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:
Mar. 03, 1992
Filed:
Jun. 29, 1989
Ajay Sreenivas, Lafayette, CO (US);
Ball Corporation, Muncie, IN (US);
Abstract
An antenna capable of transmitting and/or receiving multiple beams and particularly adapted for use with satellites. In a preferred embodiment, the antenna includes a plurality of transmit channels interconnected with a first beamforming matrix. The first beamforming matrix communicates with channel preamplifiers such that two or more transmit signals can be inputted to the first beamforming matrix. The first beamforming matrix communicates with an array of transmit elements, which is preferably divided into two or more transmit subarrays. In one example of operation, two or more beams can be contemporaneously transmitted from the transmit subarrays with the at least one of the transmit subarrays contributing to the formation of at least two of the beams. In the sme preferred embodiment, as described immediately above, the antenna includes a plurality of receive channels interconnected with a second beamforming matrix such that two or more receive signals can be outputted from the second beamforming matrix to the channel receivers. The second beamforming matrix communicates with an array of receive antenna elements which is preferably divided into two or more receive subarrays. In one example of operation, two or more beams can be contemporaneously received by the receive subarrays with at least one of the receive subarrays contributing to the reception of at least two of the beams. In another embodiment, circulators and/or diplexers can be utilized so that common antenna elements and a common beamforming matrix can be employed for both transmission and reception. Consequently, two or more beams can be contemporaneously transmitted from and/or received at the transmit/receive antenna elements, with at least one of the subarrays contributing to the formation and/or reception of at least two of the beams.