Methods and apparatuses for performing state estimation and satellite re-acquisition for a mobile satellite terminal are described. In some embodiments, the apparatus comprising: a flat-panel antenna; and a signal processing engine communicably coupled to the flat-panel antenna configured to process asynchronous sensory inputs from a plurality of sensors and generate estimates of a state of a flat-panel antenna of the satellite antenna terminal based on the sensory inputs, wherein the estimates include an estimate of the orientation.
A multi-constellation transceiver, a satellite terminal containing the same, and a method using the same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the satellite terminal includes an antenna, a common port coupled to the antenna, and a plurality of modems to be switched into and out of use in real-time, via software commands, to allow transitioning between networks via software commands, each of the modems associated with a different satellite constellation. The satellite terminal also includes a multi-constellation transceiver, communicably coupled to the antenna via the common port and to the plurality of modems, to route signals between the antenna and individual modems of the plurality of modems.
An apparatus for die placement for varactors or other devices in antennas and methods for using the same are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method for manufacturing an antenna aperture comprises: placing at least one portion of an antenna aperture on a platen that is radially revolvable, the at least one portion of the antenna aperture having a plurality of antenna elements; placing a plurality of dies on the at least one portion of the antenna aperture using a pick and place machine, including radially revolving the platen with the machine to position each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements of the at least one portion of the antenna aperture with respect to the pick and place machine for placement of each die of the plurality of dies, and placing said each die of the plurality of dies on the at least one portion of the antenna aperture segment.
A method and apparatus for controlling the far field radiation pattern of a metasurface antenna using convex optimization are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method for controlling a metasurface antenna having antenna elements comprises: determining a desired phase and amplitude for each of the antenna elements in order to achieve a desired far field radiation pattern using convex optimization; and controlling radio frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements based on the desired phase and amplitude using one or more control parameters to perform beam forming.
H01Q 15/00 - Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
H01Q 1/38 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
H01Q 3/30 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the phase
5.
POWER PLANES FOR A RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) METAMATERIAL ANTENNA
A radio-frequency (RF) antenna and method for using the same are disclosed. In some embodiments, an antenna includes an array of RF radiating antenna elements, a plurality of RF antenna element driving circuits coupled to the array of RF radiating antenna elements to supply tuning voltages to the RF radiating antenna elements, and one or more metal power planes, each of the one or more metal power planes coupled to supply a common voltage to two or more of the plurality of RF antenna driving circuits.
An antenna transceiver architecture for a modular metasurface antenna and method for using the same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the antenna architecture includes a plurality of metasurface antenna tiles, where each metasurface antenna tile of the plurality of metasurface antenna tiles having one or more feed ports individually fed when in operation to support one or more independent beams, and wherein the plurality of metasurface antenna tiles comprise a plurality of sub-arrays of metasurface antenna tiles. In some embodiments, the antenna architecture also includes a plurality of digital back ends (DBEs) coupled to the plurality of metasurface antenna tiles, where each DBE is operable to: adjust time delays of one or more of received signals arriving from metasurface antenna tiles of the one sub-array of metasurface antenna tiles as part of time delay beamforming and combine the received signals in a digital domain to produce one or more beamformed signals, and delay transmit signals fed to the plurality of tiles in the digital domain by adjusting time delays of one or more of the transmit signals as part of time delay beamforming.
H01Q 15/00 - Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
H01Q 3/26 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
7.
CARRIER PREDISTORTION TO IMPROVE SIGNAL QUALITY OF LINKS ON FLAT PANEL ANTENNAS
Methods and apparatuses for performing predistortion on transmissions to antennas are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method includes obtaining a type and scan angle of a flat panel antenna of a satellite terminal; selecting, based on the type and the scan angle, predistortion to apply to a signal to be transmitted to the flat panel antenna; applying the predistortion to the signal; and transmitting the signal to the flat panel antenna of the satellite terminal.
An antenna apparatus having a peripheral radio-frequency (RF) choke with directional heat transfer is described. In some embodiments, an antenna apparatus comprises: an upper enclosure portion; a lower enclosure portion coupled to the upper enclosure portion to form an inner area; an antenna aperture having a plurality of antenna elements, the plurality of antenna elements to radiate radio-frequency (RF) energy and the antenna aperture to generate heat when in operation; and an RF choke gasket between, and forming a thermal communication, with the upper and lower enclosures to operate as an RF absorber to absorb RF energy and to directionally transfer the heat toward the upper enclosure.
Methods and apparatuses for performing optical inspection of varactor diodes in an antenna are disclosed. In some embodiments, the method of testing an antenna having varactor diodes comprises: selecting a plurality of varactor diodes to be placed in a light emitting state; forward biasing the selected varactor diodes to a magnitude at which the selected varactor diodes are to emit light; and detecting one or more faulty varactor diodes of the selected varactor diodes based on their emitted light intensity.
ABSTRACT Antennas with tunable elements and methods for using the same are disclosed. In some embodiments, an antenna comprises: a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements, wherein each antenna element of the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements comprises a tunable element, circuitry connected to the tuning element to set a voltage on the tunable element. In some embodiments, the circuitry comprises a voltage storage structure, a first transistor having a first gate connected to the voltage storage structure, a first source connected to the tunable element, and a first drain for coupling to a constant voltage source, and a data voltage input terminal operable to apply a voltage to the voltage storage structure and to the first gate to determine current through the first transistor.
Antennas having a multi-beam (e.g., dual beam, etc.) launcher and methods for using the same are described. In some embodiments, the antenna comprises: an array of antenna elements; two parallel plate waveguides coupled to the array of antenna elements, the two parallel plate waveguides sharing a common radial plane and arranged in a stacked configuration; and a dual feed launcher to launch first and second TEM waves into the two parallel plate waveguides, the first and second TEM waves being different and being simultaneously launched in the two parallel plate waveguides.
A wide area network (WAN) communication framework having a common control plane and method for using the same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the wide area network (WAN) communication framework comprises: a plurality of management systems, each for controlling access to and traffic for one of a plurality of WANs that include satellite and terrestrial communication networks; a remote unit capable of communicably coupling to the plurality of WANs; and a master network management system (MNMS). The MNMS is communicably coupled to the plurality of management systems and coupled to the remote unit to aggregate control information from the plurality of management systems and the remote unit to determine which WANs of the plurality of WANs for the remote unit to use, wherein the MNMS uses a common control plane communicably coupled to the remote unit for control and routing of control traffic, including information indicating which WANs of the plurality of WANs to which the remote terminal can connect, the common control plane including a single, continuous control channel to which the remote terminal is connectable simultaneously with a connection to a WAN of the plurality of WANs.
