GB2232300A - Planar antenna - Google Patents

Description

:2 2 3 2;:3 cz) (2 1 1 Title:

PLANAR ANTENNA k - 2 This invention relates to planar antennas and, more particularly, to a planar antenna capable of receiving circularly polarized waves at a high gain over a wide band.

The Dlanar antennas of the kind referred to are effectively utilized in receiving the circularly polarized waves transmitted as carried on SHF band, in particular, above 12GHz band from a geostationary broadcasting satellite launched into cosmic space to be 36,00OKm. high from the earth.

Parabolic antennas erected on the roof or the like positions of house buildings have been generally..jidely utilized as the antenna for receiving the c-Lrcularly polarized waves from the geostationary satellite, but the parabolic antennas have been defective in that they are susceptible to strong wind to easily fall down due to their bulky three dimensional structure so that additional means for stably supporting them will have to be employed, and that such supporting means further requires high mounting costs and still troublesome installation labor.

In attempt to eliminate these problems of the known parabolic antennas, there has been suggested in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open publication No. 99803/1978 1 (or corresponding U.S. Patent No. 4,475,107 or German Offenlegungsschrift No. P 314900.2) a planar antenna which is flattened in the entire configuration, according to which the structure can be much simplified and it is made possible to directly mount the antenna on an outdoor wall or the like position of the house buildings so as. to be made inexpensive.

Further, the planar antenna has been demanded to be of a high gain, for which purpose various attempts have been made to reduce insertion loss. Disclosed in, for example, U.S. Patent No. 4,851,855 of Tsukamoto et al the present inventors K. (to which U.K. Patent No. 2,187,333, German Patent Application P 37 06 051.1 and French Patent Application No. 87 02421 correspond) prior to the present invention is a planar antenna in which power supply circuit and radiation circuit are not connected directly to each other but are electromagnetically coupled for supplying a power from the power supply circuit to the radiation circuit, while both circuits as well. as a grounding conductor are respectively carried on each of insulating plates which are separated from one another by means of a space retaining means. With this arrangement, the power supply circuit can be also disposed in the space thus retained, and the insertion loss can be effectively reduced.

Further prior to the present invention, there has been suggested in U.S. Patent No. 4,816,835 of T. Abiko et al (to which U.K. Patent Application No. 87 19750, German 1 - 4 Patent Application P 33 7 29 750 and French Patent Application No. 87 12274 correspond) another planar antenna in which a radiation circuit is provided with many slots in respective which each of patch elements is disposed, and such radiation circuit is electromagnetically coupled at the patch elements in the slots to opposed power supply terminals of a power supply -o further decrease the insertion loss circuit, so as -1. while incrementally improving the assembling ability.

According to these U.S. Patents Nos. 4,851,855 and 4,816,835, it is possible to reduce the insertion loss of the planar antennas and to improve them in the assembling ability in contrast to any known planar antennas. In these patents, however, the radiation circuit comprises slots of a square, circular or other shape and match elements respectively disposed in each of the slots in the form of a floating island so that a highly precise etching process will be required therefor with required etching oattern of the radiation plate made much complicated, and there have arisen such oroblems that manufacturing fluctuation becomes large to lower the yield or resultant products and required manufacturing costs are generally elevated.

A primary aim of the present invention is, therefore, to provide at very low costs a planar antenna of, in particular, a simplified structure in the radiation plate so that no high precision manufacturing is required, radiation surface pattern is also simplified remarkably, the producibility is thereby much improved and a high gain is obtained over a wide band.

According to the present invention, this aim can be realized by a planar antenna in which a grounding conductor plate, power supply plate and radiation plate are sequentially arranged with an insulating layer interposed between adjacent ones of the plates to separate them to be independent of one another through a predetermined interval, the power supply plate comprising a pattern of power supplying conductor strips each including power supply terminals, comprising radiation elements electromagnetically to each of the for receiving circularly polarized from a broadcasting satellite as and the radiation plate respectively counled power supply term-Lnals waves transmiLted back carried on SHF band, characterized in that the radiation elements Of the radiation plate are apertures of a contour varried to be irregular for a higher efficient gain of the circularly polarized waves at edge parts corresponding to positions inclined substantially by 45 degrees with respect to an abscissa passing through the center of the aperture.

