Planar Ultrawideband Modular Antenna Array Bandwidth
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ultrawideband electronically scanned arrays (UWB-ESAs) are expensive, challenging to fabricate and maintain due to non-planar geometries and reliance on external circuitry, limiting their scalability and bandwidth, especially at millimeter-wave frequencies.
Innovation Solution
The development of a Planar Ultrawideband Modular Antenna (PUMA) array with a dual-offset dual-polarized lattice and a capacitively-coupled metallic plate to the ground plane, eliminating the need for external baluns and allowing for modular assembly, enhanced capacitive coupling, and relaxed manufacturing tolerances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional UWB-ESA designs use non-planar geometries with external feeding parts, then electrical performance can be maintained, but fabrication complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes external feeding parts (baluns, feed organizers, hybrid circuits) from the conventional UWB-ESA design, integrating their functions directly into the planar antenna elements through capacitive coupling to the ground plane, thereby simplifying fabrication while maintaining electrical performance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the functions of external feeding parts with the planar antenna elements themselves, where the capacitive coupling structure serves both as part of the radiating element and as the feeding mechanism, eliminating the need for separate external components
2Shape
If planar UWB-ESA designs use ground planes to produce unidirectional radiation, then radiation directionality is achieved, but resonances occur requiring lossy screens that reduce efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a capacitive coupling structure as an intermediary between the planar antenna elements and the ground plane, which enables unidirectional radiation while suppressing resonances without requiring lossy screens, thereby maintaining radiation efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the electrical parameters at the antenna-ground plane interface by introducing capacitive coupling, which changes the boundary conditions to suppress resonances while maintaining the desired radiation directionality, avoiding the need for lossy materials
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional UWB-ESAs use multiple manufacturing technologies, then assembly is possible, but tolerances and part size limitations prohibit scalability to higher frequencies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal planar fabrication process that can manufacture antenna elements suitable for a wide frequency range (up to EHF mm-waves), eliminating the need for different manufacturing technologies at different build stages and enabling frequency scalability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the large grid of radiator elements into modular tiles that can be fabricated separately using planar processes and then assembled, making large-scale UWB-ESAs manufacturable while maintaining precision requirements for high-frequency operation
4Ease of operation
If external circuitry is used in conventional UWB-ESAs, then feeding functionality is provided, but cost, weight, and profile increase while compromising electrical performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the feeding functionality with the antenna elements themselves through capacitive coupling to the ground plane, eliminating external circuitry and reducing cost, weight, and profile while improving electrical performance through direct integration
Solution Approach 2:
The planar antenna elements serve their own feeding function through capacitive coupling to the ground plane, eliminating the need for external feed organizers, baluns, and hybrid circuits, thereby reducing complexity and improving performance
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design doubles the bandwidth from 3:1 to 6:1, achieving a fractional bandwidth of 143% and enabling frequency operation up to Q-band, while maintaining low-profile and low-cost fabrication, and reducing common-mode issues.
Implementation Method 1
a capacitively-coupled metallic plate to the ground plane
Data Source
AI summary
Structures and configurations for planar ultrawideband modular antenna arrays. One example of a PUMA array includes an unbalanced RF interface, a lattice of horizontal dipole segments directly fed with the unbalanced RF interface, the lattice being arranged in either a dual-offset dual-polarized configuration or a single-polarization configuration, and a metallic plate capacitively-coupled to the lattice of horizontal dipole segments and pinned to a ground plane with a first plated via.