Griffin K Gothard

6369770, Apr 9, 2002

Jan 31, 2001

09/773254

Griffin K. Gothard - Satellite Beach FL
William Robert Palmer - Melbourne FL
Christopher A. Snyder - Palm Bay FL
Bing Chiang - Melbourne FL

Tantivy Communications, Inc. - Melbourne FL

H01Q 2100

343794, 343799, 343802, 343810, 343820

An antenna array for use with a mobile subscriber unit in a wireless network communications system. The invention utilizes a multiplicity of resonant strips provided within the ground plane. These strips couple to an equal multiplicity of monopole array elements located on top of the ground plane. This approach increases antenna gain by more efficiently utilizing the available ground plane area. Additionally, since the active element is on top of the ground plane, the antenna array sensitivity is decreased because the direct coupling between the antenna and external environmental factors is minimized. The multiplicity of antenna elements are electrically isolated from the ground plane. Each antenna element has a bottom end located proximal to the ground plane, and is aligned along a respective antenna axis that is substantially perpendicular to the top side. Each resonant strip has a top end electrically connected to the ground plane and a bottom end spaced apart from a bottom side of the ground plane, and is aligned along the antenna axis of a corresponding antenna element. The multiplicity of antenna elements and the multiplicity of resonant strips are equally spaced about the perimeter of the ground plane, and the combination of each antenna element with a respective resonant strip provides a unbalanced dipole antenna element so that the multiplicity of dipole antenna elements form a composite beam which may be positionally directed along a horizon that is substantially parallel to the ground plane.

6369771, Apr 9, 2002

Jan 31, 2001

09/773377

Bing Chiang - Melbourne FL
Kenneth M. Gainey - Satellite Beach FL
Griffin K. Gothard - Satellite Beach FL
Christopher A. Snyder - Palm Bay FL

Tantivy Communications, Inc. - Melbourne FL

H01Q 928

343795, 343700 MS, 343820, 343821, 343829

A dipole antenna for use with a mobile subscriber unit in a wireless network communications system. The antenna is fabricated with printed circuit board (PCB) photo-etching techniques for precise control of the printed structure. The dipole antenna includes a planar substrate made of dielectric material. A conductive planar element is layered on one side of the substrate in an upper region of the substrate, and a conductive planar ground patch is layered on the other side of the substrate in a lower region of the substrate. That is, the conductive planar element is stacked above the conductive planar ground patch. A feed strip is connected to the bottom of the conductive planar element, and extends from the element to a bottom edge of the substrate and terminates at a bottom feed point. Typically, the feed point is connected to a transmission line for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from the dipole antenna. The conductive planar ground patch includes a bottom end for connecting the ground patch to a ground plane upon which the dipole antenna is mounted.

6417806, Jul 9, 2002

Jan 31, 2001

09/773251

Griffin K. Gothard - Satellite Beach FL
Bing Chiang - Melbourne FL
Christopher A. Snyder - Palm Bay FL

Tantivy Communications, Inc. - Melbourne FL

H01Q 138

343700MS, 343846, 343702

A monopole antenna for use with a mobile subscriber unit in a wireless network communications system. The antenna includes a radiating element located near a feed point to minimize transmission delay from the feed point to the element, and a ground patch located above the element to force the beam peak down towards the horizon. The antenna is fabricated with printed circuit board (PCB) photo-etching techniques for precise control of the printed structure. The monopole antenna includes a planar substrate made of dielectric material. A conductive planar element is layered on one side of the substrate, and a conductive planar ground patch is layered on the other side of the substrate. The conductive planar element is located in a lower region of the substrate, while the location of the conductive planar ground patch is offset from the conductive planar element in an upper region of the substrate, that is, the ground patch is stacked above the conductive planar element. The feed point is typically connected to a transmission line for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from the antenna. A strip is connected to the conductive planar ground patch and extends from the patch to a bottom edge of the substrate for coupling the ground patch to a ground plane upon which the antenna is mounted.

6480157, Nov 12, 2002

May 18, 2001

09/861296

William Robert Palmer - Melbourne FL
Griffin K. Gothard - Satellite Beach FL
Christopher A. Snyder - Melbourne FL

Tantivy Communications, Inc. - Melbourne FL

H01Q 138

343700MS, 343795, 343797

A foldable antenna includes a plurality of passive elements radially spaced apart from a center active element. The radial passive elements are joined to the active element to create a deformable union. In this way, the surrounding passive elements can be folded toward the midplane of the antenna array to create a relatively compact stored configuration.

