Electronically agile dual beam antenna system
First Claim
1. An electronically agile antenna system comprising:
- a body having an exterior surface;
an antenna array that is operatively connected to said body, has a plurality of elements, and is capable of providing a plurality of signals that are representative of the environment about the antenna system, each of said plurality of elements being capable of providing one of said plurality of signals;
a beamformer for processing a first portion of said plurality of signals provided by said antenna array to form a first beam and for processing a second portion of said plurality of signals provided by said antenna array to form a second beam; and
means for cooperatively using said first beam and said second beam to determine information relating to the environment about the antenna system;
said beamformer includes means for selecting which of said plurality of signals are used to form said first beam and which of said plurality of signals are used to form said second beam.
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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 movement of the body on which the array is located, the array is located on the side of the body, as opposed to the front of the body. The side location also provides space for other types of sensors that are preferably located adjacent to the front surface of the body.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. An electronically agile antenna system comprising:
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a body having an exterior surface;
an antenna array that is operatively connected to said body, has a plurality of elements, and is capable of providing a plurality of signals that are representative of the environment about the antenna system, each of said plurality of elements being capable of providing one of said plurality of signals;
a beamformer for processing a first portion of said plurality of signals provided by said antenna array to form a first beam and for processing a second portion of said plurality of signals provided by said antenna array to form a second beam; and
means for cooperatively using said first beam and said second beam to determine information relating to the environment about the antenna system;
said beamformer includes means for selecting which of said plurality of signals are used to form said first beam and which of said plurality of signals are used to form said second beam. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An electronically agile antenna system comprising:
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a body that is capable of moving, has a longitudinal axis, and has an exterior surface comprised of a side surface and a front surface;
an antenna array that is operatively connected to said body and has a low profile with respect to said exterior surface, has a plurality of elements, and is capable of providing a plurality of signals that are representative of the environment about the antenna system, each of said plurality of elements being capable of providing one of said plurality of signals;
a multi-beam beamformer for processing a first portion of said plurality of signals to form a first beam and a second portion of said plurality of signals to form a second beam; and
means for using said first beam and said second beam to determine information relating to the environment about the antenna system. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. An electronically agile antenna system comprising:
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providing an antenna array that has a plurality of elements and is capable of providing a plurality of signals that are representative of the environment about the antenna system, each of said plurality of elements being capable of providing one of said plurality of signals;
using a first subset of said plurality of signals to form a first beam;
using a second subset of said plurality of signals that is different than said first subset to form a second beam;
cooperatively using said first beam and said second beam to determine information relating to the environment about the antenna system; and
electronically changing said first subset and said second subset; and
repeating said steps of using a first subset, using a second subset, and using said first beam and second beam. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification