United States of America As Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Other

Thomas P Steffen

Carl R Pfeiffer

Boris Tomasic

George Kakas

A linear-to-circular polarizer antenna is disclosed. In accordance with embodiments of the invention, the polarizer antenna includes an antenna operable to transmit and receive polarized signals and a linear-to-circular polarizer coupled to the antenna. The polarizer includes a plurality of cascaded elements, waveplates or anisotropic sheets, having biaxial permittivity. Each cascaded element has a principal axis rotated at different angles relative to an adjacent element about a z-axis of a 3-dimensional x, y, z coordinate system, and each element is composed of an artificial anisotropic dielectric. The polarizer further includes impedance matching layers disposed adjacent the cascaded elements.

Linear-to-circular polarizer antenna

An ultra wide band (UWB) antenna includes: (i) an array of antenna elements spaced from a central axis; and (ii) a network of lossy feedlines respectively communicatively coupled to the array of antenna elements. Each lossy feedline is periodically loaded with a resistance that is capacitively coupled to ground. Respective lengths of each lossy feedlines are selected to increase with an increase in distance from the central axis to achieve frequency independence of a radiated beamwidth from the UWB antenna.

Lossy antenna arrays with frequency-independent beamwidth

An ultra-wideband linear-to-circular polarizer is disclosed. In accordance with embodiments of the invention, the polarizer includes a plurality of cascaded waveplates having biaxial permittivity or cascaded anisotropic sheet impedances. Each waveplate/sheet has a principal axis rotated at different angles relative to an adjacent waveplate/sheet about a z-axis of a 3-dimensional x, y, z coordinate system. Each waveplate is composed of a unit cell of an artificial anisotropic dielectric. Each sheet impedance is composed of an anisotropic metallic pattern. The polarizer further includes impedance matching layers disposed adjacent the cascaded waveplates/sheets.

Linear-to-circular polarizers using cascaded sheet impedances and cascaded waveplates

An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is disclosed. The AESA includes a linear-to-circular polarizer coupled to a radiating aperture and one or more transmit-receive modules coupled to radiating elements and a liquid cooling manifold having a plurality of distributed liquid cooling ducts disposed adjacent the one or more transmit-receive modules to provide cooling of the AESA during high-power operation.

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Xenia, OH, United States of America

Thomas P Steffen