H04L 41/046 - Network management architectures or arrangements comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
H04W 48/18 - Selecting a network or a communication service
H04L 41/342 - Signalling channels for network management communication between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities
H04L 43/20 - Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
A mobile communications terminal with an integrated mobile compute platform and method for using the same are described. In some embodiments, the mobile communications terminal comprises: one or more communication interfaces for connecting to the terminal; and a compute platform to request and execute one or more context-based software components automatically based on each connection made to the platform.
H04L 67/289 - Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
H04L 67/60 - Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources
H04L 67/12 - Protocols specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
Processes and apparatuses for antenna frequency matching are disclosed. In one embodiment, a calibration process for an antenna having radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements comprises: determining resonance frequencies of RF radiating antenna elements in a group of RF radiating antenna elements; selecting voltages to apply to the RF radiating antenna elements to cause resonance frequencies to match between the RF radiating antenna elements in the group of RF radiating antenna elements when the voltages are applied; and storing, in memory of the antenna, voltage information indicative of the voltages for driving the RF radiating antenna elements in the group.
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
Antennas having iris and/or cell rotation and/or with frequency compensation in solid state device (e.g., diode) designs and methods of using the same are described. In some embodiments, the antenna comprises: an antenna aperture having a plurality of RF radiating antenna elements that each include an iris and a solid state device coupled across the iris, wherein the plurality of antenna elements are located in rings with orientation of each of the irises of the antenna elements in at least a portion of each ring rotated with respect to adjacent irises in the portion of each ring while orientation of corresponding solid state devices is uniform; and a controller coupled to control the array of RF radiating antenna elements to tune RF radiating antenna elements to generate one or more beams using the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements.
H01Q 15/00 - Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
H01Q 5/25 - Ultra-wideband [UWB] systems, e.g. multiple resonance systems; Pulse systems
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
H01Q 3/26 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
Methods and apparatuses for controlling a satellite antenna based on its motion are disclosed. In some embodiments, the method comprises determining a motion state of an antenna for communication with a satellite, determining a motion profile for the antenna based on the motion state, and controlling the antenna based on the motion profile.
An antenna and method for using the same having a hybrid feed approach. In some embodiments, the metasurface antenna with dual beam capabilities is feed with feed waves from a center-fed waveguide structure and an edge-fed waveguide structure. In some embodiments, the antenna comprises an array of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements and operable to generate two beams simultaneously in response to interacting with two propagating waves at a same time; and a feed structure coupled to feed the two waves to the array of RF radiating antenna elements, the feed structure having a first waveguide beneath the RF radiating antenna elements in which the two waves propagate in opposite directions.
Antennas with integrated varactor circuits are described. The antenna may comprise metasurface antennas. In some embodiments, an antenna comprises an array of antenna elements, wherein each antenna element comprises a iris and a varactor diode integrated on an integrated circuit (IC) chip coupled across a portion of the iris. The antenna can also comprise a plurality of transistors, each transistor coupled to a distinct one of the varactor diodes in the array of antenna elements to provide a tuning voltage to the one varactor diode.
Methods and apparatuses for communicating in a satellite communication framework with spatial diversity are described. In one embodiment, a method for controlling communication in a satellite communication network having multiple constellations and a satellite terminal with a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating a plurality of beams for communication links with multiple satellites, comprises: determining, under network control, availability of a plurality of networks by which network traffic may be exchanged with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna; and managing, under network control, two or more satellite links between the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna and two or more satellites of different networks to route the network traffic, including determining when to use each of the two or more satellite links, the two or more satellite links being generated using two or more beams from the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna.
H04B 7/0408 - Diversity systems; Multi-antenna systems, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
A single-layer Wide Angle Impedance Matching (WAIM) and method for using the same are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: an aperture having a plurality of antenna elements operable to radiating radio-frequency (RF) energy; and a single-layer wide angle impedance matching (WAIM) structure coupled to the aperture to provide impedance matching between the antenna aperture and free space.
H01Q 5/335 - Individual or coupled radiating elements, each element being fed in an unspecified way using frequency dependent circuits or components, e.g. trap circuits or capacitors at the feed, e.g. for impedance matching
Expansion compensation structures for an antenna are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: an array of antenna elements; and a structure coupled to the array of antenna elements, the structure having a plurality of components comprising materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs), wherein first and second components of the plurality of components are pin bonded with one or more pins, and one or more components of the plurality of components other than the first and second components are between the first and second components and have one or more slots through which the one or more pins traverse and have CTEs different than CTEs of the first and second components.
A multibeam antenna and method of using the same are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an aperture having a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements. The RF radiating antenna elements generate a plurality of beams simultaneously in different directions in response to a first modulation pattern for holographic beamforming applied to the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements to establish all beams of the plurality of beams such that antenna elements of the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements contribute to all beams in the plurality of beams concurrently. The antenna also includes a controller coupled to the aperture to generate the first modulation pattern.
H01Q 3/26 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
An antenna and method of using the same are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprise an array of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements, wherein each RF radiating antenna element comprises a first conductor stack containing one or more metal layers and having a first set of one or more conductive layers covering a first side of the first conductive stack; a second conductor stack, separated from the first conductor stack, containing one or more conductive layers and having a second set of one or more conductive layers covering a second side of the second conductive stack; and liquid crystal (LC) between the first and second sides of the first and second conductor stacks, respectively.
Routing and layout for an antenna are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an aperture having a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements, wherein each antenna element of the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements comprises an iris slot opening and an electrode over the iris slot opening; a plurality of drive transistors coupled to the plurality of antenna elements; and a plurality of storage capacitors, each storage capacitor coupled to the electrode of one antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements. The aperture also comprises at least one of: the drive transistor for the one antenna element is located under the electrode of the antenna element, the storage capacitor for the one antenna element is located under the electrode of the antenna element, and the metal routing to the one antenna element for a first voltage overlaps, in an overlap region, a common voltage routing that routes the common voltage to the one antenna element to form a storage capacitance.
