Radome design for tilting antenna radiation pattern

Abstract

Various exemplary embodiments relate to radio frequency communication with at least one antenna. An apparatus may include at least one antenna to transmit a radio frequency signal; a radome comprising at least one dielectric material, the radome comprising at least one portion for tilting a radiation pattern of the at least one antenna, where a thickness of the at least one portion is proportional to a wavelength of the radio frequency signal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various exemplary embodiments generally relate to the field of wireless communications. In particular, some exemplary embodiments provide a radome design for tilting a radiation pattern of at least one antenna. Background Art

[0002] Mobile devices can support a variety of different wireless technologies. These technologies can include cellular technologies (e.g., 2G / 3G / 4G wireless technologies) as well as non-cellular technologies. In the 5G New Radio (NR) technology specified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the frequency range used extends from the so-called sub-6 GHz frequencies to millimeter wave frequencies, such as frequencies between 20 GHz and 70 GHz. Within the millimeter wave frequencies, antenna arrays can be used to form beams with higher gain, for example, to address higher path losses in the propagation medium. However, antenna radiation patterns and array beam patterns with higher gain may result in narrow beam widths. Beam steering techniques such as phased antenna arrays can be used to steer beams in different directions as needed. In addition, in the process of moving towards 6G, additional functions can be added, such as joint communication and sensing, such as Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) applications, such as room occupancy sensing, human activity detection, vital signs (vital signs) detection, etc. Such applications can use the millimeter wave frequency range. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present summary briefly introduces some concepts that will be further described in the detailed description. The present summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0004] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention enable desired antenna radiation beam tilts to be achieved, thereby improving performance in wireless communications. The above and other advantages can be achieved by the features of the independent claims. Other implementations are apparent from the dependent claims, the description and the accompanying drawings.

[0005] According to one aspect, a device for radio frequency communication is provided. The device may include: at least one antenna for transmitting radio frequency signals; a radome comprising at least one dielectric material, the radome comprising at least one portion for tilting the radiation pattern of the at least one antenna, wherein the thickness of the at least one portion is proportional to the wavelength of the radio frequency signal. This solution can achieve the desired tilt of the radiation pattern.

[0006] According to one implementation, the thickness of the radome is substantially equal to half of the wavelength outside the at least one portion, the thickness of the at least one portion of the radome being substantially equal to the wavelength, so that the radiation pattern is tilted toward the at least one portion of the radome. This makes it possible to tilt the radiation pattern with simple manufacturing (for example, using an additional dielectric block).

[0007] According to one implementation, the thickness of the at least a portion of the radome is substantially equal to one quarter of the wavelength, so that the radiation pattern is tilted away from the at least a portion of the radome. This solution can tilt the radiation pattern while reducing interference to the radio frequency signal along the desired tilt direction. This solution can also achieve the tilting of the radiation pattern while reducing the thickness.

[0008] According to one implementation, the thickness of the radome outside the at least one portion is substantially equal to half the wavelength. This solution reduces the amount of radiation outside the desired radiation pattern tilt.

[0009] According to one implementation, the at least one portion of the radome is offset from the central axis of the at least one antenna, the central axis of the at least one antenna being perpendicular to the surface of the device closest to the at least one antenna. This solution improves the tilt of the radiation pattern.

[0010] According to one implementation, the device further comprises: a cover plate disposed on the top of the radome, wherein the combined thickness of the radome and the cover plate is substantially equal to one quarter of the wavelength outside the at least one portion of the radome, so that the radiation pattern is tilted toward the at least one portion of the radome, or wherein the combined thickness of the radome and the cover plate is substantially equal to half of the wavelength outside the at least one portion of the radome, and wherein the combined thickness of the radome and the cover plate is substantially equal to the wavelength at the at least one portion of the radome, so that the radiation pattern is tilted toward the at least one portion of the radome. This solution also utilizes the cover plate to tilt the radiation pattern, thereby reducing the thickness of the device.

[0011] According to one implementation, the at least one portion of the radome comprises a cavity within the dielectric material of the radome. This solution allows the device to have a lower thickness, since the tilting of the radiation pattern does not increase the thickness.

[0012] According to an implementation, the cavity has a parallelogram cross section along a plane perpendicular to the cover plate. This solution can enhance the tilt of the radiation pattern.

