Antenna Array Delay-Line Feeding for High Element Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Antenna arrays suffer from high coupling among adjacent elements, which degrades performance with increasing scanning angles and limits the ability to transmit and receive multiple data streams, particularly in applications like 6G cellular communications.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of primary and secondary antenna elements connected by signal delay lines, where the secondary elements share signal feeds with the primary elements through these delay lines, reducing coupling and enhancing isolation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If antenna elements are placed close together to increase array density, then the array size is reduced, but coupling between adjacent elements increases
Solution Approach 1:
A feeding network with delay lines is introduced as an intermediary between antenna elements. The delay lines provide controlled signal paths that enable precise phase and amplitude control, allowing the antenna elements to be fed with optimized excitation patterns that reduce mutual coupling effects while maintaining compact array geometry
Solution Approach 2:
The feeding network enables dynamic adjustment of signal parameters (phase and amplitude) delivered to each antenna element. By changing these parameters, the system can optimize element excitation patterns to minimize coupling interactions, allowing compact array design without suffering from high coupling losses
2Object-generated harmful factors
If antenna elements are spaced far apart to reduce coupling, then isolation between elements improves, but the array size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The feeding network acts as a mediator that compensates for the effects of close element spacing. By providing controlled delay and phase adjustment, it creates virtual isolation between elements through signal processing, allowing compact physical layout while maintaining effective isolation through the intermediary control mechanism
3Ease of operation
If conventional antenna arrays are used, then the system is simple to implement, but performance degrades with increasing scanning angles
Solution Approach 1:
The feeding network introduces dynamic control capabilities with adjustable delay lines and phase shifters. This allows the system to adaptively adjust excitation parameters based on beam scanning angle, maintaining optimal performance across wide angular ranges. The dynamic adjustment compensates for performance degradation that would occur in static conventional arrays
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables real-time parameter changes in the feeding signals (phase and amplitude) based on scanning angle requirements. This dynamic parameter adjustment maintains consistent array performance across different scanning angles, resolving the contradiction between simple implementation and stable performance
4Productivity
If antenna elements are closely spaced, then multiple data streams can be transmitted, but coupling limits the ability to maintain multiple independent streams
Solution Approach 1:
The feeding network with delay lines serves as an intermediary that provides independent signal paths to each antenna element. This enables precise control over the excitation of each element, allowing multiple independent data streams to be transmitted simultaneously even when elements are closely spaced, as the intermediary control compensates for coupling effects
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustable delay lines and phase shifters provide dynamic control that enables the system to maintain independent signal paths for multiple data streams. By dynamically adjusting the feeding parameters, the system can preserve stream independence despite close element spacing, enabling high productivity through multiple concurrent streams
Data Source
AI summary
Antenna arrays with high isolation between antenna elements are disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, an antenna array includes at least one primary antenna element and at least one secondary antenna element. The primary antenna element includes a first port of a first signal polarization type (for instance, horizontal) and a second port of a second signal polarization type (for instance, vertical), which are connected to a first signal feed and a second signal feed, respectively. The secondary antenna element includes a first port of the first signal polarization type connected to the first port of the primary antenna element by way of a first signal delay line, and a second port of the second signal polarization type connected to the second port of the primary antenna element by way of a second signal delay line.