Power combiners and dividers based on composite right and left handed metamaterial structures
View Patent ↗Techniques, apparatus and systems that use composite left and right handed (CRLH) metamaterial structures to combine and divide electromagnetic signals at multiple frequencies. The metamaterial properties permit significant size reduction over a conventional N-way radial power combiner or divider. Dual-band serial power combiners and dividers and single-band and dual-band radial power combiners and dividers are described.
1. A multi-band communication device, comprising:
a composite right and left handed (CRLH) metamaterial device configured to divide or combine power, including:
a plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines, each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines comprising one or more CRLH unit cells having a right handed series inductance, a right handed shunt capacitance, a series capacitance, and a shunt inductance; and
a signal line electrically connected to each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines;
wherein the signal line is configured to:
receive power signals from each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines and to output a corresponding combined power signal; and
receive a power signal from another component and distribute the power signal amongst the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines; and
an antenna coupled to the CRLH metamaterial device, wherein a respective branch CRLH transmission line has an electrical length that corresponds to a phase of a 90 degree integer multiple at an operating signal frequency.
2. The multi-band communication device of claim 1 , wherein the multi-band communication device is configured to operate in at least one communication network selected from the group consisting of: a Wi-Fi communication network, a WiMAX communication network, a cellular communication network, and a GSM communication network.
3. The multi-band communication device of claim 1 , wherein the multi-band communication device is a dual-band communication device.
4. The multi-band communication device of claim 1 , wherein a respective branch CRLH transmission line has an electrical length that corresponds to a phase of zero degrees.
5. The multi-band communication device of claim 1 , wherein a respective one of the one or more CRLH unit cells has a structure with lumped circuit elements that exhibit the right handed series inductance, the right handed shunt capacitance, the series capacitance, and the shunt inductance, respectively.
6. A multi-band communication device, comprising:
a composite right and left handed (CRLH) metamaterial device configured to divide or combine power, including:
a plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines, each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines comprising one or more CRLH unit cells having a right handed series inductance, a right handed shunt capacitance, a series capacitance, and a shunt inductance; and
a signal line electrically connected to each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines;
wherein the signal line is configured to:
receive power signals from each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines and to output a corresponding combined power signal; and
receive a power signal from another component and distribute the power signal amongst the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines; and
an antenna coupled to the CRLH metamaterial device, wherein a respective one of the one or more CRLH unit cells has a structure in which the right handed series inductance, the right handed shunt capacitance, the series capacitance, and the shunt inductance are spatially distributed in the cell.
7. A multi-band communication device, comprising:
a composite right and left handed (CRLH) metamaterial device configured to divide or combine power, including:
a plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines, each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines comprising one or more CRLH unit cells having a right handed series inductance, a right handed shunt capacitance, a series capacitance, and a shunt inductance; and
a signal line electrically connected to each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines;
wherein the signal line is configured to:
receive power signals from each of the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines and to output a corresponding combined power signal; and
receive a power signal from another component and distribute the power signal amongst the plurality of branch CRLH transmission lines; and
an antenna coupled to the CRLH metamaterial device, wherein a respective one of the one or more CRLH unit cells comprises a meander microstrip.
8. A multi-band communication device, comprising:
a composite right and left handed (CRLH) metamaterial device configured to divide or combine power, including:
a CRLH transmission line comprising a plurality of CRLH unit cells coupled in series, each of the plurality of CRLH unit cells structured to have a first electrical length that corresponds to a phase of zero degrees, 180 degrees, or a multiple of 180 degrees at a first signal frequency and a second, different electrical length that corresponds to a phase of zero degrees, 180 degrees, or a multiple of 180 degrees at a second, different signal frequency, wherein at least one of the plurality of CRLH unit cells has a third electrical length that corresponds to a phase of 90 degrees or an odd multiple of 90 degrees at the first signal frequency and a fourth electrical length that is different from the third electrical length and corresponds to a phase of 90 degrees or an odd multiple of 90 degrees at the second signal frequency; and
an antenna coupled to the CRLH metamaterial device.
9. The multi-band communication device of claim 8 , wherein the multi-band communication device is configured to operate in at least one communication network selected from the group consisting of: a Wi-Fi communication network, a WiMAX communication network, a cellular communication network, and a GSM communication network.
10. The multi-band communication device of claim 8 , wherein the multi-band communication device is a dual-band communication device.
11. The multi-band communication device of claim 8 , wherein a respective one of the plurality of CRLH unit cells has a right handed series inductance, a right handed shunt capacitance, a series capacitance, and a shunt inductance.
12. The multi-band communication device of claim 11 , wherein the respective one of the plurality of CRLH unit cells has a structure in which the right handed series inductance, the right handed shunt capacitance, the series capacitance, and the shunt inductance are spatially distributed in the cell.
13. The multi-band communication device of claim 11 , wherein the respective one of the plurality of CRLH unit cells has a structure with lumped circuit elements that exhibit the right handed series inductance, the right handed shunt capacitance, the series capacitance, and the shunt inductance, respectively.
14. The multi-band communication device of claim 8 , wherein a respective one of the one or more CRLH unit cells comprises a meander microstrip.
15. A multi-band communication device, comprising:
a composite right and left handed (CRLH) metamaterial device configured to divide or combine power, including:
a dual-band CRLH transmission line comprising a plurality of CRLH unit cells coupled in series, each of the plurality of CRLH unit cells having a first electrical length that is a multiple of +/−180 degrees at a first signal frequency and a second, different electrical length that is a different multiple of +/−180 degrees at a second signal frequency, wherein at least one of the plurality of CRLH unit cells has a third electrical length that is an odd multiple of +/−90 degrees at the first signal frequency and a fourth, different electrical length that is a different odd multiple of +/−90 degrees at the second signal frequency; and
an antenna coupled to the CRLH metamaterial device.
16. The multi-band communication device of claim 15 , wherein the multi-band communication device is configured to operate in at least one communication network selected from the group consisting of: a Wi-Fi communication network, a WiMAX communication network, a cellular communication network, and a GSM communication network.
17. The multi-band communication device of claim 15 , wherein the multi-band communication device is a dual-band communication device.
18. The multi-band communication device of claim 15 , wherein the first, second, third and fourth electrical lengths correspond to phase values of 0, 360, 90, and 270 degrees, respectively.