[0013] According to an implementation, the cavity extends through the radome. This solution can reduce the thickness of the antenna.

[0014] According to an implementation, the cover plate covers the outer hole of the cavity. This solution can prevent particles from entering the cavity.

[0015] According to one implementation, the outer hole of the cavity is offset from the at least one antenna along the cover plate. This solution can enhance the tilt of the radiation pattern.

[0016] According to an implementation, the outer hole of the cavity is rhombus-shaped or square-shaped. If the at least one antenna is a dual-polarization antenna, this solution can provide a design that is effective for both polarizations.

[0017] Therefore, implementations of the present invention may provide devices, methods, and computer programs for tilting the radiation pattern of a wireless signal (e.g., a millimeter wave wireless signal). Any implementation may be combined with one or more other implementations. These and other aspects of the present invention are apparent from one or more exemplary embodiments described below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The accompanying drawings are used to help further understand the exemplary embodiments and constitute a part of this specification. These drawings illustrate the exemplary embodiments and, together with the specification, help explain the exemplary embodiments. In the drawings:

[0019] Figure 1 An example of a tilted radiation pattern of an antenna is shown;

[0020] Figure 2 An example of the transmission and reflection of electromagnetic waves radiated by a radome and an antenna is shown;

[0021] Figure 3 An example of the transmission and reflection of electromagnetic waves radiated by an antenna of a radome having a thickness equal to half a wavelength is shown;

[0022] Figure 4 An example of the transmission and reflection of electromagnetic waves radiated by an antenna of a radome having a thickness equal to one quarter wavelength is shown;

[0023] Figure 5 An example of beam tilting using additional dielectric blocks on the radome is shown;

[0024] Figure 6 An example of beam tilting using a dielectric cutout on a radome is shown;

[0025] Figure 7 Examples of different implementations of quarter-wavelength cutouts in radomes are shown;

[0026] Figure 8 An example of a radome having a parallelogram-shaped cavity is shown;

[0027] Fig. 9 An example of a radome is shown where the outer aperture of the cutout is offset from the antenna.

[0028] In the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to denote the same components. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The detailed description provided below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as an illustration of examples of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only way in which examples of the present invention may be constructed or utilized. The specific embodiments set forth the functions of the examples of the present invention and the order of steps for constructing and operating the examples of the present invention. However, the same or equivalent functions and order may be implemented by different examples.

[0030] For example, a millimeter wave antenna can be implemented as an antenna array in which the main radiation beam direction is toward the side direction. Therefore, the main radiation direction can be perpendicular to the plane defined by the antenna array. However, it may be desirable to tilt the main beam toward a preferred direction. For example, this may occur when the desired form factor is user-friendly and the printed circuit board (PCB) carrying the antenna array cannot be easily accommodated in the device. Beam tilting can also be applied when a desired angular domain is required for signal coverage.

[0031] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention can tilt the radiation pattern of an antenna so that the transmit (or receive) beam is focused toward a desired direction. For example, exemplary embodiments can be applied to mobile devices such as user equipment (UE), smart home devices, access points, access nodes or base stations, or customer premises equipment (CPE) devices for fixed wireless access (FWA).

[0032] Figure 1An example of a tilted radiation pattern of an antenna is shown. The antenna may include an antenna array. For example, the radiation pattern 104 of the antenna 102 may be tilted by placing a dielectric block of appropriate size in front of the antenna 102. The dielectric block may be set at an offset from the antenna 102, which causes the radiation pattern 104 (beam) of the antenna 102 to tilt in the direction of the offset, i.e., tilted toward the dielectric block. For example, the offset may be defined relative to the central axis 106 of the antenna. For example, the central axis may be an axis located at the center of mass of the antenna element, or may be the central direction of the radiation pattern 104 without tilt. Using a dielectric block placed in front of the antenna 102 with an offset may provide a sufficient solution for some applications such as wireless communications. However, in other applications such as sensing, it may be desirable that different antenna elements included in a virtual multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) array have radiation patterns that are as similar as possible in terms of amplitude and / or phase. For example, in order to achieve accurate direction estimation in a RADAR system, it may be desirable to minimize the phase difference between antenna elements. In a practical implementation, the antenna may be covered by a cover of the device. The one or more elements covering the antenna may be referred to as a radome. When one or more dielectric blocks are introduced between the antenna and the radome, the electromagnetic field in the tilted field-of-view (FOV) angular domain may be particularly affected because the antenna radiation beam is tilted toward the dielectric block. This may cause the phase difference between the antenna elements to deteriorate. Therefore, in order to meet the requirements of communication and sensing applications, a beam tilting method that does not affect the field in the tilted FOV angular domain may be beneficial. The one or more dielectric blocks placed between the antenna and the radome may be considered as part of the radome.

