Ultrathin waveguide beamformer
AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation
InventorsDaniel W. Harris, Andrew R. Mandeville
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrathin, low cost, beamformer with excellent RF performance and robust coaxial connections is disclosed. The beamformer includes a dielectric substrate sheet with a beamformer circuit, a preform sheet adjacent to the substrate sheet, and a conductive backing plate sandwiching the preform as well as an RF absorber. The beamformer also includes robust input and output coaxial connections in which the heads of the coaxial input and output pins are captured between the conductive backing plate and the substrate sheet and ground shrouds are attached to the dielectric substrate sheet.
Claims27
A waveguide beamformer comprising:
- a dielectric substrate sheet with conductive cladding including an RF circuit, a substrate input pin hole corresponding to an RF circuit input, and a substrate output pin hole corresponding to an RF circuit output;
- a conductive preform adjacent to a first side of the dielectric substrate sheet, the conductive preform including a preform input pin hole coaxial with the substrate input pin hole, and a preform output pin hole coaxial with the substrate output pin hole;
- an input pin disposed coaxially within the preform input pin hole and the substrate input pin hole, the input pin having an input pin head section and input pin body section, wherein the input pin head section is generally coplanar with the conductive preform and the input pin body section extends perpendicularly from the input pin head section through the substrate input pin hole;
- an output pin disposed coaxially within the preform output pin hole and the substrate output pin hole, the output pin having an output pin head section and output pin body section, wherein the output pin head section is generally coplanar with the conductive preform and the output pin body section extends perpendicularly from the output pin head section through the substrate output pin hole;
- and
- a conductive backplate adjacent to the conductive preform, the conductive backplate and the dielectric substrate sheet sandwiching the conductive preform, the input pin head section and the output pin head section.
A method for fabricating a waveguide beamformer comprising:
- providing a dielectric substrate sheet having conductive cladding;
- forming a waveguide circuit on the dielectric substrate sheet;
- forming a substrate input pin hole in the dielectric substrate sheet corresponding to a waveguide circuit input;
- forming a substrate output pin hole in the dielectric substrate sheet corresponding to a waveguide circuit output;
- providing a conductive backplate sheet;
- mating a conductive preform to the conductive backplate sheet, the conductive preform including a preform input pin hole coaxial with the substrate input pin hole and a preform output pin hole coaxial with the substrate output pin hole;
- disposing an input pin coaxially within the preform input pin hole and the substrate input pin hole such that an input pin head section is generally coplanar with the preform input pin hole and an input pin body section extends perpendicularly away from the conductive backplate;
- disposing an output pin coaxially within the preform output pin hole and the substrate output pin hole such that an output pin head section is generally coplanar with the preform output pin hole and an output pin body section extends perpendicularly from the conductive backplate;
- and
- mating the dielectric substrate sheet to the conductive preform such that the substrate input pin hole is coaxial with the input pin and the substrate output pin hole is coaxial with the output pin, thereby sandwiching the conductive preform, the input pin head section and the output pin head section between the conductive backplate sheet and the dielectric substrate sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.