Background [0002] The demand for broadband internet service to the home has significantly increased in the past few years. Cable and DSL service operators are finding it difficult to keep pace with this demand. At the same time deployment to new customers is proving to be very costly. One way to avoid the high costs of a wired deployment is to offer internet access via wireless communication links. This is currently being done for large scale business applications, but line-of-sight conditions and large expensive high performance antennas and electronics are generally required to maintain the high data rates that are typical for this type of service. Hence, new ways to offer low cost, high speed wireless internet service to the home and business are needed.

SUMMARY [0003] In one aspect of the present invention, an antenna includes an antenna feed comprising a thermoplastic material having first and second surfaces, the first surface comprising a feed network, and a radiating element supported by the second surface and coupled to the feed network.

[0004] In another aspect of the present invention, an antenna includes an antenna feed comprising a thermoplastic material having first and second surfaces, the first surface comprising a feed network, and first and second radiating elements supported by the second surface and coupled to the feed network [0005] In yet another aspect of the present invention, an antenna includes a plurality of antenna feeds each comprising a thermoplastic material having first and second surfaces, the first surface of each of the antenna feeds comprising a feed network, and a plurality of radiating elements, one of the radiating elements being supported by the second surface of each of the antenna feeds.

[0006] In a further aspect of the present invention, a method of communications includes generating a beam from an antenna, the antenna having an antenna feed with a thermoplastic material having first and second surfaces, the first surface having a feed network, and a radiating element supported by the second surface and coupled to the feed network.

[0007] In yet a further aspect of the present invention, a method of communications includes selecting one section of an antenna from a plurality of antenna sections, each section of the antenna comprising an antenna feed having a thermoplastic material with first and second surfaces, the first surface having a feed network, and a radiating element supported by its respective second surface and coupled to its respective feed network, and generating a beam from the selected antenna section.

[0008] In another aspect of the present invention, an antenna includes an antenna feed comprising a substrate material having a first surface with a feed network and a second surface having a conductive material with a slot, and a radiating element supported by the second surface, wherein the slot couples the feed network to the radiating element.

[0009] In yet another aspect of the present invention, an antenna includes a plurality of antenna feeds each comprising a substrate material including a first surface having a feed network and a second surface having a conductive material with a slot, and a plurality of radiating elements, each of the radiating elements being supported by the second surface of each of the antenna feeds, wherein each of the slots couples its respective feed network to its respective radiating element.

[001 0l In a further aspect of the present invention, a method of communications includes generating a beam from an antenna, the antenna having an antenna feed with a substrate material including a first surface having a feed network and a second surface having a conductive material with a slot, and a radiating element supported by the second surface and coupled to the feed network, the generation of the beam comprising exciting the radiating element from the slot formed in the second surface.

[0011] It is understood that other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein it is shown and described only exemplary embodiments of the invention by way of illustration. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various other respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0012] Aspects of the present invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the accompanying drawings wherein: [0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary antenna for a computer application; [0014] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the electronic switching function of an exemplary antenna; [0015] FIG. 3A is an exploded perspective front view of an exemplary antenna feed supporting a pair of radiating elements ; and [0016] FIG. 3B is a rear view of the exemplary antenna feed shown in FIG. 3A with the front portion shown in phantom.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0017] The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the present invention can be practiced. The term"exemplary"used throughout this description means"serving as an example, instance, or illustration, "and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present invention.

[0018] In an exemplary embodiment of a communications system, a high performance low cost antenna can be used for broadband applications such as wireless internet access to the home or office. The antenna can be configured to generate a directional beam linking a user to a network access point, while minimizing interference from other sources. The antenna can be equipped with self-alignment capability to provide dynamic repositioning of the beam to optimize performance despite changes in the communications environment. As a result, higher data rates can be supported, which in turn increases the overall throughput of the communications system. The antenna can be constructed with low cost materials while maintaining performance consistent with requirements for high data rate transmissions in residential and business applications.

[0019] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary antenna for residential and business applications. The antenna 102 is shown coupled to a personal computer 104 via an Ethernet cable 106, but could just as easily be coupled to the personal computer 104 through a wireless access point modem integrated into the personal computer 104 or by any other means known in the art. The antenna 102 can be used to exchange data between a wide area network (WAN) and a single or group of computers.

[0020] The antenna 102 can be constructed with a rectangular structure having four antenna sections. Each antenna section includes an antenna feed 108a-d. Each antenna feed includes an array of radiating elements 110a and 110b stacked in the elevation plane. This approach tends to increase the directivity of the beam without effecting the coverage in the azimuth plane. In the embodiment shown, each radiating element 110a and 11 Ob can be configured to generate a beam with an azimutal beamwidth of 90° resulting in 360° of coverage in the azimuth plane with a four antenna section structure.

Alternatively, a three antenna section structure can be used with each radiating element 110a and 11 Ob having an azimutal beamwidth of 120°. Different configurations may employ any number of antenna feeds with radiating elements having various azimutal beamwidths to provide of 360° of coverage, or less, depending on the particular communications application and the overall design constraints. Alternatively, a continuous cylindrical antenna feed, or similar structure, with radiating elements spaced apart along its circumference may be used. Moreover, the number of radiating elements employed in each array is application dependent and those skilled in the art will be readily able to assess performance and cost tradeoffs to determine the optimal arrangement for any given application.

[0021] Beam steering capability can be realized by electronically switching the beam between the four antenna sections. Alternatively, the antenna can be constructed with an array of radiating elements on a single antenna feed and rotated by a motor (not shown) integrated into the antenna. In any case, a processor (not shown) can be used to direct the beam to provide optimal performance in terms of signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR). In electronically switched beam architectures, a microwave switch (not shown) can be used to select the direction having optimum SINR under processor control.