[0033] Methods for designing radomes are disclosed. These methods enable designing radomes such that a desired radiation pattern (beam) tilt of the underlying antenna (array) can be achieved without any disturbance to the electromagnetic field in the desired tilted FOV angular region. For example, the desired beam tilt can be achieved by implementing a cutout region in the radome.

[0034] Figure 2An example of a radome and the transmission and reflection of electromagnetic waves radiated by the antenna is shown. Device 200 may include antenna 102 and radome 204. Antenna 102 may include one or more antenna elements, such as an antenna array. Radome 204 may include a cover for device 200, or a separate cover may be applied on top of radome 204, for example, to protect device 200 from the external environment. In order to achieve the desired characteristics, radome 204 may be designed to affect the electromagnetic waves sent or received by antenna 102 as little as possible, so that radome 204 may be considered to be electromagnetically transparent to antenna 102. Radome 204 may include or be made of a plastic material. The material of radome 204 may be characterized by its dielectric constant. To characterize.

[0035] The dielectric constant of free space is 1 (air), and the characteristic impedance is As described above, the radome 204 may have a dielectric constant Therefore, the characteristic impedance of the radome 204 is The impedance of free space Scaled by the inverse of the square root of Therefore, when the incident electromagnetic wave reaches the boundary of the radome 204, there may be a mismatch. To minimize reflection, for a given dielectric constant To design the thickness of the radome 204 ( ). You can choose the thickness is equal to half the wavelength of the wireless signal in the radome 204. The wavelength in the material can also be Scaled by the inverse of the square root of , the free space wavelength can be calculated from the ratio of the speed of light to the operating frequency.

[0036] Figure 3 An example of transmission and reflection of an electromagnetic wave radiated by an antenna of a radome having a thickness equal to half a wavelength is shown. When the thickness of the radome 204 is equal to half a wavelength in the radome material, first order transmission and reflection of the electromagnetic wave radiated by the antenna 102 occurs, as indicated by the plus and minus signs. At the first boundary, the incident wave has an electric field vector with a "+" sign, while the first reflected wave has an electric field vector with a "-" sign. This is because the reflection coefficient is calculated as .because , so the reflection coefficient (R1) at the first boundary 301 is negative, that is, opposite to the incident wave vector, resulting in an electric field vector with a “–” sign. The transmitted wave then propagates a half wavelength distance inside the radome material before reaching the second boundary 302. After propagating a half wavelength distance, the incident electric field vector becomes an electric field vector with a “–” sign. At the second boundary 302, the reflection coefficient is calculated again, but this time the calculation method is , because the incident wave is transmitted from the radome material into free space. , so the reflection coefficient (R2) at the second boundary 302 is positive. This means that the reflected wave has the same electric field vector with a “–” sign as the incident wave inside the radome material. The reflected wave propagates half a wavelength distance again before returning to the first boundary 301, thus becoming an electric field vector with a “+” sign. Therefore, since the first reflected wave at the first boundary has an electric field vector with a “–” sign, these waves can largely cancel each other, thereby minimizing reflections caused by the radome 204 and making the radome 204 electromagnetically transparent.

[0037] The effect of the half-wavelength thickness radome 204 can also be explained by considering the transmission line impedance transformation theory. From the first boundary 301 of the radome 204, it can be seen that the equivalent input impedance can be expressed as ,in is the characteristic impedance of the medium, is the load impedance at the terminals, represents the wave number, and the beam is represented by (in is the wavelength) and l is the transmission length inside the medium. In this case, the free space impedance is .exist In the case of .Then, , represents the input impedance The same as the free space wave impedance. This explains why the radome 204 having a half-wavelength thickness satisfies the impedance matching condition without any reflection caused by mismatch. On the other hand, when the thickness of the radome 204 is not equal to half the wavelength, reflection may be caused.

