Viasat, Inc.

Dominic Q Nguyen

Donald Lawson Runyon

James William Maxwell

Anders Jensen

Sharad V Parekh

John Daniel Voss

Matthew J Miller

James W Maxwell

A waveguide architecture for a dual-polarized antenna including multiple antenna elements. Aspects are directed to dual-polarized antenna architectures where each antenna element includes a polarizer having an individual waveguide with dual-polarization signal propagation and divided waveguides associated with each basis polarization. The waveguide architecture may include unit cells having corporate waveguide networks associated with each basis polarization connecting each divided waveguide of the polarizers of each antenna element in the unit cell with a respective common waveguide. The waveguide networks may have waveguide elements located within the unit-cell boundary with a small or minimized inter-element distance. Thus, unit cells may be positioned adjacent to each other in a waveguide device assembly for a dual-polarized antenna array without increased inter-element distance between antenna elements of adjacent unit cells. Antenna waveguide ports may be connected to unit cell common waveguides using elevation and azimuth waveguide networks of the corporate type.

Compact waveguide power combiner/divider for dual-polarized antenna elements

In an example embodiment, an azimuth combiner comprises: a septum layer comprising a plurality of septum dividers; first and second housing layers attached to first and second sides of the septum layer; a linear array of ports on a first end of the combiner; wherein the first and second housing layers each comprise waveguide H-plane T-junctions; wherein the waveguide T-junctions can be configured to perform power dividing/combining; and wherein the septum layer evenly bisects each port of the linear array of ports. A stack of such azimuth combiners can form a two dimensional planar array of ports to which can be added a horn aperture layer, and a grid layer, to form a dual-polarized, dual-BFN, dual-band antenna array.

Dual-circular polarized antenna system

Methods, systems, and devices are described that include one or more septum features to improve performance of a waveguide device. In particular, the septum features may be utilized within a polarizer section of a polarizer device such as a septum polarizers. The septum feature(s) may be a ridge. When a plurality of septum features are employed, the location, size, shape and spacing may vary according to a particular design.

Waveguide device with septum features

In an example embodiment, a waveguide device comprises: a first common waveguide; a polarizer section, the polarizer section including a conductive septum dividing the first common waveguide into a first divided waveguide portion and a second waveguide divided portion; a second waveguide coupled to the first divided waveguide portion of the polarizer section; a third waveguide coupled to the second divided waveguide portion of the polarizer section; and a dielectric insert. The dielectric insert includes a first dielectric portion partially filling the polarizer section. The conductive septum and the dielectric portion convert a signal between a polarized state in the first common waveguide and a first polarization component in the second waveguide and a second polarization component in the third waveguide.

Partial dielectric loaded septum polarizer

A partially dielectric loaded divided horn waveguide device for a dual-polarized antenna is described. The partially dielectric loaded divided horn waveguide device may include a polarizer, a waveguide horn, multiple individual waveguides dividing a horn port of the waveguide horn, and multiple dielectric elements partially filling the individual waveguides. The dielectric elements may include a dielectric member extending along a corresponding individual waveguide and one or more matching features for matching signal propagation between the partially dielectric loaded individual waveguides and free space. Various components of the partially dielectric loaded divided horn waveguide device may be tuned for enhanced signal propagation between the waveguide horn and the individual waveguides, and between the individual waveguides and free space.

Partially dielectric loaded antenna elements for dual-polarized antenna

In an example embodiment, an in-phase recombinant waveguide combiner/divider device can comprise: a single waveguide input; N waveguide outputs, wherein N is an integer greater than 2; a first waveguide dividing portion; a second waveguide dividing portion; a third waveguide dividing portion; and a waveguide combining portion. The waveguide combining portion can be configured to combine two signals that are each respectively received from the second waveguide dividing portion and third waveguide dividing portion. In general an in-phase recombinant waveguide combiner/divider can comprise more junctions than output ports of a conservative power divider network structure. In an example embodiment, for a N-way waveguide power divider, there can be at least N+1 waveguide junctions.

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

Dominic Q Nguyen