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
A method and apparatus for electrical addressing for an antenna (e.g., a metamaterial radio- frequency (RF) antenna are described. In one embodiment antenna comprising: a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements located in a plurality of rings; and matrix drive circuitry coupled to the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements to drive the antenna elements, wherein the matrix drive circuitry to uniquely address each of the antenna elements using a matrix of a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns with a non-grid-based addressing structure.
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
Modular antennas with high instantaneous bandwidth are described. In one embodiment, an antenna comprises a plurality of antenna modules tiled together and configured to form one metasurface antenna with an array of surface scattering metamaterial antenna elements; and a feed network comprising a plurality of feed points coupled to the plurality of antenna modules to supply the modules with a feed wave.
Multiband guiding structures for antennas and methods for using the same are described. In one embodiment, an antenna comprises: an antenna aperture with radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements; and a center-fed, multi-band wave guiding structure coupled to the antenna aperture to receive a feed wave in two different frequency bands and propagate the feed wave to the RF radiating antenna elements of the antenna aperture.
H01Q 5/25 - Ultra-wideband [UWB] systems, e.g. multiple resonance systems; Pulse systems
H01Q 5/35 - Individual or coupled radiating elements, each element being fed in an unspecified way for different propagation modes using two or more simultaneously fed points
An antenna having a wedge plate-based waveguide with feed segmentation and a method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an aperture having an array of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements and a segmented wedge plate radial waveguide comprises a plurality of wedge plates that form a plurality of sub-apertures, wherein each sub-aperture includes one wedge plate and a distinct subset of RF radiating antenna elements in the array, wherein each wedge plate of the plurality of wedge plates has a feed point to provide a feed wave for propagation through said each wedge plate for interaction with its distinct subset of RF radiating antenna elements in the array.
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
H01Q 3/34 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the phase by electrical means
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
29.
ADAPTIVE AND LEARNING MOTION MITIGATION FOR UPLINK POWER CONTROL
Techniques for motion mitigation for uplink power control are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for use in a satellite communication system comprises: generating a power margin associated with motion of an antenna of a satellite terminal; and generating a first power limit representing a maximum transmit power for the antenna based, at least in part, on the power margin.
H04W 52/14 - Separate analysis of uplink or downlink
H04W 52/28 - TPC being performed according to specific parameters using user profile, e.g. mobile speed, priority or network state, e.g. standby, idle or non-transmission
H04W 52/30 - Transmission power control [TPC] using constraints in the total amount of available transmission power
System and methods are disclosed for automatically provisioning and commissioning an electronic device ("device"), such as a satellite modem coupled to a reconfigurable satellite antenna. The device is provisioned at a first location, e.g., at a manufacturing facility, using first provisioning data and first commissioning data that is sufficient for the device to establish a communication link with a network and a server having an activated user account. The first provisioning data and first commissioning data is based at least in part upon machine learning over a plurality of devices of a similar type. The device is then set-up and powered-on at a second location, e.g., an end-use location. The device connects to the network, logs in to the user account, and provides a serial number and the second location to the server. The server downloads second provisioning data this based at least in part upon the second location to the device.
G05B 19/418 - Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control (DNC), flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), integrated manufacturing systems (IMS), computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)
G01R 29/08 - Measuring electromagnetic field characteristics
An antenna has radio-frequency (RF) antenna elements and two substrates. A heater structure is connected to at least one of the two substrates, for heating the RF antenna elements. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: a physical antenna aperture having an array of radio frequency (RF) antenna elements formed with patch and iris substrates, the iris substrate having a plurality of layers including an iris metal layer; and a heater structure coupled to one or more of the plurality of layers of the iris substrate for heating the RF antenna elements.
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
H01Q 1/02 - Arrangements for de-icing; Arrangements for drying-out
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
A method and apparatus for using Euclidean modulation in an antenna are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for controlling an antenna comprises mapping a desired modulation to achievable modulation states, mapping modulation values associated with the achievable modulation states to one or more control parameters, and controlling radio frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements using the one or more control parameters to perform beam forming.
H01Q 3/26 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
A unit cell can be used for a metasurface, metamaterial, or beamforming antenna. The unit cell includes a metal layer attached to a substrate. The metal layer defines an iris opening for the unit cell. One or more tunable capacitance devices are positioned within or across the iris opening. Each tunable capacitance device is to tune resonance frequency of the unit cell. Mass transfer technologies or self-assembly processes may be used to position the tunable capacitance devices.
H01Q 3/26 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
H01Q 1/38 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
H01Q 15/00 - Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
H01Q 7/06 - Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop with core of ferromagnetic material
An antenna with a heater and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: an antenna aperture having a plurality of radio-frequency radiating antenna elements, the antenna aperture having a ground plane and a material for tuning permittivity or capacitance; and a heater structure in thermal contact with the material.
A non-circular center-fed antenna and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: a non-circular antenna aperture with radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements; and a non-radially symmetric directional coupler to supply a RF feed wave to the aperture at a central location within the antenna aperture to enable the feed wave to propagate outward from the central location to an edge of the aperture.
A method and apparatus for differentiated service offerings based on a geo-location are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises: receiving geo-location information from a plurality of remote devices; generating one or more events in response to determining that the geo-location information for each remote device of the plurality of remote devices indicates that said each remote device has entered or exited one of a set of one or more geo-fences; and triggering an action with respect to said each remote device, the action for managing at least one service for said each remote device based on geo-location of the one or more remotes, including determining a level of service and/or type of service for said each remote based on its respective geo-location.
A multi-wide area network (WAN) incorporating both satellite-based communication networks and cellular networks (e.g., an LTE network) is disclosed. In one embodiment, the WAN is implemented with a communications framework comprising: an edge appliance comprising a satellite modem interconnect for coupling to a satellite modem external to the edge appliance, a cellular modem interconnect for coupling to a cellular modem external to the edge appliance, a switch coupled to the satellite and cellular modem interconnects, and a processing node coupled to the switch and comprising a router to switch traffic between the satellite modem interconnect and the cellular modem interconnect when the edge appliance communicates with a public data network using a satellite link or a terrestrial cellular link, respectively; and a connectivity platform configured for connection to the edge appliance, the connectivity platform comprising a broker/integrator component configured to operate as a broker and an integrator between the edge appliance and both connectivity service providers and business support systems that perform subscription management to enable the edge appliance access to the satellite and terrestrial cellular links.
