Abstract:
An antenna mount for supporting a whip antenna on a ground vehicle has an upper part and a lower part, the upper part supports the whip antenna and has an upper mounting ring and the lower part extends through an outer shell of the vehicle has a lower mounting ring, one or more intermediate rings are disposed between the upper ring and the lower ring and incorporate a cavity for containing a GPS antenna.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to antennas and more particularly to an antenna mount incorporating an antenna for use in the Global Positioning System (GPS).  
           [0003]    2. Background of Related Art  
           [0004]    GPS has become of critical importance in navigation of aircraft and many land vehicles, such as military vehicles. A GPS antenna is preferably mounted externally to a vehicle and is typically mounted in a separate housing. For certain applications, particularly for military ground vehicles, the antenna mount must be a rugged mount which can withstand substantial forces on the antenna, such as occurs in contact with trees or other structures. Many military tracked vehicles are armor plated and typically are provided with only two standard openings in the structure for antenna placement. With the proliferation of communication and navigational equipment in military vehicles, this limited number of openings is inadequate. Furthermore, armor plated vehicles cannot be readily modified to accommodate additional antenna mounts.  
           [0005]    Known antenna mounts for military vehicles and the like, typically include a housing having an upper portion extending external to an outer wall of the vehicle and mounting a flexible antenna, while a lower portion of the housing extends through the vehicle wall for connecting the antenna to radio apparatus. Combination mounts for a GPS antenna in combination with a standard radio frequency (RF) antenna are known from the prior art. However, such mounts have to be especially designed and replace existing antenna mounts. Such replacement is costly, time consuming and typically changes the profile of the antenna mount to a significant extent. Furthermore, known combination antenna mounts are not designed to be rugged mounts that can withstand the forces on the antenna structure that is required for armored military vehicles.  
           [0006]    It is desirable, therefor, to provide a rugged antenna housing for a GPS antenna. However, it is also desirable to provide a rugged GPS antenna structure without making further openings the exterior walls of the vehicle.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    In accordance with the present invention, a standard rugged antenna mount for supporting an RF antenna, having an upper part extending external to an outer wall of a vehicle and a lower part extending through an existing antenna mount opening in the wall, is modified by the addition of at least one ring disposed exterior to the wall of the vehicle and incorporating a GPS antenna. In accordance with one specific aspect of the invention, the ring comprises a spacial area specifically adapted to mount the GPS antenna. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the ring comprises the first and second rings, disposed adjacent one another, and each having an extended area and a cavity in the extended area for housing the GPS antenna.  
           [0008]    Advantageously, in accordance with the present invention, the ring disposed between the upper part of the RF antenna housing and the lower part of the RF antenna housing contains a GPS antenna which may be connected to GPS read-out equipment through an opening in the lower part of the antenna housing disposed internal to the vehicle. Furthermore, the ring containing the GPS antenna may be added to a standard rugged antenna mount by simply adding the ring mounting the GPS antenna, without any significant change to the standard rugged antenna mount. The ring may be attached to a standard rugged antenna mount by means of screws extending through a rim portion of the antenna mount.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    In the drawings:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an antenna mount incorporating the principles of the invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along line  2 - 2  of FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3. is a cross-sectional view along line  3 - 3  of FIG. 1;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the antenna mount of FIG. 1 along line  4 - 4 ; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a breakaway right hand elevational side view of the antenna mount of FIG. 1.