Bae Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.

Patrick D McKivergan

John T Apostolos

Court E Rossman

Zane Lo

Dean W Howarth

Bernard J Schmanski

Andrew Cannon Maccabe

Jonothan S Jensen

Leonard Ruvinsky

Mark W Reed

John Bucceri

Michael Patrick Doran

An ultra-wideband radio frequency (RF) apparatus for combining and/or dividing RF signals. RF apparatus includes a circuit board, a communication cable that operably engages with the circuit board, at least two transmission lines that are formed on the circuit board and operably engages with the communication cable, and at least two connectors that operably engages with the at least two transmission lines. The RF apparatus is operable in a first configuration and a second configuration. When the RF apparatus is provided in the first configuration, the RF apparatus is operable to divide a first RF signal into at least two RF signals. When the RF apparatus is provided in the second configuration, the RF apparatus is operable to combine the at least two RF signals into a second RF signal. The RF apparatus is capable of achieving a low insertion loss less than 1 dB over a bandwidth greater than 20:1.

Power combining for high power amplifiers

A cone antenna has at least one resistor electrically coupled to the radiating structure of the cone antenna. The capacitor may be part of a resistor network that is electrically connected to the cone. One or more patches may be coupled to the resistor network which act as a capacitor. A feed card may be embedded within a ground plane to enable the exterior of an antenna assembly to be conformal with an outer surface of a platform carrying the cone antenna.

Embedded wide band monocone antenna

The system and method for using a wideband dielectric lens array to instantaneously and unambiguously determining azimuthal angle of arrival (AoA) of RF energy over a frequency bandwidth of greater than four octaves. By forming two omnidirectional modes with a constant and linear phase response versus azimuth respectively, the AoA of the incident RF signal can be determined unambiguously using a one or two channel receiver architecture that is capable of measuring the phase between the two modal outputs.

Ultra-wideband low-profile electronic support measure array

An octave bandwidth conformal cavity-backed slot antenna includes a ground plane with a number of different length slits that come together at the central feedpoint. The slit length varies from one-half a wavelength at the highest frequency at which the antenna is to operate for the short side to one wavelength at the highest frequency for the long side, with the proximal ends of the slits having a common feedpoint. Such slot antennas may be arrayed in a quad configuration. Because the trapezoidal envelope of the antenna induces the phase-center to shift with frequency, when two are arrayed with short sides adjacent, the spacing between them results in a phase center from one antenna to the next that is effectively within half a wavelength at all frequencies.

Multi-arm conformal slot antenna

A method of operating a higher conductivity broadband loaded meander line antenna () is provided wherein the meander line is positioned on a sheet of a lower conductivity material () having a conductivity of from about 0.01 siemens/m to about 0.10 siemens/m; and allowing a first electrical current to flow in a first current path in the meander line. An electrical field is formed in the vicinity of the lower conductivity material and a second current flows in a second current path in the lower conductivity material, whereby anti-resonance in the meander line loaded antenna is diminished so that a broadband response can be achieved over bandwidths of 5:1 or more. An assembly for carrying out this method is also disclosed.

Method and apparatus for limiting VSWR spikes in a compact broadband meander line loaded antenna assembly

A compact polarization agile antenna includes a dual-orthogonal loop structure which is excited by a single RF feed (). The loop structure includes a pair of loops (), each loop is connected to ground () through a complex impedance via a solid state switch (). Current flows in the loop when the switch () is closed. The switches () and impedances () in each leg are independently controlled. Additionally, the relative phase of the current in each leg can be controlled over a narrow bandwidth via a complex impedance for narrowband circular polarized applications. Using this approach, orthogonal linear, slant, or left-hand and right-hand circular polarizations can be generated.

Polarization agile antenna

A lightweight broadband blade antenna assembly is incorporated into the surface of an airfoil, such as a structure component of an aircraft, or a separate airfoil (blade antenna) attached thereto. A first metallized area is formed on the airfoil adjacent a leading edge of the airfoil. A second metallized area is formed on trailing edge of the airfoil and is spaced from the first metallized area by a first gap which is configured to provide a capacitive coupling between the first and second metallized areas. A third metallized area is formed on the cap portion of the airfoil and is spaced from the first metallized area by a second gap and is electrically connected in series with the first and second metallized areas. RLC circuits are electrically connected across tuning gaps formed in the third metallized area to provide a broadband response.

Broadband blade antenna assembly

A standard slow wave meander line having sections of alternating impedance relative to a conductor plate is provided with a top shield connected to the conductor plane for the purpose of lowering the resonant frequency of narrow band antennas and lowering the low frequency cutoff limit of wide band antennas due to a higher delay per unit length occasioned by the use of the top shield.

Symmetric, shielded slow wave meander line

A switched meander line structure is substituted for a lumped element antenna tuner for an order of magnitude increase in gain due to the use of the switched meander line architecture. The use of the meander line with relatively wide and thick folded legs markedly decreases IR losses over wire inductors whose wire diameters at one-tenth of an inch contribute significantly to IR losses. Additionally, placing solid state switches to short out various sections of a multi-leg meander line at high impedance nodes reduces IR losses across the switching elements in the tuner.

Meander line antenna coupler and shielded meander line

A hemispherical meander line loaded antenna is provided which can fit within a hemispherical radome as to minimize real estate on an aircraft such as an unmanned airborne vehicle. In one embodiment, a double monopole is recreated in a hemispherical form, thus to make what was originally a rectilinear package into a hemispherical package without materially affecting VSWR or ultra-wideband and antenna pattern characteristics. The wideband double monopole hemispherical meander line loaded antenna is provided with a single feed, with the delay associated with the meander lines equalize the reactance of the antenna, thereby to enable proper impedance matching.

Hemispherical meander line loaded antenna

A standard slow wave meander line having sections of alternating impedance relative to a conductor plate is provided with a top shield connected to the conductor plane for the purpose of lowering the resonant frequency of narrow band antennas and lowering the low frequency cutoff limit of wide band antennas due to a higher delay per unit length occasioned by the use of the top shield. The shielded meander line may be utilized as a coupling device to truncated antennas such as a whip antenna or grounded loop antenna for the purposes of loading the antenna so as to provide lower frequency performance. Since the propagation constant of the meander line structure depends upon the number of high impedance/low impedance transitions per unit length, the utilization of the top shield results in more phase shifts per unit length and thus more delay per unit length, with the symmetric double sided version having double the number of transitions per unit length. When configured to provide a miniature antenna, the utilization of the top shield both lowers the cutoff frequency and eliminates down firing typical of wireless phone antennas due to the ground plane effect. Moreover, the top shield provides a uniform low VSWR over wide bandwidths and by virtue of lowering the operating frequency solves a skip-induced blackout problem due to the lower frequencies that can now be used. Further, for frequency switched meander lines, voltage stress is reduced when using the top shield. Finally, reducing the volume requirement by over 30% permits mobile use where real estate is at a premium.

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Londonderry, NH, United States of America

Patrick D McKivergan