Adaptive antenna tracking of moving transmitters and receivers

Abstract

A combined electro-mechanical adaptive antenna tracking system for wireless communication between transmitters and receivers moving relative to each other is described. This system enables one or more antenna transceivers on a moving object, such as a high altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (HALE UAV), to simultaneously track one or more separate antenna transceivers on the ground, such as multiple customer premises equipment. The antennas on the moving object are constructed with multiple-subsection phased arrays or may have multiple horns on one rotation axis. Adaptive tracking control logic is applied to synchronize electrical switch and/or mechanical rotation and electrical beamforming for the moving transceivers to track multiple ground transceivers. In one advantageous aspect, an off-the-shelf horn antenna can be used and rotated around only one axis, thereby eliminating the need for expensive two dimensional movement actuators such as gimbals and the need for tracking multiple ground based receivers.