Compact antenna

Abstract

An antenna comprising two sub antennas each sub antenna comprising at least one radiating element is disclosed. The two sub antennas comprise an inner sub antenna and an outer sub antenna. The antenna comprises signal feed circuitry for supplying a first signal to the inner sub antenna and signal feed circuitry for supply a second signal to the outer sub antenna. The at least one radiating element of the outer sub antenna comprises at least one flexible radiating patch mounted on a flexible material arranged to wrap at least partially around at least a portion of the inner sub antenna.

Claims

1. An antenna comprising: two sub antennas, each sub antenna comprising at least one radiating element, said two sub antennas comprising an inner sub antenna and an outer sub antenna, signal feed circuitry configured to supply a first signal to said inner sub antenna and to supply a second signal to said outer sub antenna, wherein said at least one radiating element of said outer sub antenna comprises at least one flexible radiating patch mounted on a flexible material arranged to wrap at least partially around at least a portion of said inner sub antenna; said antenna having a longitudinal axis configured to run along a length of said antenna, said outer sub antenna configured to wrap at least partially around said longitudinal axis; wherein an input port to said signal feed circuitry of one sub antenna is at a different longitudinal end of said antenna to an input port to said signal feed circuitry of the other of said two sub antennas.

2. An antenna according to claim 1, wherein said at least one flexible radiating patch is configured to wrap around at least 70% of an outer circumference of said inner sub antenna.

3. An antenna according to claim 1, wherein said signal feed circuitry for each of said two sub antennas comprises: signal supply circuitry running in a substantially longitudinal direction parallel to an axis of said two sub antennas from a signal input, and at least one signal feed probe configured to capacitively couple said respective first or second signal from said signal supply circuitry to a corresponding one of said at least one radiating patch.

4. An antenna according to claim 3, wherein said signal feed circuitry for said outer sub antenna comprises conductive tracks mounted on said flexible material.

5. An antenna according to claim 3, wherein said inner and outer sub antenna are arranged such that said signal supply circuitry of each sub antenna are at different circumferential positions and do not overlap.

6. An antenna according to claim 3, wherein said flexible material of said outer sub antenna comprises a conductive patch mounted on an inner surface of said flexible material, and said signal supply circuitry is mounted on an outer surface of said flexible material overlying said conductive patch.

7. An antenna according to claim 1, wherein said at least one radiating element of said inner sub antenna comprises at least one flexible radiating patch mounted on a flexible material, said flexible material being arranged such that an outer perimeter of a cross section of said inner sub antenna comprises a curved surface.

8. An antenna according to claim 7, wherein said flexible material of said inner sub antenna comprises a conductive patch mounted on an inner surface of said flexible material, and said signal feed circuitry for said sub antenna is mounted on an outer surface of said flexible material overlying said conductive patch.

9. An antenna according to claim 1, wherein said antenna comprises: a longitudinal conductive support member configured to support at least some components of said antenna, said signal feed circuitry for supplying a signal to said inner sub antenna comprises signal supply circuitry mounted on an outer surface of said longitudinal support member and configured to supply said signal to at least one signal feed probe configured to capacitively supply said signal to said at least one radiating element of said inner sub antenna, wherein said at least one radiating element comprises at least one radiating patch mounted on a flexible material, said flexible material being mounted to at least partially wraparound said longitudinal support member.

10. An antenna according to claim 1, wherein each sub antenna comprises a plurality of radiating elements arranged subsequent to each other along a longitudinal axis.

11. An antenna according to claim 10, wherein said two sub antennas are arranged such that said plurality of radiating elements of said two sub antennas are offset along said longitudinal axis with respect to each other.

12. An antenna according to claim 1, wherein said antenna comprises a dual band antenna and said radiating elements of said each of said two sub antennas are operable to radiate in a different one of said dual bands.

13. An antenna according to claim 1, wherein said antenna comprises a quasi-omni directional antenna configured to radiate in all directions in one plane.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Embodiments of the present invention will now be described further, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows an antenna comprising sub antennas arranged one above the other according to the prior art;

(3) FIG. 2 shows an antenna comprising two sub antennas arranged side by side according to the prior art;

(4) FIG. 3 shows differences in length between a prior art antenna and one according to an embodiment;

(5) FIG. 4 shows schematically the flexible material forming the support for the radiating patch;

(6) FIG. 5 shows the flexible material with the ground conductive plate on it;

(7) FIG. 6 shows the flexible material with the ground conductive plate and signal feed circuitry on it;

(8) FIG. 7 shows the flexible material with the radiating patches and signal feeding network mounted on it;

(9) FIG. 8 shows how the plurality of these components are wrapped to form one of the sub antenna;

(10) FIG. 9 shows two corresponding sub antennas of a same formation but of different circumferences mounted one within the other;

(11) FIG. 10 shows a different form of internal sub antenna;

(12) FIGS. 11A and B shows an inner sub antenna inside an outer sub antennas where positions have been selected to reduce coupling between the two sub antennas;

(13) FIGS. 12-18 show example performance data for such antenna;

(14) FIGS. 19-21 show example radiation patterns for such antenna; and

(15) FIG. 22 shows the difference in dimensions of an antenna according to the prior art and one according to an embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(16) Before discussing the embodiments in any more detail, first an overview will be provided.