According to the planar antenna in the foregoing arrangement of the present invention, the radiation plate is provided as the radiation elements only with the apertures of such unique contour as specified, without employing such arrangement of the patch elements within the respective slots as in the known radiation plate, so 6 that the structure can be simplified while reducing the Q value, and the high gain is attainable over a wide band.

The invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which:- FIGURE 1 is a perspective view as disassembled of the planar antenna in an embodiment of the present invention, with certain parts of its constituents shown as omitted for easier understanding; FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view as magnified of the planar antenna of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross section as magnified of the planar antenna of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view as magnified of an aperture in the radiation plate of the planar antenna shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is an explanatory view for the aperture of the iDlanar antenna in FIG. 1; FIG. 6 is an explanatory view for the relationship of the aperture of the radiation plate to the power supply terminal of the power supply plate in the planar antenna of FIG. 1; FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the frequency and the return-loss in the planar antenna of FIG. 1; FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the relationship between frequency and the gain in the planar antenna of FIG.

1 1; FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the relationship between the frequency and the cross polarization characteristics in the planar antenna of FIG. 1; FIG. 10 is a fragmentary plan view as magnified of the aperture in another aspect to be employed in the-planar antenna of FIG. 1; FIG. 11 is a perspective view as disassembled of the planar antenna in another embodiment according to the present invention, with certain parts of its constituents shown as omitted for easier understanding; FIG. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view as magn-fied of the planar antenna of FIG. 11; FIG. 13 is a fragmentary cross sectioned view o--" the planar antenna in FIG. 11; FIG. 14 is an explanatory view for the relationship between the power supply terminals of the power supply plate and the apertures of the radiation plate in the planar antenna of FIG. 11; FIG. 15 is a fragmentary plan view as magnified o-f the apertures of the radiation plate in another aspect employable in the planar antenna of FIG. 11; and FIGS. 16 and 17 are fragmentary plan views as magnified of the planar antenna in further different embodiments according to the present invention.

While the present invention shall now be with reference to the embodiments shown accompanying drawings, it should be appreciated that. the described in the - 8 intention is not to limit the invention only to these embodiments shown but to rather include all modifications, alterations and equivalent arrangements the scope of appended claims.

possible within Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 3 showing a planar antenna 10 in an embodiment according to the present invention, this planar antenna 10 comprises a grounding conductor plate 11, a power supply plate 12 and a radiation plate 13, which plates are sequentially szacked with-an insulating layer interposed between them so as to be independent of each other through a predeter:,.ined interval. The grounding conductor plate 11 is formed by such electrically conducting material as aluminum, copper, silver, astatine, iron, gold or the like. The oower supply plaze 12 comprises a pattern 14 of power supplying conductor strips -formed by such conducting material as copper, aluminum, silver, astatine, iron, gold or the like, preferably, -the pattern being provided through an etching process on a synthetic resin sheet prepared with one alone or a mixture of two or more of, for example, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, acrylic resin, polycarbonate, ABS resin and PVC resin. The radiation plate 13 is prepared by forming through a punching a plurality of apertures 15 made as the radiation elements preferably in an aluminum sheet.

Between the grounding conductor plate 11 and the power supply plate 12 and between the power supply plate 12 and the radiation plate 13, such retaining means as spacers 16 and 17 formed with, for example, a synthetic resin, preferably a foamed resin in a lattice formation are interposed, so as to define there between spaces 18 and 19. Here, a gas, in particular, air allowed to flow into these spaces 18 and 19 is to function as a low loss dielectric.

