Honeywell International Inc.

Apothym Technologies Group, LLC

Shawn David Rogers

John C Hoover

Craig A Bunn

David C Vacanti

Marc M Pos

Michael G Guler

John L Beafore

James Patrick Montgomery

Enrique Jesus Ruiz

James Martin Armfield

Gary L Mitchum

Tobi Stoll

Darren Goshi

Howard Jetmundsen

Soumitra Biswas

The disclosure describes techniques to scan a radio frequency antenna beam along one or more axes. For example, for a wide transmit beam oriented such that the long axis is in azimuth, this disclosure describes techniques to scan the transmit beam in elevation, in the direction of a short axis of the transmit beam. The radar receive aperture may be synchronized with transmit beam to scan the radar receive aperture using RF beamforming such that the elevation scan of the field of view of the radar receive aperture follows the elevation scan of the transmit beam. The radar receiver circuitry may also down-convert the received radar signals to an intermediate frequency (IF). The radar receiver circuitry may digitally form monopulse receive beams at IF within the processing circuitry of the receiver electronics and digitally scan the monopulse receive beams along the long axis of the field of view.

FMCW radar with elevation scanning

A multiple flat sided modified Luneburg Lens antenna to provide a broadband and hemi-spherical coverage. The Modified Luneburg Lens antenna has a flat surface at the bottom and quadrilateral/hexagonal/octagonal/decagon/dodecagon flat surfaces at the sides (e.g., 'cupcake shaped') to manipulate the signal directivity of a radio frequency transmission or reception of interest in a plurality of octaves of bandwidth. The antenna may be configured with a Planar Ultra-Wideband Modular Array (PUMA) Antenna array structure with a broadband anti-reflective layer added between the two devices. The anti-reflective layer marries the two devices (lens and PUMA) and creates a broadband impedance matching between the new modified Luneburg lens antenna and dipoles of the PUMA array while maintaining the capability of the system to transmit and receive signals in a plurality of octaves of bandwidth.

High-gain, hemi-spherical coverage, multi-sided flattened Luneburg lens antenna

An antenna comprises: a first set of two subarrays and a second set of two subarrays, where each subarray comprises: a set of antenna elements; a set of shunt waveguides, where each shunt waveguide is coupled to a unique subset of antenna elements; and a series waveguide coupled to each shunt waveguide of the set of shunt waveguides; wherein all of the series waveguides are substantially parallel; wherein each subarray of the first set is interleaved with a unique subarray of the second set so as to form first interleaved subarrays and second interleaved subarrays; wherein the first interleaved subarrays and the second interleaved subarrays are adjacent; and wherein the series waveguides of the second set are disposed within the series waveguides of the first set without any interceding series waveguides.

Apparatuses and methods for a planar waveguide antenna

Systems and methods for mode suppression in a cavity are provided. In certain implementations, an apparatus comprises a cavity for propagating electromagnetic signals therein, wherein the electromagnetic signals propagate multiple times through the cavity; and an absorbing material applied to a first side of the cavity, wherein the absorbing material absorbs the electromagnetic signals. Further, an apparatus includes at least one transmitting antenna configured to couple electromagnetic energy into the cavity; and at least one receiving antenna configured to couple electromagnetic energy from the cavity.

Systems and methods for mode suppression in a cavity

A coaxial polarizer is provided. The coaxial polarizer includes an outer-conductive tube, an inner-conductive tube positioned within and axially aligned with the outer-conductive tube, and two dielectric bars each having a flat-first surface. The inner-conductive tube has two shallow-cavities on opposing portions of an outer surface of the inner-conductive tube. The shallow-cavities each have at least one planar area having a cavity length parallel to a Z axis and a cavity width, including a minimum width, perpendicular to the Z axis and to a radial direction of the inner-conductive tube. The flat-first surface has a dielectric length and width that are parallel and perpendicular to the Z axis, respectively. The dielectric length and dielectric width are less than the cavity length and the minimum width, respectively. The two flat-first surfaces of the respective two dielectric bars contact at least a portion of the respective two planar areas of the two shallow-cavities.

