Base station antennas having staggered linear arrays with improved phase center alignment between adjacent arrays

A base station antenna, comprising:

• a first array that includes a plurality of sub-arrays of first radiating elements that are arranged along a longitudinal direction of the base station antenna;
• a second array that includes a plurality of sub-arrays of second radiating elements that are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the base station antenna,
• wherein a phase center of the uppermost of the sub-arrays of first radiating elements is not aligned with a phase center of any of the sub-arrays of second radiating elements, and
• wherein a phase center of the combination of the uppermost of the sub-arrays of first radiating elements and a lowermost of the sub-arrays of first radiating elements is aligned with a phase center of the combination of an uppermost of the sub-arrays of second radiating elements and a lowermost of the sub-arrays of second radiating elements.

A base station antenna, comprising:

• a first array that includes a plurality of first radiating elements arranged along a longitudinal direction of the base station antenna;
• a second array that includes a plurality of second radiating elements arranged along the longitudinal direction of the base station antenna, the second array transversely adjacent the first array, wherein the longitudinal positions of the second radiating elements are staggered from the longitudinal positions of the first radiating elements,
• wherein a phase center of a first sub-array of the first array is a first distance above a phase center of the first array,
• wherein a phase center of a second sub-array of the first array is the first distance below the phase center of the first array,
• wherein a phase center of a first sub-array of the second array is a second distance above a phase center of the second array,
• wherein a phase center of a second sub-array of the second array is the second distance below the phase center of the second array,
• wherein the phase center of the first array and the phase center of the second array are aligned along a transverse direction, and
• wherein the first distance is different from the second distance.