Azimuth steerable antenna

• US 6,037,905 A
• Filed: 08/06/1998
• Issued: 03/14/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: United States Department of the Army
• Original Assignee: The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army
• Inventors: Koscica, Thomas E., Liban, Bruce J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Hoanganh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ho, Tan
• Application Number:
  US09/130,427
• Time in Patent Office: 586 Days
• Field of Search: 343/701, 343/702, 343/825, 343/826, 343/827, 343/833, 343/837, 343/799, 343/812, 343/813, 343/815, 343/817, 343/818, 343/819, 343/742, 343/741, 343/866, 343/867
• US Class Current: 343/701
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/32 the primary active element being end-fed and elongated
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/12 Parallel arrangements of substantially straight elongated conductive units travelling-wave antennas comprising transmission line loaded with transverse elements H01Q11/02; Yagi antennas H01Q19/30
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/26 Turnstile or like antennas comprising arrangements of three or more elongated elements disposed radially and symmetrically in a horizontal plane about a common centre
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/29 Combinations of different interacting antenna units for giving a desired directional characteristic H01Q25/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching

Abstract

An antenna system is described having a plurality of elements, one of which is an active element for transmitting or receiving signal, the remaininglements acting as reflectors, and wherein the elements may be comprised of a series of diodes connected in series with conductors having a length that is a fraction of the wavelength of the design frequency. When its diodes are biased for conduction, an element can radiate or receive r.f. signals or act as a reflector, and when its diodes are not conducting, the element is transparent to r.f. of the design frequency.

Claims

1. An antenna system for a transceiver, comprising:

a central linear element;

a plurality of linear elements;

a means for coupling said transceiver to one of said plurality of linear elements, said plurality of linear elements surrounding said central element and being in parallel with said central element;

said plurality of linear elements being formed with diodes connected in series by conductors, the conductors having a length that is a fraction of a wavelength of an operating frequency of said transceiver connected to said antenna system; and

a means for selectively biasing the diodes of any one of said plurality of linear elements into one of first and second modes, said first mode being for forward biasing said diodes to cause their associated linear element to act as a reflector, and said second mode being for revere biasing said diodes to cause their associated linear element to be transparent.

2. An antenna system for a transceiver comprising:

a plurality of antenna elements;

said antenna elements being comprised of a series of diodes connected by conductors that are a fraction of the wavelength of an operating frequency of said transceiver; and

means for biasing the diodes of at least two of said antenna elements for conduction;

whereby the elements having diodes conducting can serve as a reflector or an active element.

3. An antenna element comprising:

a plurality of diodes arranged in a loop;

biasing resistors respectively in shunt with the diodes; and

connectors between the diodes that are a small fraction of the wavelength for which the element is to be used.

4. An antenna system for a transceiver comprising:

a plurality of antenna elements each of which is formed by diodes connected in series by conductors to form a loop, the conductors being a fraction of the wavelength of an operating frequency of said transceiver, and biasing resistors respectively in shunt with the dividers;

a first bus;

a second bus; and

switches for selectively coupling each of said antenna elements to either or both of said first and second buses.

5. An antenna system as set forth in claim 4 further comprising:

a source of D.C. voltage connected to said first bus; and

said transceiver being connected to said second bus.