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:
Feb. 11, 2014
Filed:
Sep. 30, 2011
Allen Wang, Fullerton, CA (US);
Fangchou Yang, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Jason G. Milne, Hawthorne, CA (US);
Allen Wang, Fullerton, CA (US);
Fangchou Yang, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Jason G. Milne, Hawthorne, CA (US);
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
Provided herein are devices, systems and techniques for establishing a variable height conformal antenna array having a planar backplane. More particularly, positioning of radiating elements can be made insensitive to variable ground height by selecting a suitable radiating element, such as a flared notch and arranging them to have a profile such that their outer extremities are positioned along a conformal, curved shape. Differences in radiator heights can be taken up by the addition of parallel vertical ground planes disposed between the radiating elements and the backplane. Adjacent vertical ground planes effectively form cutoff waveguide sections that naturally isolate the backplane from the radiating elements. The vertical ground planes edges effectively form a virtual curved ground for the radiating elements, following curvature of the array profile. Accordingly, heights of radiating elements are uniform with respect to the virtual ground, while being allowed to vary with respect to the backplane.