Waveguide/transmission line converter configured to feed a plurality of antenna elements in an antenna device

Inventor: Masayuki Sugano (Tokyo, JP)

Assignee: Japan Radio Co., Ltd.

H01P5/107 H01Q13/08 H01Q21/0006 H01Q21/06 H01Q21/065

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 10,483,611
App. No.: 15/560,396
Granted: Nov 19, 2019
Kind: B2

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Abstract

A metal member which allows a waveguide to extend inside a dielectric substrate and is adapted to hold a short-circuit metal layer at a potential same as a potential of the waveguide is made to remain along cross-sections of the two wide walls of the waveguide and is removed along cross-sections of two narrow walls of the waveguide so as to prevent an electromagnetic wave from unintendedly being radiated.

Claims (46)

1. A waveguide/transmission line converter configured to convert power transmitted by a waveguide and power transmitted by at least one transmission line to each other, the waveguide/transmission line converter comprising:

the waveguide having two wide walls and two narrow walls;

a dielectric substrate arranged in a manner blocking an opening of the waveguide;

a short-circuit metal layer arranged on a surface of the dielectric substrate and outside of the waveguide, and held at a potential which is the same as a potential of the waveguide either by a metal member penetrating the dielectric substrate along cross-sections of the two wide walls of the waveguide and not along cross-sections of the two narrow walls of the waveguide or by a metal member penetrating the dielectric substrate along the cross-sections of the two wide walls and a cross-section of one of the two narrow walls of the waveguide and not along a cross-section of the other of the two narrow walls of the waveguide; and

a matching element arranged on a surface of the dielectric substrate and inside the waveguide, coupled to the transmission line, and having a resonant length in an electric field direction inside the waveguide and in a feed power direction of the transmission line, wherein the resonant length is adapted to set up, as a standing wave, an electromagnetic wave transmitting the power transmitted by the waveguide and having an effective wavelength in a surrounding environment of the dielectric substrate.

2. The waveguide/transmission line converter according to claim 1 , further comprising a dielectric layer formed on surfaces of the transmission line and the short-circuit metal layer.

3. The waveguide/transmission line converter according to claim 2 , wherein the dielectric layer has a thickness of 0.2 times or less of an effective wavelength of an electromagnetic wave transmitting the power transmitted by the transmission line in the surrounding environment of the waveguide/transmission line converter.

4. The waveguide/transmission line converter according to claim 3 , wherein the power is transmitted by a plurality of transmission lines extending in at least one of two opposite directions away from the waveguide/transmission line converter along a resonant length direction of the matching element.

5. An antenna device having a plurality of antenna elements arranged in a lattice shape on a plane, wherein

the plurality of antenna elements arranged in a lattice shape are divided into a plurality of antenna elements arranged in columns,

the power is fed to the plurality of antenna elements arranged in each column by the transmission line connected to the waveguide/transmission line converter according to claim 4 arranged in a center of each column,