Hughes Aircraft Company

The Boeing Company

Other

Hughes Electronics Corporation

Delco Electronics Corporation

John J Wooldridge

Irwin L Newberg

Ronald I Wolfson

Joseph P Smalanskas

Jon J Gulick

Clifton Quan

Cheng P Wen

Howard S Nussbaum

Paul Christian Werntz

William David Higdon

Rick L Sturdivant

Patrick Kevin Bailleul

Claudio S Howard

Gregory S Mendolia

Mario Siracusa

Joseph J Maieron

An apparatus for simultaneous calibration and communication of active arrays of a satellite may include a base transmitter, a satellite receiver, a satellite transmitter, a base receiver, and at least one computer. The apparatus may simultaneously transmit and receive a calibration carrier and a communication carrier at different frequencies in order to calibrate the apparatus using the calibration carrier without interrupting the communication carrier. The use of different frequencies may avoid interference between the calibration and communication carriers.

Simultaneous calibration and communication of active arrays of a satellite

Array antenna calibration verification coupling interrogator and responder with mode-related interrogation signal having a previous calibration phase angle, producing in responder a characteristic interrogation response. Conjugate signal is generated by reversing phase of interrogation signal, producing in responder a characteristic conjugate response. Interrogation and conjugate responses sensed and combined to determine difference characteristic for responder array element. Responder difference characteristic iteratively determined for elements in antenna array representative of present calibration verification state. Present and previous calibration verification states compared, with significant variation adapting array to desired calibration verification state. Verification processor controls interrogator, responders, and signals providing built-in missile RADAR calibration verification.

Built-in missile RADAR calibration verification

A method and system for optimizing transmit beam and receive beam antenna radiation patterns. The method includes inputting initial estimate of beam weights for a transmit beam and a receive beam to an optimizer; and using a cost function to optimize beam weights so that a response peaks in a main region and is minimized in a sidelobe region; wherein the cost function is based on using receive beam and transmit beam characteristics.

Monostatic radar beam optimization

An improved portable antiglare screen device to be used by the driver of an automobile in combination with an exterior rear view mirror in order to prevent glare to the driver when viewing therethrough. This antiglare screen device detachably mounts onto the upper inboard side of a drivers side door, adjacent a slidable window within the door, and directly opposite the exterior rear view mirror. This antiglare screen device has a base comprising a housing and two integral mounting clips. These mounting clips are wedged down in between the slidable window and elastomeric window seal on the inboard side of the door, adjacent the slidable window, to hold the housing in place after quick installation. A manually operable mechanism, mounted within the housing, provides a collapsible framework device, comprising a duality of elongated support members, to deploy a flexible one-ply mesh. This mesh can be spread within the drivers line-of-sight of his/her exterior rear view mirror, encompassing its perimeter, for viewing the image of trailing vehicles therethrough and attenuating undue glare from the bright headlights of those vehicles. This one-ply mesh can also be retracted by the mechanism back into the housing of the base for storage and can be repeatedly deployed or retracted by the driver with one simple flick of the wrist of one hand.

Deployable antiglare screen device for drivers

A microwave frequency three-wire transmission line provides the capability of solderless interconnections between stacked microwave hybrid and printed wiring board (PWB) assemblies. Three wire-like compressible conductors are embedded in a dielectric support member. Each compressible conductor is realized by densely packing thin wire into an opening in the supporting dielectric. The dielectric preferably has a metal shielding surrounding the outer periphery to suppress higher order modes. A vertical right angle bend transition uses the transmission line to interconnect between grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) transmission lines. This orthogonal transition uses button spring contacts, thus creating a reusable solderless vertical interconnection between the two transmission lines. This transition can operate from DC to greater than 15 GHz with good match and low loss, and allows a transition from a GCPW transmission line on a first substrate to another GCPW transmission line on a second substrate stacked above the first substrate.

