Raytheon Company

Gilbert M Shows

Joel C Roper

Richard W Nichols

James Stephen Mason

Raymond Dean Eppich

Gustavo A Burnum

Jacob Kim

Ike Chang

An apparatus for determining alignment of a first subsystem relative to a second subsystem. The apparatus includes a first antenna system for simultaneously transmitting a delta pattern radiation beam at a first frequency and a sum pattern radiation beam at a second frequency. The apparatus also includes a second antenna system for receiving the delta pattern radiation beam at the first frequency and the sum pattern radiation beam at the second frequency. The apparatus also includes a processor to process the received delta pattern radiation beam and sum pattern radiation beam to determine if a predetermined alignment criterion between the first antenna system and the second antenna system is satisfied.

Alignment system

An electronically scanned array antenna. The novel antenna includes a first planar array of antenna elements and one or more side planar arrays of antenna elements, each side array adjacent to the first array and tilted at a predetermined angle relative to the first array. In an illustrative embodiment, the antenna also includes a plurality of transmit/receive modules, each module coupled to one antenna element. Each transmit/receive module includes phase shifters for varying the relative phases of the antenna elements to form a desired overall beam pattern, and a low noise amplifier and high power amplifier for amplifying signals received and transmitted by the antenna element, respectively. In an illustrative embodiment, a processor provides individual phase and channel enable control signals for independently controlling the phase shifters and amplifiers, respectively, of each module.

Active electronically scanned array antenna for satellite communications

A partitioned aperture array antenna. The novel antenna includes a first subarray having a first number of antenna elements equipped with transmit functionality and a second subarray having a second number of antenna elements equipped with receive functionality, wherein the first and second numbers are not equal and the first and second subarrays have at least one common antenna element. In an illustrative embodiment, the first subarray includes a transmit circuit coupled to each antenna element in the first subarray for controlling a relative transmit phase of the antenna element to steer an overall antenna transmit beam, and the second subarray includes a receive circuit coupled to each antenna element in the second subarray for controlling a relative receive phase of the antenna element to steer an overall antenna receive beam.

Partitioned aperture array antenna

In one embodiment, a system for controlling the direction of an antenna beam includes a location identifier, an orientation sensor, and an antenna beam controller. The location identifier determines a transmit antenna location indicating the location of a transmit antenna, where the transmit antenna produces an antenna beam. The orientation sensor determines a transmit antenna orientation indicating the orientation of the transmit antenna. The antenna beam: accesses target data describing a receive antenna of a target, the target data comprising a location of the receive antenna relative to the transmit antenna; calculates a deviation value from the transmit antenna location, the transmit antenna orientation, and the target data; and adjusts the direction of the antenna beam to reduce the deviation value.

Growing community of inventors

Plano, TX, United States of America

Gilbert M Shows