Low cost multiple pattern antenna for use with multiple receiver systems
First Claim
1. An antenna assembly, comprising:
- multiple active antenna elements; and
at least one beam control antenna element electromagnetically coupled to a subset of the active antenna elements and electromagnetically disposed between at least two of said active antenna elements.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An antenna assembly includes at least two active or main radiating omni-directional antenna elements arranged with at least one beam control or passive antenna element used as a reflector. The beam control antenna element(s) may have multiple reactance elements that can electrically terminate it to adjust the input or output beam pattern(s) produced by the combination of the active antenna elements and the beam control antenna element(s). More specifically, the beam control antenna element(s) may be coupled to different terminating reactances to change beam characteristics, such as the directivity and angular beamwidth. Processing may be employed to select which terminating reactance to use. Consequently, the radiator pattern of the antenna can be more easily directed towards a specific target receiver/transmitter, reduce signal-to-noise interference levels, and/or increase gain by using Radio Frequency (RF), Intermediate Frequency (IF), or baseband processing. A Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) processing technique may be employed to operate the antenna assembly with simultaneous beam patterns.
63 Citations
42 Claims
-
1. An antenna assembly, comprising:
-
multiple active antenna elements; and
at least one beam control antenna element electromagnetically coupled to a subset of the active antenna elements and electromagnetically disposed between at least two of said active antenna elements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method for supporting RF communications, comprising:
-
forming at least one antenna beam pattern by multiple active antenna elements; and
affecting the at least one antenna beam pattern by at least one beam control antenna element electromagnetically coupled to and electromagnetically disposed between at least two of the active antenna elements. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
-
41. An antenna assembly, comprising:
-
multiple active antenna elements; and
beam control means for affecting at least one antenna beam pattern formed by the multiple active antenna elements, the beam control means electromagnetically coupled to and electromagnetically disposed between at least two of the active antenna elements.
-
-
42. An antenna assembly, comprising:
-
multiple active antenna elements;
at least one beam control antenna element electromagnetically coupled to the active antenna elements and electromagnetically disposed between at least two of the active antenna elements; and
means for adjusting a reactance of said at least one passive antenna element to effect at least one antenna beam pattern formed by the antenna assembly.
-
Specification