Lockheed Martin Corporation

Lockhead Martin Corp.

Lockheed Martin Corpora Tion

Custom Microwave Inc.

Jason Stewart Wrigley

Erik Lier

Timothy Patrick Wink

James F Mulvey

Mark Winebrand

Arun K Bhattacharyya

Philip Elwood Venezia

Andrew Jason Kee

Nathan Jastram

Bradley Robert Schaffer

Cory W Craddock

Lee Man Lee-Yow

Longitudinally ridged quad polarizer feeds include a waveguide spanning a longitudinal axis between a feed port and an antenna port, with first ridge elements that span longitudinally from the feed port on first opposing walls of the waveguide and second ridge elements that span longitudinally from the feed port on second opposing walls of the waveguide. A polarization of a radio frequency signal transiting the waveguide is altered based at least on a difference in longitudinal lengths between the first ridge elements and the second ridge elements. These polarizers can be formed from a single workpiece using an injection molding technique, leading to a reduction in manufacturing complexity, cost, and mass.

Longitudinally ridged quad polarizer feed

Provided herein are various enhancements for waveguide structures and magic tee arrangements in radio frequency aperture antenna feed structures. A waveguide structure includes a waveguide cavity coupling colinear ports, a difference port, and a sum port, with the sum port disposed perpendicularly to both the difference port and the colinear ports. The waveguide structure also includes an impendence matching element comprising a triangular body disposed in the waveguide cavity and protruding perpendicularly from a wall of the waveguide cavity between the colinear ports.

Magic tee waveguide structure with triangular impedance matching element

Provided herein are various enhancements for radio frequency (RF) horn antenna systems and arrays. An example apparatus includes a horn antenna array formed in a single workpiece of material comprising horn antenna elements with integrated feed networks. Each of the integrated feed networks comprise a waveguide interface flange having a port, and a filter element having a serpentine cavity coupled to the port that is at least partially formed by a base section, where a separation interface is established between the base section and an attachable cap that forms a remainder of the serpentine cavity. Each of the integrated feed networks also comprise a polarizer element having a waveguide cavity that couples between the serpentine cavity of the filter element and an associated horn antenna element that forms a signal aperture.

Horn antennas with integrated feed networks

Provided herein are various enhancements for waveguide structures used in radio frequency feed components. In one example, an apparatus includes a septum polarizer having first feed ports and a common port, a high-pass filter coupled to the common port of the septum polarizer, and a multi-port orthomode transducer (OMT) coupled to the high-pass filter and providing an antenna port. The apparatus also includes hybrid couplers coupled to low-pass filters fed from the multi-port OMT, and magic tee elements cross-coupled to the hybrid couplers and providing second feed ports.

Integrated microwave radio frequency feed network

Provided herein are various enhanced assemblies and techniques for forming high-power radio frequency coaxial splitters. In one example, an apparatus includes an input coaxial port having a center conductor coupled to a first longitudinal end of a generally cylindrical conductor member formed along a longitudinal axis within a housing forming a cavity about the conductor member. Output coaxial ports are included having center conductors coupled to generally square output branches arrayed at a second longitudinal end about the conductor member in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. A thermal shunt is included comprising a thermal connection between the housing and a recess formed into the conductor member along the longitudinal axis at the second longitudinal end.

Symmetric radio frequency coaxial splitters

Radio frequency (RF) polarizer feeds and associated waveguide structures having twist features are discussed herein. In one example, a first waveguide segment spans a longitudinal axis between a feed port and a twist port and includes two stacked rounded rectangular elements skewed in minor axis alignment with respect to each other and having major axes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. A second waveguide segment spans the longitudinal axis between the twist port and a polarizer port and is coupled to the first waveguide segment at the twist port. The second waveguide segment includes first ridge elements that span longitudinally from the twist port on first opposing walls of the second waveguide segment, and second ridge elements that span longitudinally from the twist port on second opposing walls of the second waveguide segment.

