Phased array antenna and a method of operating a phased array antenna
First Claim
1. A phased array antenna comprising a first antenna element and a plurality of second antenna elements configured to receive signals, each of said antenna elements comprising a controllable oscillator configured to provide an output signal for use as part of a demodulation or down-conversion operation for converting a received signal to a frequency converted output signal of the antenna element, and wherein the phase of the output signal of the controllable oscillator of said first antenna element is adjustable responsive to a phase control signal representative of a comparison between the frequency converted output signal of the first antenna element and a composite of the frequency converted output signals of the first antenna element and the plurality of second antenna elements, such that said composite of the output signals has an improved signal-to-noise ratio.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An element of a phased array antenna is provided. The element comprises a phase tracking circuit configured to multiply the in-phase component (In) of a local output signal by the quadrature phase component (Qout) of an external output signal to generate a phase control signal (535) and/or to multiply the quadrature component (Qn) of a local output signal by the in-phase component (lout) of an external output signal to generate a phase control signal (535).
-
Citations
40 Claims
- 1. A phased array antenna comprising a first antenna element and a plurality of second antenna elements configured to receive signals, each of said antenna elements comprising a controllable oscillator configured to provide an output signal for use as part of a demodulation or down-conversion operation for converting a received signal to a frequency converted output signal of the antenna element, and wherein the phase of the output signal of the controllable oscillator of said first antenna element is adjustable responsive to a phase control signal representative of a comparison between the frequency converted output signal of the first antenna element and a composite of the frequency converted output signals of the first antenna element and the plurality of second antenna elements, such that said composite of the output signals has an improved signal-to-noise ratio.
-
20. A method of setting the phase of a controllable oscillator of a first antenna element of a phased array antenna wherein the output signal of the controllable oscillator is used as part of a demodulation or down-conversion operation to convert a received signal to a frequency converted output signal of the first antenna element, the method comprising:
-
comparing the output signal of the first antenna element with a composite of output signals of the first antenna element and a plurality of second antenna elements, wherein each of the second antenna elements comprises a controllable oscillator configured to provide an output signal for use as part of a demodulation or down-conversion operation for converting a received signal to a frequency converted output signal; generating a phase control signal representative of the comparison; adjusting the phase of the output signal generated by the controllable oscillator associated with the first antenna element in response to the phase control signal such that said composite of the output signals has an improved signal-to-noise ratio. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. A phased array antenna system comprising a plurality of antenna elements configured to receive signals, each of the antenna elements comprising:
-
a controllable oscillator configured to provide an output signal for use as part of a demodulation or down-conversion operation for converting a signal received by said antenna element to a frequency converted output signal of said antenna element, and a phase feedback element for generating a phase control signal for adjusting phase of said controllable oscillator based on a comparison between the frequency converted output signal of said antenna element and a composite of frequency converted output signals of the antenna elements so as to improve gain of said phased array antenna system. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40)
-
Specification