Hughes Aircraft Company

Hughes Electronics Corporation

Perry A Macdonald

Mehran Matloubian

Lawrence E Larson

David B Rensch

Michael G Case

Jennifer M Butler

Jeffrey B Shealy

Mary Y Chen

A system for redistributing a television signal to a multiplicity of receiver units within a multiple dwelling unit (MDU) includes a main receiving antenna which receives a broadband television signal and a translation device that translates the broadband television signal into a different carrier frequency band. One or more broadcasting antennas, located at advantageous sites within the MDU, transmit the translated television signal along one or more walls of the MDU to be received by antennas associated with one or more individual receiver units. Each receiver unit demodulates the received television signal and provides a user-specified channel to a television set for display.

Wireless redistribution of television signals in a multiple dwelling unit

A microwave/millimeter wave circuit structure supports discrete circuit elements by flip-chip mounting to an interconnection network on a low cost non-ceramic and non-semiconductor dielectric substrate, preferably Duroid. The necessary precise alignment of the circuit elements with contact pads on the substrate network required for the high operating frequencies is facilitated by oxidizing the interconnection network, but providing the contact pads from a non-oxidizable material to establish a preferential solder bump wetting for the pads. Alternately, the contact bumps on the flip-chips can be precisely positioned through corresponding openings in a passivation layer over the interconnection network. For thin circuit substrates that are too soft for successful flip-chip mounting, stiffening substrates are laminated to the circuit substrates. In a self-contained antenna application in which two of the circuit substrates are laminated together, with an antenna on one side and circuitry on the other side, a metallic ground plane between the substrates also serves a stiffening function.

Microwave/millimeter wave circuit structure with discrete flip-chip

A sensor is provided for detecting the presence of dielectric media, e.g., ice. The sensor includes a plurality of microstrip resonators which are positioned for electromagnetic coupling with a microstrip transmission line. The resonators produce amplitude minima in a radio-frequency signal that is carried over the transmission line. The resonance of the resonators changes in response to the addition of a dielectric coating. Each resonator can be configured with a different resonant frequency which serves as a signature that identifies the respective resonator's position. The sensor has a thin aerodynamic profile, can conform to nonplanar surfaces and its installation requires no intrusion into an aircraft skin.

Resonator-based, surface-condition sensor

The microwave impedance across an aperture in a conductive shield member of a transmission structure is varied as a microwave signal transits the aperture. The impedance is changed by positioning a variable impedance device across the aperture. A slit divides the shield member into two portions to facilitate the application of a modulating signal (56) across the device.

Modulator-coupled transmission structure and method

A slot radiator and a patch radiator are formed in a single antenna which is connected to a handheld, wireless telephone. The antenna can be pivoted to operational positions and excited to radiate linearly-polarized signals or circularly-polarized signals whose radiation patterns are respectively directed azimuthally and elevationally.

Frequency-selective antenna with different signal polarizations

Shielding structures are provided for microwave circuits with substrate members and shield members which are formed from conventional substrates. The shield members are shaped and joined to the substrate members to form conductive compartments that substantially surround the microwave circuits and the compartments are closed with a conductive cover. The substrate members and shield members form parallel-plate waveguides which communicate between the compartments. The loss of these waveguides is increased with air-dielectric posts to obtain greater isolation between compartments.

Microwave shielding structures comprising parallel-plate waveguide

A monolithic microwave integrated circuit is formed by positioning a distributed, transmission-line network over a microwave-device structure. The ground plane of the transmission-line network adjoins an interconnect system of the microwave-device structure and signal lines of the transmission-line network are adapted to communicate with the microwave-device structure through orifices of the ground plane. The invention facilitates the use of low-cost silicon-based transistors in monolithic microwave integrated circuits.

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Culver City, CA, United States of America

Perry A Macdonald