More specifically, the conductor strip pattern 14 of the power supply plate 12 is formed to have a number of power supply terminals 14a for the reception of the circularly polarized waves from the satellite. On the other hand, the apertures 15 formed many in the radiation plate 13 are so provided as to respectively oppose each of the power 12 to be case, as apertures composite supply terminals 14a of the power supply plate coupled electromagnetically to them. In this will be clearly seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the 15 are provided respectively to be of- a contour of a square shape 15a of a side dimension "a" (for example, a=12.5mm) and a rectangular shape 15b of a longitudinal side dimension of about "-2a and a lattitudinal side dimension of about a/1r-2, which two shapes 15a and 15b being so combined that their center points are aligned with each other and the rectangular shape 15b is so superposed on the square shape 15a as to be inclined by 45 degrees at longitudinal axis 15d of the rectangular shape 15b with respect to an abscissa 15c of the square shape 15a passing through its center 0. In each aperture 15, therefore, the contour is made irregular at edge parts corresponding to positions inclined substantially by 45 degrees with respect to the abscissa 15c passing the center, as expanded in the direction of the inclination of 45 degrees. In other words, the square shape 15a is made to have enlarged parts l5e and l5f at diagonally symmetrical positions in the direction of the 45 degrees inclination. In order to attain a satisfactory gain, it is Dreferable that the radiation plate 131 is formed to have the apertures 15 provided through a punching to be 16 lines and 16 columns at intervals of 2mm.

For an effective electromagnetic coupling between the power supply terminals 14a of the power supply plate 12 and the apertures 15 in the radiation plate 13, in concrete, it is sufficient to have the power supply 14a extended to slightly pass over the center 0 terminal of the aperture 15 in their plan view, as shown in FIG. 6. Taking into account that the antenna is installed outdoor, a radome permeable to waves as made mainly of a foamed plastic material may be provided to cover, if required, a front antenna face of the radiation plate for its protection.

It has been found that, with the planar antenna according to the present invention as has been described, the return loss is reduced as shown in FIG. 7, such high gain as shown in FIG. 8 can be attained and an excellent cross polarization characteristics are shown as seen in FIG. 9, particularly over a band about 70OMHz, from about Q 11.5GHz to about 12.2GHz. It has been further found that, with the arrangement in which the apertures 15 are formed by punching the aluminum plate as the radiation elements of the radiation plate as in the foregoing embodiment, the planar antenna can be remarkably improved in the manufacturing ability and structuaral simplicity as compared with such planar antenna as has been disclosed in, for example, the foregoing U.S. Patent No. 4,816,835, and that the p.Lanar antenna can be provided with a high 10 strength by means of the aluminum plate ulilized.

Further, it may be possibleto provide the apertures of the radiation plate 13 to be of such a contour as shown in FIG. 10 which is a composite of a circular shape 15g and a rectangular shape 15h overlapped to align their center points and to incline the longitudinal axis passing through the center point of the rectangular shape by 45 degrees with respect to the abscissa passing through the center point (or horizontal diameter) of the circular shape 15g. In the present instance, a planar antenna has been prepared with the apertures formed in 16 lines and 16 columns and respectively in such dimension that the circular shape 15g was of a diameter of 8mm and the rectangular shape 15h was of a longitudinal length of 10mm and a lattitudinal length of 5mm while other arrangements were made the same as those in the embodiment of FIGS.

1-3, and this planar antenna has shown the same characteristics as the planar antenna of FIGS. 1-3. What is demanded here for the apertures as the radiation elements is that their contour is varied or made irregular at the edge parts corresponding to inclined positions substantially by 45 degrees with respect to the abscissa passing through the center for the highly efficient gain of the circularly polarized waves, in particular, that the contour is enlarged in radial directions with respect to the center of the aperture, and the provision of the apertures of such contour to the radiation plate will allow satisfactory characteristics as the radiation element to be attained irrespective of whether the aperture contour is a composite of the square, rectangular, circular or any other shape.

In addition, the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3 mav be subjected to various design modifications. While in the foregoing embodiment the aluminum plate is employed only for the radiation plate, the aluminum plate can be also employed for the power supply plate 12 as subjected to a punching for providing the power supply terminals, and a further strengthening of the planar antenna can be thereby realized. Further, while in the foregoing embodiment the aluminum plate is used for the radiation plate, it is also possible to use the same synthetic resin sheet as that employed in the power supply plate 12 so long as conducting foil having the apertures formed through etching process or the like on the resin sheet, so that excellent planar antenna similarly to the embodiment FIGS. 1-3 in respect of the characteristics can obtained, though this antenna is somewhat deteriorated j a an an of be in 13 the manufacturing ability.