The switched beam architecture also provides flexibility for independent steering of forward and reverse link transmissions. The forward link refers to transmissions from a network access point to the user, and the reverse link refers to transmissions from the user to the network access point.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the electronic switching function of the antenna. For the purposes of illustration, the electronic switching function will be described in connection with an antenna having dual orthogonal polarization. This approach tends to further improve the SINR, as well as provide good port isolation, due to diversity. However, as those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the innovative antenna concepts described herein can be practiced with a single beam antenna. Referring to FIG. 2, an array of dual polarized radiating elements 110a and 110b are shown mounted on the selected antenna section. A combiner network 202 can be used to combine corresponding polarized signals from each radiating element 110a and 11 Ob in the elevation plane. A microwave switch 204 can be used to direct the polarized signals from the selected antenna section to the user. The microwave switch 204 can be a SP4T switch, or any other similar device known in the art.

The switch can be controlled by a processor (not shown) in a way to ensure that the beam is directed towards the network access point and away from other sources of noise and interference. This can be done by sweeping the beam pattern 360° in azimuth during idle periods to find the optimal SINR, or by other means well known in the art.

[0023] FIG. 3A is an exploded perspective front view of an exemplary antenna feed supporting a pair of radiating elements. FIG. 3B is a rear view of the exemplary antenna feed shown in FIG. 3A with the front portion shown in phantom. The antenna feed 108 includes an array of microstrip patch elements 11 Oa and 11 Ob each having a conductor 301 a and 301 b etched on a dielectric substrate material 302a and 302b and suspended above the antenna feed 108.

The front surface 304 of the antenna feed 108 can be a conductive surface, which serves not only as a ground plane for the microstrip patch elements 110a and 110b, but also provides a ground plane for a feed network 306 on the rear surface of the antenna feed 308. The feed network 306 can be implemented with microstrip lines. The feed network 306 can be dielectrically coupled to a pair of slots 310a and 310b cut into the front surface 304 of the antenna feed 108 for each microstrip patch element. The slots 310a and 310b provide a means for exciting the microstrip patch elements 110a and 11 Ob. Fixed tilting of the beam in the elevation plane can be implemented by extending the microstrip line feeding the top microstrip patch element relative to the bottom microstrip patch element. This may improve performance for desktop mounted installations.

[0024] The antenna feed 108 and microstrip patch elements 110a and 11 Ob can be constructed from various substrate materials. Typically, antenna feeds and patch elements are implemented with low loss microwave materials which are expensive. However, since the exemplary embodiments described thus far do not require solder, the field of choices can be expanded to include low cost thermoplastics. One such material is polycarbonate which costs less than traditional microwave material, yet has good loss characteristics. By using polycarbonate, or other thermoplastic materials, an antenna can be implemented with very low cost but with the performance required to support high data rate transmissions in residential and business applications.

[0025] The use of a thermoplastic material may also reduce the weight and size of the antenna over traditional approaches. First, the antenna feed can double as a plastic support structure, which not only reduces size, but results in a very cost efficient package. Second, the dielectric constant of many thermoplastics allows the use of a relatively thin substrate material for the feed and patch element while maintaining good performance in terms of bandwidth and peak gain. This is because these performance parameters are a function of both the dielectric constant and the thickness of the substrate material.

Polycarbonate has about the right amount of dielectric loading so that the bandwidth and peak gain parameters can be optimized with minimal thickness, thereby reducing the overall size of the feed and patch elements. Moreover, by dielectrically loading the patch elements, the beamwidth can be increased over conventional air loaded patch elements to provide 90° of coverage in the azimuth plane.

[0026] The patch element 110 may be implemented in various fashions depending on the overall design parameters and system requirements. In broadband applications, the thickness of the patch element should be sufficient to support the required bandwidth. However, to maintain good coupling to the patch element, the slot length should also be increased correspondingly with any increase in thickness of the patch element. For antennas with a 10% bandwidth requirement, the slot length will generally extend beyond half the width of the patch element. This approach is suitable for single beam antenna applications.

[0027] In antenna applications with dual orthogonal polarization, two orthogonally spaced slots are used to excite the patch element. Accordingly, a 10% bandwidth requirement will result in the two slots intersecting one another, thereby reducing the port coupling to 7 dB. This contributes 1 dB to the overall antenna losses. One way to increase the port coupling is to shorten the slots such that they no longer intersect in a way that does not reduce the amount of energy coupled to the patch element. This can be accomplished by maintaining a relatively uniform electric field throughout each slot. Typically, the electric field is at a maximum at the center of the slot and continually decays toward the ends. By adding short perpendicular slots to both ends of a rectangular slot, a relatively uniform electric field throughout the slot can be achieved thereby increasing the energy coupled to the patch element for a given length. The resulting I shaped slots can then be shorter than rectangular slots while coupling the same amount of energy to the patch element.

[0028] Maximum coupling efficiency can be obtained by aligning the longitudinal axes of the slots along the center of the patch element. In certain applications in which the bandwidth requirements results in the end pieces of the I slots intersecting when aligned for maximum coupling efficiency, a slight movement of one or both slots perpendicular to its respective longitudinal axis may avoid the intersection of the two slots without significantly reducing the energy coupled from the slot to the patch element. A small gap between the slots may result in greater than 15 dB of port decoupling.

[0029] The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention.

Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0030] WHAT IS CLAIMED IS :