Communication terminal with interleaved free-standing antenna radiators

Abstract

A communication terminal with interleaved free-standing antenna radiators is disclosed. A communication terminal may include interleaved high-band and low-band phased array antennas that form signal beams in respective frequency bands. The high band antenna may have a center grounded folded patch radiator. The low band antenna may have folded patch radiators, each surrounding a different respective center grounded folded patch radiator of the high band antenna. A low band antenna and a high band antenna may be mounted to ground traces on the antenna board. An antenna plate may be mounted to the feed plate. Beamforming circuitry for low-band and high-band antennas may be provided on the feed panel. The patch radiators of the low-band antenna and the high-band antenna may be formed from self-standing folded metal sheets. The folding sheet metal can be mounted to the antenna plate through the conductive bracket. The conductive bracket may be used to feed the antenna radiator and / or to short-circuit the antenna radiator to the ground trace.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 18 / 525,476, filed on November 30, 2023, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure generally relates to communication terminals, including communication terminals having wireless communication capabilities. Background Art

[0003] Communication networks have network nodes that communicate with each other. The network nodes may include communication terminals. The communication terminals may have radio circuitry for providing wireless communication capabilities to the communication terminals. The radio circuitry includes an antenna for transmitting radio frequency signals.

[0004] Providing a satisfactory level of wireless performance for a communication terminal can be challenging. Generally, providing a larger antenna structure for a communication terminal can help maximize wireless performance. At the same time, it is generally desirable for the communication terminal to implement an antenna structure that is as compact and lightweight as possible. Summary of the Invention

[0005] A communication terminal may include radio circuitry. The radio circuitry may include a phased array antenna. The phased array antenna may include an interleaved high-band phased array antenna and a low-band phased array antenna sharing a single aperture. The high-band phased array antenna may form a signal beam in a relatively high frequency band, while the low-band phased array antenna forms a signal beam in a relatively low signal frequency band.

[0006] The high-band phased array antenna may have a center-grounded folded patch radiator. The low-band phased array antenna may have folded patch radiators, each of the folded patch radiators surrounding a different respective center-grounded folded patch radiator of the high-band phased array antenna. The folded patch radiators of the low-band phased array antenna may be surrounded by a conductive fence.

[0007] The antenna radiators of the low-band phased array antenna and the high-band phased array antenna may be arranged in any desired array pattern. As an example, the antenna radiators of the high-band phased array antenna may be arranged at the vertices of a first equilateral triangle of a first size. The antenna radiators of the low-band phased array antenna may be arranged at the vertices of a second equilateral triangle of a second size greater than the first size. The second equilateral triangle may overlap with the first equilateral triangle.

[0008] The low-band phased array antenna and the high-band phased array antenna can be mounted to a ground trace on an antenna board. The antenna board can be mounted to a feed board. Beamforming circuits for the low-band phased array antenna and the high-band phased array antenna can be provided on the feed board. The patch radiators of the low-band phased array antenna and the high-band phased array antenna can be formed of self-standing folded metal sheets. The folded metal sheets can be mounted to the antenna board by conductive brackets. The conductive brackets can be used to feed the antenna radiator and / or short the antenna radiator to the ground trace. Conductive fasteners can extend through some of the conductive brackets and into lock nuts on the feed board to assist in securing the feed board to the antenna board. The low-band phased array antenna and the high-band phased array antenna can exhibit a satisfactory level of antenna performance while minimizing the weight of the communication terminal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication system having a communication terminal with radio circuitry, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0010] Figure 2 is a view of an exemplary phased array antenna, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0011] Figure 3 is a perspective view of an exemplary patch radiator that can be implemented in a phased array antenna, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0012] Figure 4 is a top view of an exemplary interleaved low-band phased array antenna and high-band phased array antenna, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0013] Figure 5 is a perspective view of an exemplary self-standing antenna radiator in a high-band phased array antenna, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0014] Figure 6 is a cross-sectional side view of an exemplary self-standing antenna radiator in a high-band phased array antenna, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0015] Figure 7 is a perspective view of an exemplary self-standing antenna radiator in a low-band phased array antenna, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0016] Figure 8 is a perspective view of an exemplary unit cell having a self-standing antenna radiator of a high-band phased array antenna nested within a self-standing antenna radiator of a low-band phased array antenna, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0017] Figure 9Is a cross-sectional side view of an exemplary unit cell of a self-standing antenna radiator having a high-band phased array antenna nested within a low-band phased array antenna of the self-standing antenna radiator, according to some embodiments. Detailed Description

[0018] Figure 1 Is a diagram of an exemplary communication system 8. The communication system 8 (sometimes referred to herein as the communication network 8, network 8, or system 8) may include any desired number of network nodes, terminals, and / or end hosts communicatively coupled together using communication paths including wired links and / or wireless links. The wired links may include cables (e.g., Ethernet cables, optical fibers or other optical cables that use light to transmit signals, telephone cables, radio frequency cables such as coaxial cables, or other transmission lines, etc.). The wireless links may include short-range wireless communication links operating within a few inches, a few feet, or a few dozen feet, medium-range wireless communication links operating within a few hundred feet, a few thousand feet, a few miles, or a few dozen miles, and / or long-range wireless communication links operating within a few hundred or a few thousand miles.

[0019] The nodes of the communication system 8 may be organized into one or more relay networks, mesh networks, local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), ring networks (e.g., optical rings), cloud networks, virtual / logical networks, the Internet (e.g., communicatively coupled to each other via the Internet), combinations thereof, and / or networks using any other desired network topology. The nodes, terminals, and / or end hosts of the communication system 8 may include network switches, network routers, optical add-drop multiplexers, other multiplexers, repeaters, modems, portals, gateways, servers, network interface cards (line cards), wireless access points, wireless base stations, other network components, physical components such as electronic devices, servers, computers, network racks, line cards, user equipment, and / or may include virtual components logically defined in software and distributed across (through) two or more underlying physical devices (e.g., in a cloud network configuration).

[0020] The nodes of the communication system 8 may include network nodes such as communication terminals 10 and external equipment 26. The external equipment 26 may include another communication terminal such as the communication terminal 10, or may include other network nodes in the communication system 8. The communication terminal 10 may be some or all of the following: electronic devices such as laptop computers, tablet computers, wristwatch devices, pendant devices, earphone devices, earbud devices, headset devices (e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed reality glasses or goggles) or other wearable or miniature devices, handheld devices such as cellular phones, media players or other small portable devices, set-top boxes, desktop computers, displays integrated with a computer or other processing circuitry, displays without integrated computers, game controllers, wireless access points, wireless base stations, electronic devices incorporated into self-service terminals, buildings, vehicles, or satellite communication gateways (ground stations), some or all of the communication satellites in a constellation of communication satellites (e.g., satellites controlled by a network operations center and relaying or transmitting radio frequency signals and wireless data in a two-way and / or one-way manner between one or more ground stations on Earth and one or more user equipment devices), some or all of the user equipment (UE) devices operated by end users, some or all of the network devices operated by entities other than end users (e.g., network operators, administrators, or service providers), some or all of the ground-based terminals for transmitting radio frequency signals and wireless data via a constellation of communication satellites to one or more gateways (ground stations), relay stations or systems, network routers, network switches, network line cards, some or all of the racks or servers, or other suitable electronic equipment for sending, receiving, and / or routing data to other nodes or terminals of the communication system 8. The communication terminal 10 is sometimes also referred to herein as device 10, electronic device 10, apparatus 10, or wireless communication device 10. The communication terminal 10 may be an end host or other network node that relays or routes wireless data between two other network nodes, terminals, and / or end hosts (e.g., the communication terminal 10 does not need to be an end host of the communication system 8).

[0021] The communication terminal 10 may include a housing (such as housing 12). The housing 12 (which may sometimes be referred to as a casing) may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramic, fiber composite material, metal (such as stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of these materials. In some cases, components of the housing 12 may be formed of a dielectric material or other low conductivity material (such as glass, ceramic, plastic, sapphire, etc.). In other cases, the housing 12 or at least some of the structures constituting the housing 12 may be formed of metal elements. If desired, the communication terminal 10 may include a support structure (for example, for supporting the communication terminal 10 on a underlying substrate, surface of a user body, for example, for supporting other device components or structures, etc.) and / or a structure that enables the physical rotation or movement of the communication terminal 10 (such as a motor, actuator, propulsion system, wheels, engine, etc.).

[0022] As Figure 1 shown, the communication terminal 10 may include control circuitry 14. The control circuitry 14 may include a storage device, such as storage circuitry 16. The storage circuitry 16 may include hard drive storage, non-volatile memory (such as flash memory or other electrically programmable read-only memory configured to form a solid state drive), volatile memory (such as static or dynamic random access memory), etc.

[0023] The control circuitry 14 may include processing circuitry, such as processing circuitry 18. The processing circuitry 18 may be used to control the operation of the communication terminal 10. The processing circuitry 18 may include one or more processors, such as a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a host processor, a baseband processor integrated circuit, an application specific integrated circuit, a graphics processing unit, a central processing unit (CPU), etc. The control circuitry 14 may be configured to perform operations in the communication terminal 10 using hardware (such as dedicated hardware or circuitry), firmware, and / or software. Software code for performing operations in the communication terminal 10 may be stored on the storage circuitry 16 (for example, the storage circuitry 16 may include a non-transitory (tangible) computer-readable storage medium storing the software code). This software code may sometimes be referred to as program instructions, software, data, instructions, or code. The software code stored on the storage circuitry 16 may be executed by the processing circuitry 18.

[0024] The control circuitry 14 may be used to run software on the communication terminal 10, such as an Internet browsing application, an Internet voice protocol (VOIP) phone call application, an email application, a media playback application, other software applications, data routing or relay operations, communication scheduling operations, operating system functions, etc. To support interaction with external equipment (such as external equipment 26), the control circuitry 14 may be used to implement communication protocols. Communication protocols that may be implemented using the control circuitry 14 include Internet Protocol, Wireless Local Area Network protocol (such as the IEEE 802.11 protocol - sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi® ), protocols for other short-range wireless communication links (such as Bluetooth ® protocol or other WPAN protocols), IEEE 802.11ad protocol, cellular phone protocol, MIMO protocol, antenna diversity protocol, satellite navigation system protocol, antenna-based spatial ranging protocol (e.g., radio detection and ranging (RADAR) protocol or other desired distance detection protocols for signals transmitted at millimeter-wave and centimeter-wave frequencies), etc. Each communication protocol may be associated with a corresponding radio access technology (RAT) that specifies the physical connection method for implementing the protocol.