Microwave compression interconnect using dielectric filled three-wire

A vertical interconnect structure comprising a three-wire-line transmission line structure for providing electrical continuity between different levels of a multilevel substrate. The present invention provides a means for transferring power between various levels of the substrate without introducing excessive additional RE losses. First and second coplanar transmission line structures are disposed on first and second surfaces of the substrate. A vertical interconnect structure is disposed in the multilevel RF substrate and is coupled between the first and second transmission line structures. The vertical interconnect structure comprises three conductors having predetermined cross-sectional dimensions and predetermined separations therebetween that are adapted to transfer RE power between the first and second transmission line structures. In a completed electronic circuit employing the present invention, an electronic device is electrically coupled between two coplanar transmission line structures disposed on one surface of the substrate, and the vertical interconnect structure couples power to the electronic circuit by way of the coplanar transmission line structure disposed another surface of the substrate. The impedance of the vertical interconnect structure is determined by the relative dimensions of the three conductors and their relative separations. The three-wire-line transmission line structure supports a highly desirable TEM mode of energy propagation. The present invention is relatively easy to fabricate, in that vertical wires having a circular geometry are easily accommodated as part of the fabrication process for the substrate. The present invention provides for relatively low loss, because of the nature of the currents that flow on the conductors. The propagation characteristics are well-understood, and the vertical interconnect structure supports a highly desirable TEM mode of energy propagation.

Three-wire-line vertical interconnect structure for multilevel substrates

An electronic device operating in the microwave frequency range having components disposed in a plurality of planes, wherein the planes are stacked vertically. The electronic device is a T/R module or element forming a part of a subarray used in an active array radar. The T/R module or element comprises a transmit chip, a receive chip, low noise amplifiers, a phase shifter, an attenuator, switches, dc power supply, interconnects that interconnect the foregoing components and logic circuits to control the foregoing components. The components when stacked in a 3-D package are disposed behind a radiator or antenna, which transmits and receives the microwave signals. Behind the T/R module or element is a manifold which provides input and output to and from the T/R module or element. The microwave chips of the T/R module are monolithic microwave integrated circuit chips and control logic, which are disposed in an aluminum nitride substrate and coated with a conformal hermetic coating. The 3-D chip package can optionally include micro channel cooling by adding additional layers. The integrated circuits also employ a flip chip design for mounting to the wafers. Optional photonic interconnects could be used for communication between levels in the 3-D package and can be used between subarrays as a manifold.

Small manufacturable array lattice layers

A true time delay phased array is provided which includes a digital subarray interface in the transmit signal path. The digital transmit signal path interface includes a digital reference signal generation means and digital signal propagation means for supplying the digital reference signal to the subarray. Each subarray includes RF carrier signal generating means for generating an RF carrier signal phase coherent with the reference signal, a fiber optic true time delay circuit for applying an appropriate phase delay to the RF carrier and an appropriate true time delay to the modulation signal, and a waveform modulator for modulating the modulating signal onto the phase locked RF carrier signal to provide the transmit signal for the subarray. The present invention can be used in conjunction with existing digital interface technology for receive and control signal paths to provide an entirely digital subarray signal path interface.

Optoelectronic phased array with digital transmit signal interface

A microwave radar transceiver assembly (30) includes a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) chip (58) having a coplanar waveguide transmssion lines (100, 102, 104) formed on the same surface (58a) as the electronic elements thereof. Coplanar waveguide transmission lines (68, 70, 72) are also formed on a surface (62a) of a substrate (62). The transceiver chip (58), in addition to other chips (56, 60), are mounted on the substrate (62) in a flip-chip arrangement, with the respective surfaces (58a, 62a) on which the transmission lines (100, 102, 104; 68, 70, 72) are formed facing each other. Electrically conductive bumps (106, 108, 110) are formed on portions of the transmission lines (100, 102, 104) of the chips (56, 58, 60) which are to be interconneced with the transmission lines (68, 70, 72) of the substrate (62), and solder (114) is formed on the portions of the transmission line (68, 70, 72) of the substrate (62) which are to be interconnected with the transmission lines (100, 102, 104) of the chips (56, 68, 60). The bumps (106, 108, 110) provide spacing between the mating surfaces (58a, 62a) of the substrate (62) and chips (56, 68, 60), and isolation between electronic elements on the chips (56, 58, 60).

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Manhattan Beach, CA, United States of America

John J Wooldridge