Beam-Forming Network For An Array Antenna And Array Antenna Comprising The Same

• US 20150341098A1
• Filed: 11/26/2012
• Published: 11/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agence Spatiale Europeenne
• Original Assignee: Agence Spatiale Europeenne
• Inventors: Angeletti, Piero, Toso, Giovanni, Petrolati, Daniele
• Granted Patent: US 9,374,145 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/00 Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/40 with phasing matrix
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0691 using subgroups of transmit antennas

Abstract

A beam-forming network for an emitting array antenna having at least N_B input ports connected to respective beam ports of the beam-forming network and at least N_OSA>1 output ports, for associating to each output port a linear combination of input signals from respective input ports; a set of at least N_OSA lossless single-mode networks, each having an input port connected to a respective output port of multi-beam network and at least N_NOSA^OSA>1 output ports, for associating to each output port a signal obtained by weighting an input signal from the input port; and a set of at least N_NOSA≧N_NOSA^OSA lossless multi-mode networks, each having at least N_NOSA^OSA N_OSA^NOSA input ports, each one connected to an output port of a respective single-mode network, and at least N_E^NOSA>1 output ports connected to respective antenna ports of the beam-forming network, for associating to each output port a linear combination of input signals from respective input ports.

Claims

1. A beam-forming network (BFN) for an emitting array antenna, having N_B≧

1 beam ports (BP), each corresponding to an antenna beam, and N_E>

1 antenna ports (AP), each corresponding to an antenna element, the network comprising;

a multi-beam network (MBN) having at least N_B input ports connected to respective beam ports of the beam-forming network and at least N_OSA>

1 output ports, for associating to each said output port a linear combination of input signals from respective input ports;

a set of at least N_OSA lossless single-mode networks (SMN), each having an input port (OSA-IP) connected to a respective output port of said multi-beam network OSA and at least N_NOSA^OSA>

1 output ports, for associating to each said output port a signal obtained by weighting an input signal from said input port; and

a set of at least N_NOSA≧

N_NOSA^{OSA A} lossless multi-mode networks (MMN), each having at least N_NOSA^OSA N_OSA^NOSA input ports (NOSA-IP), each one connected to an output port of a respective single-mode network, and at least N_E^NOSA>

1 output ports connected to respective antenna ports of the beam-forming network, for associating to each said output port a linear combination of input signals from respective input ports.

2. A beam-forming network according to claim 1, wherein all said single-mode networks are identical to each other and all said multi-mode networks are identical to each other, and wherein the output ports of each single-mode network are connected to different homologue input ports of different homologue ports of N_OSA^NOSA multi-mode networks.

3. A beam-forming network according to claim 1, wherein each said multi-modes network implements a one- or two-dimensional Fourier transform.

4. A beam-forming network according to claim 1, wherein said multi-beam network is reconfigurable.

5. A beam-forming network according to claim 1, further comprising power amplifiers (HPA) placed at the input ports of said single-mode networks.

6. A beam-forming network according to claim 1, further comprising power amplifiers (HPA) placed at the output of said multi-mode networks.

11. An array antenna comprising N_E antenna elements (AE) and a beam-forming network (BFN) according to claim 1, whose antenna ports are connected to said antenna elements.

12. An array antenna according to claim 11, wherein said antenna elements (AE) form a lattice partitioned into identical non-overlapping sub-arrays (NOSA) which, in turn, form an array of sub-arrays which is partitioned into identical overlapping sub-arrays (OSA), each of said overlapping sub-arrays being constituted by a plurality of non-overlapping sub-arrays, and wherein:

all the antenna elements belonging to a same non-overlapping sub-array are connected to a same multi-mode network (MMN); and

all the multi-mode networks connected to non-overlapping sub-arrays belonging to a same overlapping sub-array are connected to a same single-mode network (SMN).

13. An array antenna according to claim 11, wherein said antenna elements are organized in a bi-dimensional lattice.

7. A beam-forming network (BFN) for a receiving array antenna, having N_B≧

1 beam ports (BP), each corresponding to an antenna beam, and N_E>

1 antenna ports (AP), each corresponding to an antenna element, the network comprising;

a set of at least N_NOSA>

1 lossless multi-mode networks (MMN), each having at least N_E^NOSA>

1 input ports connected to respective antenna ports of the beam-forming network, and at least N_NOSA^OSA>

1 N_OSA^NOSA>

1 output ports, for associating to each said output port a linear combination of input signals from respective input ports;

a set of at least N_OSA lossless single-mode networks (SMN), each having at least N_NOSA^OSA input ports connected to respective output ports of respective multi-mode networks and an output port, for associating to said output port a signal obtained by weighting an input signal from said input ports; and

a multi-beam network (MBN) having at least N_OSA input ports connected to the output ports of respective single-mode networks and at least N_B output ports connected to respective beam ports of the beam-forming network, for associating to each said output port a linear combination of input signals from respective input ports.

8. A beam-forming network according to claim 7, wherein all said single-mode networks are identical to each other and all said multi-mode networks are identical to each other, and wherein the input ports of each single-mode network are connected to different homologue output ports of different homologue ports of N_NOSA^OSA multi-mode networks.

9. A beam-forming network according to claim 7, wherein each said multi-modes network implements a one- or two-dimensional Fourier transform.

10. A beam-forming network according to claim 7, wherein said multi-beam network is reconfigurable.