University of California

Utah State University

I5 Technologies, Inc.

Bedri A Cetiner

Mark Bachman

Guann-Pyng Li

Jiangyuan Qian

Hung-Pin Chang

Franco DeFlaviis

Hamid Jafarkhani

Franco De Flaviis

Luis Jofre

Asaduzzaman Towfiq

Daniel Rodrigo

Ahmed Mohamed Eltawil

Elsayed A Ahmed

Yasin Damgaci

Among other things, a reconfigurable antenna array (RAA) includes individual pattern reconfigurable antennas (PRA). Each of the PRAs has (a) an antenna, (b) components controllable to generate and effect any of two or more modes of the PRA, the modes having respectively different steered radiation patterns, and (c) inputs to receive drive signals for the antenna and control signals for the controllable components. Control circuitry has outputs coupled to the inputs of the PRAs to drive the antennas of the PRAs to form an array beam having an array peak in a particular direction and at the same time to deliver control signals for the controllable components to effect a selected mode of each of the PRAs for which the steered radiation pattern has a peak in the particular direction of the array beam and has one or more nulls in the directions of one or more of the side-lobes of the array beam.

Reconfigurable antenna array of individual reconfigurable antennas

Embodiments of full-duplex systems with reconfigurable antennas are described. In one embodiment, a full-duplex reconfigurable antenna transceiver includes a transmit chain, a receive chain, and a reconfigurable antenna having a plurality of reconfigurable modes. The transceiver may also include an antenna controller configured to set a mode of the reconfigurable antenna. According to other aspects, the transceiver may also include a signal processor configured to transmit a set of training symbols during a training interval. The antenna controller may be further configured to select a respective mode of the reconfigurable antenna for each training symbol in the set of training symbols. Additionally, the antenna controller may be configured to calculate a received Signal-of-Interest to Interferer Ratio (SIR) for each training symbol of the set of training symbols. In this context, a full-duplex system utilizing a reconfigurable antenna may achieve significant rate improvement compared to half-duplex systems.

Full duplex reconfigurable antenna self-interference cancellation systems

Reconfigurable antennas utilizing parasitic layers are disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, a reconfigurable antenna may include an active driven antenna element. The active driven antenna may be a patch antenna element. A parasitic element may be disposed over the active antenna element and be configured to couple with electromagnetic energy emitted from the active antenna element via electromagnetic mutual coupling. The parasitic element may include an array of selectively reconfigurable pixels interconnected via microelectromechanical switches. By selectively reconfiguring the geometry of the array, the reconfigurable antenna may be configured to operate in multiple operating modes.

Reconfigurable antennas utilizing parasitic pixel layers

A reconfigurable antenna that utilizes liquid metal to achieve dynamic antenna performance is disclosed. The reconfigurable antenna may utilize one or more liquid metal sections that can be variably displaced. Utilizing liquid metal may reduce certain undesirable effects associated with more conventional mechanical reconfigurable antennas including mechanical failure due to material fatigue, creep, and/or wear. Precise microfluidic techniques may be utilized in the design of a reconfigurable antenna that utilizes liquid metal. The reconfigurable antenna may utilize a circular Yagi-Uda array design and include movable parasitic director and reflector elements implemented using liquid metal (e.g., mercury (Hg)). The parasitic elements may be placed and rotated in a circular microfluidic channel around a driven antenna element utilizing a flow generated and controlled by a piezoelectric micropump. The reconfigurable antenna may operate at 1800 MHz with 4% bandwidth and be capable of performing beam steering over 360&#xb0; with fine tuning.

Reconfigurable antennas utilizing liquid metal elements

The methods described herein provide for a radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems switch having two or more resonant frequencies. The switch can be configured as a capacitive shunt switch having a deflectable member coupled between two electrodes over a transmission line. A first insulator can be located between one of the electrodes and the deflectable member to form a capacitive element. The deflectable member can be deflectable between an up-state and a down-state, the down-state capacitively coupling the deflectable member with the transmission line. The degree by which the deflectable member overlaps the first insulator can be adjusted to adjust the capacitance of the capacitive element and the resulting resonant frequency.

Method of fabricating a radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) asymmetrical switch

Systems and methods are provided that facilitate the formation of micro-mechanical structures and related systems on a laminated substrate. More particularly, a micro-mechanical device and a three-dimensional multiple frequency antenna are provided for in which the micro-mechanical device and antenna, as well as additional components, can be fabricated together concurrently on the same laminated substrate. The fabrication process includes a low temperature disposition process allowing for deposition of an insulator material at a temperature below the maximum operating temperature of the laminated substrate, as well as a planarization process allowing for the molding and planarizing of a polymer layer to be used as a form for a micro-mechanical device.

MEMS fabrication on a laminated substrate

An adaptive MIMO communications system includes a multifunctional reconfigurable antenna with a selectively alterable effective physical antenna array configuration and radiation/polarization properties, which configuration and properties is a component in the optimization of the adaptive system parameters. The multifunctional reconfigurable antenna comprises a plurality of antenna components and a plurality of selectively controllable switches coupling selected ones of the plurality of antenna components together into a multifunctional reconfigurable subarray of antenna components. A processing unit coupled to the multifunctional reconfigurable antenna determines communication channel conditions for generating adaptive control signals to the plurality of selectively controllable switches to selectively apply a selected space-time coding protocol or a selected beam forming protocol together on the plurality of antenna components depending on channel conditions.

Method and apparatus for an adaptive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communications systems

The systems and methods described herein provide for a radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems switch having two or more resonant frequencies. The switch can be configured as a capacitive shunt switch having a deflectable member coupled between two electrodes over a transmission line. A first insulator can be located between one of the electrodes and the deflectable member to form a capacitive element. The deflectable member can be deflectable between an up-state and a down-state, the down-state capacitively coupling the deflectable member with the transmission line. The degree by which the deflectable member overlaps the first insulator can be adjusted to adjust the capacitance of the capacitive element and the resulting resonant frequency.

High isolation tunable MEMS capacitive switch

Systems and methods are provided that facilitate the formation of micro-mechanical structures and related systems on a laminated substrate. More particularly, a micro-mechanical device and a three-dimensional multiple frequency antenna are provided for in which the micro-mechanical device and antenna, as well as additional components, can be fabricated together concurrently on the same laminated substrate. The fabrication process includes a low temperature deposition process allowing for deposition of an insulator material at a temperature below the maximum operating temperature of the laminated substrate, as well as a planarization process allowing for the molding and planarizing of a polymer layer to be used as a form for a micro-mechanical device.

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

Bedri A Cetiner