Referring here to FIGS. 11-14, there is shown a planar antenna 50 in another embodiment according to the present invention, in which equivalent members to those in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those used in FIGS. 1-3 but added by 40. In the present embodiment, the pattern 54 of the Dower supplying conductor strips of the power supply plate 52 is formed to include terminals 54a and 54b which are arranged for performing the power supply That is a plurality of pairs of power supply 1 degrees. 54a extends in a branch 54c and the in an L-shape from branch 54c. The mutually at a phase difference of 90 in each pair, one Dower supply term-nal - U L U-shape from an end of each T-shaped other power supply terminal 54b extends the other opposite end of the T-shaped radiation plate 53 is formed by an aluminum plate subjected to the punching so as to form apertures of substantially the same contour as that of the apertures 15 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 but, in the present instance, the apertures are provided also in pairs 55a and 55b to correspond to the paired power supply terminals 54a and 54b of the power supply plate 52. In each pair of the apertures 55a and 55b, they are made generally in mirror symmetric relationship to each other so that their longitudinal axis 55d inclined in such manner as has been described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 will intersect each other at an angle 0 and the abscissas of both apertures 55a and 55b in the respective pairs are mut-;ally - 14 deviated so that the abscissa of the aperture 55b will slightly disposed above that of the other aperture 55a in FIG. 14, that is, in the direction perpendicular to the abscissa. With this arrangement, the apertures 55b in the respective pairs of the radiation elements are disposed as rotated by 90 degrees in rotating direction of the polarization plane for the circularly polarized waves with respect to the apertures 55a in the pairs of the radiation elements, and the respective pairs of the power supply ion terminals 54a and 55b are disposed to extend to a poslz- slightly over the center point of the respective apertures 55a and 55b in the pairs, as viewed in the plan vie-,. of FIG. 14, so as to be mutually coupled electromagnetically.

In the nresent embodiment as in the above, other arrangement and function are the same as those in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, except for the 90degrees p;-ase difference between the power supply terminals 54a and 54b in the respective pairs and the 90 degrees rotation in the rotating direction of the circular polarization plane between the apertures 55a and 55b in the respective pairs for the reception of the circularly polarized waves without interference.

For the apertures to be formed in pairs in radiation plate 53, it is also possible to employ pairs as shown in FIG. 15 of apertures 55i with composite contour of the square and rectangular shapes apertures 55j of the composite contour of the circular rectangular shapes.It may be also possible to have i.

such the and and the o apertures 55j of the composite contour of the circular and rectangular shapes rotated by 90 degrees in the rotating direction of the circular polarization plane, and to have such apertures 55i and 55j disposed alternately.

Further, such planar antenna as shown in FIG. 16 will be also provided according to the present invention, in which the power supplying conductor pattern 114 including the same power supply terminals 114a as those 14a in FIGS. 1-3 and the same paired power supply terminals 154a and 154b as those 54a and 54b in FIGS. 11-14 is formed in the power supply plate, while the radiation plate 113 is formed to have the same apertures 115 as those 15 shown in FIGS. 13 and the same apertures 155a and 155b in pairs as those 55a and 55b in pairs of FIGS. 11-13, the respective apertures 115, 155a and 155b being disposed to oppose the power supply terminals 114a, 154a and 154b for the electromagnetic coupling. It has been proved that the antenna efficiency is improved by this arrangement of the planar antenna of FIG. 16, in which embodiment all other constituents and their functions are the same as those in the foregoing embodiment of FIGS. 1-3.

Further, as shown in FIG. 17, the present invention can also realize such a planar antenna in which the power supplying conductor pattern 214 is provided to comprise paired power supply terminals 214a and 214b made for the power supply mutually with the phase difference of 45 degrees, and the radiation plate 213 is made to comprise paired apertures 215a and 215b disposed to oppose t-hese t - 16 power supply terminals 214a and 214b and mutually with the rotation of 45 degrees in the rotating direction in the circular polarization plane. This embodiment of FIG. 17 has also proved that the same characteristics as in the foregoing embodiments can be thereby arrained. In present instance, other constituents and functions also the same as those in the foregoing embodiment FIGS. 1-3.

