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:
Jul. 27, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 07, 1998
John Richard Erlick, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Jonathan Henry Gross, Gilbert, AZ (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
The invention describes a method and system for the calibration of sectionally assembled phased array antennas. When a large, multi-sectioned phased array antenna on board a satellite (10, FIG. 1) is unfolded during deployment, an error in the alignment of a phased array antenna section (25) can cause an error in the pointing angle of the transmit antenna beam (50). A suitable receive antenna (80) receives a signal from the transmit antenna beam (50) which enables a processor unit (95, FIG. 2) to determine the required correction factor. The correction factor is then applied to the beam coefficients which control the beam of the phased array antenna section (25). Subsequent to a first measurment, the correction factor can be updated to minimize the impact of antenna element failures on the resulting antenna pattern.