(17) Embodiments provide a compact antenna formed of sub antennas nested one inside the other. In some embodiments, each sub antenna has radiating elements with curved surfaces such that each emits omnidirectional or quasi omnidirectional radiation.

(18) The inner and outer sub antennas may have the same form although different physical sizes or the inner sub antenna may be formed around a central conductive supporting member which may form the ground plane for the signal supply circuitry of this sub antenna. In other embodiments the ground plane for the signal supply circuitry may be formed as a brass conductive layer on the internal surface of the flexible material holding the flexible radiation patches. In order to reduce coupling and increase isolation between the two sub antennas the two sub antennas can be flipped with regard to each other on the three axes.

(19) Thus, they can be rotated around the Z axis to a selected angle to reduce coupling between the signals, such that the two signal feed circuitries are not aligned. They may be moved along the Z axis with a particular shift to provide a longitudinal offset between the radiating patches and one of the sub antennas may be flipped with respect to the other about the Z axis such that the feed inputs are at different ends of the antenna.

(20) Embodiments seek to create a compact, low length, high gain dual-band quasi-omnidirectional antenna.

(21) Instead of superimposing two omnidirectional sub antennas longitudinally on top of each other, the idea is to have one omnidirectional sub antenna placed inside the other (antenna 1 inside antenna 2). In the context of omnidirectional antennas, placing one sub antenna inside the other (concentric design) will increase the coupling between the 2 sub antennas and decrease the RF performances ([S] parameters and radiation patterns). To address these issues, the antenna 1 (the internal one) has in some embodiments been: flipped versus antenna 2 on the 3 axis (X,Y,Z). rotated versus antenna 2 around the Z-axis with an optimized or at least preferred angle. moved along the Z-axis inside antenna 2 with an optimized or at least preferred shift.

(22) It is proposed in one embodiment that the radiating elements are wrapped around the antenna structure, the antenna structure forming a central support rod type structure. In some embodiments, the feeding network is also proposed to be wrapped around the antenna structure.

(23) Where the antenna is a dual band antenna, the inner sub antenna, antenna 1 corresponds to the high band frequency range due to its smaller dimensions. The outer sub antenna, antenna 2 corresponds to the lower band frequency range.

(24) In some embodiments there may be further sub antenna wrapped around each other, the outer antenna transmitting at lower band frequencies than the inner antenna.

(25) In some embodiments the antenna may be a multi-band antenna with the two sub antenna transmitting in the same frequency band.

(26) In some embodiments, each sub antenna may transmit with differently polarized signals.

(27) This concentric design with a specific internal sub antenna configuration allows a significant reduction in length while keeping the same antenna width when compared to similar antenna of the prior art without compromising on RF performance. FIG. 3 shows a comparison between the sub antennas being mounted in a longitudinal arrangement similar to that of FIG. 1 and an arrangement according to an embodiment. The proposed design may also reduce the total number of handling and mounting parts and reduce the visual impact due to the length reduction.

(28) The polarization of each sub antenna may be fixed to be horizontal or vertical depending on the azimuth angle or may vary according to the azimuth angle.

(29) This design is described here for a concentric high gain dual-band omnidirectional antenna, however the skilled person would understand that it could be extended to concentric multi-band omnidirectional antennas where each sub antenna is configured to operate in the same frequency band but is fed with different signals, these signals being differently polarized to reduce coupling and interference between the signals.

(30) In this section, for a practical example, 2 concentric high gain quasi omnidirectional sub antennas will be described. The 2 sub antennas can radiate simultaneously with a high degree of signal isolation.

(31) The 2 considered frequency bands are: [2.5 GHz-2.7 GHz] and [3.4 GHz-3.6 GHz].

(32) Antenna 1: the internal sub antenna designed for [3.4 GHz-3.6 GHz] frequency band.

(33) Antenna 2: the external sub antenna designed for [2.5 GHz-2.7 GHz] frequency band.

(34) Each sub antenna has its feeding network and radiating elements.

(35) For both sub antennas the radiating elements are wrapped patches optimized according to each frequency band.

(36) In this example, we consider that:

(37) spacing between “antenna 1” patches=spacing between “antenna 2” patches=d=60 mm.

(38) d @ 2.7 GHz=0.54λ.

(39) d @ 3.6 GHz=0.70λ.

(40) The radiating elements are fed with equi amplitudes and equi phase rules.

(41) The feeding network of antenna 1 is formed on a flexible material 1 having a relative permittivity Dk1=2.25.

(42) The feeding network of antenna 2 is formed on a flexible material 2 having a relative permittivity Dk2=4.50.

(43) External Sub Antenna Design—Antenna 2 (2.6 GHz Band):

(44) Antenna 2 is composed of a cylindrical hollow pipe (flexible material) having 0.8 mm thickness (see FIG. 4).

(45) A brass part is provided inside the cylindrical hollow pipe, as shown in FIG. 5, to form the ground plane of the feeding network.