A method and apparatus for uplink power control based on power spectral density are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method for use by a terminal in a satellite communication system, the terminal having an antenna, a modem and a controller, the method comprising: determining the scan and skew of the antenna; obtaining, using the controller, a value representing a maximum allowed Power Spectral Density (PSD) for the determined scan and skew; determining, using the controller, a maximum allowable modem power based on the value representing a maximum allowed PSD, where the maximum allowable modem power is that which ensures that transmissions from the terminal do not exceed the maximum allowed PSD if the maximum allowable modem output power is not exceeded by the modem; sending, using the controller, an indication of the allowable modem output power to the modem; and performing one or more transmissions from the terminal based on modem outputs in accordance with the maximum allowable modem output power.
A combining apparatus for use in a satellite communication system and a method for using the same. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises: a plurality of antennas that each have a transmit aperture and a receive aperture and are operable to receive correlated signals from a satellite, wherein the receive aperture is operable to receive one of the signals from the satellite and determine its signal quality; a combiner communicably coupled to the plurality of antennas to combine multiple signals received from the plurality of antennas into one signal, wherein the combiner is operable to determine which signals received by the plurality of antennas are to be combined into the one signal based, at least in part, on at least one signal quality metric regarding the signals, the at least one signal quality metric being received from one or more tracking receivers external to the combiner; and a modem communicably coupled to receive the one signal from the combiner, wherein the modem is operable to send information to the plurality of antennas via the combiner as if only a single antenna is coupled to the combiner and the combiner is operable to aggregate information for the modem received from antennas in the plurality of antennas as if one single antenna provided the information to the combiner.
A scanning antenna according to the present invention has: a transmission/reception region (R1) including a plurality of antenna units (U); and a non-transmission/reception region (R2) outside the transmission/reception region. The scanning antenna has: a TFT substrate (101Aa); a slot substrate (201Aa); a liquid crystal layer (LC) provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate; a seal section (73Aa) that is provided in the non-transmission/reception region and that surrounds the liquid crystal layer; a reflecting conductive plate that is disposed so as to face a second principal surface of a second dielectric substrate with a dielectric layer interposed therebetween; a first spacer structure for specifying a first gap between a first dielectric substrate and the second dielectric substrate in the transmission/reception region; and a second spacer structure for specifying a second gap between the first dielectric substrate and the second dielectric substrate in the non-transmission/reception region, said second gap being larger than the first gap. The second spacer structure is disposed in the seal section or in a region surrounded by the seal section.
H01Q 3/34 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the phase by electrical means
H01Q 3/44 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the electric or magnetic characteristics of reflecting, refracting, or diffracting devices associated with the radiating element
H01Q 13/22 - Longitudinal slot in boundary wall of waveguide or transmission line
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
G02F 1/13 - Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
Provided is a scanning antenna comprising a transceiving region (R1) which includes a plurality of antenna units (U), and a non-transceiving region (R2) which is outside the transceiving region. The scanning antenna comprises a TFT substrate (101), a slot substrate (201A), a liquid-crystal layer (LC) disposed between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate, a seal part (73) disposed in the non-transceiving region and enclosing the liquid-crystal layer, and a reflecting conductive plate (65) positioned to face a second primary surface of a second dielectric substrate (51) with a dielectric layer (54) interposed therebetween. Slot electrodes (55) comprise aperture parts (56h) or depression parts (56d) which are formed in the non-transceiving region and in the region which is enclosed with the seal part.
H01Q 3/34 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the phase by electrical means
H01Q 3/44 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the electric or magnetic characteristics of reflecting, refracting, or diffracting devices associated with the radiating element
H01Q 13/22 - Longitudinal slot in boundary wall of waveguide or transmission line
G02F 1/13 - Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
A scanning antenna according to the present invention has: a transmission/reception region (R1) including a plurality of antenna units (U); and a non-transmission/reception region (R2) outside the transmission/reception region. The scanning antenna has: a TFT substrate (101); a slot substrate (201); a liquid crystal layer (LC); a seal section (73a) surrounding the liquid crystal layer; a wall-shaped structure (additional seal section) (76A) disposed in a region of the non-transmission/reception region, said region being surrounded by the seal section; a reflecting conductive plate; a first spacer structure for specifying a first gap between a first dielectric substrate (1) and a second dielectric substrate (51) in the transmission/reception region; and a second spacer structure that specifies a second gap larger than the first gap and that is disposed in the wall-shaped structure. The wall-shaped structure has a first principal side surface (79a) and a second principal side surface (79b) that intersect a surface of the first dielectric substrate. When viewed in a normal direction of the first dielectric substrate, at least one of the first principal side surface and the second principal side surface has a plurality of recessed sections and/or a plurality of protruding sections.
H01Q 3/34 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the phase by electrical means
H01Q 3/44 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the electric or magnetic characteristics of reflecting, refracting, or diffracting devices associated with the radiating element
H01Q 13/22 - Longitudinal slot in boundary wall of waveguide or transmission line
G02F 1/13 - Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
A composite stack-up for an antenna is described. In one embodiment, the antenna is a flat panel metamaterial antenna. In one embodiment, an antenna assembly comprises an antenna element layer having an upper side and a lower side; a first set of one or more layers forming an upper stack bonded to the upper side of the antenna element layer and being are at least partially transparent to radio frequency (RF) radiation; and a second set of one or more layers forming a lower stack bonded to the lower side of the antenna element layer, where the antenna element layer, upper stack and lower stack are bonded together to form a composite stack.
H01Q 1/38 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
H01Q 1/42 - Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome
H01Q 5/335 - Individual or coupled radiating elements, each element being fed in an unspecified way using frequency dependent circuits or components, e.g. trap circuits or capacitors at the feed, e.g. for impedance matching
A method and apparatus for testing radio-frequency antenna elements are disclosed. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises: a frame having a platform to support an array of radio-frequency (RF) antenna elements of a flat panel antenna having antenna elements; a first antenna to transmit microwave energy to subsets of RF antenna elements of the segment and to receive reflected microwave energy from the subsets of RF antenna elements; a filter between the segment and the first antenna, the filter comprising an opening positioned over each of the subsets of RF antenna elements at different times to expose said each of the subsets of RF antenna elements to microwave energy transmitted by the first antenna; a second antenna to receive microwave energy transmitted though the subsets of RF antenna elements at the different times; a controller coupled to the subsets of RF antenna elements and to provide at least one stimulus or condition to the subsets of RF antenna elements; and an analyzer to provide stimulus to the subsets of RF antenna elements and to measure a characteristic of the array using one or both of the first antenna and second antenna.
