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:
Oct. 30, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 17, 2000
Oliver W. Saunders, Los Angeles, CA (US);
TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
An antenna system that includes one or more antenna feed horns (,), where each feed horn (,) includes a plurality of micro-mechanical devices (,) positioned around the aperture (,) of the feed horn (,). The micro-mechanical devices (,) are linear motion devices that can be activated to extend a conductive surface (,) beyond the end of the feed horn (,). By selectively actuating groups of the micro-mechanical devices (,) to extend the conductive surfaces (,), the end of the feed horn (,) can be changed to provide different asymmetrical configurations, causing the beam direction to change accordingly. The micro-mechanical devices (,) can be any suitable mechanical device, such as MEMS devices or carbon nanotube artificial muscles.