Low VSWR, flush-mounted, adaptive array antenna
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An antenna comprising:
- a support member; and
an arrangement of a plurality of at least three separate electromagnetic wave radiation elements symmetrically distributed in a prescribed pattern on said support member so as to define a prescribed radiating aperture of the antenna and being spaced apart at a perimeter of said arrangement from a conductive member, which conductive member provides a conductive reference plane for said elements adjacent to the perimeter of the arrangement of said elements on said support member; and
whereineach of said elements includes means for electrically coupling that respective element, at a first edge portion thereof lying in said prescribed radiating aperture and adjacent to said conductive member, to a respective signal coupling device for controlling the electromagnetic wave radiation characteristic of that element, and wherein each of said elements has a second, rectilinear edge portion thereof spaced apart from and capacitively coupled to a rectilinear edge portion of an adjacent element in an interior region of said arrangement.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electrically small, dual polarized, hemispherical coverage, multi-element adaptive array antenna exhibiting low VSWR and operational over an octave of bandwidth is flush-mounted with the airframe structure of high performance aircraft. The antenna is configured as a cavity type structure in the shape of a regular polygon and has a plurality of radiation elements mounted on an insulative support board, each of the elements being is connected to a respective output port for use in a multi-channel adaptive array system. The array provides broadband capability of nulling interfering sources having arbitrary polarization and spatial direction.
51 Citations
30 Claims
-
1. An antenna comprising:
-
a support member; and an arrangement of a plurality of at least three separate electromagnetic wave radiation elements symmetrically distributed in a prescribed pattern on said support member so as to define a prescribed radiating aperture of the antenna and being spaced apart at a perimeter of said arrangement from a conductive member, which conductive member provides a conductive reference plane for said elements adjacent to the perimeter of the arrangement of said elements on said support member; and
whereineach of said elements includes means for electrically coupling that respective element, at a first edge portion thereof lying in said prescribed radiating aperture and adjacent to said conductive member, to a respective signal coupling device for controlling the electromagnetic wave radiation characteristic of that element, and wherein each of said elements has a second, rectilinear edge portion thereof spaced apart from and capacitively coupled to a rectilinear edge portion of an adjacent element in an interior region of said arrangement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An antenna comprising:
a conductive member having a substantially regular polygon-shaped opening therein; - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
16. a plurality N of separate electromagnetic wave radiation elements arranged in a prescribed pattern, the number N of said elements corresponding to the number of sides of said polygon, respective ones of said elements being supported in said opening so as to be adjacent to but spaced apart from the corners of said substantially regular polygon-shaped opening in said conductive member;
- and wherein
each of said elements includes means for electrically coupling that respective element at a first portion thereof adjacent a respective corner of said opening in said conductive member, to a respective signal coupling device for controlling the electromagnetic wave radiation characteristic of that element.
- and wherein
-
25. An antenna comprising:
-
a conductive member having an opening therein; an arrangement of a plurality of at least three seperate electromagnetic wave radiation elements symetrically distributed in a prescribed pattern, respective ones of said elements being supported in said opening so as to define a prescribed radiating aperature of the antenna and being adjacent to but spaced apart from the periphery of said opening in said conductive member; and
whereineach of said elements includes means for electrically coupling that respective element, at a first edge portion thereof lying in said predescribed radiating aperture and adjacent to the periphery of said opening in said conductive member, to a respective signal coupling device for controlling the electromagnetic wave radiation characteristic of that element, and wherein each of said elements has a second rectilinear edge portion thereof spaced apart from and capacitively coupled to a rectilinear edge portion of an adjacent element in an interior region of said arrangement.
-
Specification