Emergency portable hot spot with antennas built into cover

Abstract

An antenna unit includes a case having a base and a lid. An antenna assembly is located within the lid and is IP67 compliant, being waterproof. A plurality of antenna components are situated within the base separate from the antenna assembly. An optional barrier is located within the base to divide the antenna components from the lid. The antenna assembly include different types of antenna operable at least between 600 MHz to 39 GHz. The lid is separable from the base and is divided from other components to minimize interference so that all antenna may operate simultaneously while the lid is in a closed position.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention[0001]The present application relates to the field of wireless broadband data communication, and more particularly to antenna systems.2. Description of Related Art[0002]It has been desired to protect antennas to elements of the weather for some time. It is a desire that the antennas satisfy an IP67 rating which means the unit can be dropped into a body of water up to a meter deep for 30 min. The existing technology includes three different approaches to satisfy this rating.[0003]The first and most common approach is to place a standard commercially available antenna inside the bottom of the case, attached to a router or radio module via coax cables. This limits performance since the antenna gets dielectrically loaded with the additional layer of the plastic while inside the case. The typical radome of a commercial grade antenna is 1.5 mm thick. All commercial antennas are designed with their existing radome in place, not an additio...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]It is an object of the present application to improve the performance of antenna elements within a closed cover while maintaining GPS, LTE, Wi-Fi and both versions of 5G. The antenna assembly is configured to minimize interference by locating the antenna against a base plate acting partly as a heat sink. The antenna are able to function while the cover remains closed and maintain a IP67 rating.

[0007]It is an object of the present application to provide an antenna located on a baseplate that screws into the top cover of the box. This baseplate acts as a heatsink as well as a reflector for the antennas while the cover is closed and in the locked position. The antennas have been designed and optimized to work on the new baseplate and designed to operate with the thick plastic cover of the box. The added benefit is that the antennas are out of harms way and can operate without any other objects in the RF path. All other accessories, routers and batteries are stored below, out of the RF path of the antennas. The cover can now be closed and or locked for a proper IP67, waterproof operating environment.

Problems solved by technology

This limits performance since the antenna gets dielectrically loaded with the additional layer of the plastic while inside the case.

The additional layer of plastic is typically 3.5 mm thick, which dielectrically loads the antenna and reduces the performance by making the center frequency shift on the antennas inside the original package.

Typically, these boxes are loaded with extra cables, batteries and accessories that further interrupt the RF path to the antennas, thus reducing the performance of the antenna as well.

Anything made out of metal in the RF path, plus the wall of the box will reduce the signal strength.

The common industry complaint is that most of these antennas get broken or lost after repeated use and storage of the box.

The problem with this approach is the box needs to remain open to work, which defeats the purpose of using an IP67, waterproof rated portable box.

The area behind the cover is now dielectrically loaded, thus reducing the performance of the antenna on that side.

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