Coaxial polarizer

Systems and methods for an antenna conformal to a sphere are provided. In certain implementations, an apparatus comprises a sphere having a recessed portion formed therein, the sphere enclosing instrumentation that produces a transmittable electronic signal; central conductor placed within the recessed portion, wherein the central conductor is coupled to the instrumentation to receive the transmittable electronic signal, wherein the transmittable electronic signal is emitted outside of the sphere; and an insulator cap located over the recessed portion, wherein locations on the external surface of the insulator cap and an external facing surface of the central conductor are substantially equidistant from a center point of the sphere.

Systems and methods for an antenna conformal to a sphere

An antenna feed with mode suppression includes a transition section, having a window for connecting to an output port of a waveguide and having inner and outer conductors forming a coaxial waveguide that couples energy from the waveguide into a horizontal TEmode in the coaxial waveguide. A polarizer section is coupled to the transition section and generates circular polarization from the horizontal mode of the transition section. A radiator section is coupled to the polarizer and provides an output signal for the antenna feed. The transition section includes an electrical short coupling the inner and outer conductors. The electrical short is disposed adjacent to the window of the transition section. A dielectric block is also disposed between the inner and outer conductors and adjacent to the electrical short along the axis of the coaxial waveguide. A surface of the dielectric block is coated with a thin film sheet resistance.

Suppressing modes in an antenna feed including a coaxial waveguide

A dual band concentric antenna feed is provided. The dual band concentric antenna feed includes an outer conductive tube and an inner conductive tube. The inner conductive tube is positioned inside the outer conductive tube and is coaxially aligned to a shared axis. A coaxial waveguide formed between the inner surface of the outer conductive tube and the outer surface of the inner conductive tube supports a first frequency band. A circular waveguide formed within of the inner conductive tube supports a second frequency band. The dual band concentric antenna feed also includes at least one transformer, a filter, and a plug in the coaxial waveguide. An impedance locus associated with the filter is high-frequency capacitive within the first frequency band and low-frequency inductive within the first frequency band. The plug is positioned near an aperture end of the concentric antenna feed.

Matching and pattern control for dual band concentric antenna feed

A concentric feed is provided. The concentric feed includes an outer-conductive tube electrically connected at a base of an inner-conductive tube to an outer-conductive tube by a process comprising the steps of: configuring the outer-conductive tube; configuring the inner-conductive tube; and positioning the outer-conductive tube to contact the inner-conductive tube at the base. The outer-conductive tube is configured to include: a side-port; a first-edge surface; a first-interior surface sharing an edge with and perpendicular to the first-edge surface; a second-edge surface; and a second-interior surface sharing an edge with and perpendicular to the second-edge surface. The inner-conductive tube is configured to include: the base at a base-end of the inner-conductive tube, the base including a first lip and a second lip protruding orthogonal to a first surface and a second surface, respectively, and a central-port centered on the central axis and parallel to the central axis; and a main-body.

Methods for RF connections in concentric feeds

A mode filter for an antenna having at least one element aperture is provided. The mode filter includes at least one waveguide extension to extend the at least one element aperture, and at least one two-by-two (2&#xd7;2) array of quad-ridged waveguide sections connected to a respective at least one waveguide extension. When the at least one waveguide extension is positioned between the at least one element aperture and the at least one two-by-two (2&#xd7;2) array of quad-ridged waveguide sections, undesired electromagnetic modes of the antenna are suppressed.

Aperture mode filter

A waveguide-configuration adapter is provided. The waveguide-configuration adapter includes a horizontal waveguide and a vertical waveguide. The horizontal waveguide includes a first-interface port spanning a first X-Y plane and a first-coupling port spanning a Y-Z plane with a first-coupling-port width parallel to the y axis. The vertical waveguide includes a second-interface port spanning a second X-Y plane and a second-coupling port spanning a third X-Y plane with a second-coupling-port width parallel to the x axis. When an E-field is input at the first/second coupling port in the plane of the first/second coupling port, respectively, and oriented perpendicular to the first/second coupling-port width, respectively, the E-field is output from the second/first coupling port, respectively, in the plane of second/first coupling port, respectively, and oriented perpendicular to the second/first coupling-port width, respectively.

Growing community of inventors

Johns Creek, GA, United States of America

Shawn David Rogers