System and methods are disclosed for improving manufacturing processes, improving manufactured products, and improving deployed devices. The devices can be reconfigurable holographic antennas ("antennas"). Manufacturing test results for a plurality of antennas is collected. Field performance data and antenna management information is collected for a plurality of deployed antennas. Query selection criteria, machine learning correlation criteria and a minimum correlation threshold are passed to a server to query for matching records from a data store and to perform machine learning on the query results to generate improvements to processes, manufactured antenna performance and deployed antenna performance.
G05B 19/406 - Numerical control (NC), i.e. automatically operating machines, in particular machine tools, e.g. in a manufacturing environment, so as to execute positioning, movement or co-ordinated operations by means of programme data in numerical form characterised by monitoring or safety
A system and method for predictive make-before-break connected vehicle connectivity are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving external information related to a route being taken by a vehicle containing an antenna for use in wireless communication; and proactively switching from a first communication connection to a second communication connection before reaching a location on the route that the vehicle is expected to pass at a future time and at which the first communication connection is expected to be unavailable.
H04B 1/401 - Circuits for selecting or indicating operating mode
H04B 1/3822 - Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving specially adapted for use in vehicles
A beam splitting hand off systems architecture and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises: generating a first beam with a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna to track a first satellite; generating a second beam with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna to track a second satellite simultaneously while generating the first beam to track the first satellite; and handing off traffic from the first satellite to the second satellite.
An antenna apparatus and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna element array having a plurality of radiating radio-frequency (RF) antenna elements formed using portions of first and second substrates with a liquid crystal (LC) therebetween, the first substrate comprising a plurality of irises and the second substrate comprises a plurality of patches, wherein each of the patches is co-located over and separated from an iris in the plurality of irises with LC at least partially between each overlap region a patch and iris overlap; and a reservoir structure between the first and second substrates to hold LC and comprising areas around the RF antenna elements, the reservoir structure having a cavity large enough to accommodate thermal expansion of the LC and having one or more areas void of LC, wherein LC remains in patch/iris overlap regions of the plurality of radiating RF antenna elements even when additional LC could enter the one or more areas void of LC.
A method and apparatus for performing satellite signal acquisition are described. In one embodiment, a method for using a satellite antenna comprises estimating antenna orientation when the antenna is in motion, including estimating yaw using one or more sensors; and performing signal acquisition to search for a satellite signal with the satellite antenna by interleaving a plurality of signal searches performed by the satellite antenna, the plurality of signal searches being based on an estimated yaw.
A method and apparatus for testing an antenna are described. In on embodiment, the antenna comprises: a memory; an antenna aperture with a plurality of electronically controlled radio frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements; a pattern generator, including one or more processors, to generate a plurality of patterns to apply to the antenna aperture during testing to cause the antenna to generate a beam in response to each pattern of the plurality of patterns while pointing at a satellite; a receiver to receive satellite signals from the satellite in response to generating beams with the aperture; a metric provider, including one or more processors, to generate one or more satellite signal metrics for the received satellite signals; and antenna parameter selector to select one or more parameters associated with beamforming based on the satellite signal metrics indicating antenna performance reached a predetermined level, wherein selection of the one or more parameters is for storage in the memory and used to generate a beam with the antenna aperture when performing data communication.
Antennas and methods for using the same are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an aperture having a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements, the plurality of RF radiating antenna elements being grouped into three or more sets of RF radiating antenna elements, with each set being separately controlled to generate a beam at a frequency band in a first mode.
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
H01Q 5/22 - RF wavebands combined with non-RF wavebands, e.g. infrared or optical
52.
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTELY UPDATING SATELLITE DEVICES
System and methods are disclosed for remote management of mobile satellite antenna modules having an antenna subsystem module (ASM). An ASM periodically transmits a check-in message and metrics data to a server. The server analyzes the check-in message and metrics data to determine a state of operation of the antenna, and determine one or more management commands to improve the performance of the ASM. Information in the metrics data received from each ASM can be queried and processed using machine learning to determine correlation between attributes of the ASMs and performance of the ASMs.
Embodiments of a tool are described. The tool includes an assembly plate having a top surface and a bottom surface. The assembly plate also includes a raised area on the top surface, the raised area centered on a central alignment hole extending from the top surface to the bottom surface through the entire thickness of the raised area. An alignment ring is formed in the top surface of the raised area, wherein the alignment ring surrounds the central alignment hole and is concentric with the central alignment hole. A fitting including a base tier, a plurality of stacked concentric tiers of different radii on a first side of the base tier, and a retainer on a second side of the base tier, wherein an axis of the fitting is adapted to be aligned with the center of the central alignment hole.
A method and apparatus for DC offset correction in an antenna aperture are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: an array of antenna elements having liquid crystal (LC); drive circuitry coupled to the array and having a plurality of drivers, each driver of the plurality of drivers coupled to an antenna element of the array and operable to apply a drive voltage to the antenna element; and voltage correction logic coupled to the drive circuitry adjust drive voltages to compensate for an offset between a first magnitude of a first voltage applied to the LC of each antenna element during a first interval of drive polarity and a second magnitude of a second voltage applied to the LC of said each antenna element during a second interval of drive polarity opposite the drive polarity of the first interval.
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
A method and apparatus for RF ripple correction in an antenna aperture are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: an array of antenna elements having liquid crystal (LC); drive circuitry coupled to the array and having a plurality of drivers, each driver of the plurality of drivers coupled to an antenna element of the array and operable to apply a drive voltage to the antenna element; and radio-frequency (RF) ripple correction logic coupled to the drive circuitry to adjust drive voltages to compensate for ripple.
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
Integrated transceivers for antenna systems are disclosed. For one embodiment, an antenna system includes an antenna having a plurality of antenna components, and a transceiver integrated into a structure of the antenna. The transceiver dissipates heat away from the antenna and does not require an internal thermal management system. For one embodiment, the transceiver dissipates heat away from the antenna into an environment by convection. For one embodiment, one of the antenna components is adjacent and thermally coupled to the transceiver. The adjacent antenna component thermally coupled to the transceiver can transfer heat away from the antenna into the environment by conduction, convection, and/or radiation. The transceiver can be integrated into the antenna according to any number of examples and variations. For example, the transceiver can be externally mounted, internally mounted or edge mounted and integrated with the antenna. In another example, components of the transceiver such as a block up-converter (BUC), low-noise block converter (LNB), and a diplexer can create a radio frequency (RC) chain and be embedded and integrated into the backend of the antenna.