[0025] Communication terminal 10 may include input-output circuit 20. Input-output circuit 20 may include input-output devices (not shown). The input-output devices may be used to allow data to be supplied to communication terminal 10 and to allow data to be provided from communication terminal 10 to external devices and / or users. The input-output devices may include user interface devices, data port devices, sensors, and other input-output components. For example, the input-output devices may include a touch screen, a display without touch sensor capabilities, buttons, joysticks, rollers, touch pads, keypads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, speakers, status indicators, light sources, audio jacks, and other audio port components, digital data port devices, light sensors, gyroscopes, accelerometers, or other components that can detect motion and the orientation of the device relative to the earth, capacitance sensors, proximity sensors (e.g., capacitive proximity sensors and / or infrared proximity sensors), magnetic sensors, wireless power receivers, wireless power transmitters, charging circuits, solar panels or batteries, temperature sensors, and / or other sensors and input-output components.

[0026] Input-output circuit 20 may include wireless circuitry, such as wireless circuitry 22 for wirelessly transmitting radio frequency signal 28. Although, for clarity, in the Figure 1 example, control circuit 14 is shown as separate from wireless circuitry 22, wireless circuitry 22 may include processing circuitry and / or storage circuitry that forms part of processing circuitry 18 and that forms part of storage circuitry 16 of control circuit 14 (e.g., portions of control circuit 14 may be implemented on wireless circuitry 22). For example, control circuit 14 may include a baseband processor circuit or other control components that form part of wireless circuitry 22.

[0027] The radio circuit 22 may include one or more radio components 24. The radio components 24 may include baseband circuitry (e.g., one or more baseband processors and / or other circuitry operating at the baseband) and one or more radio frequency transceivers. The radio components 24 may be coupled to one or more antenna radiators 30 in the radio circuit 22 via corresponding radio frequency transmission lines 32. The radio components 24 may use the radio frequency transmission lines 32 and the antenna radiators 30 to transmit and / or receive radio frequency signals 28 in one or more frequency bands of radio frequency (sometimes referred to herein as communication frequency bands or simply "frequency bands").

[0028] The frequency bands processed by the radio components 24 may include wireless local area network (WLAN) frequency bands (e.g., Wi-Fi ® (IEEE 802.11) or other WLAN communication frequency bands), such as the 2.4 GHz WLAN frequency band (e.g., 2400 MHz to 2480 MHz), the 5 GHz WLAN frequency band (e.g., 5180 MHz to 5825 MHz), the Wi-Fi ® 6E frequency band (e.g., 5925 MHz to 7125 MHz) and / or other Wi-Fi ® frequency bands (e.g., 1875 MHz to 5160 MHz); wireless personal area network (WPAN) frequency bands, such as 2.4 GHz Bluetooth ®a band or other WPAN communication band; cellular phone bands (e.g., a band from about 600 MHz to about 5 GHz, 3G bands, 4G LTE bands, 5G New Radio Frequency Range 1 (FR1) bands below 10 GHz, 5G New Radio Frequency Range 2 (FR2) bands between 20 GHz and 60 GHz, cellular sidebands, 6G bands between 100 GHz and 1000 GHz (e.g., sub-THz bands, THz bands, or THF bands), etc.); other centimeter or millimeter wave bands between 10 GHz and 300 GHz; IEEE 802.11ad band communication at 60 GHz (e.g., WiGig or 60 GHz Wi-Fi bands around 57 GHz to 61 GHz); near-field communication bands (e.g., 13.56 MHz); satellite navigation bands (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS) L1 band (e.g., 1575 MHz), L2 band (e.g., 1228 MHz), L3 band (e.g., 1381 MHz), L4 band (e.g., 1380 MHz), and / or L5 band (e.g., 1176 MHz), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) bands, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) bands, etc.); ultra-wideband (UWB) bands operating under the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol and / or other ultra-wideband communication protocols; satellite communication bands such as IEEE C band (4 GHz to 8 GHz), S band (2 GHz to 4 GHz), L band (1 GHz to 2 GHz), X band (8 GHz to 12 GHz), W band (75 GHz to 110 GHz), V band (40 GHz to 75 GHz), K band (18 GHz to 27 GHz), K a band (26.5 GHz to 40 GHz), K u band (12 GHz to 18 GHz), and / or any other desired satellite communication band; communication bands under the 3GPP wireless communication standard family; communication bands under the IEEE 802.XX standard family; industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands such as the ISM band between about 900 MHz and 950 MHz or other ISM bands below or above 1 GHz; one or more unlicensed bands; one or more bands reserved for emergency services and / or public services; and / or any other desired band of interest.

[0029] The radio components 24 can perform one-way or two-way communication with the external equipment 26 using the radio frequency signal 28. Two-way communication involves both transmitting wireless data by the radio circuit 22 and receiving the transmitted wireless data by the external wireless equipment. The wireless data can include, for example, data encoded into corresponding data packets and / or frames, such as wireless data associated with a phone call, streaming media content, Internet browsing, wireless data associated with software applications running on the communication terminal 10, email messages, and the like. If needed, the radio circuit 22 can relay radio frequency signals and / or wireless data between a first external device and a second external device in a bent pipe configuration. The radio components 24 can each include one or more integrated circuits, power amplifier circuits, low noise input amplifier circuits, mixer circuits, analog-to-digital converter circuits, digital-to-analog converter circuits, passive radio frequency components, switching circuits, transmission line structures, one or more transmitters, one or more receivers, and / or other circuits for handling, transmitting, and / or receiving radio frequency signals.

[0030] The radio components 24 can use one or more antenna radiators 30 to transmit radio frequency signals (e.g., the antenna radiator 30 can transmit radio frequency signals for the transceiver circuit). As used herein, the term "transmit radio frequency signals" means the transmission and / or reception of radio frequency signals (e.g., for performing one-way and / or two-way wireless communication with external wireless communication equipment). The antenna radiator 30 can transmit radio frequency signals by radiating the radio frequency signals (or through an intermediate device structure such as a dielectric overlay) into free space. Additionally or alternatively, the antenna radiator 30 can receive radio frequency signals (e.g., through an intermediate device structure such as a dielectric overlay) from free space. The transmission and reception of radio frequency signals by the antenna radiator 30 each involve the excitation or resonance of the antenna current on the antenna radiator by radio frequency signals within the frequency band of operation of the antenna radiator. Although referred to as a radiator herein, the antenna radiator 30 can both transmit and receive the radio frequency signal 28, can only transmit the radio frequency signal 28, or can only receive the radio frequency signal 28.

[0031] In satellite navigation system links, satellite communication links, cellular phone links, and other long-distance links, radio frequency signals are typically used to transmit data over thousands of feet or thousands of miles. Wi-Fi ® links at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and Bluetooth ®In links and other short-range wireless links, radio frequency signals are typically used to transmit data over distances of tens or hundreds of feet. To enhance the gain and signal reception of radio frequency signal 28 at communication terminal 10 and / or external equipment 26 when separated by a relatively long distance, multiple antenna radiators 30 can be integrated into one or more corresponding phased array antennas. The phased array antenna can implement beamforming techniques to enhance signal gain and increase the effective range of radio circuit 22 when transmitting radio frequency signal 28. Antenna diversity schemes can also be used to ensure that antenna radiators that have been blocked or otherwise degraded due to the operating environment of communication terminal 10 can be switched out of use and higher-performance antenna radiators can be used in their place.

[0032] Antenna radiator 30 is sometimes also referred to herein as antenna resonant element 30, antenna radiating element 30, radiator 30, or antenna element 30. Any desired antenna architecture can be used to implement antenna radiator 30. For example, antenna radiator 30 can be formed by a patch antenna structure, a stacked patch antenna structure, a folded patch antenna structure, a monopole antenna structure, a dipole antenna structure, a waveguide antenna structure, a helical antenna structure, an inverted-F antenna structure, a planar inverted-F antenna, a cavity-backed antenna structure, a Yagi-Uda antenna structure, a slot antenna structure, a dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) structure, a hybrid or combination of these structures, etc. Each antenna radiator 30 can be coupled to one or more corresponding radio frequency transmission lines 32 (e.g., an antenna radiator that is directly fed and coupled to the radio frequency transmission line at a corresponding positive antenna feed terminal on the antenna radiator). If desired, antenna radiator 30 can include indirectly fed antenna radiators and / or parasitic elements.

[0033] Radio frequency transmission line 32 can include a stripline transmission line (sometimes referred to herein simply as a stripline), a coaxial cable, a coaxial probe implemented by a metallized via, a microstrip transmission line, an edge-coupled microstrip transmission line, an edge-coupled stripline transmission line, a waveguide structure, a combination of these, etc. Multiple types of transmission lines can be used to form a single transmission line path for the antenna feed section that couples a given radio component 24 to the corresponding antenna radiator 30. If desired, filter circuits, switching circuits, impedance matching circuits, phase shifter circuits, amplifier circuits, and / or other circuits can be interposed on radio frequency transmission line 32. The radio frequency transmission lines 32 in communication terminal 10 can be integrated into a ceramic substrate, a rigid printed circuit board, and / or a flexible printed circuit.

[0034] For long-range wireless communication links between communication terminal 10 and external equipment 26, antenna radiator 30 may need to operate with a relatively high gain to maintain satisfactory wireless link quality. If desired, multiple antenna radiators 30 can be integrated into a phased array antenna to increase the gain of the antenna radiator in a specific direction (e.g., towards external communication equipment 26).Figure 2 An example is shown of how a plurality of antenna radiators 30 in the communication terminal 10 can be arranged in a corresponding phased array antenna.

[0035] As Figure 2 shown, a set of N antenna radiators 30 (e.g., the first radiator 30-1, the second radiator 30-2, the Nth radiator 30-N, etc.) can be arranged in a corresponding phased array antenna 34. N can be any desired integer greater than or equal to two. The phased array antenna 34 can include, for example, dozens or hundreds of antenna radiators 30. Although the phased array antenna 34 is referred to herein as an antenna radiator (element) 30, the phased array antenna 34 is sometimes also referred to as a phased antenna array (e.g., phased antenna array 34), and the antenna radiator 30 is sometimes also referred to as an antenna of the phased antenna array (e.g., antenna 30).

[0036] Each antenna radiator 30 in the phased array antenna 34 can be coupled to a corresponding radio frequency transmission line 32 (e.g., the first antenna radiator 30-1 in the phased array antenna 34 can be coupled to the first radio frequency transmission line 32-1, the second antenna radiator 30-2 in the phased array antenna 34 can be coupled to the second radio frequency transmission line 32-2, the Nth antenna radiator 30-N in the phased array antenna 34 can be coupled to the Nth radio frequency transmission line 32-N, etc.). Each radio frequency transmission line 32 can be coupled to a corresponding transceiver chain in the corresponding radio component 24 ( Figure 1 ). Each transceiver chain can include one or more transmit paths and / or one or more receive paths. If desired, the receive paths can be coupled together through a radio frequency signal combiner. Each antenna radiator 30 can be spaced apart from one or more adjacent antenna radiators 30 in the phased array antenna 34 by a predetermined distance that allows beamforming (e.g., approximately one-half of the operating wavelength of the antenna radiator 30).

