Elta Systems Ltd.

Haim Reichman

Yacov Vagman

Alexander Lomes

Harel Badichi

Gregory Lukovsky

Mark Rosenkrantz

Elad Goshen

A method and system are presented for managing operation of a conformal phased-array antenna. The method comprises: providing structural data about the antenna to be operated, said structural data comprising data indicative of a geometry of a curved radiating surface defined by an arrangement of N antenna elements of the phased array and data indicative of said arrangement of N antenna elements; utilizing input data indicative of a selected direction of antenna operation and processing said structural data about the antenna, said processing comprising determining operational data for each of the antenna elements defining a desired radiation pattern of the antenna for said selected direction, said operational data comprising amplitude, phase and polarization of radiation for each antenna element.

System and method for operating conformal antenna

A method for calibrating an antenna comprising a phased array of antenna elements connected to a plurality of transceivers, the method comprising providing an RF source located close to the antenna and synchronized with the transceivers, determining, per antenna element, a calibration ratio adapted to accommodate for presence of at least one interfering structure electromagnetically interfering with a signal transmitted from the RF source and received by the antenna, wherein the determining includes generating simulated far field and near field signals so as to simulate a signal transmitted by an RF source located at infinity and located near the RF source respectively, internally injecting an internal signal into the antenna via an internal injection network, using the RF source to externally inject an external signal into the antenna; and, for each individual antenna element, computing said calibration ratio by combining information characterizing the internal and external signals as received by the individual antenna element with a correction factor characterizing the simulated far field and near field signals; and calibrating the antenna using the per-antenna element calibration ratios adapted to accommodate for presence of at least one interfering structure.

System and method for calibration of phased array antenna having integral calibration network in presence of an interfering body

A phased antenna arrangement and a method for estimating the calibration ratio of an active phased antenna having a plurality of phased array antenna elements are described. The phased antenna arrangement includes a plurality of antenna elements, a plurality of receiving channels, an injection unit for injection of calibrating signals into the receiving channels, a point RF-source, located in a far field zone, a distance measurement unit, an amplitude and phase measurement unit and a data processing unit. The method comprises injecting an internal calibrating signal having a known amplitude and phase to each antenna element. An external calibration signal from a stationary RF-source is sequentially injected to all of the phased array antenna elements so that different phases of the external calibration signal arrive at each of the antenna elements. The differences in phases of the external calibration signal reaching the antenna elements are compensated so as compute an effective signal amplitude that would reach all of the antenna elements at zero phase difference. Calibration ratio is calculated as the ratio between the amplitude of the internal calibrating signal to the effective signal amplitude of the external calibration signal.

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Mazkeret Batia, Israel

Haim Reichman