[0038] Figure 4 An example of the transmission and reflection of electromagnetic waves radiated by an antenna of a radome with a thickness equal to one quarter wavelength is shown. The behavior of the transmitted wave can be explained by considering the above transmission line impedance transformation theory. In the case of Input Impedance becomes In this case, the free space wave impedance is also .because , it may not be possible to reduce the input impedance to and matches. Similarly, Figure 4As shown, the transmitted wave inside the radome material propagates only 1 / 4 wave when it is reflected at the second boundary 302. When the second reflected wave propagates another 1 / 4 wave back to the first boundary 301, it has the same electric field vector with a “–” sign as the first reflected wave. Therefore, they do not cancel each other. In fact, these waves can negatively add to form radiation zeros. Multiple reflections may eventually form multiple radiation zeros, so the radiation pattern may become corrugated. As will be further described below, these effects can be used to advantage to tilt the radiation pattern.

[0039] Figure 5 An example of beam tilting using an additional dielectric block on a radome is shown. The radome 204 can generally be designed to have a thickness equal to half a wavelength in the dielectric material. A dielectric block 206 of appropriate size can be placed in front of the antenna 102. The size (area) of the dielectric block 206 can be the size of the radiating aperture of the antenna 102. The thickness of the dielectric block 206 can be about half a wavelength. The dielectric block 206 can be separate from the radome 204 or can be part of the radome 204. Therefore, the total thickness at the portion 208 of the radome 204 can be about one full wavelength. When transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal having a wavelength corresponding to the thickness of the portion 208 (full wavelength) and the other portions of the radome 204 (half wavelength), the portion 208 tilts the radiation pattern of the antenna 102. Therefore, by appropriately selecting the thickness of the portion 208 (in this case, equal to a full wavelength), the radiation pattern 104 can be tilted. In general, the thickness of the portion 208 can be proportional to the wavelength. It should be noted that throughout the specification, wavelength is used to refer to the wavelength in the relevant dielectric material. For example, if dielectric block 102 is the same material as radome 204, then the division of the total thickness of device 200 may be "half wavelength + half wavelength = one wavelength". However, if dielectric block 206 comprises some other dielectric material, then the half wavelengths of the two dielectric materials may be different when measured in millimeters, resulting in slightly different thicknesses. The same applies to other exemplary embodiments, for example, when a separate cover is used, such as Figure 8 shown.

[0040] In theory, integer multiples of half wavelength satisfy the boundary condition for minimum reflections mentioned above. However, since the radome material is not lossless, in practical implementations, the radome material may not cancel out all multiple reflections. As a result, this may cause some disturbances in the electric field, especially in the angular region where the FOV is of primary concern. This may still provide an adequate solution for some applications such as communications, where the main figure of merit may be gain, such as the amplitude of the radiation pattern.

[0041] However, in other applications such as sensing, it may be desirable that the antenna elements forming a virtual MIMO array have radiation patterns that are as similar as possible in terms of amplitude and phase. For example, in order to achieve accurate direction estimation in a RADAR system, it may also be desirable to minimize the phase difference between the antenna elements. In such applications, it may be undesirable for the dielectric block 206 to interfere with the electric field. An offset may be applied so that the dielectric block 206 is placed at an offset from the antenna 102 along a plane defined by the radome 204 (e.g., the upper surface of the radome (the surface closer to the device)). For example, the dielectric block 206 may be offset from the central axis 106 of the antenna 102. The central axis 106 may be perpendicular to the surface of the device 200 (e.g., the surface closest to the antenna 102). However, the dielectric block 206 may partially overlap with the antenna 206. For example, the central axis (not shown) of the dielectric block 206 may be offset from the central axis 106 of the antenna 102, even if the dielectric block 206 overlaps with the antenna 102. However, the dielectric block 206 may not overlap with the antenna 102. The offset placement tilts the radiation pattern 104 in the direction of the dielectric block 206. The dielectric block 206 may be a parallelogram that is tilted in the desired tilt direction. The size and offset position of the dielectric block may affect the tilt angle. The dielectric block 206 may narrow the radiation beam as it becomes more focused. This may be desirable in communications applications where high gain may be achieved with a more focused and narrower beam. However, in other applications such as sensing, it may be desirable to have a wide FOV, i.e., a wider beam.