[0037] Corresponding phase and amplitude controllers 38 can be provided on each radio frequency transmission line 32-N (e.g., the radio frequency transmission line 32-1 can include a first phase and amplitude controller 38-1, the radio frequency transmission line 32-2 can include a second phase and amplitude controller 38-2, the radio frequency transmission line 32-N can include an Nth phase and amplitude controller 38-N, etc.). During signal transmission operations, the radio frequency transmission line 32 can be used to supply signals (e.g., Figure 1 radio frequency signals 28) from the corresponding radio component 24 to the phased array antenna 34 for wireless transmission to an external communication terminal (e.g., Figure 1 external equipment 26). During signal reception operations, the radio frequency transmission line 32 can be used to transmit signals received by the phased array antenna 34 from the external communication terminal to the radio component 24.

[0038] The use of multiple antenna radiators 30 in a phased array antenna 34 allows for the implementation of a beamforming arrangement, where the relative phase and amplitude (amplitude) of the radio frequency signals transmitted by the antenna radiators are controlled by a phase and amplitude controller 38. For example, during signal transmission, the phase and amplitude controller 38 can apply / impart different phases and / or amplitudes to the radio frequency signals transmitted on the radio frequency transmission line 32, such that when the radio frequency signals are transmitted by the antenna radiators 30, constructive and destructive interference occurs in a manner that forms a signal beam oriented in a specific direction (e.g., the beam pointing direction). The signal beam exhibits peak gain in the beam pointing direction (e.g., oriented at a corresponding beam pointing angle) and reduced gain away from the beam pointing direction (e.g., the beam can exhibit a beam width associated with the physical spread of the electromagnetic energy associated with the signal).

[0039] Conversely, during signal reception, the radio frequency signal 28 ( Figure 1 ) impinges on the phased array antenna 34 from a specific direction. Due to the geometry of the phased array antenna 34 and the angle of incidence of the signal, the wavefronts of the radio frequency signal will reach different antenna radiators 30 at slightly different times. The phase and amplitude controller 38 applies different phases and amplitudes to the signals received through the phased array antenna 34 in such a way that the received signals can be coherently combined when they are combined together (e.g., at a signal combiner). This allows the combined coherent signal to exhibit a much higher gain than the signals received by any individual antenna radiator 30.

[0040] The phase and amplitude controller 38 is sometimes also collectively referred to herein as the beamforming circuit 36. The beamforming circuit 36 can receive a control signal 39 that causes the phase and amplitude controller 38 to form a corresponding signal beam (e.g., for transmitting a radio frequency signal in a specific beam pointing direction or for receiving a radio frequency signal from a specific beam pointing direction while allowing the received radio frequency signals to be coherently combined). Each phase and amplitude controller 38 can receive, for example, a different respective control signal 39 (e.g., the phase and amplitude controller 38-1 can receive the control signal 39-1, the phase and amplitude controller 38-2 can receive the control signal 39-2, the phase and amplitude controller 38-N can receive the control signal 39-N, etc.), and the different respective control signals set the phases and amplitudes imparted by that phase and amplitude controller to specific values. For example, the control signal 39 can contain, identify, and / or represent corresponding beamforming coefficients or weights. If desired, the beamforming coefficients or weights can be stored in a codebook on the communication terminal 10.

[0041] The control signal 39 can adjust the phase and amplitude settings to direct or scan the direction of the signal beam formed by the phased array antenna 34 over time, as shown by arrow 46. For example, at a first time, the control signal 39 can control the phase and amplitude controller 38 to present a first set of phase and amplitude settings that configure the phased array antenna 34 to form a first signal beam in the direction of arrow 42 (e.g., for transmitting a radio frequency signal using an external device 26 located in the direction of arrow 42 ( Figure 1 ). At a second time, the control signal 39 can control the phase and amplitude controller 38 to present a second set of phase and amplitude settings that configure the phased array antenna 34 to form a second signal beam in the direction of arrow 44 (e.g., for transmitting a radio frequency signal using an external device 26 located in the direction of arrow 44 ( Figure 1 ). Generally speaking, the phased array antenna 34 can have any desired number of formable signal beams in any desired direction from the on-axis direction (e.g., having a beam pointing direction in a plane perpendicular to the surface of the antenna radiator 30) to an off-axis direction.

[0042] The phased array antenna 34 can be disposed on or mounted to a first substrate (such as substrate 35) in the communication terminal 10. If desired, the beamforming circuit 36 can be disposed on a second substrate (such as substrate 37) in the communication terminal 10. Substrate 37 can be different from substrate 35. As an example, substrate 35 can be a first printed circuit board (e.g., a first rigid printed circuit board or a first flexible printed circuit), a first plastic substrate, a first package substrate, or a first ceramic substrate. Substrate 35 is sometimes also referred to as antenna board 35 in this document.

[0043] As an example, substrate 37 can be a second printed circuit board (e.g., a second rigid printed circuit board or a second flexible printed circuit), a second plastic substrate, a second package substrate, or a second ceramic substrate. Substrate 37 is sometimes also referred to as feed board 37 in this document. If desired, fasteners, screws, brackets, clips, brackets, solder, and / or other interconnects or mounting structures can be used to mount substrate 35 to substrate 37. When mounted to substrate 37, there can be a gap without dielectric material between substrate 35 and substrate 37 to further reduce the weight of the communication terminal 10. If desired, the radio component 24 and other components of the communication terminal 10 ( Figure 1 can be mounted to substrate 37, or can be mounted to other substrates or structures in the communication terminal 10 that are different from substrate 35 and substrate 37 (e.g., different housing parts of the communication terminal 10, a bus of the communication terminal 10, a rectifier of the communication terminal 10, etc.).

[0044] The antenna radiator 30 can be implemented using any desired antenna structure. In some specific implementations described herein as examples, the antenna radiator 30 can include a patch radiator. Figure 3 is a perspective view showing how the antenna radiator 30 can be implemented as a patch radiator (sometimes also referred to herein as a patch antenna).

[0045] As Figure 3 shown, the antenna radiator 30 can have a patch radiator 50 that is separate and parallel from an antenna ground plane such as antenna ground portion 51 (sometimes referred to herein as ground portion 51 or ground plane 51). At least some (e.g., all) of the patch radiators in the patch radiator 50 can be located in a plane such as Figure 3 the X-Y plane. For example, the side surface area of the patch radiator 50 can be in the X-Y plane. The patch radiator 50 is sometimes referred to herein as a patch antenna resonant element 50, patch 50, patch element 50, patch resonant element 50, or patch radiating element 50. When implemented using the patch radiator 50, the antenna radiator 50 can sometimes also be referred to as a patch antenna.

[0046] The antenna ground portion 51 can be located in a plane parallel to the plane of the patch radiator 50. The patch radiator 50 and the antenna ground portion 51 can thus be located in separate parallel planes that are separated by at least a fixed height H. In some specific implementations, the patch radiator 50 and the antenna ground portion 51 are formed by conductive traces patterned on a dielectric substrate such as a ceramic, rigid printed circuit board substrate, or flexible printed circuit substrate. The patch radiator 50 can be formed by a self-standing metal layer (e.g., a metal sheet) held at a height H above the antenna ground portion 51 (e.g., without any intermediate dielectric substrate between the patch radiator 50 and the antenna ground portion 51).

[0047] To enhance the polarization handled by the antenna radiator 30, a plurality of feed portions can be provided for the antenna radiator 30. As Figure 3 shown, the antenna radiator 30 can have a first feed portion (port) coupled to a first radio frequency transmission line 32 such as radio frequency transmission line 32A and a second feed portion (port) coupled to a second radio frequency transmission line 32 such as radio frequency transmission line 32B. The first feed portion can have a first ground feed terminal coupled to the antenna ground portion 51 (not shown in Figure 3 for clarity) and a first positive feed terminal 48A coupled to the patch radiator 50. The second feed portion can have a second ground feed terminal coupled to the antenna ground portion 51 (not shown in Figure 3shown) and a second positive feed terminal 48B located on the patch radiator 50. A hole, slot, or other opening may be formed in the antenna ground portion 51 to allow a radio frequency signal to be transmitted from one side of the ground plane to the other side.

[0048] When using the first feed portion associated with the positive feed terminal 48A, the antenna radiator 30 may transmit and / or receive radio frequency signals having a first polarization (e.g., the electric field of the radiation signal generated by the antenna current transmitted through the positive feed terminal 48A may be oriented parallel to Figure 3 the Y-axis in). When using the feed portion associated with the positive feed terminal 48B, the antenna radiator 30 may transmit and / or receive radio frequency signals having a second orthogonal polarization (e.g., the electric field of the radiation signal generated by the antenna current transmitted through the positive feed terminal 48B may be oriented parallel to Figure 3 the X-axis in, such that the polarizations associated with the positive feed terminal 48A and the positive feed terminal 48B are orthogonal to each other).

[0049] One of the positive feed terminal 48A and the positive feed terminal 48B may be used at a given time to configure the antenna radiator 30 to operate as a single-polarization radiator. If desired, the effective feed portion may vary over time, so that the antenna radiator 30 is capable of switching between covering vertical polarization or horizontal polarization at a given time. Additionally or alternatively, the two positive feed terminals may operate simultaneously with a controlled phase between the two feed portions to configure the antenna radiator 30 to operate in other polarizations (e.g., as a dual-polarization radiator, a circular-polarization radiator, an elliptical-polarization radiator, etc.). The positive feed terminal 48A and the positive feed terminal 48B may be coupled to different phase and amplitude controllers, or both may be coupled to the same phase and amplitude controller. If desired, both the positive feed terminal 48A and the positive feed terminal 48B may operate with the same phase and amplitude at a given time (e.g., when the antenna radiator 30 is used as a dual-polarization radiator). If desired, the phase and amplitude of the radio frequency signals transmitted through the positive feed terminal 48A and the positive feed terminal 48B may be individually controlled and vary over time, so that the antenna radiator 30 exhibits other polarizations (e.g., circular polarization or elliptical polarization). Figure 3 The examples of are illustrative only. The antenna radiator 30 may have any desired number of feed portions. If desired, other types of antenna structures may be used.

