Array antennas having a plurality of directional beams
Multi-directional antenna apparatuses, which may include phased array antennas and/or arrays of multiple antennas, and methods for operating these directional antennas. In particular, described herein are apparatuses configured to operate as an access point (AP) for communicating with one or more station devices by assigning a particular directional beam to each access point, and communicating with each station device using the assigned directional beam at least part of the time. Methods and apparatuses configured to optimize the assignment of one or more directional beam and for communicating between different station devices using assigned directional beams are described. Also described are methods of connecting a radio device to an antenna by connecting a USB connector on the radio device to a USB connector on an antenna and identifying the antenna based on a voltage of the ground pin on the antenna's USB connector.
1. A phased array antenna apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
an antenna housing enclosing a two-dimensional (2D) array of antenna emitters forming two or more vertical columns of emitting surfaces arrange in a flat plane within the antenna housing;
a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem connected to the 2D array of antenna emitters, and configured to generate a plurality of RF signals that are phase shifted relatively to each other for beamforming of the plurality of RF signals emitted by the two dimensional array of antenna emitters, wherein the RF transceiver and steering subsystem comprises a radio device and a lacunated lens, wherein the lacunated lens has a body having at least two parallel plates separated by a dielectric material and multiple openings at least partially through the body of the lens, wherein the openings are arranged in the body so that an RF signal entering the body will exit from at a time delay corresponding to a predetermined steering angle that corresponds to where the RF signal entered the body; and
two or more RF connectors on a back of the antenna housing, configured to connect the radio device to the two-dimensional array of antenna emitters.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein each antenna element of the array of antenna elements comprises a line of emitting elements.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem comprises a plurality of phase shifters, wherein each phase shifter is connected to the RF transceiver and wherein steering subsystem is configured to set a phase angle for each of the phase shifters.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem is configured to periodically transmit a training packet at each of a plurality of directional beams, wherein the training packet encodes an identifier of the directional beam.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem is separable into an RF transceiver having one or more RF outputs and a steering controller coupled to the one or more RF outputs.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem is configured to assign the directional beam to a station device based on the response packet received from the station device, wherein the response packet includes an identifier of a directional beam and a priority value associated with one of the training packets.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further wherein the radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem is configured to periodically transmit training packets at each of a plurality of directional beams.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further wherein the radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem is configured to periodically transmit training packets at each of a plurality of directional beams, wherein the period is less than once every minute.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further wherein the radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem is configured to periodically transmit training packets at each of a plurality of directional beams, wherein the period is less than once every five minutes.
10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem is configured to assign each of a plurality of station devices a directional beam based on a response packet received from each of the station devices in response to a training packet emitted by the array of antenna elements, and to transmit data to the station devices using an assigned directional beam.
11. A phased array antenna apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
an antenna housing enclosing a two-dimensional (2D) array of antenna emitters forming two or more vertical columns of disc-shaped emitting surfaces arrange in a flat plane within the antenna housing;
a pair of flared wings extending at an angle from a front of the housing, wherein the flared wings are formed of an RF shielding material;
a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and steering subsystem connected to the 2D array of antenna emitters, and configured to generate a plurality of RF signals that are phase shifted relatively to each other for beamforming of the plurality of RF signals emitted by the two dimensional array of antenna emitters, wherein the RF transceiver and steering subsystem comprises a radio device and a lacunated lens, wherein the lacunated lens has a body having at least two parallel plates separated by a dielectric material and multiple openings at least partially through the body of the lens, wherein the openings are arranged in the body so that an RF signal entering the body will exit from at a time delay corresponding to a predetermined steering angle that corresponds to where the RF signal entered the body; and
two or more RF connectors on a back of the antenna housing, configured to connect the radio device to the two-dimensional array of antenna emitters.