Mechanical beam steering antenna and fabricating method thereof

Details Mechanical beam steering antenna and fabricating method thereof Mechanical beam steering antenna and fabricating method thereof

2001-12-14

2004-07-20

Wimer, Michael C. (Department: 2821)

Communications: radio wave antennas

Antennas

Microstrip

C343S765000, C029S600000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06765534

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an array antenna system.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Conventional array antenna systems are used to send beams in desired directions, that is, in the directions to which targets are located. The directions of the beams of the array antenna are steered by controlling electrical phase differences between respective antennas that form an array. This technique enables antenna beams to be sent in a direction where a target object is located without rotating the antenna, or enables antenna beams to be received from that direction so that the direction of the target that sends or reflects the signals can be effectively caught.
FIG. 1
shows an array antenna system where “d” represents a distance between the antennas, “&phgr;” represents an electric phase of the antennas, and “&thgr;” represents the direction of the beams to be sent.
However, this array antenna system is problematic in that the performance of the corresponding antenna is reduced when the direction of the beams digresses from the central axis of the individual antennas. The array antenna's radiation pattern is represented by a multiplication of the respective antennas' radiation patterns by an array factor. The array factor can only be adjusted by using electrical phase differences between the antennas. When the direction of the beams digress from of the central axis, the amount of the energy radiating from each antenna is reduced compared to the that of the maximum energy, and the array factor is multiplied to the energy so that the antenna performance is reduced.
To solve this, antennas are pre-configured to decline in various directions, and antennas that decline in the desired direction of the beams are selected using a switch so that the array antenna system, including the antennas can be used. However, this method increases cost because of the increase of the number of the antennas, the magnitude of the array antenna is increased, and also, limited beam angles can be selected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an antenna for building an array antenna system for obtaining uniform maximum performance in all beam directions by overcoming the problem that lowers the performance of a conventional array system when the angle between the beam direction of the array system and the central axis of each unit antenna is increased.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a small-size antenna for enabling fast mechanical motion and minute control of the driving angle.
It is still another object of the present invention to mass manufacture antenna array systems capable of mechanical operation through a batch process and integrate antennas and drivers.
In one aspect of the present invention, an antenna device comprises: an antenna; a first rotation shaft for enabling angular displacements of the antenna in the first direction; a second rotation shaft for enabling angular displacements of the antenna in the second direction independent from the angular displacements of the antenna in the first direction; a platform for supporting the antenna; an internal frame connected to the platform through the first rotation shaft; an external frame connected to the platform through the second rotation shaft; a ground plane formed on a surface opposite to a surface on which the antenna of the platform is formed; a first conductive line connected to the antenna; a second conductive line connected to the ground plane; and a driver for mechanically displacing the platform and the internal frame using electromagnetic force.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method for manufacturing an antenna device comprises: attaching a silicon substrate to a glass substrate; processing the glass substrate to form a displacement space; forming a ground plane on the silicon substrate; forming a dielectric layer on the ground plane; forming an antenna on the dielectric layer; patterning the dielectric layer to form a platform, an internal frame, an external frame and a hinge; and patterning the silicon substrate to separate it into a platform unit, an internal frame unit and an external frame unit.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4728962 (1988-03-01), Kitsuda et al.
patent: 5359337 (1994-10-01), Egushi

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