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:
Aug. 03, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 13, 1995
Farzin Lalezari, Louisville, CO (US);
Theresa Cronin Boone, Boulder, CO (US);
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Broomfield, CO (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides an antenna system including a body for use in determining N unknown parameters values relating to an object located in the vicinity of the system. The system further includes an antenna array comprised of a plurality of elements that are spaced to reduce ambiguities in the subsequently determined N values. In one embodiment, several pair of elements are used. The spacing between the elements comprise the pairs and the spacing between pairs reduces ambiguities. The antenna system also includes a beamformer for producing a plurality of beams and a device for using the plurality of beams to determine N values associated with the object. The amplitude of the plurality of beams can be compared to obtain coarse data on the object. The phases of the plurality of spatially independent but overlapping beams are compared to realize an interferometer that can provide coarse resolution data and/or fine resolution data on the position and/or polarization of an object relative to the antenna system. The amplitudes of the beams can also be compared to obtain coarse data on the position and/or polarization of the object. The beamformer includes a switching network for selecting which elements of the antenna array form the subsets. This permits, for example, the position of the beams to be moved and the baseline of the beams to be varied.