[0050] The patch radiator 50 may have one or more edges 52. In Figure 3In the example, the patch radiator 50 is a rectangular (e.g., square) patch having four orthogonal edges 52. This is illustrative and not restrictive. Generally, the patch radiator 50 may have one or more curved and / or straight edges 52 and may have any desired shape (e.g., a hexagonal shape having six edges 52, a triangular shape having three edges 52, a pentagonal shape having five edges 52, an octagonal shape having eight edges 52, a circular or oval shape having a single curved edge, an annular shape having both a curved inner edge and a curved outer edge, or any other desired shape).

[0051] The dimensions of the patch radiator 50 may be selected such that the antenna radiator 30 resonates (radiates) at a desired operating frequency. For example, a given edge 52 and / or the patch radiator 50 may have a dimension (length) L that is approximately equal to half of the wavelength of the radio frequency signal transmitted by the antenna radiator 30.

[0052] In Figure 3 the example, the patch radiator 50 is a planar patch that is limited to a single plane. If desired, the patch radiator 50 may be a folded patch (FP). When implemented as a folded patch, one or more of the edges 52 of the patch radiator 50 may be folded down and may extend towards the antenna ground 51. If desired, one or more of the edges of the folded patch may be shorted to the antenna ground 51. If desired, one or more other points (e.g., a point at the center of the patch radiator 50) on the lateral region of the patch radiator 50 in the X-Y plane may be coupled or shorted to the antenna ground 51 through a grounding structure (not shown). When implemented as a folded patch, the patch radiator 50 is sometimes also referred to as a folded patch radiator or a folded patch antenna. When implemented as a folded patch shorted to the antenna ground 51, the patch radiator 50 is sometimes also referred to as a grounded folded patch, a grounded folded patch antenna, a grounded folded patch radiator, or a planar inverted-F antenna (e.g., when a single edge 52 is shorted to the antenna ground 51). When implemented as a grounded folded patch where the center point is shorted to the antenna ground 51 through a grounding structure, the patch radiator 50 is sometimes also referred to as a center-grounded folded patch (CGFP).

[0053] If desired, the communication terminal 10 may include multiple phased array antennas 34 for covering different frequency bands. This may allow the communication terminal 10 to transmit radio frequency signals simultaneously in each of the different frequency bands (e.g., within different respective signal beams that may be oriented in the same direction or in different directions). For example, the communication terminal 10 may include a low-band phased array antenna 34 for transmitting radio frequency signals in a relatively low frequency band (e.g., the L band or other bands) and a high-band phased array antenna 34 for transmitting radio frequency signals in a relatively high frequency band (e.g., the S band or other bands having a frequency higher than the relatively low frequency band). The antenna radiator 30 in the low-band phased array antenna may have a patch radiator 50 ( Figure 3 ) that is sized to radiate in the relatively low frequency band and is spaced apart to support beamforming by the low-band phased array antenna in the relatively low frequency band. The antenna radiator 30 in the high-band phased array antenna may have a patch radiator 50 ( Figure 3 ) that is sized to radiate in the relatively high frequency band and is spaced apart to support beamforming by the high-band phased array antenna in the relatively high frequency band.

[0054] In some embodiments, the low-band phased array antenna is separated and offset from the high-band phased array antenna in the communication terminal 10. However, this may consume excessive space in the communication terminal 10, which may also increase the weight and size of the communication terminal 10. To minimize the space consumption of the phased array antennas and the weight and size of the communication terminal 10, the low-band phased array antenna may be interleaved or intertwined with the high-band phased array antenna on the substrate 35 ( Figure 2 ).

[0055] Figure 4 is a top view showing how the low-band phased array antenna and the high-band phased antenna array may be interleaved or intertwined on the same substrate. As Figure 4 shown, the communication terminal 10 may also include a low-band phased array antenna 34L and a high-band phased array antenna 34H disposed on or mounted to the substrate 35. The low-band phased array antenna 34L includes a low-band antenna radiator 30L for transmitting radio frequency signals in the relatively low frequency band. The high-band phased array antenna 34H includes a high-band antenna radiator 30H for transmitting radio frequency signals in the relatively high frequency band.

[0056] The high-band antenna radiator 30H and the low-band antenna radiator 30L may be implemented as patch radiators (e.g., Figure 3of the patch radiator 50). Accordingly, the high-band antenna radiator 30H may have the patch radiator 50H, and the low-band antenna radiator 30L may have the patch radiator 50L. The shape and size of the patch radiator 50H may be designed to configure the high-band antenna radiator 30H to radiate in a relatively high frequency band, while the shape and size of the patch radiator 50L are designed to configure the low-band antenna radiator 30L to radiate in a relatively low frequency band. The patch radiator 50H may, for example, have a relatively short dimension L2 (e.g., Figure 3 the dimension L), and the patch radiator 50L may have a relatively long dimension L1 greater than the dimension L2 (e.g., Figure 3 the dimension L).

[0057] The patch radiators 50H in the high-band phased array antenna 34H may be laterally separated from each other (e.g., in the X-Y plane) by a first distance associated with the relatively high frequency band at which the high-band antenna radiator 30H transmits radio frequency signals. For example, every three patch radiators 50H in the high-band phased array antenna 34H may be disposed at respective vertices of a corresponding equilateral triangle 58H, the side length of which is equal to the first distance. When arranged in this way, the high-band phased array antenna 34H may have high-band antenna radiators 30H that are arranged in a staggered grid pattern having rows 56 and columns 54, where the high-band antenna radiators 30H in the same column 54 are arranged in every other row 56 of the phased array antenna.

[0058] The patch radiators 50L in the low-band phased array antenna 34L may be laterally separated from each other by a second distance associated with the relatively low frequency band at which the high-band radiator 30H transmits radio frequency signals (e.g., where the second distance is greater than the first distance). For example, every three patch radiators 50L in the low-band phased array antenna 34L may be disposed at respective vertices of a corresponding equilateral triangle 58L, the side length of which is equal to the second distance. When arranged in this way, the low-band phased array antenna 34L may have low-band antenna radiators 30L that are also arranged in a staggered grid pattern having rows 56 and columns 54, where the low-band antenna radiators 30L in the same column 54 are arranged in every other row 56 of the phased array antenna.

[0059] As Figure 4As shown in the example, the high-band phased array antenna 34H can be interleaved or staggered with the low-band phased array antenna 34L on the substrate 35. This can involve arranging the patch radiator 50L of each low-band antenna radiator 30L in the low-band phased array antenna 34L to be concentric with and surround the patch radiator 50H of the corresponding high-band antenna radiator 30H in the high-band phased array antenna 34H. Additionally, the rows 56 and columns 54 of the high-band phased array antenna 34H are the same as the rows 56 and columns 54 of the low-band phased array antenna 34L. When interleaved in this manner, the equilateral triangle 58L that defines the layout pattern of each triple of low-band antenna radiators 30L in the low-band phased array antenna 34L intersects and overlaps with one or more of the equilateral triangles 58H that define the layout pattern of the triples of high-band antenna radiators 30H in the high-band phased array antenna 34H. The phased array antenna 34L and the phased array antenna 34H can thus share the same antenna aperture on the communication terminal 10 (e.g., being completely or substantially overlapping with respect to each other).

[0060] If desired, each low-band antenna radiator 30L in the low-band phased array antenna 34L can be laterally surrounded by a corresponding conductive fence 55 mounted to the substrate 35. Each conductive fence 55 and the antenna radiators 30H and 30L surrounded or enclosed by the conductive fence 55 are sometimes collectively referred to herein as a unit cell 60 of the antenna radiator. The unit cell 60 is sometimes also referred to as a dual-band antenna element, an antenna patch, or a multi-element sub-array of the entire array formed by the phased array antenna 34H and the phased array antenna 34L. For example, the unit cells 60 can be arranged in a staggered pattern in every other row 56 of a given column 54 and in every other three columns 54 of a given row 56.

[0061] wherein both the antenna radiator 30H and the antenna radiator 30L are arranged at the respective vertices of an equilateral triangle (e.g., in an equilateral triangle grid) Figure 4 The layout pattern is illustrative and not restrictive. Generally speaking, the high-band antenna radiator 30H and the low-band antenna radiator 30L can be interleaved or staggered on the substrate 35 in any desired manner (e.g., in a square grid pattern, a hexagonal grid pattern, or any other desired pattern). For example, Figure 4 the equilateral triangle grid pattern (grid) can help to maximize the angular range over which the phased array antenna 34H and the phased array antenna 34L perform beam scanning / sweeping.

[0062] In Figure 4In the example, the patch radiator 50H has a circular lateral profile or shape (e.g., in the X-Y plane), and the patch radiator 50L has an annular lateral profile or shape. This is illustrative and not restrictive. Generally speaking, the patch radiators 50H and 50L may have an elliptical, hexagonal, square, rectangular, hexagonal annular, elliptical annular, square annular, or any other desired shape of lateral profile or shape with any desired number of curved edges and / or straight edges (e.g., where the patch radiator 50L has a central opening and the corresponding patch radiator 50H is disposed within the central opening).

[0063] If desired, the patch radiator 50H in the high-band phased array antenna 34H and the patch radiator 50L in the low-band phased array antenna 34L can be implemented as self-standing folded patches (e.g., self-standing folded patch radiators). When implemented as a folded patch radiator, the portions of the patch radiator 50H and the portions of the patch radiator 50L fold downward toward the substrate 35 (e.g., in the -Z direction). In these specific embodiments, the dimension L1 of the patch radiator 50L is given by both the lateral width or diameter of the patch radiator 50L in the X-Y plane and the vertical length of the portion of the patch radiator 50L that folds downward toward the substrate 35. Similarly, the dimension L2 of the patch radiator 50H is given by both the lateral width, diameter or dimension of the patch radiator 50H in the X-Y plane and the vertical length of the portion of the patch radiator 50H that folds downward toward the substrate 35.

[0064] Figure 5 is a perspective view of the high-band antenna radiator 30H in the high-band phased array antenna 34H in an example where the patch radiator 50H of the high-band antenna radiator is implemented as a self-standing folded patch radiator. Figure 5 The high-band antenna radiator 30H can be disposed within Figure 4 the corresponding unit cell 60 (in this case, for clarity, the surrounding low-band antenna radiator 30L and the conductive fence 55 have been omitted from Figure 5 ), or can be disposed between Figure 4 the unit cells 60 (e.g., not laterally surrounded by the conductive fence 55 and the low-band antenna radiator 30L).