[0042] Figure 6 An example of beam tilting using a dielectric cutout on a radome is shown. As mentioned above, in some applications it may be desirable to avoid perturbations to the electric field in a desired angular region. This may be achieved, for example, by providing a cutout region on a half-wavelength radome in some other manner. Figure 4In the example of , the height of the cutout 210 is approximately one quarter of the wavelength, which means that the thickness of the remaining portion of the radome 204 at the portion 208 is also approximately one quarter of the wavelength, because the total thickness of the outer portion 208 of the radome is half the wavelength. Therefore, the thickness of the portion 208 of the radome 204 can be equal to one quarter of the wavelength, resulting in a mismatch of electromagnetic waves in this area and forming a radiation zero in this angular domain. The cutout 210 can again be set at an offset from the antenna 102. For example, similar to the dielectric block 206, the portion 208 can be offset from the central axis 106 of the antenna 102. The portion 208 may or may not partially overlap the antenna 206. The position of the cutout 210 can be in a direction opposite to the desired direction of beam tilt. Therefore, the radiation pattern 104 is a tilted beam point away from the portion 208. The size and position of the cutout can be selected to achieve the desired tilt angle. For example, the cutout 210 can include air. Since the cutout 210 is introduced in the direction opposite to the desired beam tilt direction, the angular region of the FOV of primary interest is not disturbed. Thus, with this approach, disturbances to the angular region of the most relevant electric field can be avoided. Thus, this approach reduces the phase difference between antenna elements within the desired FOV, which can be beneficial in, for example, sensing applications. For example, the quarter-wavelength cutout 210 can be provided at the bottom of the radome 204 cover, at the top of the radome 204 cover, or inside the radome 204, as shown in FIG. Figure 7 shown.

[0043] Figure 8 An example of an antenna cover with a parallelogram cavity is shown. A cross-sectional view at a plane defined by the x-axis and the z-axis is provided. In some applications, the cover 212 of the device can be designed primarily based on mechanical considerations. In addition, the cover 212 may be thin, for example much thinner than half the wavelength of the operating frequency. Therefore, the effect of the cover 212 on introducing a reflection mismatch may not be significant. Therefore, a radome layer having a thickness of about one-quarter wavelength can be disposed below the cover 212. In this case, the radome 204 can be provided with a cutout 210 at an offset of the antenna 102 toward the desired tilt. The cutout 210 can extend through the radome 204. Therefore, the cover 212 can cover the outer hole of the cutout 210 (closer to the surface of the device).

[0044] It should be noted that the mismatch caused by the quarter-wavelength radome 204 can be designed so that the wave matching is stronger at the cutout area (portion 208), thereby achieving the desired tilt of the radiation pattern 104. The shape of the cutout 210 can be a parallelogram. For example, the cutout 210 can have a parallelogram cross-section along a plane perpendicular to the cover plate 212. The size and position of the cutout 212 can be adjusted again to achieve the desired tilt angle. The radome can have a first dielectric constant The cover plate 212 may have the same dielectric constant or different dielectric constants. For example, the cover 212 may be selected to have a different dielectric constant to improve the mechanical properties of the cover 212. For example, the cover 212 may include a thin glass layer (see smartphone case). The combined thickness of the cover 212 and the radome 204 (outer portion 208) may be approximately one quarter of a wavelength. and , the wavelength can be equated to the calculated result using the effective dielectric constant.

[0045] Fig. 9 An example of a radome is shown where the outer aperture of the cutout is offset from the antenna. Figure 8 The cover 212 may be disposed in the xy plane and the radome 204 may be located below the cover 212 (behind the cover 212 in this view). The relative positions of the outer cutout hole 214 (radome cutout hole) and the inner cutout hole 216 (antenna hole location) are shown. The shape of the hole may be square or diamond. If the antenna is a dual polarized antenna, this allows the design to be effective for both polarizations.

