Background of the Invention
The present invention relates to antennas and more particularly to a two channel transmit only antenna.
Summary of the Invention
An object of the present invention is to provide a two channel transmit only antenna having suppression of received and mutually coupled signals.
A feature of the present invention is the provision of a two channel transmit only antenna comprising a balanced antenna having two radiators; a ground plane disposed between the two radiators; at least one resistor connected between the two radiators; a three wire type feed system for the two radiators having one conductor connected to ground and the ground plane and two conductors each connected to a different one of the two radiators; a first two terminal source of a first transmit signal disposed in a first frequency channel having one terminal thereof connected to the one conductor; a second two terminal source of a second transmit signal disposed in a second frequency channel independent of the first channel having one terminal thereof connected to the one conductor; a first channel filter coupled between the other terminal of the first source and one of the two conductors; and a second channel filter coupled between the other terminal of the second source and the other of the two conductors.
Brief Description of the Drawing
Above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention will become more apparent by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:
FIGS. 1-5 illustrate schematic equivalent circuit diagrams useful in explaining the operation of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is an equivalent circuit diagram of the transmit only antenna in accordance with the principles of the present invention; and
FIG. 7 is a perspective elevational view, partially in section, of one embodiment of the transmit only antenna of the present invention.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
For a transmit only antenna, intermodulation of transmit signals by received signals (interference) can be reduced by use of a dual channel antenna. From FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 it is seen that a three wire feed system to a balanced antenna having two radiators 2 and 3 has two possible modes of operation: (1) an even mode with equal polarity voltages as shown in FIG. 3, and (2) an odd mode with opposite polarity voltages as shown in FIG. 2. The odd mode of FIG. 2 is the normal dipole mode with the center wire at an equi-potential plane and, therefore, transparent. The even mode operation of FIG. 3 will not support a normal dipole mode but can be forced to radiate if the center wire 4 is connected to a ground plane 5 as shown in FIG. 4, which thereby forms two monopole antennas back to back as illustrated in FIG. 5. By grounding the center conductor 4, each monopole antenna can be independently driven at any frequency via separate coaxial cables.
Since received signals are constrained as plane waves, only the dipole mode is possible on reception. Therefore, if transmission is restricted to the dual monopole mode and received to the dipole mode, isolation of the dual transmitting channels from each other and external received signals is possible.
FIG. 6 illustrates an equivalent circuit which exploits the difference of the dual monopole and dipole modes to achieve isolation of transmission and reception.
The transmit only arrangement includes the feed system 1 and the radiators 2 and 3 together with ground plane 4 operating as dual monopole antennas for transmitting. A channel filter 6 is coupled between source 7 and radiator 2 to enable transmission of a transmit signal in a first frequency channel and a channel filter 8 is coupled between source 9 and radiator 3 to enable transmission of a transmit signal in a second frequency channel independent of the first frequency channel. One or two resistors 10 are connected between the radiators 2 and 3. The channel filters 6 and 8 suppress their associated transmitter current flow in resistors 10 and suppress the loss of transmitter power (i.e. return current is blocked by the opposite channel filter in its stop band). Similarly, on receive one or both of the filters 6 and 8 are in a stop band which suppresses current loops into the sources 7 and 9 when a signal is received on radiators 2 and 3 in the dipole mode.
A further advantage is the suppression of mutual coupled signals between the monopoles in the transmit mode when a finite ground plane 5 is used. This occurs because the currents induced in the opposite monopole combined with a component of the original monopole current by vector resolution to form a dipole mode which is absorbed in resistors 10 as for received signals. The remaining vector is then the transmitted signal.
FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of the antenna system of FIG. 6. This embodiment includes a top radiator 11 and a bottom radiator 12 spaced from radiator 11 and coaxial with the longitudinal axis of radiator 11. Radiators 11 and 12 may be dipole radiators but may be any type of antenna capable of a monopole/dipole excitation (i.e. biconical, etc.). Top radiator 11 is fed by a conductor pair including the coaxial line 13 having an inner conductor 14 extending to top radiator 11 within radiator 12 coaxial of the axis of radiators 11 and 12 and an outer conductor 15 extending to a point between radiators 11 and 12. To the end of the outer conductor 15 at the point between radiators 11 and 12 are connected round rods 16 which extend outwardly from outer conductor 15 to provide ground plane 5 of FIG. 6. Bottom radiator 12 is fed by a coaxial line 17 which extends to the top of bottom radiator 12 coaxial of the axis thereof with coaxial line 17 being formed by a cylinder 18 acting as the outer conductor encircling outer conductor 15 of coaxial line 13 with outer conductor 15 of coaxial line 13 acting as the inner conductor of coaxial line 17. A feedline choke 19 is provided between cylinder 18 and radiator 12. Resistors 10 of FIG. 6 are provided by resistors 20 and 21 in FIG. 7 connected between the adjacent ends of radiators 11 and 12.
The filters 6 and 8, sources 7 and 9 and center wire 4 of FIG. 6 would be appropriately connected to coaxial lines 13 and 17 on FIG. 7 to provide the necessary excitation arrangement of the two channel transmit only antenna of the present invention.
While I have described above the principles of my invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of my invention as set forth in the objects thereof and in the accompanying claims.