[0065] As Figure 5As shown, the patch radiator 50H may include a lateral (planar) portion 61A located in or parallel to the X-Y plane. The lateral portion 61A may have a circular contour or other shape. To implement the patch radiator 50H as a folded patch, the edge 52 of the patch radiator 50H is folded downward toward the substrate 35. Thus, the patch radiator 50H has a vertical sidewall 72 (e.g., a continuously curved sidewall, or more generally, one or more sidewalls following the lateral contour of the lateral portion 61A) extending from the edge of the lateral portion 61A to the edge 52.

[0066] The edge 52 may be separated from the ground trace 76 on the substrate 35 by a gap 64. The sidewall 72 has a height 74 (e.g., parallel to the Z-axis). The lateral portion 61A has a diameter DA. For example, the total radiation length (e.g., Figure 4 the dimension L2) of the patch radiator 50H may be approximately equal to the sum of the diameter DA and twice the height 74. The patch radiator 50H has a central axis 62 extending orthogonally to the lateral portion 61A (e.g., parallel to the Z-axis) through the center of the patch radiator 50H.

[0067] The patch radiator 50H is self-standing and is mounted to the substrate 35 without any intermediate dielectric layer or support. For example, the patch radiator 50H may be formed from a folded, bent, and / or stamped metal sheet mounted to the ground trace 76 on the substrate 35. The metal sheet may be formed of copper, aluminum, or other materials. Forming the patch radiator 50H from aluminum may help minimize the weight of the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H. The metal sheet may have a relatively narrow thickness (e.g., 0.5 mm or less) to further reduce weight. At the same time, the metal sheet is thick enough to maintain its rigid shape after being mounted to the substrate 35. Forming the patch radiator 50H in this way may utilize both large-scale metal sheet manufacturing processes (e.g., progressive die stamping) and large-scale printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) processes such as surface mount technology (SMT). This may help facilitate the large-scale assembly of phased array antennas in communication terminals.

[0068] The ground trace 76 may form part of the antenna ground portion (e.g., Figure 3 the antenna ground portion 51) of the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H. The patch radiator 50H may be grounded to the ground trace 76 using a ground interconnect 66. The ground interconnect 66 may, for example, couple the center of the patch radiator 50H to the ground trace 76 (e.g., the ground interconnect 66 may extend along the central axis 62). The ground interconnect 66 may electrically short the patch radiator 50H to the ground trace 76 at the central axis 62. This may be used to change the current distribution and radiation pattern of the antenna in a way that optimizes the radio frequency performance of the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H, while allowing the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H to occupy a relatively small volume on the communication terminal.

[0069] At the same time, the ground interconnect 66 is rigid and can be used to mechanically mount and secure the patch radiator 50H to the substrate 35. The ground interconnect 66 can include a conductive bracket, conductive screw or fastener, conductive pin, conductive clip, solder, weld, conductive adhesive, conductive bracket, conductive spring, conductive fork, conductive strut, conductive post, and / or any other desired structure for mechanically mounting, attaching, and / or securing the patch radiator 50H to the substrate 35 (e.g., while holding the patch radiator 50H above the substrate 35 such that the edge 52 is separated from the ground trace 76 by the gap 64), while also electrically shorting the patch radiator 50H (at the central axis 62) to the ground trace 76. In this way, the high-band antenna radiator 30H can be implemented as a center-grounded folded patch (CGFP) (e.g., the patch radiator 50H can be a CGFP). Alternatively, the ground interconnect 66 can mechanically secure the patch radiator 50H to the substrate 35 (e.g., as a bracket) without also electrically shorting the patch radiator 50H to the ground trace 76.

[0070] The high-band antenna radiator 30H can be fed by the positive antenna feed terminals 48A and 48B on the lateral portion 61A. The first feed interconnect 70A can couple a first radio frequency transmission line (e.g., Figure 3 the radio frequency transmission line 32A) for the high-band antenna radiator 30H to the positive antenna feed terminal 48A. The second feed interconnect 70B can couple a second radio frequency transmission line (e.g., Figure 3 the radio frequency transmission line 32B) for the high-band antenna radiator 30H to the positive antenna feed terminal 48B. The feed interconnects 70A and 70B can be coupled to the corresponding radio frequency transmission lines through the substrate 35 (e.g., without shorting the feed structure to the ground trace 76).

[0071] If desired, the feed interconnects 70A and 70B can be rigid and can also be used to mechanically mount and secure the patch radiator 50H to the substrate 35 (e.g., a bracket for the patch radiator 50H can be formed). For example, the feed interconnects 70A and 70B can include conductive brackets, conductive pins (e.g., spring pins), conductive clips, conductive screws, solder, welds, conductive adhesives, conductive brackets, conductive springs, conductive forks, conductive struts, conductive posts, and / or any other desired structure for mechanically mounting, attaching, and / or securing the patch radiator 50H to the substrate 35 (e.g., while holding the patch radiator 50H above the substrate 35 such that the edge 52 is separated from the ground trace 76 by the gap 64), while also electrically coupling the positive antenna feed terminals 48A and 48B to the corresponding radio frequency transmission lines. For example, soldering and surface mount technology (SMT) processes can be used to mount the ground interconnect 66 and the feed interconnects 70 to the substrate 35. The ground interconnect 66 and the feed interconnects 70 can allow the rigid patch radiator 50H to remain self-standing on the substrate 35 without any intermediate substrate, printed circuit board, support, or other dielectric material between the substrate 35 and the lateral region 61A of the patch radiator 50H.

[0072] If desired, one or more notches (slots) 68 can be cut out in the patch radiator 50H (e.g., at the lateral portion 61A and / or within the sidewall 72). The notches 68 can be used to tune or adjust the frequency response of the high-band antenna radiator 30H to perform impedance matching for one or both of the positive antenna feed terminals 48A and 48B, thereby tuning the polarization response of the high-band antenna radiator 30H, and / or further reducing the weight of the high-band antenna radiator 30H and thus the weight of the communication terminal 10 itself.

[0073] Figure 6 is a cross-sectional side view of the high-band antenna radiator 30H (e.g., taken along Figure 5 line AA'). As Figure 6 shown, the substrate 35 can be overlapped with the substrate 37. For example, the substrate 35 and the substrate 37 can each be a rigid printed circuit board. Each printed circuit board can include a plurality of stacked dielectric layers. Each printed circuit board can include one or more metallization layers that are interleaved within or laminated on the stacked dielectric layers. The metallization layers can include ground traces, signal traces, control lines, power lines, and / or any other desired metallization layers in the printed circuit board.

[0074] The beamforming circuit 36 ( Figure 2), and / or other components in the communication terminal 10 can be mounted on the substrate 37 and / or embedded within the substrate. The substrate 35 can have a first side surface 114 and an opposite second side surface 116. The side surface 116 faces the substrate 37. The ground trace 76 can be patterned on the side surface 114 of the substrate 35. If desired, additional ground traces (not shown for clarity) can be laminated on the side surface 116 and / or embedded within the substrate 35. If desired, the ground traces on different layers or surfaces of the substrate 35 can be shorted together using conductive vias (not shown) that extend through the dielectric layer of the substrate 35, and these conductive vias are used to hold all the ground traces to the same ground or reference potential (e.g., for forming Figure 3 a part of the antenna ground portion 51 for the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H).

[0075] The substrate 37 can have a first side surface 110 facing the substrate 35 and an opposite second side surface 112. The ground trace 90 can be patterned on the side surface 110 of the substrate 37. The ground trace 104 can be patterned on the side surface 112 of the substrate 37. If desired, additional ground traces (not shown for clarity) can be embedded within the substrate 37. If desired, the ground trace 90, the ground trace 104, and / or the ground traces embedded within the substrate 37 can be shorted together using the conductive vias 108 that extend through the dielectric layer of the substrate 37. This can be used to hold all the ground traces to the same ground or reference potential (e.g., for forming Figure 3 a part of the antenna ground portion 51 for the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H).

[0076] As Figure 6 shown, the patch radiator 50H can be mounted on the substrate 35 using the ground interconnect 66 and the feed interconnect 70A. The feed interconnect 70A can include a conductive post 86 that extends from the self-locking head 80 to the surface-mount interface, and the conductive post is surface-mounted (e.g., welded) to the contact pad 82 located on the side surface 114 of the substrate 35. The conductive post 86 can extend through a hole or opening in the lateral portion 61A of the patch radiator. The self-locking head 80 can fix the feed interconnect 70A to the lateral portion 61A of the patch radiator within the hole, and can help establish a robust electrical connection between the feed interconnect 70A and the patch radiator at the positive antenna feed terminal 48A.

[0077] As an example, the conductive post 86 can be formed of aluminum to allow for a change in hardness between the self-locking head 80 and the metal sheet of the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H. If desired, the aluminum in the conductive post 86 can be gold-plated to increase the storage life and solderability to the aluminum substrate. If desired, the conductive post 86 can be provided with a copper under-plating to reduce the radio-frequency skin-effect ohmic losses. The conductive post 86 is sometimes also referred to herein as the bracket 86, the conductive bracket 86, or the conductive shaft 86.

[0078] The contact pad 82 can be electrically floating and not electrically shorted to the ground trace 76. If desired, the contact pad 82 can be laterally surrounded by a field-formed (FIP) ground washer on the ground trace 76. The substrate 35 can have a hole or opening 106 extending from the side surface 114 to the side surface 116. The feed interconnect 70A can include an alignment boss 88 extending from the conductive post 86 through the opening 106 to the side surface 116 of the substrate 35. The feed interconnect 70A can include a conductive spring pin 84 extending away from the alignment boss 88. The alignment boss 88 can be used to capture the spring pin 84 and can assist in aligning the feed interconnect and the substrate. The spring pin 84 can span the gap between the substrate 35 and the substrate 37 and press against a contact pad 118 on the side surface 110 of the substrate 37. The compressibility of the spring pin 84 can, for example, help accommodate the tolerance stack-up between the substrate 35 and the substrate 37. If desired, surface mount technology (e.g., mass reflow soldering) can be used to mechanically and electrically secure the spring pin 84 to the contact pad 118. The contact pad 118 is not electrically shorted to the ground trace 90 on the substrate 37. The contact pad 118 can be coupled to a signal trace 122 on the side surface 112 of the substrate 37 through a conductive via 120 extending through the substrate 37. The signal trace 122 is not electrically shorted to the ground trace 90.