An apparatus with a rectangular waveguide to radial mode transition and method for using the same are described. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a radial waveguide having at least one plate; a radio-frequency (RF) launch coupled to the radial waveguide comprising a rectangular waveguide, a rectangular waveguide to coaxial transition coupled to the rectangular waveguide, and a coaxial to radial transition coupled to the rectangular waveguide to coaxial transition.
An apparatus for exchanging liquid crystal (LC) between two areas of an antenna array in an antenna and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises a waveguide; an antenna element array having a plurality of radiating radio-frequency (RF) antenna elements formed using portions of first and second substrates with a liquid crystal (LC) therebetween, the portions of the first and second substrates adhered together, and a structure between the first and second substrates and in an RF inactive area outside of, and at an outer periphery of, the antenna element array that is without a ground plane instantiating the waveguide, the structure being operable to collect LC from an area between the first and second substrates forming the RF antenna elements due to LC expansion and to provide LC to the area between the first and second substrates forming the RF antenna elements due to LC contraction, the structure having a plurality of support spacers between the first and second substrates.
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
G09G 3/36 - Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix by control of light from an independent source using liquid crystals
C09K 19/02 - Liquid crystal materials characterised by optical, electrical or physical properties of the components, in general
An apparatus for exchanging liquid crystal (LC) between two areas of an antenna array and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna element array having a plurality of radiating radio-frequency (RF) antenna elements formed using portions of first and second substrates with a liquid crystal (LC) therebetween, and a structure between the first and second substrates and outside the area of the RF antenna elements to collect LC from an area between the first and second substrates forming the RF antenna elements due to LC expansion.
H01Q 1/38 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
G09G 3/36 - Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix by control of light from an independent source using liquid crystals
An antenna with a clamping mechanism and a method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, an antenna comprises a radial waveguide, an aperture operable to radiate radio frequency (RF) signals in response to an RF feed wave fed by the radial waveguide, and one or more clamping devices to apply a compressive force between the waveguide and the aperture.
A storage capacitor and method for using the same in an antenna aperture are described. In one embodiment, an antenna comprises a physical antenna aperture having first and second substrates forming an array of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements that are controlled and operable together to form a beam for the frequency band for use in holographic beam steering, wherein each of the antenna elements is coupled to a circuit to supply a voltage to the said each antenna element and a storage capacitor formed with a plurality of conductive layers (e.g., metal layers) on a first substrate, wherein top and bottom conductive layers of the plurality of conductive layers are at a first voltage that is equal to a second voltage on a conductive layer (e.g., a metal layer) of the second substrate to reduce parasitic capacitance produced between the storage capacitor and the conductive layer on the second substrate.
H01Q 1/38 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
H01Q 1/22 - Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles
H01Q 5/314 - Individual or coupled radiating elements, each element being fed in an unspecified way using frequency dependent circuits or components, e.g. trap circuits or capacitors
62.
METHODS AND SYSTEMS USING AN AGILE HUB AND SMART CONNECTIVITY BROKER FOR SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
Methods and system using an agile hub and smart connectivity broker for satellite communications are disclosed. In one example, a hub for satellite communications includes an interface to facilitate satellite communications between a terminal and satellites across LEO, MEO, and GEO constellations servicing a geographic region, and one or more processors coupled to the interface. The terminal includes one or more antennas, each antenna having an aperture with a receive portion to receive radio frequency (RF) signals and a transmit portion to transmit RF signals. The one or more processors are configured to implement a broker for the hub. The broker is to plan and facilitate RF links between the terminal and satellites in the constellation based on one more characteristics for satellite communications. The terminal can be a ground-based terminal or a mobile-based terminal on a vehicle, aircraft, marine vessel, or movable machine or object.
Antennas such as flat panel, leaky wave antennas with directional coupler feeds and waveguides are disclosed. In one example, an antenna includes a surface having antenna elements, a guided wave transmission line, and a coupling surface. The guided wave transmission line provides a guided feed wave. The coupling surface is between and separates the guided wave transmission line and the surface having antenna elements. The coupling surface controls coupling of the guided feed wave to the antenna elements. The coupling surface can also spatially filter the guided feed wave to provide a more uniform power density for the antenna elements. The guided feed wave can be a high power density electromagnetic wave or a density radially decaying electromagnetic wave.
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for supporting an antenna and its components. In one embodiment, a retention apparatus for use in coupling to an antenna aperture during manufacturing comprises: a base plate; a plurality of clamps coupled to the base plate, each clamp of the plurality of clamps being rotatable to couple the antenna aperture to the base plate; and one or more component holders coupled to the base plate, each of the one or more component holders to securely hold at least one component that is coupled to the antenna aperture.
Monitoring and compensating for environmental and other conditions affecting antenna elements of an antenna is described. The conditions may affect radio frequency (RF) liquid crystal of the antenna elements. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises a physical antenna aperture having an array of surface scattering antenna elements that are controlled and operable together to form a beam for the frequency band for use in holographic beam steering and a compensation controller to perform compensation on the antenna elements based on monitored antenna conditions.
A method and apparatus for impedance matching for an antenna aperture are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna aperture having at least one array of antenna elements operable to radiate radio frequency (RF) energy and an integrated composite stack structure coupled to the antenna aperture. The integrated composite stack structure includes a wide angle impedance matching network to provide impedance matching between the antenna aperture and free space and also puts dipole loading on antenna elements.
H01Q 9/28 - Conical, cylindrical, cage, strip, gauze or like elements having an extended radiating surface; Elements comprising two conical surfaces having collinear axes and adjacent apices and fed by two-conductor transmission lines
A heater for a radio frequency (RF) antenna and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, an antenna comprises a physical antenna aperture having an array of RF antenna elements; and a plurality of heating elements, each heating element being between pairs of RF elements of the array of RF elements.
An antenna combiner with transmission arbitration and method for using the same are described. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a plurality of antennas to receive signals from a satellite, each antenna in the plurality of antennas having a transmit aperture and a receive aperture, and wherein the receive aperture is operable to receive one of the signals from the satellite; a plurality of signal analyzers coupled to the plurality of antennas, each signal analyzer operable to determine signal quality of a distinct one antenna of the plurality of antennas; an arbiter coupled to the plurality of signal analyzers and operable to select one antenna of the plurality of antennas to transmit to the satellite based on results of determining the signal quality; and a first selector coupled to the arbiter and the plurality of antennas to cause data to be sent to the one antenna selected for transmission to the satellite.
