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. 01, 2008
Filed:
Nov. 04, 2005
Carl O. Jelinek, Camarillo, CA (US);
Keith C. Smith, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Fred Gallagher, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Steven L. Kaufman, Port Hueneme, CA (US);
David J. Fairfield, Goleta, CA (US);
Carl O. Jelinek, Camarillo, CA (US);
Keith C. Smith, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Fred Gallagher, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Steven L. Kaufman, Port Hueneme, CA (US);
David J. Fairfield, Goleta, CA (US);
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
The present invention concerns methods and apparatus for implementing a true-time-delay wideband digital beamformer. In true-time-delay wideband digital beamformers of the present invention, improved control over beam properties formed by the combination of the beamformer and a multi-element antenna coupled to the beamformer is achieved through finer control of delays imparted to data signals. In beamformers of the present invention, data is delayed using a coarse control that provides a delay in whole increments of a clock cycle of a digital clock reference and a fine control that provides a delay corresponding to a fraction of a whole clock cycle of the digital clock reference. In the true time delay method of the present invention, transmission and reception across a wide frequency band is accommodated. In the true time delay method of the present invention, multiple simultaneous beams are formed independently, beam-to-beam, across a wide frequency band.