Constant beamwidth antenna

Abstract

An array antenna feed system which provides a constant beamwidth over a large bandwidth of operating frequencies. In transmitter applications, the applied signal is divided into correction and basic signals by a frequency sensitive splitter. The magnitudes of the basic and correction signals provided by the splitter vary sinusoidally with frequency and are displaced a quarter cycle from each other on the frequency scale. The correction and basic signals are combined in series or corporate coupler arrays to drive the individual antenna elements. Coupler coefficients are predetermined to make the complex addition of the correction and basic signals provide a resulting synthesized signal which gives the desired voltage distribution for the same beamwidth at the operating frequency limits. In receiving applications, the splitter functions to combine the correction and basic signals from the coupler array and transfer a combined signal to the receiver circuitry.