Techniques and mechanisms for providing a low-profile terminal for satellite communication. In an embodiment, a communication terminal includes a radome, an array of radio frequency (RF) elements and a foam layer disposed therebetween. The foam layer includes a first side and a second side opposite the first side, wherein the array of RF elements and the radome are coupled to the foam layer via the first side and the second side, respectively. The communication device provides contiguous structure between the radome and the array of RF elements. In another embodiment, the first side forms a machined surface which contributes to flatness of one or more antenna panels having the array of RF elements disposed therein or thereon.
Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for a free space segment tester (FSST). In one example, an apparatus includes a frame, a first horn antenna, a second horn antenna, a controller, and an analyzer. The frame has a platform to support a thin film transistor (TFT) segment of a flat panel antenna. The first horn antenna transmits microwave energy to the TFT segment and receives reflected energy from the TFT segment. The second horn antenna receives microwave energy transmitted through the TFT segment. The controller is coupled to the TFT segment and provides at least one stimulus or condition to the TFT segment. The analyzer measures a characteristic of the TFT segment using the first horn antenna and the second horn antenna. Examples of a measured characteristic includes a measured microwave frequency response, transmission response, or reflection response for the TFT segment. In one example, the TFT segment is used for integration into a flat panel antenna if the measured characteristic of the TFT segment indicates the TFT segment is acceptable.
H01L 27/13 - Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including integrated passive circuit elements with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the substrate being other than a semiconductor body, e.g. an insulating body combined with thin-film or thick-film passive components
C23C 16/50 - Chemical coating by decomposition of gaseous compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating, i.e. chemical vapour deposition (CVD) processes characterised by the method of coating using electric discharges
71.
A SATELLITE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL WITH RECONFIGURABLE SUPPORT STRUCTURES
Techniques and mechanisms for enabling the positioning of a communication terminal in or on a vehicle, building or other structure. In an embodiment, the communication terminal includes an electronically steerable antenna which is disposed in a housing. A plurality of support legs, coupled to the housing, are each configured to rotate about a respective first axis, and to further rotate about a respective second axis. For a given support leg, an orientation of the respective second axis varies with rotation of that support leg about the respective first axis. Two such support legs are mechanically coupled to one another with respect to their respective first axis rotations or with respect to their respective second axis rotations. In another embodiment, the communication terminal is operable by a user to selectively enable or disable first axis rotation and/or second axis rotation of a given support leg.
A device containing a radio-frequency (RF) liquid crystal (RFLC) mixture with improved performance is disclosed. In one embodiment, the improved performance includes high RF tuning, broad thermal operating ranges and low viscosity. In one embodiment, the device comprises an antenna comprising: an antenna element array having a plurality of antenna elements and each antenna element having a liquid crystal (LC) structure, wherein the LC structure comprises a mixture of one or more of the following: laterally functionalized with one or more of at least a proton, a hydrogen (H), or a heteroatom.
G01S 13/00 - Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
G01S 13/88 - Radar or analogous systems, specially adapted for specific applications
G01S 13/89 - Radar or analogous systems, specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
H01Q 1/36 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
H01Q 21/08 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart the units being spaced along, or adjacent to, a rectilinear path
73.
METHOD TO ASSEMBLE APERTURE SEGMENTS OF A CYLINDRICAL FEED ANTENNA
A method of assembling an antenna aperture from a plurality of antenna aperture segments is described. The method may include placing a first aperture segment relative to a second aperture segment to partially form the antenna aperture. Furthermore, an overlap of the first aperture segment overlaps a complementary underlap of the second aperture segment at a seam. The method may also include joining the overlap of the first aperture segment to the underlap of the second aperture segment to partially form the antenna aperture.
H01Q 13/08 - Radiating ends of two-conductor microwave transmission lines, e.g. of coaxial lines, of microstrip lines
H01Q 3/34 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture varying the phase by electrical means
A holographic antenna integrated with photovoltaic cells and method for use of the same are described. In one embodiment, the method for using an antenna comprises receiving position data indicative of an antenna aperture of an antenna after the antenna has been placed in a position to increase capture of solar energy by one or more photovoltaic (PV) structures integrated into a surface of the antenna aperture; and in response to the position data, electronically steering an array of antenna elements of the antenna to redirect a beam toward a satellite based on the position of the antenna while maintaining the position of the antenna for increased capture of the solar energy.
H01Q 1/44 - ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS - Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas using equipment having another main function to serve additionally as an antenna
H01Q 1/38 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
H01Q 1/22 - Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles
75.
ANTENNAS HAVING MEMS-TUNED RF RESONATORS AND METHODS FOR FABRICATING THE SAME
An antenna having MEMS-tuned radio-frequency (RF) resonators and methods for fabricating the same are described. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises a physical antenna aperture having an array of antenna elements, where the array of antenna elements includes a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) resonators, with each RF resonator of the plurality of RF resonators having an RF radiating element with a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device.
H01Q 1/38 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
B32B 37/12 - Methods or apparatus for laminating, e.g. by curing or by ultrasonic bonding characterised by using adhesives
B32B 37/26 - Methods or apparatus for laminating, e.g. by curing or by ultrasonic bonding characterised by the properties of the layers with at least one layer which influences the bonding during the laminating process, e.g. release layers or pressure equalising layers
C09K 19/12 - Non-steroidal liquid crystal compounds containing at least two non-condensed rings containing at least two benzene rings at least two benzene rings directly linked, e.g. biphenyls
C09K 19/18 - Non-steroidal liquid crystal compounds containing at least two non-condensed rings containing at least two benzene rings linked by a carbon chain the chain containing carbon-to-carbon triple bonds, e.g. tolans
C09K 19/30 - Non-steroidal liquid crystal compounds containing at least two non-condensed rings containing saturated or unsaturated non-aromatic rings, e.g. cyclohexane rings
76.
BROADBAND RF RADIAL WAVEGUIDE FEED WITH INTEGRATED GLASS TRANSITION
An antenna and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, an antenna comprises a radial waveguide; an aperture operable to radiate radio frequency (RF) signals in response to an RF feed wave fed by the radial waveguide; and a radio frequency (RF) choke operable to block RF energy from exiting through a gap between outer portions of the waveguide and the aperture.