[0079] The signal trace 122 can be coupled to a corresponding phase and amplitude controller 38 ( Figure 2 ) on the substrate 37, which performs phase and amplitude adjustments for the high-band antenna radiator 30H. The signal trace 122, the conductive via 120, the contact pad 118, the spring pin 84, the alignment boss 88, and the conductive post 86 together form a part of the signal conductor of a radio frequency transmission line (e.g., Figure 3 the radio frequency transmission line 32A), which is coupled to the positive antenna feed terminal 48A on the high-band antenna radiator 30H. In this way, the feed interconnect 70A can feed a radio frequency signal to the high-band antenna radiator 30H via the positive antenna feed terminal 48A. At the same time, the conductive post 86 mechanically mounts and secures the high-band antenna radiator 30H to the side surface 114 of the substrate 35. The rigidity of the conductive post 86 helps hold the patch radiator as a self-standing metal sheet structure above the substrate 35 (e.g., such that its edges 52 are kept separated from the ground trace 76 by the gap 64). A similar structure can be used to implement the ground structure 70B for another antenna feed portion of the high-band antenna radiator 30H ( Figure 5 ).

[0080] Similarly, the ground interconnect 66 may include a hollow conductive shaft, such as conductive shaft 94. The conductive shaft 94 is inserted into an opening in the lateral region 61A of the patch radiator about the central axis 62. The conductive shaft 94 may extend from the patch radiator toward the substrate 35. If desired, the conductive shaft 94 may extend into a hole or opening in the substrate 35 that extends from the side surface 114 to the side surface 116. Although illustrated in Figure 6 as a single linear shaft penetrating an opening in the substrate 35 for simplicity and clarity, if desired, the conductive shaft 94 may have a lower surface (e.g., parallel to the X-Y plane) surface-mounted to the side surface 114 of the substrate 35, contact pads on the side surface 114 (e.g., similar to the conductive posts 86 of the feed interconnect 70A as shown in Figure 6 ), and / or ground traces 76 (e.g., using solder). The conductive shaft 94 may be surface-mounted to the side surface 114, for example, without penetrating an opening in the substrate 35, or a portion of the conductive shaft 94 may penetrate the opening. In this manner, the conductive shaft 94 may form a support for the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H on the substrate 35. The conductive shaft 94 is sometimes also referred to herein as the conductive post 94, the conductive support 94, the support 94, or the ground support 94.

[0081] If desired, the conductive plate spacer 96 may be inserted into a hole in the substrate 35 from the side surface 116. The conductive plate spacer 96 may be electrically shorted (e.g., welded or fused) to the conductive shaft 94 (e.g., within an opening in the substrate 35 or at the side surface 114), may be electrically shorted to the conductive shaft 94 through additional conductive material within a hole in the substrate 35, or may be electrically isolated from the conductive shaft 94. If desired, a hard stop SMT spacer may be installed between the conductive shaft 94 and the conductive plate spacer 96.

[0082] The conductive plate spacer 96 may mechanically hold the substrate 35 at a fixed distance from the substrate 37. For example, there may be a gap between the substrate 35 and the substrate 37. The gap may be filled with air, a packaging material, other dielectric materials, or may be without air and / or other materials to minimize the weight of the communication terminal 10. If desired, the conductive plate spacer 96 may provide compression control for the spring pins 84 and electromagnetic interference gaskets (not shown) between the substrate 35 and the substrate 37, and / or may provide heat conduction between the substrate 35 and the substrate 37 to maintain a consistent board temperature in the communication terminal 10.

[0083] The ground interconnect 66 may also include a conductive fastener 92 (e.g., a conductive screw, bolt, pin, etc., such as a SEMS screw or fastener). The conductive fastener 92 may be inserted into the conductive shaft 94 and may extend from the patch radiator along the central axis 62 through the conductive shaft 94, a hole in the substrate 35, the conductive plate spacer 96, and an opening in the substrate 37 from the side surface 110 to the side surface 112. The conductive fastener 92 may include a head 102 at the patch radiator, which helps to hold the ground interconnect 66 to the patch radiator and helps to form a robust electrical connection to the patch radiator. The end of the conductive fastener 92 opposite the head 102 may be inserted into a locknut 98, which is mounted to a ground trace 104 (e.g., using soldering, SMT process, etc.) on the side surface 112 of the substrate 37. The locknut 98 is used to lock the conductive fastener 92 in place and helps to fix the substrate 35 to the substrate 37 through the ground interconnect 66.

[0084] In this way, the ground interconnect 66 and the feed interconnect for the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H can be used as a support for the antenna radiator, thereby holding the patch radiator in place above the ground trace 76 and simplifying the assembly process of the communication terminal 10. At the same time, the ground interconnect 66 helps to assemble and fix the substrate 35 to the substrate 37 (e.g., the ground interconnects 66 across all unit cells 60 ( Figure 4 on the substrate 35) can jointly provide a stable and robust mechanical attachment of the substrate 35 to the substrate 37).

[0085] The patch radiator in the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H (e.g., Figure 5 the patch radiator 50H) is held above the substrate 35 by the feed interconnect and the ground interconnect. The edge 52 of the patch radiator is bent downward relative to the lateral portion 61A, thereby forming a sidewall 72 of height 74. The lateral portion 61A of the patch radiator is held above the ground trace 76 at a distance equal to the sum of the height of the gap 64 and the height 74 of the sidewall 72 by the feed interconnect and the ground interconnect. The dimension L2 of the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H may be given, for example, by twice the height 74 plus the diameter DA of the lateral portion 61A of the patch radiator. There may be a cavity 78 between the lateral portion 61A, the sidewall 72, and the ground trace 76. The cavity 78 may be free of solid dielectric material and / or air. This can be used to minimize the weight of the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H and thus the weight of the communication terminal 10, can maximize the bandwidth of the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H, and can minimize the dielectric loss of the high-frequency band antenna radiator 30H.

[0086] Figure 7 where the patch radiator 50L of the low-frequency band antenna radiator is implemented as a self-standing folded patch radiator (e.g., fromFigure 4 In the example of the given unit cell 60), a perspective view of the low-band antenna radiator 30L in the low-band phased array antenna 34L. For clarity, the high-band antenna radiator 50H and the conductive fence 55 of the unit cell have been omitted from Figure 7 ). Figure 4 ).

[0087] As Figure 7 shown, the patch radiator 50L has a lateral (planar) portion 61B located in or parallel to the X-Y plane. The lateral portion 61B may have an annular shape or a toroidal shape that laterally surrounds the central opening 128. The lateral portion 61B may have an inner edge located at the central opening 128 and an outer edge opposite the inner edge. The lateral portion 61B may have an inner diameter DC (e.g., as measured across the central opening 128) and an outer diameter DB that is greater than the inner diameter DC. This is illustrative, and in general, the lateral portion 61B may have other shapes or profiles.

[0088] To implement the patch radiator 50L as a folded patch, the edge 52 of the patch radiator 50L may be folded downward from the outer edge of the lateral portion 61B toward the substrate 35. This may form a vertical outer wall 129 extending from the outer edge of the lateral portion 61B to the edge 52. The edge 52 may be vertically separated from the ground trace 76 on the substrate 35 by a gap 134. The outer wall 129 may have a height 124 (e.g., parallel to the Z axis).

[0089] Additionally or alternatively, the patch radiator 50L may have a vertical inner wall 130 that is folded downward from the inner edge of the lateral portion 61B. The inner wall 130 may extend all the way to the ground trace 76 and may be mounted to the substrate 35 (e.g., using SMT slot joints, soldering, etc.). The inner wall 130 may have a height 126 that is greater than the height 124. If desired, the inner wall 130 may include one or more via alignment pins (tabs) 132 that are inserted into openings in the ground trace 76 and / or the substrate 35 to assist in aligning the low-band antenna radiator 30L on the substrate 35.

[0090] The inner wall 130 may laterally surround the central opening 128, may be used to mechanically mount and fix the patch radiator 50L to the substrate 35, and may electrically short the patch radiator 50L to the ground trace 76 (e.g., the patch radiator 50L may be a CGFP). When the unit cell 60 including the low-band antenna radiator 30L is fully assembled ( Figure 4 ), the corresponding high-band antenna radiator 30H ( Figures 3 to 6 is mounted to the substrate 35 within the central opening 128, and the conductive fence 55 is mounted to the substrate 35 around the low-band antenna radiator 30L. InFigure 7 In the example of, the patch radiator 50L has a single inner wall 130 (e.g., a continuously curved inner wall) and a single outer wall 129 (e.g., a continuously curved outer wall). More generally, the patch radiator 50L may have one or more inner walls following the inner edge of the lateral portion 61B and one or more outer walls following the outer edge of the lateral portion 61B.

[0091] The patch radiator 50L is self-standing and is mounted to the substrate 35 without any intermediate dielectric layer or support. For example, the patch radiator 50L may be formed from a folded, bent, and / or stamped metal sheet mounted to the ground trace 76 on the substrate 35. The metal sheet may be formed of copper, aluminum, or other materials. Forming the patch radiator 50L with aluminum may help minimize the weight of the low-band antenna radiator 30L. The metal sheet may have a relatively narrow thickness (e.g., 0.5 mm or less) to further reduce the weight. At the same time, the metal sheet is thick enough to maintain its rigid shape after being mounted to the substrate 35. Forming the patch radiator 50L in this way may utilize both large-scale metal sheet manufacturing processes (e.g., progressive die stamping) and large-scale printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) processes such as surface mount technology (SMT). This may help facilitate the large-scale assembly of phased array antennas in communication terminals.

[0092] The low-band antenna radiator 30L may be fed by corresponding positive antenna feed terminals 48A and positive antenna feed terminals 48B on the lateral portion 61B. The first feed interconnect 76A may couple a first radio frequency transmission line (e.g., Figure 3 the radio frequency transmission line 32A of ) to the positive antenna feed terminal 48A on the lateral portion 61B. The second feed interconnect 76B may couple a second radio frequency transmission line (e.g., Figure 3 the radio frequency transmission line 32B of ) to the positive antenna feed terminal 48B on the lateral portion 61B. The feed interconnect 76A and the feed interconnect 76B may be coupled to the corresponding radio frequency transmission lines through the substrate 35 (e.g., without shorting the feed structure to the ground trace 76).

[0093] If desired, the feed interconnects 76A and 76B can be rigid and can also be used to mechanically mount and secure the patch radiator 50L to the substrate 35 (e.g., as a bracket for the patch radiator 50L). For example, the feed interconnects 76A and 76B can include conductive brackets, conductive pins (e.g., spring pins), conductive clips, solder, welds, conductive adhesives, conductive brackets, conductive springs, conductive forks, conductive struts, conductive posts, and / or any other desired structure for mechanically mounting, attaching, and / or securing the patch radiator 50L to the substrate 35 (e.g., while holding the patch radiator 50L above the substrate 35 such that the edge 52 is separated from the ground trace 76 by the gap 134), while also electrically coupling the positive antenna feed terminals to the corresponding radio frequency transmission lines. The feed interconnects 76 can each include, for example, a structure similar to the feed interconnects 70A and 70B of the high-band antenna radiator 30H ( Figure 5 and Figure 6 ). For example, welding and surface mount technology (SMT) processes can be used to mount the feed interconnects 76 to the substrate 35. The feed interconnects 76 and the inner sidewalls 130 can allow the rigid patch radiator 50L to remain self-standing above the substrate 35 without any intermediate substrate, printed circuit board, support, or other dielectric material between the substrate 35 and the lateral region 61B of the patch radiator 50L.