Twist feed radio frequency polarizer

A septum orthomode transducer polarizer (SPOL) is presented comprising sidewall ridges which increase bandwidth in the presence of draft angles for injection molding manufacturing techniques. A SPOL with sidewall ridges is able to accommodate draft angles for injection molding while creating greater modal separation within the SPOL and increasing the resultant bandwidth. A horn aperture may be included with the SPOL, and the combined structure may be injection molded as a single part to realize significant cost and mass reductions.

Longitudinally ridged septum orthomode transducer polarizer

A feed network is provided that includes a transmit section, a body section coupled to the transmit section, and a receive section coupled to the body section. The transmit section and the body section form a transmitter unit coupled to a first section of a core waveguide, wherein the first section of the core waveguide is a square waveguide. The body section and the receive section form a receiver unit coupled to a second section of the core waveguide, wherein the second section of the core waveguide is a circular waveguide.

Dual-band waveguide feed network

A super-broadband waveguide feed network includes multiple receive (RX) full reject waveguide filters and multiple RX reject clone waveguide filters disposed in a clone carousel about an aperture port and configured to reject RX frequencies, and a branch line coupler configured to couple the multiple RX full reject waveguide filters and RX reject clone waveguide filters to other components of a waveguide feed network. The super-broadband waveguide feed includes an RX polarizer configured to couple to an end of the aperture port. The super-broadband waveguide feed is configured to be fabricated in one to three pieces composed of a single split plane on the zero-current region, and the super-broadband waveguide feed is circularly polarized.

Clone carousel waveguide feed network

A septumless polarizer is an OMT polarizer which is formed without a traditional thin septum which bridges the gap from the first assembly half to the second assembly half when the polarizer is split in the zero-current region of the rectangular waveguides (RHCP and LHCP ports). The septumless polarizer utilizes a dual-axis-stepped feature, which is included in one half of the polarizer only, creates the illusion of a traditional thin septum and actually improves performance. A close-proximity fastener scheme is enabled along with a fully encompassing pressure lip and contact pressure risks are mitigated.

Septumless OMT polarizer

A TE20 launch guidance waveguide hybrid coupler includes a waveguide body, a cavity, a plurality of ports, and a bend along the H-plane. The waveguide body includes a hybrid center portion which is disposed between and is in direct communication with the plurality of ports. The bend along the H-Plane is defined within the hybrid center portion, assists in the launching of the TE20 mode, and results in typically half the axial ratio and mass when compared to traditional hybrid approaches.

Waveguide hybrid couplers

An asymmetric, broadband, compact and low-PIM orthomode transducer comprised of two parts is presented. Mating of the two parts results in the formation of a choke flange as well as a critical impedance step which suppresses unwanted modes and enables broadband matching of the junction between the two parts. Furthermore, a cruciform-quatrefoil waveguide type is utilized that transitions to an aperture. This waveguide configuration can lead to a lower overall part length, an improved reflection, and reduced manufacturing costs.

Compact orthomode transducer assembly

A reflector antenna includes a reflector, a feed, and a beamforming network. The feed is spaced apart at a focal distance from the reflector. The feed includes an array of dual linear polarized elements. The beamforming network is operatively coupled to the feed. The beamforming network is configured to generate a Sigma pattern and a Delta pattern in a plane orthogonal to the reflector plane of symmetry.

Reflector antenna with minimal focal distance and low cross-polarization

A hybrid-harmonic waveguide filter includes transformer sections at end terminals of the harmonic waveguide filter, a number of corrugations along the length of the waveguide filter, and multiple ridge interconnects that couple the corrugations. By shaping the identical-cross-section ridge interconnects via single-pass wire electrical-discharge machining (EDM), low manufacturing cost is achieved along with continuous broadband rejection of TEn0 modes and an extremely high-power handling capability is observed.

Hybrid-harmonic waveguide filter including corrugations coupled by ridge interconnects and having sloped transformer sections

A multipaction-proof waveguide filter includes a main cavity and a number of corrugations extending from the main cavity. The main cavity includes corrugation interconnect regions between the plurality of corrugations. The corrugation interconnect regions include sloped surfaces, and the corrugations include flared nonparallel sidewalk. Due to the introduced sloped surfaces and flares, an increased Q is achieved, improved roll off is observed and multipaction risks are mitigated.

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Littleton, CO, United States of America

Jason Stewart Wrigley