Communications: radio wave antennas – Antennas – High frequency type loops
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-27
2004-05-04
Wimer, Michael C. (Department: 2821)
Communications: radio wave antennas
Antennas
High frequency type loops
C343S788000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06731246
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate generally to methods and apparatus for providing increased design flexibility for RF circuits, and more particularly for optimization of dielectric circuit board materials for improved performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
RF circuits, transmission lines and antenna elements are commonly manufactured on specially designed substrate boards. For the purposes of these types of circuits, it is important to maintain careful control over impedance characteristics. If the impedance of different parts of the circuit do not match, this can result in inefficient power transfer, unnecessary heating of components, and other problems. Electrical length of transmission lines and radiators in these circuits can also be a critical design factor.
Two critical factors affecting the performance of a substrate material are dielectric constant (sometimes called the relative permittivity or &egr;
r
) and the loss tangent (sometimes referred to as the dissipation factor). The relative permittivity determines the speed of the signal in the substrate material, and therefore the electrical length of transmission lines and other components implemented on the substrate. The loss tangent determines the amount of loss that occurs for signals traversing the substrate material. Losses tend to increase with increases in frequency. Accordingly, low loss materials become even more important with increasing frequency, particularly when designing receiver front ends and low noise amplifier circuits.
Printed transmission lines, passive circuits and radiating elements used in RF circuits are typically formed in one of three ways. One configuration known as microstrip, places the signal line on a board surface and provides a second conductive layer, commonly referred to as a ground plane. A second type of configuration known as buried microstrip is similar except that the signal line is covered with a dielectric substrate material. In a third configuration known as stripline, the signal line is sandwiched between two electrically conductive (ground) planes. In general, the characteristic impedance of a parallel plate transmission line, such as stripline or microstrip, is equal to {square root over (L
l
/C
l
)} where L
l
is the inductance per unit length and C
l
is the capacitance per unit length. The values of L, and C, are generally determined by the physical geometry and spacing of the line structure as well as the permittivity of the dielectric material(s) used to separate the transmission line structures. Conventional substrate materials typically have a permeability of 1.
In conventional RF design, a substrate material is selected that has a relative permittivity value suitable for the design. Once the substrate material is selected, the line characteristic impedance value is exclusively adjusted by controlling the line geometry and physical structure.
One problem encountered when designing microelectronic RF circuitry is the selection of a dielectric board substrate material that is optimized for all of the various passive components, radiating elements and transmission line circuits to be formed on the board. In particular, the geometry of certain circuit elements may be physically large or miniaturized due to the unique electrical or impedance characteristics required for such elements. For example, many circuit elements or tuned circuits may need to be an electrical ¼ wave. Similarly, the line widths required for exceptionally high or low characteristic impedance values can, in many instances, be too narrow or too wide for practical implementation for a given substrate. Since the physical size of the microstrip or stripline is inversely related to the relative permittivity of the dielectric material, the dimensions of a transmission line can be affected greatly by the choice of substrate board material.
Still, an optimal board substrate material design choice for components such as antenna feed circuitry may be inconsistent with the optimal board substrate material for other components, such as antenna elements. Moreover, some design objectives for a circuit component may be inconsistent with one another. For example, it may be desirable to reduce the size of an antenna element. In the case of a dipole, this could be accomplished by selecting a board material with a relatively high permittivity. However, the use of a dielectric with a higher relative permittivity will generally have the undesired effect of reducing the radiation efficiency of the antenna.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that the constraints of a circuit board substrate having selected relative dielectric properties often results in design compromises that can negatively affect the electrical performance and/or physical characteristics of the overall circuit. An inherent problem with the conventional approach is that, at least with respect to conventional circuit board substrate, the only control variable for line impedance is the relative permittivity. This limitation highlights an important problem with conventional substrate materials, i.e. they fail to take advantage of the other factor that determines characteristic impedance, namely L
l
, the inductance per unit length of the transmission line.
Conventional circuit board substrates are generally formed by processes such as casting or spray coating which generally result in uniform substrate physical properties, including the dielectric constant. Accordingly, conventional dielectric substrate arrangements for RF circuits have proven to be a limitation in designing circuits that are optimal in regards to both electrical and physical size characteristics.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns an efficient loop antenna of reduced size. The antenna is formed on a dielectric substrate disposed on a conductive ground plane. The substrate has a plurality of regions of differing substrate characteristics. An elongated conductive antenna element is arranged in the form of a loop and disposed on a first region of the substrate. The antenna element can have first and second adjacent end portions separated by a gap. The first region of the substrate has a relative permeability that is higher as compared to a second region of the substrate on which the remainder of the circuitry is disposed. According to one aspect of the invention, the relative permeability of the first region is greater than 1.
The antenna can also include an input coupler. The input coupler can comprise a conductive line disposed on the substrate adjacent to the antenna element. The input coupler is separated from the antenna element by a coupling space for capacitively coupling to the antenna element an input signal applied to the input coupler. When the input coupler is used in this way, the second end portion of the loop can be connected to the ground plane. The conductive line can extend adjacent to a portion of the antenna element including the first end portion. Further, the input coupler is preferably disposed on a portion of the substrate within a perimeter defined by the antenna element.
A third region of the substrate comprising the coupling space can have a permittivity that is different from the permittivity of the first region of the substrate on which is disposed the antenna element. The permittivity of the third region in that case can be larger as compared to the first region.
According to another aspect of the invention, the antenna element can be divided into a plurality of elongated conductive segments, each having adjacent end portions separated by a characteristic region of the substrate. The characteristic region of the substrate separating the conductive segments can have a permittivity that is different as compared to a permittivity of the characteristic region of the substrate on which is disposed the elongated conductive segments.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3571722 (1971-03-01), Vendelin
patent: 3678418 (1972-07-01), Woodward
patent: 4495505 (1985-01-01), Shields
patent: 4525720 (1
Killen William D.
Parsche Francis
Pike Randy T.
Harris Corporation
Sacco & Associates PA
Wimer Michael C.
LandOfFree
Efficient loop antenna of reduced diameter does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Efficient loop antenna of reduced diameter, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Efficient loop antenna of reduced diameter will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3259470