[0046] Thus, exemplary embodiments utilize the relationship between the thickness of a radome portion and the associated reflection characteristics, and the thickness of one or more portions of the radome may be proportional to, or generally dependent on, the wavelength of the transmitted RF signal, such that the radiation pattern of the antenna is tilted. The tilt may be due to the characteristics (e.g., phase) of the reflected wave of the signal at the radome boundary.

[0047] Even though the exemplary embodiments have been described using a single antenna (102) and radome portion (208) as an example, the device may include multiple antennas or antenna elements, each antenna (element) being associated with a respective portion (208) for enabling a desired tilt of the antenna. This enables different tilts to be provided for different antennas.

[0048] Any range or device value given herein may be expanded or altered without losing the effect sought. In addition, any embodiment may be combined with other embodiments unless expressly prohibited.

[0049] Although the subject matter has been described in structural features and / or action-specific language, it should be understood that the subject matter defined by the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. On the contrary, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as examples of implementing the claims, and other equivalent features and actions are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

[0050] It should be understood that the above advantages and benefits may relate to one embodiment or to several embodiments. The embodiments are not limited to embodiments that solve any or all of the problems described, nor are they limited to embodiments that have any or all of the advantages and benefits. In addition, it should be understood that reference to "an" item may refer to one or more of these items.

[0051] The steps or operations of the methods described herein may be performed in any suitable order, or may be performed simultaneously where appropriate. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from any of the methods described without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. Various aspects of any of the exemplary embodiments described above may be combined with various aspects of any other exemplary embodiments described to form further exemplary embodiments without losing the effects sought.

[0052] The term "comprising" is used herein to mean including the identified methods, blocks or elements, but such blocks or elements do not include an exclusive list and the method or apparatus may include additional blocks or elements.

[0053] Although a topic may be referred to as the "first" or "second" topic, this does not necessarily indicate any order or importance of the topics. Rather, such an attribute may simply serve to distinguish the topics.

[0054] It should be understood that the above description is provided by way of example only, and various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art. The above description, examples and data provide a complete description of the structure and application of exemplary embodiments. Although various embodiments have been described above with a certain degree of particularity or in combination with one or more separate embodiments, those skilled in the art may make various modifications to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope of this specification.

Claims

1. A device for radio frequency communication, characterized in that: The device comprises: at least one antenna for transmitting radio frequency signals; A radome comprising at least one dielectric material, the radome comprising at least one portion for tilting a radiation pattern of the at least one antenna, wherein a thickness of the at least one portion is proportional to a wavelength of the radio frequency signal.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The thickness of the radome is substantially equal to half of the wavelength outside the at least one portion, and the thickness of the at least one portion of the radome is substantially equal to the wavelength so that the radiation pattern is tilted toward the at least one portion of the radome.

3. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The at least a portion of the radome has a thickness substantially equal to one quarter of the wavelength such that the radiation pattern is tilted away from the at least a portion of the radome.

4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that The thickness of the radome outside of the at least one portion is substantially equal to half the wavelength.

5. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The at least a portion of the radome is offset from a central axis of the at least one antenna, the central axis of the at least one antenna being perpendicular to a surface of the device that is closest to the at least one antenna.

6. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The device also includes: a cover plate arranged on the top of the radome, wherein the combined thickness of the radome and the cover plate is substantially equal to one-quarter of the wavelength outside the at least one portion of the radome, so that the radiation pattern is tilted toward the at least one portion of the radome, or wherein the combined thickness of the radome and the cover plate is substantially equal to half of the wavelength outside the at least one portion of the radome, and wherein the combined thickness of the radome and the cover plate is substantially equal to the wavelength at the at least one portion of the radome, so that the radiation pattern is tilted toward the at least one portion of the radome.

7. The device according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that The at least a portion of the radome includes a cavity within the dielectric material of the radome.

8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that The cavity has a parallelogram-shaped cross-section along a plane perpendicular to the cover plate.

9. The device according to any one of claims 6 and 7 to 8, characterized in that The cavity extends through the radome.

10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that The cover plate covers the outer hole of the cavity.

11. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that The outer aperture of the cavity is offset from the at least one antenna along the cover plate.

12. The device according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that The outer hole of the cavity is rhombus or square.

13. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that The device also includes: A plurality of antennas or antenna elements are associated with respective portions of the radome, the respective portions being used to tilt radiation patterns of the plurality of antennas or antenna elements.

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