# US 12,763,471 B2 · Backplane for metasurface antenna with an amplifier driven by drive circuitry > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,763,471 B2 - Document ID: US12763471B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/893,459 - Filed: 2024-09-23 - Published: 2025-03-27 - Granted: 2026-10-13 - Earliest claimed: 2023-09-25 - Assignees: Kymeta Corporation - Applicants: Kymeta Corporation - Inventors: Tung Pham; Ryan Stevenson - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12763471B2 ## CPC - H01Q 9/0414: {in a stacked or folded configuration} - H01Q 9/0442: {with particular tuning means} - H01Q 9/0485: {Dielectric resonator antennas} - H01Q 23/00: Antennas with active circuits or circuit elements integrated within them or attached to them - H01Q: ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS (radiators or antennas for microwave heating H05B6/72) ## Abstract Backplane architectures for metasurface antennas and methods for driving amplifiers with the same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the metasurface antenna includes: a plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements; a plurality of tuning elements coupled to the plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements, wherein each tuning element of the plurality of tuning elements is associated with one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements; a plurality of amplifiers coupled to the plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements, wherein each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers is associated with one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements; and drive circuitry coupled to the plurality of antenna elements, the plurality of amplifiers and the plurality of tuning elements, configured to drive individually each of the plurality of antenna elements and the plurality of amplifiers. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A metasurface antenna comprising: a plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements; a plurality of tuning elements coupled to the plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements, wherein each tuning element of the plurality of tuning elements is associated with one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements; a plurality of amplifiers coupled to the plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements, wherein each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers is associated with one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements; and a drive circuitry coupled to the plurality of antenna elements, the plurality of amplifiers and the plurality of tuning elements, configured to drive individually each of the plurality of antenna elements and the plurality of amplifiers. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The antenna of claim 1 wherein the driver circuitry comprises a plurality of driver circuits, each driver circuit of the plurality of driver circuits operable to output a pair of signals to one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements and its associated amplifier, the pair of signals including a tuning signal to tune the one antenna element and an amplifier signal to tune the associated amplifier. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The antenna of claim 2 wherein said each driver circuit is coupled to receive two source signals and generate the pair of signals to the one antenna element and its associated amplifier based on the two source signals. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The antenna of claim 3 wherein the drive circuitry comprises matrix drive circuitry and the plurality of driver circuits are in a row and column topology, and further wherein the source signals operate as a column driver, said each driver circuit having an enable input to enable said driver circuit to output the pair of signals, the enable input to operate as a row driver. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The antenna of claim 4 wherein a first source signal of the two source signals is related to the tuning signal and a second source signal of the two source signals is related to the amplifier signal, and further wherein the first source signal for the driver circuits in a column are coupled together and the second source signals for the driver circuits in the column are coupled together. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The antenna of claim 2 wherein each driver circuit is configured to receive two pairs of source signals and generate two pairs of output signals to tune two antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements and each of their associated amplifiers of the plurality of amplifiers. ### Claim 7 (depends on 2) The antenna of claim 2 wherein voltage of the amplifier signal controls an amount of amplification produced by the associated amplifier and is adjustable to adjust the amount of amplification. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The antenna of claim 7 wherein said each driver circuit is coupled to receive two source signals to generate the tuning signal and the amplifier signal, with voltage of one of the source signals being adjustable to adjust the amplifier signal to adjust the amount of amplification. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The antenna of claim 1 wherein the tuning element comprises a varactor. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The antenna of claim 1 further comprising a stack up having: a glass substrate coupled to at least a portion of each of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein tuning elements of the plurality of tuning elements are coupled to a first side of the glass substrate; an iris metal layer coupled to a second side of the glass substrate opposite the first side, the iris metal layer forming a plurality of irises of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein each of the tuning elements is electrically connected to the iris metal layer using a via through the glass substrate; an upper feed dielectric connected to the iris metal layer; a directional coupler connected to the first feed dielectric; and a lower feed dielectric connected to the directional coupler. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The antenna of claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of vias, wherein each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements includes an iris, one of the plurality of tuning elements is coupled across the iris, and the plurality of vias are positioned around a perimeter of the iris to decouple the iris from one or more adjacent irises. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The antenna of claim 11 wherein the plurality of vias include a first set of vias around the perimeter toward a first end of the iris and a second set of vias around the perimeter toward a second end of the iris. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The antenna of claim 11 wherein the plurality of vias include a first set of vias forming a via wall between the iris and an adjacent iris. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The antenna of claim 11 wherein the plurality of vias include at least one via with a patch on its top. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The antenna of claim 1 further comprising: a first substrate coupled to at least a portion of each of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein at least one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements comprises: a radiating patch coupled to a first side of the substrate, with its associated tuning element and amplifier coupled to the radiating patch; an iris formed in a metal layer on a second side of the substrate opposite the first side; and a feed stack connected to the metal layer. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The antenna of claim 15 wherein each driver circuit is implemented on the first substrate. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The antenna of claim 15 wherein the tuning element, amplifier, and said each driver circuit for antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements are integrated in a single chip. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The antenna of claim 17 wherein the chip is in a carrier substrate electrically connected to a metal layer on the first side of the first substrate. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The antenna of claim 1 further comprising a first substrate coupled to at least a portion of each of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein at least one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements comprises: a radiating element coupled to a first side of the substrate, with its associated amplifier coupled to the radiating element; and an iris formed in a metal layer on a second side of the substrate opposite the first side, with its associated tuning element coupled across the iris. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The antenna of claim 1 further comprising a first substrate coupled to at least a portion of each of the plurality of antenna elements, wherein at least one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements comprises: a radiating element coupled to a first side of the substrate, with its associated amplifier coupled to the radiating element; and an iris formed in a metal layer on a second side of the substrate opposite the first side, with its associated tuning element coupled across the iris. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The antenna of claim 1 further comprising a first substrate coupled to at least a portion of each of the plurality of antenna elements and a second substrate with a decoupling ground plane between the first and second substrates, wherein the tuning element comprises a varactor, a MEMs device, or a pin diode and at least one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements comprises: a radiating element coupled to a first side of the first substrate and coupled to its associated amplifier with a via through the first substrate, the associated amplifier coupled to a first side of the second substrate; and an iris formed in metal layer on a second side of the second substrate opposite the first side of the second substrate, with its associated tuning element coupled across the iris. ### Claim 22 A method comprising: receiving, with drive circuitry, a pair of source signals for each antenna element of a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements of a metasurface antenna; and outputting from the drive circuitry, in response to the pair of source signals, for said each antenna element of the plurality of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements, a tuning signal for tuning said each antenna element with a tuning element and an amplifier signal for controlling an amplifier coupled to said each antenna element, the tuning element and the amplifier being located at said each antenna element. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The method of claim 22 wherein the tuning signal and the amplifier signal are output simultaneously. ### Claim 24 (depends on 22) The method of claim 22 wherein the drive circuitry includes a plurality of driver circuits, and further comprising outputting, by one of the driver circuits, the pair of source signals as the tuning signal and the amplifier signal in response to the one driver circuit being enabled. ### Claim 25 (depends on 24) The method of claim 24 wherein a first source signal of the two source signals is related to the tuning signal and a second source signal of the two source signals is related to the amplifier signal, and wherein the drive circuitry comprises matrix drive circuitry and the plurality of driver circuits are in the row and column topology, and further comprising wherein the first source signal for driver circuits in a column in the matrix drive circuitry are coupled together and the second source signals for driver circuits in the column are coupled together, and further comprising driving the first source signals in each column in the matrix drive circuitry at a same time and comprising driving the second source signals in each column in the matrix drive circuitry at the same time. ### Claim 26 (depends on 22) The method of claim 22 further comprising adjusting an amount of amplification performed by the amplifier by adjusting the voltage of the amplifier signal. ### Claim 27 (depends on 26) The method of claim 26 further comprising adjusting the voltage of the amplifier signal by adjusting voltage of one of the source signals. ### Claim 28 A metasurface antenna comprising: a plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements, each of the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements including a radiating element and a coupling iris; a plurality of tuning elements coupled to the plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements, wherein each tuning element of the plurality of tuning elements is associated with an antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements; a plurality of amplifiers coupled to the plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements, wherein each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers is associated with an antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements; and a plurality of driver circuits, each driver circuit of the plurality of driver circuits to output a pair of signals to one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements and its associated amplifier, the pair of signals including a tuning signal to tune the one antenna element and an amplifier signal to tune the associated amplifier, wherein the tuning element, amplifier, and said each driver circuit for each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements are integrated in a single chip that is coupled to the radiating element of said each antenna element and to a transmission line that extends over the coupling iris.