[0094] If desired, one or more notches (not shown for clarity in Figure 7 ) can be cut out in the lateral portion 61B, inner sidewall 130, and / or outer sidewall 129 of the patch radiator 50L (e.g., similar to the notch 68 of Figure 5 ). The notches can be used to tune or adjust the frequency response of the low-band antenna radiator 30L to perform impedance matching for one or both of the positive antenna feed terminals on the low-band antenna radiator 30L, thereby tuning the polarization response of the low-band antenna radiator 30L, and / or further reducing the weight of the low-band antenna radiator 30L and thus the weight of the communication terminal itself.

[0095] Figure 8 is a perspective view of the unit cell 60 fully assembled on the substrate 35. As Figure 8 shown, the unit cell 60 can include a high-band antenna radiator 30H surface-mounted to the substrate 35 (e.g., as shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 ). The central axis 62 can extend through the center of the high-band antenna radiator (e.g., through the ground interconnect 66). The unit cell 60 can also include a low-band antenna radiator 30L surface-mounted to the substrate 35 (e.g., as shown in Figure 7As shown). The high-band antenna radiator 30H is disposed within the central opening 128 of the low-band antenna radiator 30L. The central axis 62 may also extend through the lateral center of the low-band antenna radiator 30L.

[0096] The unit cell 60 may include a conductive fence 55 (e.g., without bracket integration) surface-mounted to the substrate 35. The conductive fence 55 may be formed of a rigid and self-standing material, such as a folded, bent, and / or stamped metal sheet. The metal sheet may be relatively thin (e.g., 0.2 mm or thinner) to minimize weight. If desired, the conductive fence 55 may include one or more via alignment pins (tabs) 136 that are inserted into openings in the ground trace 76 and / or the substrate 35 to assist in aligning the conductive fence 55 on the substrate 35. In this way, the high-band antenna radiator 30H may be concentric (nested) with the low-band antenna radiator 30L and the conductive fence 55 about the central axis 62. The low-band antenna radiator 30L laterally surrounds the high-band antenna radiator 30H in the unit cell 60. The conductive fence 55 laterally surrounds the low-band antenna radiator 30L and the high-band antenna radiator 30H.

[0097] Since the conductive fence 55 is electrically shorted to the ground trace 76, the conductive fence 55 may electromagnetically block radio frequency signals from other antennas on the communication terminal 10 from interfering with the operation of the unit cell 60, and / or vice versa. The conductive fence 55 may also be used to optimize the boresight radiation pattern of the unit cell 60. At the same time, the inner sidewall 130 of the low-band antenna radiator 30L may help to electromagnetically isolate the low-band antenna radiator 30L from the high-band antenna radiator 30H and / or optimize the radiation patterns of the antenna radiator 30L and / or the antenna radiator 30H. For example, the vertical currents along the sidewalls of the antenna radiator 30L and the antenna radiator 30H and along the conductive fence 55 may be used to optimize the radiation pattern of the unit cell 60 at angles off the boresight.

[0098] Figure 8 The examples are illustrative and non-limiting. Generally speaking, the high-band antenna radiator 30H, the low-band antenna radiator 30L, and the conductive fence 55 may have any desired shape or profile. The high-band antenna radiator 30H, the low-band antenna radiator 30L, and the conductive fence 55 do not have to all have the same shape and / or profile. If desired, the conductive fence 55 may have a linear shape, a curved shape, or any other desired shape having any desired number of straight segments and / or curved segments.

[0099] Figure 9 is a cross-sectional side view of the unit cell 60 (e.g., taken along Figure 8 the line BB'). For clarity, the substrate 37 has been omitted from Figure 9 forFigure 2 and Figure 6 ). As Figure 9 shown, the high-band antenna radiator 30H is mounted to the substrate 35 within the central opening 128 of the low-band antenna radiator 30L. The lateral portion 61B of the low-band antenna radiator 30L laterally surrounds (e.g., in the same plane) the lateral portion of the high-band antenna radiator 30H.

[0100] The inner sidewall 130 of the low-band antenna radiator 30L can extend from the lateral portion 61B to the ground trace 76. The inner sidewall 130 has a height 126 and can attach the low-band antenna radiator 30L to the substrate 35 while also electrically shorting the low-band antenna radiator 30L to the ground trace 76. The positive antenna feed terminal 48A on the low-band antenna radiator 30L can be coupled to the feed interconnect 76A. The feed interconnect 76A can include a structure similar to the feed interconnect structure 70A ( Figure 6 ), and can extend through the substrate 35 to electrically couple the signal trace in the radio frequency transmission line for the positive antenna feed terminal 48A to the patch radiator for the low-band antenna radiator 30L. The feed interconnect 76 can also serve as a support for the low-band antenna radiator 30L, which helps to hold the low-band antenna radiator 30L in place on the substrate 35.

[0101] The outer sidewall 129 of the low-band antenna radiator 30L can be separated from the ground trace 76 by a gap 134. The height of the gap 134 can be equal to the height of the gap 64 or can be different from the height of the gap 64. The height 74 of the sidewall 72 on the high-band antenna radiator 30H plus the height of the gap 64 can be equal to the height 130 of the inner sidewall 130 and / or the height 124 of the outer sidewall 129 ( Figure 7 ), plus the height of the gap 134. The conductive fence 55 can form a vertical metal sidewall that laterally surrounds and encloses the other components of the unit cell 60. The conductive fence 55 can extend from the ground trace 76 to the plane of the lateral portion 61B of the low-band antenna radiator 30L, can extend beyond the plane of the lateral portion 61B, or can extend along a portion but not all of the height 126. The space between the antenna radiator 30L and the antenna radiator 30H and the ground trace 76 can be free of solid dielectric material and / or air to maximize the bandwidth of the unit cell 60, minimize radio frequency dielectric losses, and / or minimize the weight of the communication terminal.

[0102] When implemented in this way, the phased array antenna 34L and the phased array antenna 34H ( Figure 4It can be mass-produced with the minimum weight while occupying the minimum volume on the communication terminal 10 (e.g., using the same antenna aperture), and at the same time present a satisfactory level of radio frequency performance in both the low frequency band and the high frequency band. At the same time, both the phased array antenna 34L and the phased array antenna 34H can present a relatively high antenna gain even at a wide beam scanning angle. The antenna radiators 30 in the phased array antenna 34L and the phased array antenna 34H are implemented as folded patches (or center-grounded folded patches) and include a conductive fence 55 for introducing a vertically flowing radio frequency antenna current on the antenna radiator and perpendicular to the planes of the substrates 35 and 37. This can be used to optimize the radiation pattern of the antenna radiator at relatively large off-axis angles while also allowing minimization of the lateral area spanned by each antenna radiator.

[0103] Interference fit bracket integration, laser welding bracket integration, solder-based bracket integration during the PCBA SMT process, or other techniques can be used to fabricate the brackets for the antenna radiator 30H and the antenna radiator 30L. For interference fit bracket integration, additional flexibility is provided because a wider range of material and coating options can be selected. For example, solderability may only be required for the brackets, so any additional incurred coating costs or reduced material selection options can be limited to the brackets, while the folded patch material and coating selections can be optimized separately for other parameters such as cost, flatness, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and surface optical properties (e.g., solar absorptance, emissivity, bidirectional reflectance distribution function, etc.). For laser welding bracket integration, there may be additional material compatibility limitations between the folded patch and the bracket to maintain the welding quality, and a final coating for solderability (if required) is applied to the entire welded assembly. For solder-based bracket integration, there may be additional material and coating compatibility constraints between the folded patch and the bracket to maintain solderability.

[0104] The example where the patch radiators 50H and 50L and the conductive fence 55 are formed of a metal sheet is illustrative rather than restrictive. If desired, the patch radiator 50H, the patch radiator 50L, and / or the conductive fence 55 can be formed of any other desired conductive material fabricated using any desired process (e.g., additive manufacturing, forming, machining, casting, molding, and / or other manufacturing methods). The patch radiator 50H, the patch radiator 50L, and / or the conductive fence 55 can be formed of a metal (e.g., pure metal) and / or other conductive materials (e.g., graphite-filled engineering materials, conductive polymers, etc.). If desired, the substrates 35 and 37 ( Figure 6 ) can be replaced with a single substrate (e.g., a single printed circuit board). In these examples, the antenna radiator 30H / 30L and the corresponding beamforming circuit can be mounted on the same substrate (e.g., the same printed circuit board).

[0105] The communication terminal 10 may collect and / or use personally identifiable information. As is known, the use of personally identifiable information should comply with privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, the personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly explained to the user. If necessary, a method of operating the communication terminal substantially as described herein may be provided (e.g., to perform wireless communication with one or more other network nodes).

[0106] According to one embodiment, a communication terminal is provided, the communication terminal comprising: a printed circuit board having a ground trace; an antenna radiator having a folded metal sheet patch overlapping the ground trace; and a conductive bracket coupled to the folded metal sheet patch at a feed terminal and mounting the folded metal sheet patch to the printed circuit board.

[0107] According to another embodiment, the communication terminal optionally has no solid dielectric material between the folded metal sheet patch and the ground trace.

[0108] According to another embodiment, the conductive bracket is optionally soldered to a contact pad on a substrate, where the contact pad is optionally electrically isolated from the ground trace.

[0109] According to another embodiment, the communication terminal optionally includes conductive alignment protrusions extending from one end of the conductive bracket and into an opening in the printed circuit board.

[0110] According to another embodiment, the communication terminal optionally includes: an additional printed circuit board; contact pads located on a first surface of the additional printed circuit board; signal traces located on a second surface of the additional printed circuit board; conductive vias coupling the contact pads to the signal traces through the additional printed circuit board; and spring pins coupling the conductive alignment protrusions to the contact pads.

[0111] According to another embodiment, the communication terminal optionally includes a beamforming circuit located on the additional printed circuit board and coupled to the signal traces.

[0112] According to another embodiment, the printed circuit board is optionally separated from the additional printed circuit board by a gap, and the spring pins span the gap.

[0113] According to another embodiment, the antenna radiator is optionally configured to transmit radio frequency signals in a first frequency band, and the communication terminal optionally includes an additional antenna radiator having an additional folded metal sheet patch surface-mounted to the printed circuit board, wherein the additional antenna radiator optionally laterally surrounds the antenna radiator and is configured to transmit radio frequency signals in a second frequency band lower than the first frequency band.