(46) The feeding part is composed of a T divider and capacitive coupling probe printed on a flexible thin PCB sheet (0.05 mm). As shown in FIG. 6, the feeding network is proposed to be wrapped on the upper face of the cylindrical pipe.

(47) The radiating elements are wrapped cylindrical patches 30 using thin flexible PCB sheet (0.05 mm) rolled around the skeleton (see FIG. 7) provided by the hollow pipe formed of the flexible material. The hollow pipe 10 may have a cylindrical form, or the cross section may be some other curved form such as an ellipse. The antenna 2 can be viewed as being formed of one or more unitary cells each comprising a radiating element and feed network 20 (see FIG. 6). Where there are several of these they are arranged in series along the cylindrical hollow pipe as is shown in FIG. 7.

(48) The unitary cell is duplicated according to the target gain to be reached (10 dBi peak gain). In our example, taking into account the losses associated with the PCB that is used (Dk=4.5) and the spacing between patches (0.54 k), we have used 12 patches 30 for antenna 2 (see FIG. 8) which we estimate should provide the target gain.

(49) Internal Antenna Design—Antenna 1 (3.5 GHz Band):

(50) The internal sub antenna (antenna 1) could be designed using 2 methods: Method 1: The same design as antenna 2: both feeding network and radiating elements are wrapped (see FIG. 9). Method 2: An alternative design: (see FIG. 10).

(51) In this design the internal antenna, antenna 1 comprises a central U-shaped metallic rod 40 that provides support for many of the other components of the internal sub antenna as well as providing a ground plane. Radiating patches 42 are wrapped around the central structure which comprises signal feed probe(s) for providing the signal to the radiating patch(es) 42. These signal feed probes are formed on a single PCB which runs along the length of the antenna. Clips 48 are provided periodically along the length of the signal feed probe PCB and the U-shaped metallic rod is held in position in U-shaped recesses within the clips.

(52) A second PCB 46 is used as signal supply circuitry to supply a signal to the signal feed probe(s) mounted on an outer surface of the U-shaped rod and locked in place by resilient closure members 44 which attach to the plastic clips. The closure member portion of the clip is slid inside the lower plastic part of the clip, and exerts pressure between the feeding PCB and the U shaped rod. As a result, grounding of the PCB is provided by the metallic rod 40 and the space available inside this U-shaped rod can be used for the input signal cable where required.

(53) Again the antenna 1 unitary cell is duplicated according to the target gain to be reached (10 dBi peak gain). We have used 10 patches for antenna 1.

(54) Antenna 1+Antenna2:

(55) The antenna 1 position inside antenna 2 (FIGS. 11A and 11B) has been selected to reduce couplings between the 2 antennas and improve omnidirectional patterns for each frequency band.

(56) In this proposed solution, the antenna 1 (the internal one) has been: flipped versus antenna 2 on the 3 axis (X,Y,Z). rotated versus antenna 2 around Z-axis with an optimized angle. moved along the Z-axis inside antenna 2 with an optimized shift.

(57) The resulting dual band antenna has a length of 0.75 m with preliminary good performances as set out in FIGS. 12 to 19.

(58) FIG. 12 shows preliminary results of how the gain achieved in dB changes with azimuth angle (phi) for antenna 2 operating at a frequency of 2.6 GHz and with an elevation angle theta equal to 90°. It also shows an azimuth cut of the radiation pattern showing the omnidirectional nature of the antenna.

(59) FIG. 13 shows similar results for antenna 1 operating at a frequency of 3.5 GHz and with an elevation angle theta equal to 90°.

(60) FIG. 14 shows an elevation section of the achieved gain (in dB) at different azimuth angles of 0°, 45° and 90° for antenna 2, operating at a frequency of 2.6 GHz.

(61) FIG. 15 shows an elevation section of the achieved gain (in dB) at different azimuth angles 0°, 45° and 90° for antenna 1, operating at a frequency of 3.5 GHz.

(62) FIG. 16 shows preliminary results for antenna 2 VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio), while FIG. 17 shows the same thing for antenna 1. In this example the Y axis is the VSWR and the flat line shows the specification which in this case is 1.5.

(63) FIG. 18 shows the isolation between the two signals from the two sub antenna in dBs on the Y axis, while the flat line shows the specification which in this case is −30 dB.

(64) FIGS. 19-21 show the radiation pattern at azimuth and elevation angles for the antenna.

(65) FIG. 19 shows the radiation pattern for the outer sub antenna, antenna 2 while FIG. 20 shows it for the inner sub antenna, antenna 1. FIG. 21 shows the radiation pattern for the inner sub antenna, antenna 1 within the structure of the antenna.

(66) FIG. 22 shows the difference in dimensions and corresponding wind loading between an antenna of the prior art and an antenna according to an embodiment with similar characteristics and performance.

(67) It should be noted that in the context of this application a sub antenna is an antenna, however, it is an antenna that is operable to radiate one signal and is located within the same radome as another sub antenna that is operable to radiate a different signal, the two sub antennas can be viewed as together forming an antenna.

(68) It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the invention. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

(69) The description and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.