Digital conformal antenna

An antenna module comprising:

• an antenna element to emit and/or absorb radio frequency (RF) signals;
• a digital input/output port to send digital signals to and/or to receive digital signals from a digital communications medium;
• an electronics unit including at least one of an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter and a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter to provide an interface between the antenna element and the digital input/output port;
• and
• a housing shaped to be disposed conformally with an exterior surface of a platform, wherein the antenna element and electronics unit are disposed within the housing, and the digital input/output port provides ingress/egress of the digital signals to/from the housing,
• wherein the each antenna module further comprises:
• a ground plane disposed between the antenna element and the electronics unit;
• and
• a substrate disposed between the antenna element and the ground plane, the substrate comprising a tuning resonant disk.

A phased-array antenna system comprising:

• a plurality of discrete antenna modules arranged in an array and configured to be disposed conformally with a surface of a platform, each antenna module comprising:
• an antenna element to emit and/or absorb radio frequency (RF) signals;
• a digital input/output port to send and/or receive digital signals;
• an electronics unit including at least one of an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter and a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter to provide an interface between the antenna element and the digital input/output port;
• and
• a housing in which the antenna element and electronics unit are integrally packaged;
• a digital distribution system comprising a digital communications medium to convey digital signals to and/or from respective digital input/output ports of the antenna modules;
• and
• a controller system to supply the digital signals to the antenna modules and/or to receive digital signals from the antenna modules via the digital distribution system, wherein the controller system controls relative phases of the digital signals to enable the antenna elements to form a directive antenna beam pattern,
• wherein the electronics unit comprises a digital communications converter comprising:
• the A/D converter and D/A converter;
• an analog interface to supply analog RF signals from the antenna element to the A/D converter and to receive analog RF signals from the D/A converter;
• a digital interface to receive digital signals from the A/D converter and to supply digital signals to the D/A converter, the digital interface being coupled to the digital input/output port.

A phased-array antenna system comprising:

• a plurality of discrete antenna modules arranged in an array and configured to be disposed conformally with a surface of a platform, each antenna module comprising:
• an antenna element to emit and/or absorb radio frequency (RF) signals;
• a digital input/output port to send and/or receive digital signals;
• an electronics unit including at least one of an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter and a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter to provide an interface between the antenna element and the digital input/output port;
• a housing in which the antenna element and electronics unit are integrally packaged;
• a ground plane disposed between the antenna element and the electronics unit;
• and
• a substrate disposed between the antenna element and the ground plane, the substrate comprising a tuning resonant disk;
• a digital distribution system comprising a digital communications medium to convey digital signals to and/or from respective digital input/output ports of the antenna modules;
• and
• a controller system to supply the digital signals to the antenna modules and/or to receive digital signals from the antenna modules via the digital distribution system, wherein the controller system controls relative phases of the digital signals to enable the antenna elements to form a directive antenna beam pattern.