6515635, Feb 4, 2003

May 1, 2001

09/846693

Bing Chiang - Melbourne FL
Griffin K. Gothard - Satellite Beach FL
Kenneth M. Gainey - Satellite Beach FL
Joe T. Richeson - Melbourne FL

Tantivy Communications, Inc. - Melbourne FL

H01Q 1910

343834, 343836, 343837, 343853

A directive antenna includes plural antenna elements in an antenna assemblage. A feed network connected to the antenna elements includes at least one switch to select a state of one of the antenna elements to be in an active state in response to a control signal. The other antenna elements are in a passive state, electrically coupled to an impedance to be in a reflective mode. The antenna elements in the passive state are electromagnetically coupled to the active antenna element, allowing the antenna assemblage to directionally transmit and receive signals. The directive antenna may further include an assisting switch associated with each antenna element to assist coupling the antenna elements, while in the passive state, to the respective impedances. The antenna assemblage may be circular for a 360Â discrete scan in N directions, where N is the number of antenna elements. The directive antenna is suitable for use in a high data rate network having greater than 50 kbits per second data transfer rates, where the high data rate network may use CDMA2000, 1eV-DO, 1Extreme, or other such protocol.

6600456, Jul 29, 2003

May 16, 2001

09/859001

Griffin K. Gothard - Satellite Beach FL
Christopher A. Snyder - Palm Bay FL
Bing Chiang - Melbourne FL
Joe T. Richeson - Melbourne FL
Douglas H. Wood - Palm Bay FL
Kenneth M. Gainey - Satellite Beach FL

Tantivy Communications, Inc. - Melbourne FL

H01Q 324

343834, 342372

An antenna apparatus which can increase capacity in a cellular communication system. The antenna operates in conjunction with a mobile subscriber unit and provides a plurality of antenna elements. At least one active antenna element is active and essentially centrally located within multiple passive antenna elements. The passive antenna elements are coupled to selectable impedance components. Through proper control of the passive antenna elements, the cellular communication system directs an antenna beam pattern toward an antenna tower of a base station to maximize gain, and, consequently, signal-to-noise ratio. Thus, optimum reception is achieved during, for example, an idle mode which receives a pilot signal. The antenna array creates a beamformer for signals to be transmitted from the mobile subscriber unit, and a directional receiving array to more optimally detect and receive signals transmitted from the base station. By directionally receiving and transmitting signals, multipath fading is greatly reduced as well as intercell interference.

6606057, Aug 12, 2003

Apr 30, 2001

09/845133

Bing Chiang - Melbourne FL
Griffin K. Gothard - Satellite Beach FL
Christopher A. Snyder - Palm Bay FL
Kenneth M. Gainey - Satellite Beach FL

Tantivy Communications, Inc. - Melbourne FL

H01Q 302

342374, 342435, 343753, 343818, 343833

An antenna array having a central active element and a plurality of passive elements surrounding the active element is disclosed. A dielectric substrate or other slow wave structure is disposed radially outwardly from the passive elements for slowing the radio frequency waves so as to increase the antenna directivity by reducing the amount of energy radiated in the elevation direction.

6697028, Feb 24, 2004

Aug 29, 2002

10/231933

Griffin K. Gothard - Satellite Beach FL
Timothy E. Durham - Palm Bay FL
Jay A. Kralovec - Melbourne FL

Harris Corporation - Melbourne FL

H01Q 1919

343781CA, 343837, 343781 P

A ring focus antenna and method of using same. The ring focus antenna can have a main reflector of revolution shaped as a non-regular paraboloid about a boresight axis of the antenna. A sub-reflector/feed pair is provided comprising a sub-reflector of revolution shaped as a non-regular ellipsoid having a ring-shaped focal point about the boresight axis. A feed element is installed at a feed element location separated spaced from a vertex of the sub-reflector on the boresight axis of the antenna. The main reflector is adapted for operation with multiple sub-reflector/feed pairs having a coupled configuration, and multiple sub-reflector/feed pairs having a decoupled configuration (i. e. classical optical dual reflector system). The main reflector is operable at a plurality of spectrally offset frequency bands. For example, the antenna can be designed for operation over C-band, X-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band.