Method and apparatus for doubling the capacity of a lens-based switched beam antenna system

• US 9,041,603 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2011
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Roper, Joel C., Ommodt, Kevin W., Hill, James D.
• Primary Examiner(s): LIU, HARRY K
• Application Number:
  US13/333,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20130162478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,252 Days
• Field of Search: 342/373, 342/374, 342/377
• US Class Current: 342/373
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/062 for focusing
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/008 lens fed multibeam arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/2658 Phased-array fed focussing structure

Abstract

A lens-based switched beam antenna system including a beam-forming lens, and a beam port router coupled to the beam-forming lens, including a plurality of beam ports, and configured to transmit beams via corresponding ones of the beam ports, wherein a first group of the beam ports corresponds to a first signal, and wherein a second group of the beam ports corresponds to a second signal.

Claims

1. A lens-based switched beam antenna system comprising:

a plurality of antenna elements for receiving and transmitting beams;

a beam-forming lens coupled to the plurality of antenna elements;

a beam port router coupled to the beam-forming lens and comprising a plurality of beam ports to transmit beams to and receive beams from the plurality of antenna elements, via corresponding ones of the beam ports;

a first switch matrix directly coupled to even numbered beam ports of the beam port router to transmit and receive, without a beam combiner and without a beam splitter, a first signal corresponding to a first beam set; and

a second switch matrix directly coupled to odd numbered beam ports of the beam port router to transmit and receive, without a beam combiner and without a beam splitter, a second signal different from the first signal and corresponding to a second beam set different from the first beam set.

2. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 1, further comprising an antenna array configured to form a far field beam corresponding to the beams transmitted from the beam port router to the beam-forming lens.

3. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 2, further comprising a processor for operating the first switch matrix and the second switch matrix corresponding to an angle or shape of the far field beam.

4. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 1, further comprising an antenna array configured to detect a far field signal in a far field and to transmit the beams corresponding to the far field signal to the beam port router via the beam-forming lens.

5. A lens-based switched beam antenna system comprising:

a plurality of switch matrices, each comprising a plurality of switches, and each for transmitting transmitted beams corresponding to a transmit signal, and for transmitting a receive signal corresponding to received beams, without a beam combiner and without a beam splitter;

a beam port router coupled to the switch matrices, comprising a plurality of beam ports corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of switches, and configured to transmit the transmitted beams and received beams;

a beam-forming lens coupled to the beam port router to transmit the received beams to, and receive the transmitted beams from, the beam port router; and

an antenna array configured to be illuminated by the transmitted beams passing through the beam-forming lens to form a far field beam, and configured to transmit the received beams to the beam-forming lens corresponding to a detected far field signal, wherein the transmitted beams comprise a plurality of beam sets each corresponding to respective ones of the transmit signals.

6. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 5, wherein the beam ports comprise a plurality of groups, each group corresponding to a corresponding one of the beam sets.

7. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 5, further comprising a processor for operating the plurality of switches.

8. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to operate the plurality of switches corresponding to an angle of the far field beam.

9. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 7, further comprising a lookup table for mapping angles of the far field beam corresponding to operation of the plurality of switches.

10. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to analyze one or more receive signals to estimate at least one of a location and a strength of the detected far field signal.

11. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 5, wherein the antenna array comprises a plurality of antenna elements for transmitting the received beams to selected ones of the beam ports via the beam-forming lens corresponding to the detected far field signal.

12. The lens-based switched beam antenna system of claim 11, wherein the antenna elements each correspond to one or more of the beam ports, and are respectively illuminated by the transmitted beams passing through the corresponding beam ports.

13. A method for doubling a capacity of a lens-based switched beam antenna system, the method comprising:

processing a plurality of signals, each signal for producing a corresponding beam set;

delivering each of the plurality of signals to a corresponding switch matrix of a plurality of switch matrices, wherein each of the plurality of switch matrices is without a beam combiner and without a beam splitter;

determining a desired far field beam angle corresponding to the plurality of signals;

operating switches of the switch matrices according to the desired far field beam angle;

directly passing one or more beams corresponding to the plurality of signals through open ones of the switches into a beam port router;

directly passing the one or more beams from the beam port router into a beam-forming lens; and

illuminating an antenna array with the one or more beams from the beam-forming lens to produce a far field beam corresponding to the desired far field beam angle.