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0015]    Shown in FIG. 1 is an antenna mounting base  100  extending through an outer wall  104  of a vehicle. The antenna mounting base  100  supports an RF antenna  110  on a coiled spring support  111 , such as is commonly used on military ground vehicles, and incorporates a global positioning system (GPS) antenna internal to the mounting base  100 . Further shown in FIG. 1 is an RF connecting cable  106  and a GPS connecting cable  108 , both extending through a lower wall  105  of the antenna mounting base  100  to the interior to the vehicle. The cable  106  connects RF signals from the antenna  110  to RF equipment (not shown in the drawing) interior to the vehicle and the cable  108  connects signals from the GPS antenna to GPS read-out equipment (not shown in the drawing) interior to the vehicle. The mounting base  100  has an upper part  102  disposed exterior to the wall  104  and a lower part  103  disposed interior to the wall  104 . The mounting base  100  includes a multiple ring structure  109  consisting of an upper mounting ring  107 , an upper GPS ring  112 , an upper GPS ring extension  113 , a lower GPS ring  114 , a lower GPS ring extension  115 , and a lower mounting ring  118 . The upper GPS ring  112  and the lower GPS ring  114  are removable rings. The upper mounting ring  107  and the lower mounting ring  118  are each formed as part of the antenna base  100  to provide a mounting ring whereby the base  100  is attached to a vehicle. As will be described further later herein, the upper and lower GPS rings  112 ,  114  together with ring extensions  113 ,  115  house the GPS antenna. The rings  107 ,  112 ,  114  and  118  are mounted to the outer wall of the vehicle  104  by means of screws (not shown in FIG. 1) extending through the rings  107 ,  112 ,  114  and  118 . A mounting ring cover  130  is shown in a break-away view. The cover extends around the rings  107 ,  112 ,  114  and  118  and terminates at opposite ends of the ring extensions  113 ,  115 .  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along line  2 - 2  of FIG. 1 and provides a top view of the lower GPS ring  114  together with the lower GPS ring extension  115 . Mounting screws  120 , shown in cross-section in FIG. 2, extend through upper mounting ring  107 , the upper GPS ring  112 , the lower GPS ring  114  and lower mounting ring  118  in to the outer wall  104  to fasten the antenna base  100  to the vehicle. Further shown in FIG. 2, in cross section is an antenna wire  122  extending in central cavity  119  of the antenna base  100 . The antenna wire  122  connects the RF antenna  110  to the RF cable  106  shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0017]    The lower GPS ring extension  115  is provided with a cavity  116  for retaining a GPS antenna and with a channel opening  128  extending from the cavity  116  to the central cavity  119 . FIG. 2 shows a GPS antenna  117  disposed in the cavity  116  and connected via a lead wire  123 , extending through the channel opening  128 , to a GPS wire connector  124 . The GPS wire connector  124  is connected to GPS read-out equipment internal to the vehicle via the GPS connecting cable  108  shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along the line  3 - 3  of FIG. 1 and provides a bottom view of the upper GPS ring  112 . FIG. 3 shows the screws  120  and the RF antenna wire  122 , in cross-section. Further shown in FIG. 3 is the upper GPS ring extension  113  provided with a cavity  126  and a channel opening  127  extending from the cavity  126  to the central cavity  119 . When the upper GPS ring  112  and the lower ring  114  are disposed adjacent each other, as depicted in FIG. 1, the cavity  116  of the upper GPS ring  112  and the and the cavity  126  of the lower GPS ring  114  are aligned to form a spacial area for containing the GPS antenna  117 . The channel opening  127  extending from the cavity  126  to the central cavity  119  and the channel opening  128  extending from the cavity  116  to the central opening, together provide a channel for the lead wire  123  extending from the GPS antenna  117  to the GPS lead wire connector  124  shown in FIG. 2.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line  4 - 4  of FIG. 1 and shows an upper side of the cover  130  as well as the upper GPS ring extension  113 . The outer wall of the upper part  102  of the mounting base  100  is shown in cross-section. Further shown in FIG. 4 are screws  120  and the antenna wire  122 , shown in cross-section. Also depicted in FIG. 4 is the GPS wire connection  124  and the lead wire  123  connecting the GPS antenna  117  (not shown in FIG. 4) to the GPS connecting cable  108 , shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a partial, breakaway right-hand elevational side view of the antenna mount of FIG. 1 including the GPS ring extensions  113 ,  115  of the upper GPS ring  112  and lower GPS ring  114 , respectively, as well as a portion of the upper and lower mounting rings  107 ,  118 . As depicted in FIG. 5, the cover  130  extends from one side of the upper and lower GPS ring extensions  113 ,  115  circumferentially around the upper mounting ring  107 , the upper and lower GPS rings  112 ,  114  and the lower mounting ring  108  to the opposite side of the upper and lower GPS ring extensions  113 ,  115 .  
         [0020]    It is to be understood that the above-described arrangement is merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention and that other arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.