H01Q 1/52 - Means for reducing coupling between antennas; Means for reducing coupling between an antenna and another structure
H01Q 3/26 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for acquiring and tracking a satellite signal with an antenna. In one embodiment, the method comprises a) perturbing one or more of roll, pitch and yaw angles of an antenna orientation to create variant orientations associated with a first search pattern; b) computing new scan and polarization angles, in response to perturbed roll, pitch and yaw angles, for each of the variant orientations; c) receiving a radio-frequency (RF) signal from a satellite for each of the variant orientations; d) generating one or more receiver metrics representing a received RF signal associated with each of the variant orientations; e) selecting, as a new orientation, one of the variant orientations based on the one or more receiver metrics; and f) repeating a)-e) with the new orientation with a second search pattern narrower than the first search pattern.
G01S 3/06 - Means for increasing effective directivity, e.g. by combining signals having differently-oriented directivity characteristics or by sharpening the envelope waveform of the signal derived from a rotating or oscillating beam antenna
G01S 3/38 - Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction using adjustment of real or effective orientation of directivity characteristic of an antenna or an antenna system to give a desired condition of signal derived from that antenna or antenna system, e.g. to give a maximum or minimum signal
H01Q 3/44 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the electric or magnetic characteristics of reflecting, refracting, or diffracting devices associated with the radiating element
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
H01Q 21/20 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart the units being spaced along, or adjacent to, a curvilinear path
H01Q 21/24 - Combinations of antenna units polarised in different directions for transmitting or receiving circularly and elliptically polarised waves or waves linearly polarised in any direction
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
G01S 3/08 - Means for reducing polarisation errors, e.g. by use of Adcock or spaced loop antenna systems
78.
DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A MODULAR ANTENNA ASSEMBLY
Techniques and mechanisms to provide satellite communication functionality with an antenna assembly. In an embodiment, a communication device includes an antenna panel (comprising one or more holographic antenna elements), a housing and hardware interfaces which facilitate operation of the communication device as a module of the antenna display. A cross-sectional profile of the housing may conform to a polygon other than any rectangle. A configuration of the housing and hardware interfaces may facilitate the formation of an antenna assembly arrangement other than that of any rectilinear array. In another embodiment, communication devices of the antenna assembly each conform to a triangle or a hexagon.
Techniques and mechanisms to provide a motor vehicle with connectivity for satellite communications. In an embodiment, a communication device is disposed between an exterior surface of the motor vehicle and an interior surface of the motor vehicle. An antenna panel, disposed in a housing of the communication device, may be configured to participate in satellite communication via a first side of the communication device. A configuration of the antenna panel, the housing or one or more hardware interfaces of the communication device may facilitate low profile solution for such communication with the satellite. In another embodiment, the one or more hardware interfaces are each disposed on a respective side of the housing other than the first side, the one or more hardware interfaces to couple the communication device to a power supply of a motor vehicle.
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for a direct drive mechanism for driving cells (e.g., liquid crystal (LC) cells, RF MEMS cells, etc.). In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna element array having a plurality of antenna elements with each antenna element having one or more cells (e.g., liquid crystal (LC) cell, RF MEMS cell, etc.); drive circuitry coupled to cells in the antenna element array to provide a voltage to each of the cells; and memory to store a data value for each cell to determine whether the cell is on or off.
H01Q 21/06 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
H02J 50/23 - Circuit arrangements or systems for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using microwaves or radio frequency waves characterised by the type of transmitting antennas, e.g. directional array antennas or Yagi antennas
81.
ANTENNA ELEMENT PLACEMENT FOR A CYLINDRICAL FEED ANTENNA
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for antenna element placement are disclosed. In one embodiment, an antenna comprises an antenna feed to input a cylindrical feed wave; a single physical antenna aperture having at least one antenna array of antenna elements, where the antenna elements are located on a plurality of concentric rings concentrically located relative to an antenna feed, wherein rings of the plurality of concentric rings are separated by a ring-to-ring distance, wherein a first distance between elements along rings of the plurality of concentric rings is a function of a second distance between rings of the plurality of concentric rings; and a controller to control each antenna element of the array separately using matrix drive circuitry, where each of the antenna elements is uniquely addressed by the matrix drive circuitry.
H01Q 1/38 - Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
H01Q 3/24 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
82.
APERTURE SEGMENTATION OF A CYLINDRICAL FEED ANTENNA
A method and apparatus for aperture segmentation are disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna feed to input a cylindrical feed wave and a physical antenna aperture coupled to the antenna feed and comprising a plurality of segments having antenna elements that form a plurality of closed concentric rings of antenna elements when combined, where the plurality of concentric rings are concentric with respect to the antenna feed.
An antenna apparatus and method for use of the same are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises a single physical antenna aperture having at least two spatially interleaved antenna arrays of antenna elements, the antenna arrays being operable independently and simultaneously at distinct frequency bands.
Techniques and mechanisms to transmit signals with an antenna array. In an embodiment, a first signal is received at a first input of the first antenna while a second signal is received at a second input of the second antenna. A difference in phase differentials - the phase differentials each between the first signal and the second signal - results from propagation of the first signal and the second signal in the antenna array and from a difference between respective configurations of the first antenna and the second antenna. Each of the first antenna and the second antenna has respective emitters distributed along the length thereof. In another embodiment, the first antenna and the second antenna have different respective dielectric structures or different respective distributions of emitters.
H01Q 21/08 - Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart the units being spaced along, or adjacent to, a rectilinear path
H01Q 3/26 - Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture
85.
DYNAMIC POLARIZATION AND COUPLING CONTROL FOR A STEERABLE CYLINDRICALLY FED HOLOGRAPHIC ANTENNA
An apparatus is disclosed herein for a cylindrically fed antenna and method for using the same. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises an antenna feed to input a cylindrical feed wave and a tunable slotted array coupled to the antenna feed.
An apparatus is disclosed herein for a cylindrically fed antenna and method for using the same. In one embodiment, the antenna comprises: an antenna feed to input a cylindrical feed wave; a first layer coupled to the antenna feed and into which the feed wave propagates outwardly and concentrically from the feed; a second layer coupled to the first layer to cause the feed wave to be reflected at edges of the antenna and propagate inwardly through the second layer from the edges of the antenna; and a radio-frequency (RF) array coupled to the second layer, wherein the feed wave interacts with the RF array to generate a beam.
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