A method for manufacturing a scanning antenna with a plurality of antenna units arrayed therein, the scanning antenna including a TFT substrate including a first dielectric substrate, a TFT, gate bus lines, source bus lines, and a plurality of patch electrodes, a slot substrate including a second dielectric substrate and a slot electrode including a plurality of slots disposed corresponding to the plurality of patch electrodes, a liquid crystal layer, and a reflective conductive plate, includes a step (a) of depositing a first conductive film containing copper on a first main surface of the second dielectric substrate, a step (b) of, after step (a), bringing the first conductive film into contact with an atmosphere to form an oxide film on a surface of the first conductive film, and a step (c) of, after step (b), depositing a second conductive film containing copper on the oxide film.

A TFT substrate includes a transmission and/or reception region including a plurality of antenna unit regions, and a non-transmission and/or reception region located in a region other than the transmission and/or reception region. Each of the antenna unit regions U includes a TFT and a patch electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the TFT. The TFT substrate includes a gate metal layer including a gate electrode of the TFT, a gate insulating layer, a source metal layer including a source electrode of the TFT and the drain electrode, a first insulating layer, a patch metal layer including the patch electrode, a second insulating layer, and an upper conductive layer. The upper conductive layer includes a patch drain connection section electrically connected to the patch electrode and the drain electrode.

A method and apparatus for testing an antenna are described. In on embodiment, the antenna comprises: a memory; an antenna aperture with a plurality of electronically controlled radio frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements; a pattern generator, including one or more processors, to generate a plurality of patterns to apply to the antenna aperture during testing to cause the antenna to generate a beam in response to each pattern of the plurality of patterns while pointing at a satellite; a receiver to receive satellite signals from the satellite in response to generating beams with the aperture; a metric provider, including one or more processors, to generate one or more satellite signal metrics for the received satellite signals; and antenna parameter selector to select one or more parameters associated with beamforming based on the satellite signal metrics indicating antenna performance reached a predetermined level, wherein selection of the one or more parameters is for storage in the memory and used to generate a beam with the antenna aperture when performing data communication.

A 5G antenna system is disclosed that comprises a substrate and at least one antenna element configured to transmit and receive 5G radio frequency signals. The at least one antenna element is coupled to the substrate. The substrate comprises a polymer composition that comprises a polymer matrix containing at least one polymer having a glass transition temperature of about 30° C. or more and at least one laser activatable additive wherein the polymer composition exhibits a dissipation factor of about 0.1 or less, as determined at a frequency of 2 GHz.

A method and apparatus for impedance matching for an antenna aperture are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna aperture having at least one array of antenna elements operable to radiate radio frequency (RF) energy and an integrated composite stack structure coupled to the antenna aperture. The integrated composite stack structure includes a wide angle impedance matching network to provide impedance matching between the antenna aperture and free space and also puts dipole loading on antenna elements.

The scanning antenna includes a TFT substrate, a slot substrate including a slot electrode, a liquid crystal layer provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate, and a reflective conductive plate. Each of the plurality of antenna units includes a TFT, a patch electrode electrically connected to the drain of the TFT, a slot formed in the slot electrode corresponding to the patch electrode, and a first region in which the patch electrode and the slot electrode overlap each other when viewed from the normal direction of the first dielectric substrate. A distance in the normal direction of the first dielectric substrate between the patch electrode and the slot electrode of the plurality of second antenna units is smaller than a distance in the normal direction of the first dielectric substrate between the patch electrode and the slot electrode of the plurality of first antenna units.

A scanning antenna includes a transmission and/or reception region including a plurality of antenna units and a non-transmission and/or reception region other than the transmission and/or reception region. The scanning antenna includes a TFT substrate, a slot substrate, a liquid crystal layer, a seal portion surrounding the liquid crystal layer, a wall structure (additional seal portion) disposed in a region surrounded by the seal portion in the non-transmission and/or reception region, a reflective conductive plate, a first spacer structure defining a first gap between a first dielectric substrate and a second dielectric substrate in the transmission and/or reception region, and a second spacer structure disposed in the wall structure and defining a second gap wider than the first gap. The wall structure includes a first main side face and a second main side face that intersect a surface of the first dielectric substrate, and at least one of the first main side face and the second main side face includes a plurality of recessed portions and/or a plurality of protruding portions when viewed from a normal direction of the first dielectric substrate.

A scanning antenna includes a transmission and/or reception region including a plurality of antenna units and a non-transmission and/or reception region other than the transmission and/or reception region. The scanning antenna includes a TFT substrate, a slot substrate, a liquid crystal layer provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate, a seal portion provided in the non-transmission and/or reception region and surrounding the liquid crystal layer, and a reflective conductive plate disposed opposing a second main surface of a second dielectric substrate with a dielectric layer interposed between the reflective conductive plate and the second main surface. The slot electrode includes an opening or a recessed portion formed in the non-transmission and/or reception region and in the region surrounded by the seal portion.

An apparatus is disclosed herein for a cylindrically fed antenna and method for using the same. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna feed to input a cylindrical feed wave and a tunable slotted array coupled to the antenna feed.

A method and apparatus for using Euclidean modulation in an antenna are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for controlling an antenna comprises mapping a desired modulation to achievable modulation states, mapping modulation values associated with the achievable modulation states to one or more control parameters, and controlling radio frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements using the one or more control parameters to perform beam forming.