The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 13, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 03, 1998
James D Lilly, Silver Spring, MD (US);
David T Auckland, Silver Spring, MD (US);
William E McKinzie, III, Fulton, MD (US);
Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corp., Greenbelt, MD (US);
Abstract
An artificial anisotropic dielectric material is used as a microstrip patch antenna substrate and can achieve dramatic antenna weight reduction. The artificial dielectric is comprised of a periodic structure of low and high permittivity layers. The net effective dielectric constant in the plane parallel to the layers is engineered to be any desired value between the permittivities of the constituent layers. These layers are oriented vertically below the patch to support electric fields consistent with desired resonant modes. Substrates may be engineered for both linearly and circularly polarized patch antennas. Substrate weights can be reduced by factors of from 6 to 30 times using different types of high permittivity layers. This concept has numerous applications in electrically small and lightweight antenna elements, as well as in resonators, microwave lenses, and other electromagnetic devices.