[0114] According to another embodiment, the communication terminal optionally includes a conductive fence surface-mounted to the printed circuit board and laterally surrounding the additional antenna radiator.

[0115] According to another embodiment, the communication terminal optionally includes an additional conductive bracket coupled to the folded metal sheet patch at the central axis of the folded metal sheet patch, wherein the additional conductive bracket mounts the folded metal sheet patch to the printed circuit board, and the additional conductive bracket is electrically shorted to the ground trace.

[0116] According to another embodiment, the communication terminal optionally includes: an additional printed circuit board; a beamforming circuit for the antenna radiator on the additional printed circuit board; and a conductive fastener that optionally extends through the additional conductive bracket, a first opening in the printed circuit board, and an additional opening in the additional printed circuit board.

[0117] According to another embodiment, the communication terminal optionally includes: a spacer separating the printed circuit board from the additional printed circuit board; and a lock nut surface-mounted to the additional printed circuit board, wherein the conductive fastener optionally extends through the spacer and into the lock nut.

[0118] According to another embodiment, the folded metal sheet patch optionally has a lateral portion parallel to the ground trace, the lateral portion having an inner edge located at a central opening of the folded metal sheet patch, the lateral portion having an outer edge opposite the inner edge, the folded metal sheet patch optionally having an inner sidewall extending from the inner edge to the ground trace, and the folded metal sheet patch having an outer sidewall extending from the outer edge toward the ground trace.

[0119] According to one embodiment, a radio circuit is provided, the radio circuit comprising: a printed circuit board having a ground trace; and a first radiating patch mounted to the printed circuit board, the first radiating patch having a first lateral portion parallel to the ground trace, the first radiating patch having a central opening, an inner edge at the central opening, and an outer edge opposite the inner edge, the first radiating patch having an inner sidewall extending from the inner edge and coupled to the ground trace, the first radiating patch having an outer sidewall extending from the outer edge toward the ground trace, the outer sidewall being separated from the ground trace by a gap, and the first radiating patch being configured to transmit radio frequency signals in a first frequency band.

[0120] According to another embodiment, the radio circuit optionally includes a second radiating patch mounted to the printed circuit board within the central opening of the first radiating patch, the second radiating patch being configured to transmit radio frequency signals in a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band.

[0121] According to another embodiment, the second radiating patch optionally has a second lateral portion parallel to the ground trace and has a sidewall extending from the second lateral portion toward the ground trace, the sidewall of the second radiating patch optionally being separated from the ground trace by an additional gap.

[0122] According to another embodiment, the radio circuit optionally includes a conductive bracket that mounts the second radiating patch to the printed circuit board along a central axis of the second radiating patch, wherein the sidewall of the second radiating patch is optionally laterally interposed between the conductive bracket and the inner sidewall of the first radiating patch.

[0123] According to another embodiment, the radio circuit optionally includes a conductive fence surface-mounted to the ground trace and laterally surrounding the first radiating patch, wherein the second radiating patch is optionally concentric with the first radiating patch and the conductive fence about a central axis of the second radiating patch.

[0124] According to one embodiment, a device is provided, the device comprising: a printed circuit board; a first antenna radiator, a second antenna radiator, and a third antenna radiator, the first antenna radiator, the second antenna radiator, and the third antenna radiator being surface-mounted to the printed circuit board and configured to form a first signal beam in a first frequency band; and a fourth antenna radiator, a fifth antenna radiator, and a sixth antenna radiator, the fourth antenna radiator, the fifth antenna radiator, and the sixth antenna radiator being surface-mounted to the printed circuit board and configured to form a second signal beam in a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band, the first antenna radiator being concentric with the fourth antenna radiator, the first antenna radiator, the second antenna radiator, and the third antenna radiator being disposed at respective vertices of a first equilateral triangle having a first side length, the fourth antenna radiator, the fifth antenna radiator, and the sixth antenna radiator being disposed at respective vertices of a second equilateral triangle having a second side length less than the first side length, and the first equilateral triangle and the second equilateral triangle at least partially overlapping.

[0125] According to another embodiment, the printed circuit board optionally has a ground trace, the first antenna radiator, the second antenna radiator, and the third antenna radiator optionally include folded patches overlapping the ground trace, the fourth antenna radiator, the fifth antenna radiator, and the sixth antenna radiator optionally include center-grounded folded patches overlapping the ground trace, the first antenna radiator, the second antenna radiator, and the third antenna radiator being disposed in respective first, second, and third rows, the fourth antenna radiator and the fifth antenna radiator being disposed in the first row, and the sixth antenna radiator being disposed in the second row.

[0126] The foregoing is merely illustrative, and various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and essence of the embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented independently or in any combination.

Claims

1. A communication terminal, comprising: a printed circuit board having a ground trace; an antenna radiator having a folded sheet metal patch overlapping the ground trace; and A conductive bracket is coupled to the folded metal sheet patch at a feed terminal and mounts the folded metal sheet patch to the printed circuit board.

2. The communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the communication terminal is free of solid dielectric material between the folded metal sheet patch and the ground trace. 3 . The communication terminal of claim 1 , wherein the conductive bracket is soldered to a contact pad on a substrate, the contact pad being electrically isolated from the ground trace.

4. The communication terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: A conductive alignment boss extends from one end of the conductive bracket and enters an opening in the printed circuit board.

5. The communication terminal according to claim 4, further comprising: Additional printed circuit boards; a contact pad located on a first surface of the additional printed circuit board; a signal trace located on a second surface of the additional printed circuit board; a conductive via coupling the contact pad to the signal trace through the additional printed circuit board; and A spring pin couples the conductive alignment protrusion to the contact pad.

6. The communication terminal according to claim 5, further comprising: A beamforming circuit is located on the additional printed circuit board and is coupled to the signal trace. 7 . The communication terminal according to claim 6 , wherein the printed circuit board is separated from the additional printed circuit board by a gap, and the spring pin spans the gap.

8. The communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the antenna radiator is configured to transmit radio frequency signals in a first frequency band, and the communication terminal further comprises: An additional antenna radiator having an additional folded metal sheet patch surface mounted to the printed circuit board, wherein the additional antenna radiator laterally surrounds the antenna radiator and is configured to transmit radio frequency signals in a second frequency band lower than the first frequency band.

9. The communication terminal according to claim 8, further comprising: A conductive fence is surface mounted to the printed circuit board and laterally surrounds the additional antenna radiator.

10. The communication terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: An additional conductive bracket is coupled to the folded metal sheet patch at a central axis of the folded metal sheet patch, wherein the additional conductive bracket mounts the folded metal sheet patch to the printed circuit board and the additional conductive bracket is electrically shorted to the ground trace.

11. The communication terminal according to claim 10, further comprising: Additional printed circuit boards; a beamforming circuit for the antenna radiator on the additional printed circuit board; and A conductive fastener extends through the additional conductive bracket, the first opening in the printed circuit board, and the additional opening in the additional printed circuit board.

12. The communication terminal according to claim 11, further comprising: a spacer that separates the printed circuit board from the additional printed circuit board; and A locking nut is surface mounted to the additional printed circuit board, wherein the conductive fastener extends through the spacer and into the locking nut.

13. A communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the folded metal sheet patch has a lateral portion parallel to the ground trace, the lateral portion has an inner edge located at a central opening of the folded metal sheet patch, the lateral portion has an outer edge opposite to the inner edge, the folded metal sheet patch has an inner side wall extending from the inner edge to the ground trace, and the folded metal sheet patch has an outer side wall extending from the outer edge toward the ground trace.

14. A wireless circuit, comprising: a printed circuit board having a ground trace; and a first radiating patch, the first radiating patch being mounted to the printed circuit board, wherein the first radiating patch having a first lateral portion parallel to the ground trace, The first radiating patch has a central opening, an inner edge located at the central opening, and an outer edge opposite to the inner edge, the first radiating patch having an inner sidewall extending from the inner edge and coupled to the ground trace, the first radiating patch having an outer sidewall extending from the outer edge toward the ground trace, The outer sidewall is separated from the ground trace by a gap, and The first radiating patch is configured to transmit radio frequency signals in a first frequency band.

15. The wireless circuit of claim 14, further comprising: A second radiating patch is mounted to the printed circuit board within the central opening of the first radiating patch, the second radiating patch being configured to transmit radio frequency signals in a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band.

16. The wireless circuit of claim 15, wherein the second radiating patch has a second lateral portion parallel to the ground trace and has a sidewall extending from the second lateral portion toward the ground trace, the sidewall of the second radiating patch being separated from the ground trace by an additional gap.

17. The wireless circuit of claim 16, further comprising: A conductive bracket mounts the second radiating patch to the printed circuit board along a central axis of the second radiating patch, wherein the side wall of the second radiating patch is laterally interposed between the conductive bracket and the inner side wall of the first radiating patch.

18. The wireless circuit of claim 14, further comprising: A conductive fence is surface mounted to the ground trace and laterally surrounds the first radiating patch, wherein the second radiating patch is concentric with the first radiating patch and the conductive fence about a central axis of the second radiating patch.

19. A device, comprising: Printed circuit boards; a first antenna radiator, a second antenna radiator, and a third antenna radiator, the first antenna radiator, the second antenna radiator, and the third antenna radiator being surface mounted to the printed circuit board and configured to form a first signal beam in a first frequency band; and a fourth antenna radiator, a fifth antenna radiator, and a sixth antenna radiator, the fourth antenna radiator, the fifth antenna radiator, and the sixth antenna radiator being surface mounted to the printed circuit board and configured to form a second signal beam in a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band, wherein The first antenna radiator is concentric with the fourth antenna radiator, The first antenna radiator, the second antenna radiator, and the third antenna radiator are arranged at respective vertices of a first equilateral triangle, the sides of the first equilateral triangle having a first length, The fourth antenna radiator, the fifth antenna radiator, and the sixth antenna radiator are disposed at respective vertices of a second equilateral triangle, a side of the second equilateral triangle having a second length that is less than the first length, and The first equilateral triangle at least partially overlaps with the second equilateral triangle.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the printed circuit board has a ground trace, the first antenna radiator, the second antenna radiator and the third antenna radiator include a folded patch overlapping the ground trace, the fourth antenna radiator, the fifth antenna radiator and the sixth antenna radiator include a central ground folded patch overlapping the ground trace, the first antenna radiator, the second antenna radiator and the third antenna radiator are arranged in corresponding first, second and third rows, the fourth antenna radiator and the fifth antenna radiator are arranged in the first row, and the sixth antenna radiator is arranged in the second row.

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