In the planar antenna according to the present invention, additionally, it is desirable to provide a measure for eliminating such a risk that some other parts of the power supplying conductor pattern that the power supply terminals (for example, parts denoted by 155x in FIG. 16.1 are caused to be exposed through the apertures of the radiation plate as seen in the plan view by the deviated disposition between the paired anertures, so as to yield a re-radiation at such parts, and the measure will be to close corresponding portions (shown as hatched in FIG. 16) of the diagonally expanded parts of the apertures. It is optimum that this measure for preventing the re-radiation is taken particularly at the root or central portions of the power supplying conductor pattern where the received energies at the terminals are accumulated.

the are of j -1 1

Claims (12)

- 17 CLAIMS

1. A planar antenna comprising a grounding conductor plate, a power supply plate disposed as spaced at a predetermined interval from said grounding conductor plate with an insulating layer interposed between them to be independent of each other and provided with a pattern of power supplying conductor strips including power supply terminals, and a radiation plate disposed as spaced at a predetermined interval from said power supply plate with an insulating layer interposed between them to be independent of each other and provided with apertures forming radiation elements which are coupled electromagnetically to said power supply terminals of said power supply plate, said apertures respectively being made to have a contour varied to be irregular for a higher efficient gain of circularly polarized waves a-L edge parts corresponding to positions inclined substantially by 45 degrees with respect to an abscissa of the aperture passing through its center.

2. The antenna according to claim 1 wherein said irregular edge parts of each said apertures are expanded parts in radial direction with- respect to said center of the aperture.

3. The antenna according to claim 2 wherein said contour of said apertures is of a composite of a square shape and a rectangular shape overlapped with their centers aligned and with said rectangular shape inclined at its longitudinal axis by 45 degrees with respect to an abscissa passing the center of said square shape, and said expanded parts are defined by said inclined rectangular shape.

4. The antenna according to claim 3 wherein, when said square shape of said composite contour for said apertures is made to have a side of a dimension of "a", said rectangular shape is dimensioned substantially to be about ""-2a at longitudinal side and about a / '-2 at lattitudina-I side The antenna according to claim 2 wherein said contour of said aperture is of a composite of a circular shape and a rectangular shape overlapped with their centers aligned and with said rectangular shape inclined at its longitudinal axis by 45 degrees with respect to an abscissa passing the center of said circular shape, and said expanded parts are defined by said inclined rectangular shape.

0 C.

6. A planar antenna comprising a grounding conductor plate, a power supply plate disposed as spaced at a predetermined interval from said grounding conductor plate with an insulating layer interposed between them to be independent of each other and provided with a pattern of power supplying conductor strips including a plurality of pairs of power supply terminals for power supplies mutually with a phase difference involved, and a radiation plate disposed as spaced at a predetermined interval from said power supply plate with an insulatina layer interposed between them to be independent of each other and provided with a plurality of pairs of apertures forming radiation elements which are coupled electromagnetically with said pairs of power supply terminals of said power supply plate, said apertures in each pair being disposed to be mutually rotated by an angle in rotating direction in circular polarization plane, and being made respectively to have a contour varied to be irregular for a higher efficient reception gain of circularly polarized waves at edge parts corresponding to positions inclined substantially by 45 degrees with respect to an abscissa passing through the center of the aperture.

The antenna according to claim 6 wherein said irregular edge parts of each said apertures are expanded parts in radial direction with respect to said center of the aperture.

8. The antenna according to claim 7 wherein said phase difference between said power supply terminals in each said pairs is made 90 degrees, and said apertures in each said pairs are mutually rotated by 90 degrees.

9. The antenna according to claim 7 wherein said power supplying conductor pattern of said power supply plate includes power supply terminals for power supply without said phase difference, and said radiation plate includes apertures without said rotation to correspond to said power supply terminals without the phase difference.

10. The antenna according to claim 7 wherein said phase difference between said power supply terminals in each said pairs is made 45 degrees, and said apertures in each said pairs are mutually rotated by 45 degrees.

11. The antenna according to ciaim 7 wherein said apertures of said radiation plate are partly closed at portions where other parts of said power supplying conductor pattern than said power supply terminals are exposed through the apertures as seen in plan view, for prevention of re-radiation at said other parts exposed.

4 21

12. A planar antenna substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.

Published 1990 atThe Patent Office, State House. 66'71 I-lighHolborn. London WCIR 4TP. Further copies 3n.aybe obtainedfrom The Patent OfficeSales Branch, St Mary Cray, Orpington, Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd, St Mary Cray, Kent, Con. 1/87