Antenna modules and systems, and applications and methods of manufacturing thereof

A radio frequency signal receiver comprising:

• a data signal port for transmitting a baseband data signal;
• a carrier signal port for receiving an initial carrier signal;
• and
• an antenna module coupled to each of the data signal port and the carrier signal port, the antenna module comprising:
• a substrate having:
• a front face having a phased array of active antenna elements, the phased array of active antenna elements including at least two columns of the active antenna elements;
• and
• a rear face opposite the front face, the rear face having, for each column of active antenna elements, a radio frequency (RF) signal launcher for receiving a RF data signal from the column of active antenna elements;
• and
• a receiving module mounted to the rear face of the substrate, the receiving module comprising, for each column of active antenna elements:
• a RF signal port coupled to the RF signal launcher to receive the RF data signal from the column of active antenna elements;
• and
• a detector to retrieve the baseband data signal from the RF data signal using a version of the initial carrier signal.

A data communication system comprising:

• a radio frequency (RF) signal transmitter comprising:
• a transmitter data signal port for receiving a baseband data signal;
• a transmitter carrier signal port for receiving an initial transmitter carrier signal;
• a transmitter substrate having:
• a front face having a phased array of active antenna elements, the phased array of active antenna elements including at least two columns of the active antenna elements;
• and
• a rear face opposite the front face, the rear face having, for each column of active antenna elements, a RF signal launcher to receive a RF data signal for the column of active antenna elements;
• and
• a transmitting module mounted to the rear face of the substrate, the transmitting module comprising, for each column of active antenna elements:
• a combiner to combine the baseband data signal and a version of the initial transmitter carrier signal to form the RF data signal;
• and
• a RF signal port to transmit the RF data signal to the RF signal launcher;
• and
• at least one RF signal receiver for receiving the RF data signal from the RF signal transmitter.