A liquid crystal panel P according to the present invention includes: a liquid crystal layer LC; and a pair of first and second substrates 100 and 200 disposed with the liquid crystal layer LC interposed therebetween and including an alignment film M formed on a surface of each of the first and second substrates facing the liquid crystal layer, or a surface of any one of the first and second substrates facing the liquid crystal layer. The alignment film M contains a carboxyl group-containing polymer containing a carboxyl group. The liquid crystal compound constituting the liquid crystal layer LC contains at least one selected from the group consisting of a cyano group, a heterocyclic ring, —OCF.sub.2—, a carbon-carbon triple bond and a trifluoromethyl group, contains an aliphatic alkyl group at a terminal thereof, and does not contain an isothiocyanate group. Antenna units are arranged.

An apparatus for exchanging liquid crystal (LC) between two areas of an antenna array and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna element array having a plurality of radiating radio-frequency (RF) antenna elements formed using portions of first and second substrates with a liquid crystal (LC) therebetween, and a structure between the first and second substrates and outside the area of the RF antenna elements to collect LC from an area between the first and second substrates forming the RF antenna elements due to LC expansion.

A TFT substrate includes a dielectric substrate and a plurality of antenna unit regions arranged on the dielectric substrate, each of the antenna unit regions including a TFT and a patch electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the TFT. The TFT substrate includes a gate metal layer supported by the dielectric substrate and including a gate electrode of the TFT, a source metal layer supported by the dielectric substrate and including a source electrode of the TFT, a semiconductor layer, supported by the dielectric substrate, of the TFT, a gate insulating layer formed between the gate metal layer and the semiconductor layer, and a flattened layer formed over the gate insulating layer and formed from an organic insulating material.

A multibeam antenna and method of using the same are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an aperture having a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements. The RF radiating antenna elements generate a plurality of beams simultaneously in different directions in response to a first modulation pattern for holographic beamforming applied to the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements to establish all beams of the plurality of beams such that antenna elements of the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements contribute to all beams in the plurality of beams concurrently. The antenna also includes a controller coupled to the aperture to generate the first modulation pattern.

A TFT substrate includes a dielectric substrate and a plurality of antenna unit regions arranged on the dielectric substrate. Each of the plurality of antenna unit regions includes a TFT and a patch electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the TFT. The TFT substrate includes a source metal layer including a source electrode of the TFT, the drain electrode, a source bus line connected to the source electrode, and the patch electrode, a gate metal layer formed on the source metal layer and including a gate electrode of the TFT and a gate bus line connected to the gate electrode, a gate insulating layer formed between the source metal layer and the gate metal layer, and a conductive layer formed on the gate metal layer, and the TFT substrate does not include an insulating layer between the gate metal layer and the conductive layer.

A method and apparatus for DC offset correction in an antenna aperture are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: an array of antenna elements having liquid crystal (LC); drive circuitry coupled to the array and having a plurality of drivers, each driver of the plurality of drivers coupled to an antenna element of the array and operable to apply a drive voltage to the antenna element; and voltage correction logic coupled to the drive circuitry adjust drive voltages to compensate for an offset between a first magnitude of a first voltage applied to the LC of each antenna element during a first interval of drive polarity and a second magnitude of a second voltage applied to the LC of said each antenna element during a second interval of drive polarity opposite the drive polarity of the first interval.

A scanning antenna provided with an array of a plurality of antenna units includes a transmission and/or reception region including the 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 including a first dielectric substrate, a slot substrate including a second dielectric substrate and a slot electrode supported by a first main surface of the second dielectric substrate, a liquid crystal layer provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate, and a reflective conductive plate disposed facing a second main surface of the second dielectric substrate opposite to the first main surface with a dielectric layer interposed between the reflective conductive plate and the second main surface. Each of the plurality of antenna units includes a TFT supported by the first dielectric substrate, a patch electrode electrically connected to a drain of the TFT, and a slot formed in the slot electrode corresponding to the patch electrode. The slot substrate further includes a first insulating layer provided between the second dielectric substrate and the slot electrode. The slot electrode has a tensile stress and the first insulating layer has compressive stress. When viewed from a normal direction of the second dielectric substrate, a portion of the slot substrate that does not include the slot electrode includes at least one first region exposing the second dielectric substrate from the first insulating layer and/or at least one second region having a thickness of the first insulating layer that is less than a thickness of a portion of the first insulating layer overlapping the slot electrode. When viewed from the normal direction of the second dielectric substrate, the at least one first region or the at least one second region includes at least a portion of an end of the second dielectric substrate.

An antenna includes a waveguide defined by a gap between a backplane with radial support ribs and a facesheet, a teardrop-shaped feed pin at a center of the backplane, and a foam spacer between the backplane and facesheet. An outward facing side of the facesheet includes thermal paint. The facesheet includes pairs of through-hole slots for releasing portions of a wave of radiation in the waveguide to generate a transmit-beam or to receive the receive-beam to generate the wave of radiation. The pairs may be disposed as a spiral array about a center of the facesheet. Each of the pairs may include first and second slots. A length of the second slot is oriented approximately perpendicular to a length of the first slot. Dispositions of the slots are set by a computer process. The dispositions optimize a trade-off between transmit and receive gains.

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 slot antenna and a communication device including the slot antenna are provided. The slot antenna includes: a dielectric layer having a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, a radiation layer on the first surface of the dielectric layer and having a plurality of slots therein, and a first shielding layer on the second surface of the dielectric layer and electrically connected to the radiation layer.