
- an antenna element electrically coupled with a surface of the substrate;
- and
- a ground element electrically coupled with the surface of the substrate, the ground element disposed at least in part between the antenna element and the surface of the substrate;
- and
- a plurality of shielding elements disposed between the surface of the substrate and the ground elements of the plurality of antenna units, each of the plurality of shielding elements directly coupled with no more than one of the plurality of antenna units, wherein, for each of a plurality of gaps between ground elements of adjacent antenna units, a projected area of a respective gap in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the substrate is incident on at least one of the plurality of shielding elements.
An antenna array comprising:
- a substrate;
- an antenna element layer comprising a plurality of antenna elements, each of the plurality of antenna elements electrically coupled with the substrate;
- an antenna ground layer disposed between the antenna element layer and the substrate, the antenna ground layer comprising a plurality of ground elements each corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein each of the plurality of ground elements is electrically coupled with the substrate;
- and
- a shielding layer disposed between the antenna ground layer and the substrate, the shielding layer comprising a plurality of shielding elements between the antenna ground layer and the substrate, wherein each of the plurality of shielding elements is directly coupled with a ground element, a ground feed, or both, as associated with no more than one of the plurality of ground elements, and wherein, for each of a plurality of gaps of the antenna ground layer, a projected area of a respective gap in a direction perpendicular to the substrate is incident on at least one of the plurality of shielding elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.