Ami Research & Development, LLC

Bae Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.

R.a. Miller Industries, Inc.

Benjamin G McMahon

John T Apostolos

William Mouyos

Judy Feng

Brian Molen

Patricia Bodan

Milton Feng

Paul Gili

Court E Rossman

James F Fung

Randall R Lapierre

Andrew Cannon Maccabe

Christopher K Cheung

Robert W Rogers

Wesley N Allen

Jason E Bardo

An antenna positioner provided on a deployable vehicle. The antenna positioner includes a base and a frame having a plurality of plates oriented at an angle relative to one another. Each plate may include a low band antenna and a high band antenna. The base is located inside a chamber of the deployable vehicle. The frame is movable relative to the base between a collapsed position, where the entire frame is positioned within the chamber, and an extended position wherein at least a portion of the frame extends outwardly through an opening in the deployable vehicle's exterior wall. The frame is pivotally engaged with the base and a gearing mechanism pivots the frame between the collapsed position and the extended position to arrange the antennas at a desired orientation relative to the deployable vehicle's exterior wall so as to maximize the antenna's near-vertical Field of View (FoV).

Single axis articulating antenna positioner for tube launched or conformal applications

An array antenna has a plurality of antenna unit cells arranged in rows and columns, or in another configuration. Each unit cell from the plurality of unit cells includes a circularly polarized radiator and a balun. The array antenna further includes a reactive element or a circuit element (such as a capacitor or resistor or even an inductor) on the circularly polarized radiator that is coupled an adjacent unit cell in one of the row and the column. A spacing distance between adjacent unit cells coupled via the circuit element that is at most half of a wavelength at a frequency maximum of the array antenna, wherein the spacing distance reduces likelihood of grating lobes.

Ultra-wide bandwidth frequency-independent circularly polarized array antenna

A dual mode array antenna including a ground plane, a plurality of antenna elements, a tuning mechanism for tuning the array antenna to a resonant frequency, and a base defining a cavity having a depth that is less than half of a wavelength at an upper frequency of the array antenna is disclosed. Each of the plurality of antenna elements includes at least one spiral arm and each of the plurality of antenna elements is embedded in the cavity. The dual mode array antenna operates between the upper frequency and a lower frequency and may operate in one or more resonant frequencies.

Dual mode array antenna

Techniques for implementing series-fed antenna arrays with a variable dielectric waveguide. In one implementation, coupling elements with optional controlled phase shifters are placed adjacent each radiating element of the array. To avoid frequency sensitivity of the resulting array, one or more waveguides have a variable propagation constant. The variable waveguide may use certain materials exhibiting this phenomenon, or may have configurable gaps between layers. Plated-through holes and pins can control the gaps; and/or a 2-D circular or a rectangular travelling wave array of scattering elements can be used as well.

Travelling wave antenna feed structures

A leaky travelling wave array of elements provide a broadband radio frequency antenna.

High performance low profile antennas

A dielectric travelling wave antenna (DTWA) using a TEM mode transmission line and variable dielectric substrate.

Quasi TEM dielectric travelling wave scanning array

A rectifier comprising a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure. The insulator may be a native oxide with an adjacent layer of graphene. In one implementation, the rectifier is used in an electromagnetic energy collector consisting of a planar waveguide formed of multiple material layers having at least two different dielectric constants. MIM rectifiers are aligned with mirrors are formed within the waveguide core. In some arrangements, a plurality of MIM rectifiers are disposed in a column or 3D array beneath each mirror.

Graphene coupled MIM rectifier especially for use in monolithic broadband infrared energy collector

The use of rectennas, or antenna-coupled rectifiers, using metal-insulator-metal tunnel diodes as rectifiers for energy conversion has been explored with more fervor recently, given the advances in nanotechnology fabrication and increased resolution of features. Some have made these devices from symmetric metals (e.g. Ni&#x2014;NiO&#x2014;Ni) and asymmetric metals (e.g. Al&#x2014;AlOx/Pt), and have used deposited oxides as well as native oxides. One key to obtaining a highly asymmetric device with efficient current generation needed for high conversion efficiency is to instead use dissimilar metals and a thin reproducible oxide. The described method allows for a thin, reproducible native oxide of nickel be integrated with any antenna metal to overcome oxide surface roughness problems that typically hamper the practicality of these devices.

Antenna-coupled metal-insulator-metal rectifier

An electromagnetic energy concentrator uses a prism and waveguide with a gap layer of uniform thickness disposed between the prism and a first surface of waveguide. Energy detectors, which may be photovoltaics or miniaturized antenna elements are disposed adjacent to and co-extensive with a second surface of the waveguide. The detectors operate in each of at least two bands; a distance between detectors operating in a given band depends on a wavelength in the given band.

Wideband light energy waveguide and detector

A leaky dielectric travelling wave surface waveguide antenna provides a multiband, low-profile antenna for satellite and other wideband (Ku/K/Ka/Q) communications applications. The antenna structure can be arranged into various types of arrays to yield a cost-effective, wideband/multiband operation with high power. In one implementation, the antenna includes a waveguide having a multi-layer substrate, a top surface, a feed (excitation) end, and a load end. One or more scattering features are disposed on the top surface of the waveguide or within the waveguide, and achieve operation in a leaky propagation mode. A wavelength correction element adds linear delay to incident energy received or transmitted by the antenna. The resulting structure permits a resulting beam direction of the antenna to be independent of the wavelength.

A low profile antenna using a cavity-backed central radiating surface surrounded by one or more ground plane surfaces. Passively reconfigurable structure provide frequency dependent coupling between the surfaces. The frequency dependent couplings may be implemented using meander line structures, Variable Impedance Transmission Lines (VITLs), or tunable VITLs that used interspersed electroactive sections.

Low-profile, very wide bandwidth aircraft communications antennas using advanced ground-plane techniques

A cylindrically symmetric satellite antenna that provides directional and omnidirectional operating modes in a compact form factor. Feed points located at the top of the cylindrical structure provide increased platform isolation. Combining networks, disposed below or within the cylindrical structure, may be replaced with inexpensive baluns composed of coaxial line sections.

Compact cylindrically symmetric UHF SATCOM antenna

Dispersive properties of a linear dispersive delay line are retained in a spiral configuration by constraining the radius of curvature depending on a desired propagation mode. The compact form factor spiral can be either a continuous spiral or a piecewise linear approximation. The spiral comprises a highly dielectric waveguide such as titanium dioxide or barium tetratitanate. Preferably, a spacer with a low dielectric constant and a microstrip are disposed on the top surface. The microstrip prevents attenuation of low frequencies, thereby increasing the operating frequency range. A second dielectric spacer and a second microstrip can be deposited on the bottom surface of the waveguide. Alternatively, the bottom surface of the waveguide can face a ground plane. The waveguide can be fed by horns or half-horns.

Growing community of inventors

Nottingham, NH, United States of America

Benjamin G McMahon