Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Glenn A Brigham

Bradley Perry

Richard J Stanley

Patrick J Bell

Jeffrey Scott Herd

Marat Davidovitz

Jonathan Peter Doane

David M Bragdon

Zhanna Davidovitz, Legal Representative

Sean M Duffy

Edward M Froehlich

A novel system and method for creating a lightweight antenna is disclosed. Each lightweight antenna is formed using a foam material. This foam material is coated with a machinable material, which is machined to the desired dimensions. The machinable material is then plated with a metal. This creates a radiator that has the size and performance of traditional notch antennas, but weighs far less. This foam radiator may be mounted to a variety of substrate types, not limited to microwave laminate materials. Embodiments of mixed substrates or even multi-layered foam substrates are possible. The substrate may be a conventional printed circuit board (PCB), a PCB with sleeved coaxial vias, or a foam substrate. The lightweight antenna may be used in a plurality of applications, including ultra-wideband array systems and space-based applications.

Foam radiator

In this novel geometry, the 3D radiator unit cell has been designed with flat sided unit cells. Each 3D radiator unit cell incorporates a curf border of sacrificial material. This border permits independent sub-array size and shape. It also allows a gap between sub-arrays while retaining contiguous unit cell spacing giving flexibility to array size, shape and line replaceable unit capabilities.

Dual polarized notch antenna having low profile stripline feed

A novel system for supporting a plurality of notch antenna elements is disclosed. This system allows the creation of higher power ultra-wideband step notch arrays. The system also provides electrical connection to each of the notch antenna elements via respective coaxial cables or other direct connections. These coaxial cables connect to coaxial connectors disposed on a substrate that supports the notch antenna elements. Each coaxial connector is in electrical communication with one of the notch antenna elements. By replacing the printed circuit board traditionally used, higher power can be supplied to the notch antenna elements.

Integrated coaxial notch antenna feed

A coincident phase centered antenna and a mechanism for feeding electrical signals to the antenna is disclosed. Each of the four prongs is fed by a respective conductor. Each respective conductor is in electrical communication with a connector or trace located on the bottom surface of the base or supporting printed circuit board. This configuration allows independent signals to be supplied to each of the four prongs in the coincident phase centered antenna. In some embodiments, the prongs are mounted on a metal base. In other embodiments, the prongs are mounted on a printed circuit board.

Coincident phase centered flared notch feed

Described embodiments provide sidelobe cancellation for Simultaneous Transmit and Receive systems. The sidelobe cancellation system includes an array having a primary aperture and an auxiliary array. The auxiliary array includes a plurality of antenna elements disposed adjacent to at least one side of the primary aperture. Each element of the auxiliary array is coupled to a variable attenuator, a variable phase shifter or a variable true time delay unit. A controller tunes the auxiliary array to cancel sidelobes of the primary aperture by adaptively selecting an attenuation value of the variable attenuator, a phase shift value of the variable phase shifter and a time delay value of the variable true time delay unit for each element of the auxiliary array. The auxiliary array operates as an adaptive finite-impulse response (FIR) filter with each antenna element of the auxiliary array operating as an adaptive tap of the adaptive FIR filter.

Auxiliary antenna array for wideband sidelobe cancellation

A printed circuit board, and a method of fabricating the printed circuit board is disclosed. The printed circuit board includes at least one coaxial via. A hollow via is disposed in the printed circuit board. A metal sleeve is formed around the circumference of said hollow via. An inner conductive path is disposed in the hollow via. Additionally, an insulating material is disposed in the hollow via, between the conducting path and the metal sleeve. The conductive path is used to connect signal traces disposed on two different layers of the printed circuit board. In some embodiments, these signal traces carry signals having a frequency above 1 GHz, although the disclosure is not limited to this embodiment.

Sleeved coaxial printed circuit board vias

An assembly that includes a printed circuit board having an air gap, and a method of fabricating the assembly is disclosed. The assembly includes at least one air gap. This air gap is created by using a soluble material during the PCB assembly process. The soluble material can preferably be processed in accordance with traditional PCB fabrication processes. For example, other materials can be bonded to the soluble material. Additionally, the soluble material is capable of withstanding a drilling process. After the PCB assembly is complete, the soluble material is then dissolved, leaving an air gap where the soluble material once existed. This assembly may be useful in configurations where an antenna, EBG material or other electronic structure is to be disposed above the top surface of the printed circuit board.

Printed circuit board assembly with air dielectric

An assembly that includes a printed circuit board and a foam dielectric material, and a method of fabricating the assembly is disclosed. The assembly includes at least one layer of a foam dielectric material, which has properties similar to those of air. This layer of foam dielectric material is disposed between a top sublaminate and a bottom sublaminate. The bottom sublaminate may be a traditional printed circuit board, comprising an arbitrary number of layers. The top sublaminate may be a single layer, or may be multiple layers and may include an antenna. The foam dielectric material serves to provide mechanical support for the top sublaminate and the central conductor. The foam dielectric material also provides physical separation between the bottom sublaminate and the antenna.

Printed circuit board assembly with foam dielectric material

In one embodiment, the present disclosure describes a flared antenna where the upper portions of the prongs are separated into a plurality of spaced apart parallel fins. The parallel fins disposed on the energized prong are energized by a common electrical feed, such as a coaxial transmission line that enters the energization region of the energized prong. The use of separate fins allows a wider range of tuning to gain greater BW and scan performance for a given equivalent design, since each fin pair may be designed independently from the other fin pairs in that flared antenna. The flared antenna may be a Vivaldi antenna, a stepped notch antenna or some other flared shape.

Multi-fin flared radiator

Described are a notch antenna and an array antenna based on a low profile stripline feed. The notch antenna includes a planar dielectric substrate having upper and lower surfaces. Each surface has a conductive layer with an opening therein. A notch antenna element is disposed on the conductive layer of the upper surface at the opening. A stripline embedded in the planar dielectric substrate extends under the notch antenna element. The stripline is adapted to couple an RF signal between the stripline and the notch antenna element. A conductive via is electrically coupled to the stripline and extends from the stripline to the opening in the conductive layer on the lower surface so that the RF signal is accessible at the lower surface.

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Chelmsford, MA, United States of America

Glenn A Brigham