Aperture Coupled Cavity Backed Patch Antenna

1. An antenna array comprising:

a plurality of stacked radiating elements, each stacked radiating element comprising a first rectangular patch radiator and a second rectangular patch radiator;

a printed circuit board disposed adjacent to each said fist rectangular patch radiator, said printed circuit board comprising a plurality of stubs and a ground plane; said first rectangular patch radiator disposed between said second rectangular patch radiator and said printed circuit board;

a plurality of slots positioned within said ground plane, each slot being aligned with a respective stacked radiating element; and

a plurality of cavities enclosing said ground plane and respective slots whereby said stubs feed said slots and said slots excite respective cavities such that said patch radiators radiate RF energy with increased beamwidth and bandwidth.

2. The antenna array of claim 1 , wherein said first patch is spaced apart from said second patch by one or more dielectric spacer elements.

3. The antenna array of claim 1 , wherein each of said slots has an electrical length that is less than or equal to one half of wavelength.

4. The antenna array of claim 1 , wherein each of said slots comprises a dogbone shape.

5. The antenna array of claim 1 , wherein said slots establish a transverse-magnetic mode of RF energy within said cavity.

6. The antenna array of claim 1 , where each cavity has two or more walls that form corners, each corner comprising a predetermined spacing to substantially reduce or eliminate passive intermodulation.

7. An antenna array comprising:

a plurality of stacked radiating elements, each stacked radiating element comprising a first radiator and a second radiator;

a printed circuit board disposed adjacent to said first radiator, said printed circuit board comprising a plurality of stubs and a ground plane, said first radiator being disposed between said second radiator and said printed circuit board;

a plurality of slots positioned within said ground plane, each slot being associated with a respective stacked radiating element;

a plurality of cavities adjacent to said ground plane and respective slots whereby said stubs feed said slots and said slots excite respective cavities such that said radiators radiate RF energy with increased beamwidth and bandwidth; and

a radome positioned over the plurality of stacked radiating elements, said radome improving the performance of the antenna array.

8. The antenna array of claim 7 , wherein each cavity has two or more walls that form corners, each corner comprising a predetermined spacing to substantially reduce or eliminate passive intermodulation.

9. The antenna array of claim 8 , wherein at least one predetermined spacing comprises a dielectric.

10. The antenna array of claim 9 , wherein the dielectric comprises air.

11. The antenna array of claim 7 , wherein said radome produces an average increase in antenna array peak gain, measured in dBd at five equally spaced frequencies from approximately 806 MHz to 896 MHz of up to approximately 1.7% relative to a peak gain of said antenna array operating without said radome.

12. The antenna array of claim 7 , wherein said radome produces an average increase in upper side lobe suppression, measured in dB at five equally spaced frequencies from approximately 806 MHz to 896 MHz of up to approximately 25% relative to upper side lobe suppression of said antenna array operating without said radome.

13. The antenna array of claim 7 , wherein said radome produces an average increase in return loss, measured in −dB at five equally spaced frequencies from approximately 806 MHz to 896 MHz of up to approximately 19% relative to a return loss of said antenna array operating without said radome.

14. A method for improving the performance of an antenna array comprising a plurality of stacked radiating elements comprising the steps of:

positioning a plurality of slots within a ground plane of a printed circuit board;

propagating RF energy along a feed network;

dissipating heat from the feed network into portions of a metallic cavity;

exciting the slots to establish a mode of RF energy within the metallic cavity;

exciting patch radiators with the RF energy produced by the slots and the cavity; and

improving performance of the antenna array by protecting the antenna array with a radome.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of improving the performance of the antenna array by protecting the antenna array with a radome comprises increasing the average peak gain of the antenna array measured in dBd at five equally spaced frequencies from approximately 806 MHz to 896 MHz of up to approximately 1.7% relative to a peak gain of the antenna array operating without said radome.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of improving the performance of the antenna array by protecting the antenna array with a radome comprises increasing the average upper side lobe suppression, measured in dB at five equally spaced frequencies from approximately 806 MHz to 896 MHz, of up to approximately 25% relative to upper side lobe suppression of the antenna array operating without said radome.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of improving the performance of the antenna array by protecting the antenna array with a radome comprises increasing the average return loss, measured in −dB at five equally spaced frequencies from approximately 806 MHz to 896 MHz, of up to approximately 19% relative to a return loss of the antenna array operating without said radome.