Antenna System with Spiral Antenna Sections and Applications Thereof

An antenna system comprises:

• an antenna structure that includes ‘x’ number of dipole spiral antenna sections, each dipole spiral antenna section of the ‘x’ number of dipole spiral antenna sections includes a first spiral element and a second spiral element, transmits a different differential phase shifted representation of an outbound radio frequency (RF) signal, and receives a different differential phase representation of an inbound RF signal, wherein ‘x’ is an integer greater than or equal to two;
• and
• an antenna interface that includes:
• ‘x’ number of transformers operably coupled to the ‘x’ number of dipole spiral antenna sections, wherein the ‘x’ number of transformers provides the phase shifted representations of the outbound RF signal to the ‘x’ number of spiral antenna sections and receives the ‘x’ phases of an inbound RF signal from the x′ number of spiral antenna sections;
• a first splitter-combiner unit operable to:
• split a positive leg of the outbound RF signal into a pair of copies of the positive leg of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• combine a pair of copies of a positive leg of the inbound RF signal into the positive leg of the inbound RF signal;
• a second splitter-combiner unit operable to:
• split a negative leg of the outbound RF signal into a pair of copies of the negative leg of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• combine a pair of copies of a negative leg of the inbound RF signal into the negative leg of the inbound RF signal;
• and
• a plurality of delay units operable to:
• phase shift the pair of copies of the positive leg of the outbound RF signal and the pair of copies of the negative leg of the outbound RF signal to produce the phase shifted representations of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• phase shift the pair of copies of the positive leg of the inbound RF signal and the pair of copies of the negative leg of the inbound RF signal to produce the phase shifted representations of the inbound RF signal.

A radio frequency (RF) front-end module comprises:

• an antenna system including:
• an antenna structure that includes ‘x’ number of spiral antenna sections, each spiral antenna section of the ‘x’ number of spiral antenna sections transmits a different phase of ‘x’ phases of an outbound radio frequency (RF) signal and receives a different phase of ‘x’ phases of an inbound RF signal, wherein ‘x’ is an integer greater than or equal to two;
• an antenna interface operable to:
• generate the ‘x’ phases of the outbound RF signal by:
• splitting the outbound RF signal into ‘x’ copies of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• phase shifting each of the ‘x’ copies of the outbound RF signal by a respective phase shift to produce the ‘x’ phases of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• combine the ‘x’ phases of the inbound RF signal by:
• phase shifting each of the ‘x’ phases of the inbound RF signal by the respective phase shift to produce ‘x’ copies of the inbound RF signal;
• and
• combining the ‘x’ copies of the inbound RF signal to produce the inbound RF signal;
• a receive-transmit isolation module operably coupled to the antenna system, wherein the receive-transmit isolation module is operable to isolate the inbound RF signal and the outbound RF signal;
• and
• a tuning module operable to tune the receive-transmit isolation module.

The RF front-end module of 15, wherein the antenna interface comprises:

• a splitter-combiner module including:
• a first layer splitter-combiner unit that is operable to:
• split the outbound RF signal into a pair of first layer copies of the ‘x’ number of copies of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• combine a pair of first layer copies of the ‘x’ copies of the inbound RF signal into the inbound RF signal;
• a pair of second layer splitter-combiner units, wherein each of the pair of second layer splitter-combiner units is operable to:
• split a respective one of the pair of first layer copies of the ‘x’ number of copies of the outbound RF signal into a pair of respective second layer copies of the ‘x’ number of copies of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• combine a respective pair of second layer copies of the ‘x’ copies of the inbound RF signal into a respective one of the pair of first layer copies of the ‘x’ copies of the inbound RF signal;
• and
• a phase shifting module operably coupled to the splitter-combiner module, wherein the phase shifting module includes a plurality of phase delay units, wherein:
• a first delay unit of the plurality of phase delay units is operable to:
• phase shifting a first one of the ‘x’ copies of the outbound RF signal by a first phase delay to produce a first one of the ‘x’ phases of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• phase shifting a first one of the ‘x’ phases of the inbound RF signal by the first delay to produce a first one of the ‘x’ copies of the inbound RF signal.

The RF front-end module of 16, wherein a splitter-combiner unit of the first layer splitter-combiner unit and of the pair of second layer splitter-combiner units comprises:

• a first port;
• a second port;
• a third port;
• an impedance circuit element coupled between the second and third ports;
• a first quarter wavelength section coupled to the first port and the second port;
• and
• a second quarter wavelength section coupled to the first port and the third port, wherein the second and third ports convey a copy of an RF signal on the first port.

The RF front-end module of 16 further comprises:

• a splitter-combiner unit of the first layer splitter-combiner unit and of the pair of second layer splitter-combiner units includes:
• a first port;
• a second port;
• a third port;
• a tunable impedance circuit element coupled between the second and third ports;
• a tunable first quarter wavelength section coupled to the first port and the second port;
• and
• a tunable second quarter wavelength section coupled to the first port and the third port, wherein the second and third ports convey a copy of an RF signal on the first port;
• and
• the first delay unit including a tunable phase delay line that is adjustable to maintain the first phase delay substantially constant over a broadband frequency range.

The RF front-end module of 15, wherein the antenna interface comprises:

• ‘x’ number of transformers operably coupled to the ‘x’ number of spiral antenna sections, wherein the ‘x’ number of transformers provides the ‘x’ phases of the outbound RF signal to the ‘x’ number of spiral antenna sections and receives the ‘x’ phases of the inbound RF signal from the x′ number of spiral antenna sections;
• a plurality of delay units operable to:
• phase shift each of the ‘x’ copies of the outbound RF signal by the respective phase shift to produce the ‘x’ phases of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• phase shift each of the ‘x’ phases of the inbound RF signal by the respective phase shift to produce ‘x’ copies of the inbound RF signal;
• a plurality of splitter-combiner units operable to:
• split the outbound RF signal into ‘x’ copies of the outbound RF signal;
• and
• combine the ‘x’ copies of the inbound RF signal to produce the inbound RF signal.