The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 16, 1986
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1983
George S Andrews, Kent, WA (US);
Thomas L Blakney, Bellevue, WA (US);
Douglas D Connell, Seattle, WA (US);
Bernard J Lamberty, Kent, WA (US);
James R Lee, Seattle, WA (US);
The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA (US);
Abstract
A monopulse spiral antenna system of the type having a minimum of three, interwound spiral arms for multimode, direction of arrival sensing, is disclosed in which the antenna arms are shaped and arranged in an overlapping configuration that allows the interarm impedance of the antenna to be adjusted, substantially independently of other electrical properties of the antenna, for matching of the antenna impedance of a mode forming network while preserving the broadband, directional capabilities of the antenna. Several different embodiments of the impedance adaptive antenna are disclosed including a preferred, eight-arm exponential spiral in which the arms are conductive strips transversely inclined relative to a plane formed by the spiral so that opposed and parallel surfaces of adjacent arm strips create a dominant interarm capacitance that in turn determines the overall input impedance of the antenna. Furthermore, the opposed, proximate surfaces of the strip-shaped arms are dimensioned, spaced and inclined at an angle that adapts the input impedance of the antenna to a value matching that of the mode forming network.