US 11,670,861 B2
Nyquist sampled traveling-wave antennas
Michael Boyarsky, Durham, NC (US); Timothy Sleasman, Durham, NC (US); Jonah Gollub, Durham, NC (US); Seyedmohammadreza Faghih Imani, Tempe, AZ (US); and David R. Smith, Durham, NC (US)
Assigned to Duke University, Durham, NC (US)
Filed by Duke University, Durham, NC (US)
Filed on Nov. 25, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/105,020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/939,746, filed on Nov. 25, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0175630 A1, Jun. 10, 2021
Int. Cl. H01Q 11/02 (2006.01); H01Q 1/38 (2006.01); H01Q 21/08 (2006.01); H01Q 13/20 (2006.01)
CPC H01Q 11/02 (2013.01) [H01Q 1/38 (2013.01); H01Q 13/20 (2013.01); H01Q 21/08 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising:
a 2D traveling-wave antenna array comprising a plurality of adjacent 1D traveling-wave antennas, wherein each of the adjacent 1D traveling-wave antennas includes:
a radiating waveguide; and
a plurality of tunable elements that are arranged in a single direction along a surface of the radiating waveguide, wherein the plurality of tunable elements are spaced at, near, or above a Nyquist limit spacing for the apparatus to form an array of tunable elements across the 2D traveling-wave antenna array;
a phase diversity feed coupled to a corresponding aperture of each adjacent 1D traveling-wave antenna in the 2D traveling-wave antenna array, the phase diversity feed comprising a feed waveguide that is separate from each radiating waveguide, the feed waveguide providing a selected phase diverse input to two or more of the plurality of adjacent 1D traveling-wave antennas, the phase diverse input comprising a first phase for a first 1D traveling-wave antenna and a second phase for a second 1D traveling-wave antenna, wherein the first and second phases are specifically selected based on one or more characteristics of the 2D traveling-wave antenna array to suppress or eliminate grating lobes in an output radiation pattern; and
a plurality of grayscale tuning elements that tune the plurality of tunable elements along one or more ranges of one or more tuning variables to form one or more specific output radiation patterns through the 2D traveling-wave antenna array based on the input.