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. 31, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 15, 2001
Bruno W. Hollenstein, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Ann N. Tulintseff, Seattle, WA (US);
Rajan P. Parrikar, Mountain View, CA (US);
Space Systems/Loral, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
Feed horn apparatus for use in a multiple-feed antenna system. The present invention comprises a corrugated feed horn and an antenna array or cluster of feed horns arranged in a hexagonal lattice pattern. The feed horn comprises a hexagonal aperture formed by a circular-to-hexagonal transition section a corrugated section disposed adjacent to the circular-to-hexagonal transition section, a tapered section disposed adjacent to the corrugated section, and an input section having an input/output port disposed adjacent to the tapered section. The corrugated feed horn has good beam pattern symmetry, low cross-polarization, and sidelobe levels, along with an increased horn aperture area. As a result, the efficiency of the corrugated feed horn is improved by transitioning from a circular to the hexagonal aperture.