Millimeter-wave chip-lens array antenna systems for wireless networks

A chip-lens array antenna system comprising:

• a millimeter-wave lens;
• and
• a chip-array antenna to generate and direct an incident beam of millimeter-wave signals through the millimeter-wave lens for subsequent transmission,
• wherein the millimeter-wave lens has an inner surface and an outer surface with curvatures selected to provide a diverging beam in a first plane and a substantially non-diverging beam in a second plane,
• wherein the inner surface is defined by substantially circular arcs in both the first plane and the second plane,
• wherein the outer surface is defined by either a substantially circular arc or an elliptical arc in the first plane and by an elliptical arc in the second plane, and
• wherein the millimeter-wave signals comprise multicarrier signals having a plurality of substantially orthogonal subcarriers comprising millimeter-wave frequencies between approximately 60 and 90 Gigahertz.

A chip-lens array antenna system comprising:

• a millimeter-wave lens;
• and
• a chip-array antenna to generate and direct millimeter-wave signals through the millimeter-wave lens for subsequent transmission,
• wherein the millimeter-wave lens has an inner surface, and has an outer surface defined by first and second portions, and
• wherein the first and second portions of the outer surface are selected to provide a substantially omnidirectional pattern in a first plane and a substantially secant-squared pattern in a second plane.

A multi-sector chip-lens array antenna system comprising:

• a plurality of millimeter-wave lens sections;
• and
• a plurality of chip-array antennas to direct millimeter-wave signals through an associated one of the millimeter-wave lens sections for subsequent transmission,
• wherein each of the millimeter-wave lens sections comprises an inner surface defined by partially circular arcs, and
• wherein each of the millimeter-wave lens sections has an outer surface defined by either a substantially circular arc or an elliptical arc in a first plane and defined by an elliptical arc in a second plane to provide a diverging beam in the first plane of each sector and to provide a substantially non-diverging beam in the second plane of each sector.

A chip-lens array antenna system comprising:

• a chip-array antenna;
• and
• a millimeter-wave refractive material disposed over the chip-array antenna, the chip-array antenna to generate and direct millimeter-wave signals within the millimeter-wave refractive material for subsequent transmission,
• wherein the millimeter-wave refractive material has an outer surface defined by either a substantially circular arc or an elliptical arc in a first plane and an elliptical arc in a second plane to generate a diverging beam in the first plane and a substantially non-diverging beam in the second plane.

A chip-lens array antenna system comprising:

• a chip-array antenna;
• and
• a millimeter-wave refractive material disposed over the chip-array antenna, the chip-array antenna to generate and direct millimeter-wave signals within the millimeter-wave refractive material for subsequent transmission,
• wherein the millimeter-wave refractive material has an outer surface defined by either a substantially circular arc or an elliptical arc in a first plane and an elliptical arc in a second plane to generate a diverging beam in the first plane and a substantially non-diverging beam in the second plane, and
• wherein an anti-reflective layer is disposed on at least one of the inner surface or the outer surface of the millimeter-wave lens to help reduce reflections of millimeter-wave signals generated by the chip-array antenna.