US 10,483,637 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for beam-steerable antenna with single-drive mechanism

AssigneeViaSat, Inc.

InventorsDonald L Runyon, Edward Mitchell Blalock

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

In one embodiment, an antenna assembly is described. The antenna assembly includes and antenna and an antenna positioner coupled to the antenna. The antenna positioner includes a single drive interface and a plurality of gears. The plurality of rotate in a first manner in response to a first drive direction applied through the single drive interface, and rotate in a second manner in response to a second drive applied through the single drive interface. The antenna positioner also includes a threaded rod that moves in a first rod direction and a second rod direction in response to rotation of the plurality of gears in the first manner and the second manner respectively. The antenna positioner also includes a tilt plate contacting the threaded rod. The tilt plate tilts about a pivot line in response to movement of the threaded rod to move a beam of the antenna in a spiral pattern.

Claims26

Dependent claims

A method of antenna pointing, the method comprising:

providing an antenna assembly comprising an antenna, an antenna positioner coupled to the antenna, and an auto-peak device, wherein the antenna comprises a reflector and a feed oriented for direct illumination of the reflector to produce a beam, and wherein the antenna positioner comprises a tilt assembly to tilt the reflector relative to the feed to move the beam in a spiral pattern via drive applied to a single drive interface by a bi-directional motor in response to a control signal provided from the auto-peak device;
providing, by the auto-peak device, the control signal to tilt the tilt assembly in a plurality of tilt positions to move the beam along the spiral pattern while measuring corresponding signal strength of a signal communicated via the antenna at each of the plurality of tilt positions;
selecting, by the auto-peak device, a tilt position from the plurality of tilt positions based on the measured signal strength;
and
providing, by the auto-peak device, the control signal to tilt the tilt assembly to the selected tilt position.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/960,276Filed 23 Apr 2018 · continuation
Priority: 10 Aug 2015
Published: US 2018/0337449 A122 Nov 2018
Granted: 19 Nov 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H01Q 3/005
Arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna…
H01Q 1/125
Supports; Mounting means: means for positioning
H01Q 3/04
Using mechanical movement of antenna or antenna system as a whole: for varying one co-ordinate of the orientation
H01Q 3/06
For varying one co-ordinate of the orientation: over a restricted angle

Family

Application62/203,324Us provisional application · filed 10 Aug 2015
Application15/231,584Parent of this continuation · filed 8 Aug 2016
US 2018/0337449 A1Pre-grant publication · published 22 Nov 2018
US 9,979,082 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2017/0047653 A1Published application
US 10,483,637 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key