Reconfigurable, flexible multi-user electronically steered antenna (ESA) terminal

US11881627B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Lockheed Martin Corporation · US

Inventors

• Jonathan James Bennett · San Francisco, US
• Alan Cherrette · Plainsboro, US
• Andrew H. Kwon · Thousand Oaks, US
• Elie Germain Tianang · Aurora, US
• Mark Adam Patrick · Littleton, US
• Paul A. Porter · Castle Pines, US
• Gregory Eric Edlund · Littleton, US
• Robert Mark Clark · Littleton, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 30, 2020
• Grant date: Jan 23, 2024
• Expiry date: Nov 19, 2041

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04W16/28
• WIPO field: Telecommunications
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A Reconfigurable, Flexible Multi-User (RFMU) electronically steered antenna (ESA) includes a top panel and a number of side panels that enable many contacts simultaneously with varying gain requirements from a single, in situ, installation. The top panel includes multiple subarrays and can communicate with flyover satellites, and the side panels can communicate with satellites flying past a side of the ESA. The top panel and the side panels can achieve a beam steering that covers a full or partial, variable gain, hemispheric field-of-view (FoV). The RFMU ESA terminal top and side panels are scalable using flexible modular building blocks. This enables increased contacts, increased gain or a combination thereof sized to meet desired performance.