Method of tracking steerable antennas on platforms to form an RF communication link

A method of pointing and tracking radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas on platforms to form an RF communication link, comprising:

• a) providing a first platform having a steerable RF transceiver antenna, said transceiver antenna configured to transmit and receive with a beam pattern having a main lobe and side lobes, said transceiver antenna configurable to vary the width of the main lobe;
• b) providing a second platform having a steerable RF transceiver antenna, said transceiver antenna configured to transmit and receive with a beam pattern having a main lobe and side lobes, said transceiver antenna configurable to vary the width of the main lobe;
• c) at each platform, from coordinates of both the first and second platforms and orientation of that platform, determining a pointing direction of the RF transceiver antenna towards the opposing RF transceiver antenna and a pointing uncertainty region;
• d) at each platform and concurrently, setting the width of the main lobe greater than the pointing uncertainty region and scanning the beam pattern over a scan pattern to transmit an RF signal to and receive an RF signal from the RF transceiver on the other platform within the main lobe, acquiring a block of received signal levels for at least one full scan pattern for an approximately fixed width of the main lobe, and processing a modulation of the received signal levels to update the pointing direction and reduce the pointing uncertainty region of the RF transceiver antenna to track the opposite RF transceiver antenna, wherein the scan patterns of the opposing RF transceiver antennas are substantially orthogonal to each other for at least a primary component of the scan pattern such that the demodulation of the received signal levels to signal direction of arrival is a function of only the scan pattern of that transceiver antenna and not the scan pattern of the opposing transceiver antenna despite the signal level varying due to the scan pattern and a pointing error of both antennas within the pointing uncertainty region;
• and
• e) repeating step d with progressively narrower widths of the main lobe greater than the reduced pointing uncertainty region and progressively smaller extents of the scan pattern so that received RF signal remains within the main lobe until the width of the main antenna beam reaches a high gain narrow beam width condition to form the RF communication link.

A method of pointing and tracking radio frequency (RF) transceiver antennas on platforms to form an RF communication link, comprising:

• a) providing a first platform having a steerable RF transceiver antenna, said transceiver antenna configured to transmit and receive with a beam pattern having a main lobe and side lobes, said transceiver antenna configurable to vary the width of the main lobe;
• b) providing a second platform having a steerable RF transceiver antenna, said transceiver antenna configured to transmit and receive with a beam pattern having a main lobe and side lobes, said transceiver antenna configurable to vary the width of the main lobe;
• c) at each platform, from coordinates of both the first and second platforms and orientation of that platform, determining a pointing direction of the RF transceiver antenna towards the opposing RF transceiver antenna and a pointing uncertainty region
• d) at each platform and concurrently, setting the width of the main lobe to an initial broad width and scanning the beam pattern over a scan pattern to transmit an RF signal to and receive an RF signal from the RF transceiver on the other platform, acquiring received signal levels, and processing the received signal levels to update the pointing direction and reduce the pointing uncertainty region of the RF transceiver antenna, wherein the scan patterns of the opposing RF transceiver antennas are substantially orthogonal to each other for at least a primary component of the scan pattern such that a demodulation of the received signal levels is a function of only the scan pattern of that transceiver antenna and not the scan pattern of the opposing transceiver antenna despite the signal level varying due to the scan pattern and a pointing error of both antennas within the pointing uncertainty region;
• and
• e) repeating step d with progressively narrower widths of the main lobe until the width of the main lobe reaches a high gain narrow beam width condition to track the opposing RF transceiver antenna to form the RF communication link.