Apple Inc.

Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC

Amin Tayebi

Carlo Di Nallo

Aaron J Cooper

Zheyu Wang

Ana Papio Toda

Mattia Pascolini

Jiang Zhu

Umar Azad

Geng Ye

Bruno Cendon Martin

Wenjing Su

Yixiang Li

Prathap Valale Prasannakumar

Yi Jiang

Hao Xu

Siwen Yong

Jiangfeng Wu

Michael D Quinones

Qian Zhang

Michael J Williams

Nikolaj P Kammersgaard

Tyler R Roschuk

Vinh T Le

Per Jakob Helander

Johan Avendal

Breanna E Bredesen

The disclosed distributed monopole antenna may include a first conductive plate and a second conductive plate. The distributed monopole antenna may also include multiple different vias that electrically connect the first conductive plate to the second conductive plate. Still further, the distributed monopole antenna may include an antenna feed electrically connected to at least one of the vias. Various other systems, methods of manufacturing, and wearable electronic devices that implement distributed monopole antennas are also disclosed.

Distributed monopole antenna for enhanced cross-body link

An electronic device may have an antenna module with a triplet of antennas on a substrate. The triplet may include a first antenna with a radiating element formed from a patch on the substrate and second and third antennas having radiating elements formed from patches on that extend across a smaller lateral area than the patch in the first antenna. The patches in the second and third antennas may have extended electrical lengths formed from parasitic patches embedded within the substrate that are coupled to opposing edges of the patches by fences of conductive vias. The antenna module may include phased antenna arrays for conveying centimeter/millimeter wave signals. Signal conductors for the antennas may be distributed across multiple metallization layers of the substrate.

Electronic devices having compact ultra-wideband antenna modules

An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry that includes first, second, and third antennas used to determine the position and orientation of the electronic device relative to external equipment. The antennas may include patch elements on respective substrates mounted to a flexible printed circuit. Each substrate may include fences of conductive vias that are coupled to ground and that laterally surround the corresponding patch element. Control circuitry may identify phase differences between the first and second antennas and between the second and third antennas and may identify an angle of arrival of received ultra-wideband signals using the phase differences. The control circuitry may compare the phase differences to a set of predetermined surfaces of phase differences to identify environmental loading conditions for the antenna. The control circuitry may correct the angle of arrival using offsets identified based on the environmental loading conditions.

Electronic device having angle of arrival detection capabilities

An electronic device may include first and second phased antenna arrays and a triplet of first, second, and third ultra-wideband antennas. An antenna module in the device may include a dielectric substrate. The first and second arrays and the triplet may be formed on the dielectric substrate. The third and second ultra-wideband antennas may be separated by a gap. The first array may be laterally interposed between the third and second ultra-wideband antennas within the gap. The third ultra-wideband antenna may be laterally interposed between the first phased antenna array and at least some of the second array. An integrated circuit may be mounted to the dielectric substrate using an interposer. The antenna module may occupy a minimal amount of space within the device and may be less expensive to manufacture relative to scenarios where the arrays and the ultra-wideband antennas are formed on separate substrates.

Electronic devices having millimeter wave and ultra-wideband antenna modules

An electronic device may be provided with antennas for receiving signals in first and second ultra-wideband communications bands. The antennas may include a resonating element formed from conductive traces on a dielectric substrate. The substrate may be mounted to an underlying flexible printed circuit. A fence of conductive vias may extend from the resonating element, through the substrate and the flexible printed circuit, to a ground plane on the flexible printed circuit. The fence may form a return path for the antenna. A shielding ring may be formed on the substrate. Additional fences of vias may couple the shielding ring to the ground plane. If desired, the resonating element may include a patch that is not shorted to the ground plane. The fences of vias, the conductive traces, and the ground plane may form a continuous antenna cavity for the resonating element.

Electronic device having dual-frequency ultra-wideband antennas

An electronic device may be provided with an antenna for receiving signals in first and second ultra-wideband communications bands. The antenna may include a shielding ring that runs around first and second arms. The first arm may radiate in the first band and the second arm may radiate in the second band. The first arm may have an end formed from a first segment of the ring and a radiating edge facing the second arm. The second arm may have an end formed from a second segment of the ring and a radiating edge facing the first arm. First and second sets of conductive vias may couple the ring to ground. The first set may form a return path for the first arm. The second set may form a return path for the second arm.

Electronic devices having compact ultra-wideband antennas

An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry that is tested in a test system. The test system may include test probes. Circuitry under test may wirelessly transmit test signals. The test probes may receive the test signals at multiple locations. Circuitry may measure direct current (DC) voltages generated by the test probes and may convert the voltages to electric field magnitudes. A test host may process the electric field magnitudes to determine whether the circuitry under test exhibits a satisfactory radiation pattern. The test probes may include dielectric substrates and one or more dipole elements coupled to respective diodes. The dipole elements may include indium tin oxide (ITO) and may include first and second sets of orthogonal dipole elements. Transmission lines coupled to the dipole elements may include ITO and may form low pass filters that convert rectified voltages produced by the diodes into the DC voltages.

Test probes for phased antenna arrays

An electronic device may be provided with an antenna for receiving signals in first and second ultra-wideband communications bands. The antenna may include a first arm that radiates in the first band and a second arm that radiates in the second band. The antenna may be fed by a stripline. A microstrip may couple the stripline to the first and second arms and may be configured to match the impedance of the stripline to the impedance of the first and second arms in the first and second bands, respectively. Sets of antennas tuned to different frequencies may be fed by the same transmission line and may collectively exhibit a relatively wide bandwidth. A conductive shielding layer or other conductive components may be layered over the antennas to mitigate cross-polarization interference at the antennas.

Electronic devices having multi-frequency ultra-wideband antennas

An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry that includes antenna structures used to determine the position and orientation of the electronic device relative to external wireless equipment. The electronic device may include a housing having a planar conductive layer, a first slot antenna that includes a first bent slot element in the planar conductive layer, and a second slot antenna that includes a second bent slot element in the planar conductive layer. The first and second bent slot elements may be configured to receive radio-frequency signals at the same frequency. The first and second bent slot elements may have the same shape. The electronic device may include control circuitry configured to measure a phase difference between the radio-frequency signals received by the first and second slot antennas. The control circuitry may identify an angle of arrival of the received radio-frequency signals based on the measured phase difference.

Electronic device antennas for performing angle of arrival detection

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Amin Tayebi