Electrically tuned resonance circuit using piezo and magnetostrictive materials

An electrically tunable antenna, comprising:

• an antenna element;
• an electromagnetic wave energy transmitter for generating electromagnetic wave signals applied to said antenna element;
• a piezoelectric material forming a piezoelectric capacitor;
• an inductor including a magnetostrictive material, the inductor disposed in parallel and in electrical communication with said piezoelectric capacitor to form an electrically variable resonance circuit, the resonance circuit being electrically coupled to said antenna to control an impedance of said antenna;
• a voltage supply for providing a bias voltage to said piezoelectric capacitor to alter a capacitance of said piezoelectric capacitor;
• a current supply for providing a bias current to said magnetostrictive material to alter an inductance of said inductor;
• and
• a controller responsive to said transmitter for generating independent control signals for controlling said biasing voltage generated by said voltage supply and biasing current generated by said current supply independently of one another, to control said resonance circuit to match an impedance of said antenna element to an impedance of said transmitter.

A cellular telephone, comprising:

• an antenna element;
• a transmitter for generating electromagnetic wave signals applied to an input of said antenna element;
• a non-linear piezoelectric capacitor;
• a magnetostrictive inductor forming an inductor, the inductor being disposed in parallel with said piezoelectric capacitor, and in electrical communication with said input of said antenna element, to form an electrically controllable resonance circuit;
• a voltage source for providing a bias voltage to said piezoelectric capacitor to alter a capacitance of said piezoelectric capacitor;
• a current source for providing a bias current to said magnetostrictive inductor to alter an inductance of said magnetostrictive inductor;
• and
• a controller responsive to a frequency of said signals from said transmitter, for generating a first control signal for independently controlling an output of said voltage source, and generating a second control signal for controlling an output of said current source independently of said voltage source, to control said resonance circuit in real time so that an impedance of said antenna element matches an output impedance of said transmitter.

An electrically tunable resonance circuit for altering an impedance of an electrical component, said circuit comprising:

• a piezoelectric capacitor;
• a magnetostrictive inductor coupled in parallel to said capacitor to form a resonance circuit, said resonance circuit being in electrical communication with said electrical component;
• a biasing system for providing a biasing voltage to said piezoelectric capacitor and a biasing current to said magnetostrictive inductor;
• said biasing system including:
• a voltage controller for controlling a bias voltage applied to said piezoelectric capacitor;
• and
• a current controller for controlling a bias current applied to said magnetostrictive inductor;
• and
• a controller for generating a pair of independent control signals applied independently to said voltage controller and to said current controller to independently control a magnitude of each of said biasing current and said bias voltage in accordance with a frequency of a signal being applied to said electrical component, to selectively alter said impedance of said electrical component.

A method for tuning an antenna, comprising

• using a piezoelectric capacitor and a magnetostrictive inductor to form an impedance matching circuit;
• biasing at least one of said piezoelectric capacitor and said magnetostrictive inductor to alter an impedance of said impedance matching circuit in accordance with a frequency of a signal being applied to said antenna, to thus controllably alter an impedance of said antenna to match an impedance of a component generating said signals;
• said biasing including:
• using a voltage controller to independently control a bias voltage applied to said piezoelectric capacitor;
• a current controller to independently control a bias current applied to said magnetostrictive inductor;
• and
• using a controller for generating a pair of independent control signals applied independently to said voltage controller and to said current controller to independently control a magnitude of each of said biasing current and said bias voltage, to control said impedance of said antenna to match that of said component generating said signal.