JOHN MEZZALINGUA ASSOCIATES, LLC

A multiband antenna has an array face with closely spaced dipoles of multiple frequency bands in the low band, the mid band, and C-band or CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service). The low band dipole has four dipole arms formed in a plurality of loops from a single piece of metal. In one embodiment, the loops successively decrease in dimension, resulting in a tapered dipole arm shape and has a bend that bends the dipole arms downward to accommodate radome curvature. In a second embodiment, the outermost loop of each dipole arm is larger in volume and has its lateral loop features bent downward.

An antenna array has two columns of dipoles that are configured to radiate distinct signals. The top and bottom row of dipoles have a coupler that splits the power of each column such that each of the two dipoles at top and bottom radiate in both signals at a given power split ratio. The coupler provides for phase compensation so that the two radiated signals are phase aligned across the top and bottom row. Having the power shared at the top and bottom rows shifts the phase center away from the edge of the ground plane of the antenna’s reflector. The coupler is configured so that its coupling efficiency is greatest at the lowest frequency and least at its highest frequency. This improves the performance of the antenna array in the low frequencies while preserving antenna diversity between the two radiated signals.

Disclosed is a compact phase shifter board for an antenna. The phase shifter board has at least one drive shaft having a drive bracket. The drive bracket has two slots oriented perpendicularly to the drive shaft. Each slot configured to engage with a drive pin of a first geared wiper arm such that translation motion of the drive shaft causes the first geared wiper arms to rotate. Each geared wiper arm has a first gear that engages with a second gear of a second geared wiper arm. The first and second gears and configured so that any rotational motion of the first geared wiper arms causes the corresponding second geared wiper arm to rotate in conjunction.

Disclosed is an antenna having a plurality of radiator columns and an integrated phase shifter/calibration board. The radiator columns have radiator clusters that may be differentially phase to provide beam tilt. The input traces of each of the phase shifters is capacitively coupled to a Wilkinson power divider that sums the power of all the input signals, thereby providing a calibration function. The output traces of each of the phase shifters has a designated meander pattern that provides phase alignment for all the output signals to prevent phase mismatches between signals fed to the radiator clusters.

A scalable folded dipole has an additional passive conductor feature disposed on the same substrate (such as a PCB) as the conductor pattern forming the folded dipole's arms. The passive conductor feature is placed in an open region in a gap between adjacent dipole arms. The presence of the passive conductor feature provides for improved tuning of the gaps between adjacent dipole arms as well as improved impedance matching.

An antenna has a plurality of columns of C-Band radiators whereby each of the columns of C-Band radiators is supported by a single multilayer feedboard. The multilayer feedboard has a first signal layer disposed on an upper surface; a first ground layer; a second signal layer, and a second ground layer disposed on a lower surface. The solder joints for the coupling the RF signal cable outer conductors, and all of the solder joints for coupling the signals to the −45 and +45 dipoles to each of the C-Band radiators, are disposed on the second ground layer for ease of manufacture.

An antenna array comprises a reflector; a plurality of first dipoles disposed on the reflector, the plurality of first dipoles arranged in a plurality of columns; and a plurality of second dipoles disposed on the reflector, the plurality of second dipoles arranged in a plurality of clusters, wherein each of the the plurality of first dipoles is configured to radiate in a first frequency band, and each of the plurality of second dipoles is configured to radiate in a second frequency, wherein the first frequency band is higher in frequency than the second frequency band, wherein the plurality of columns comprises two inner columns and two outer columns, wherein the two inner columns have more first dipoles than the two outer columns, wherein the two inner columns are spaced apart along a horizontal axis by a first distance and where in the two outer columns are respectively spaced apart along the horizontal axis from an adjacent column by a second distance, the second distance being greater than the first distance.

Disclosed is a system for performing Massive MIMO or Multi-User MIMO using a gradient index sphere (such as a Luneburg Lens). The gradient index sphere may have a plurality of radiators disposed along its outer surface such that each radiator radiates inward toward the center of the sphere so that the sphere focuses the energy from each radiator to form a tight beam. This provides for improved uplink gain for detecting and locating a mobile device within range of the system, and it enables high performance with reduced signal processing required for array-based beamforming.

A low band dipole for a dense multiband antenna array has a plurality of dipole arms. The dipole arms have a coupling plate disposed on a first side of a PCB and a conductive trace pattern disposed on a second side of the PCB. The conductive trace pattern has a plurality of resonator block structures that are coupled together by a phase shifting trace along a first edge of the conductive trace pattern and a bandwidth compensating disposed along a second edge of the conductive trace pattern.

An 8T8R antenna has a plurality of columns of antenna elements whereby a subset of the columns are combined into a plurality of composite columns. In an example, the antenna has six columns of antenna elements whereby the two columns at either end of the array are combined into a composite column. The antenna ports corresponding to the two outer composite columns are coupled to a splitter/combiner that has a power divider and a delay line to provide phase compensation. The antenna also has a phase compensator that provides for phase compensation between the outputs of the splitter/combiners and the antenna ports corresponding to the inner columns that are not combined into composite columns. In a variation, the columns of antenna elements are combined into a plurality of composite columns, each having a pair of columns, whereby the number of columns is twice the number of composite columns.