Electronically agile dual beam antenna system
US6768456B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 11, 1992 |
| Grant date | Jul 27, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 10, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01Q25/02
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention provides an improved antenna system that, in one embodiment, includes an antenna array comprised of a plurality of elements, each of which is capable of providing a signal. Also included in the improved antenna system is a multi-beam beamformer for producing two spatially independent overlapping beams from the signals provided by two different subsets of the antenna array. The phase of the two beams is compared to realize an interferometer that can provide high or fine resolution data on the position of an object relative to the antenna system. The amplitude of the two beams can also be compared to obtain coarse data on the position of the object. The beamformer includes a switching network for selecting which elements of the antenna array form the two subsets. This permits, for example, the position of the beams to moved, the baseline of the two beams to be varied, and/or the beam width of the beams to be altered. To reduce adverse aerodynamic effects in certain applications, the antenna array is located conformal to the exterior surface of the body on which the array is mounted. Further, to reduce temperature related problems associated with high speed movem…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.