Vehicle with a radio frequency device and associated methods
AssigneeHarris Global Communications, Inc.
InventorsJames Buduson, Joseph D. Majkowski, Peter Burke, James J. Hood
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle may comprise a frame, a propulsion arrangement configured to orient the frame, and an antenna carried by the frame. The antenna may include a housing, a base carried by the housing, a pair of spaced apart antenna elements carried by the base, and a phase shifter coupled to the pair of antenna elements to define an antenna pattern having a pair of opposing nulls. An RF receiver is coupled to the antenna. A controller may control the propulsion arrangement to orient the frame to steer the antenna pattern based upon the RF receiver.
Claims27
A vehicle comprising:
- a frame;
- a propulsion arrangement configured to orient the frame;
- an antenna carried by the frame and comprising
- a housing,
- a base carried by the housing,
- a pair of spaced apart antenna elements arranged in a linear array, each antenna element comprising an elongate omni-directional antenna element having a proximal end coupled to the base and a distal end extending outwardly from the base, and
- a phase shifter coupled to the pair of antenna elements to define an antenna pattern having a pair of opposing nulls;
- an RF receiver coupled to the antenna;
- and
- a controller configured to control the propulsion arrangement to orient the frame to steer the antenna pattern based upon the RF receiver, and configured to selectively operate a first one of the pair of spaced apart antenna elements while selectively switching out a second one of the pair of spaced apart antenna elements based upon a received signal strength being above a threshold.
A vehicle comprising:
- a frame;
- a propulsion arrangement configured to orient the frame;
- an antenna carried by the frame and comprising
- a housing,
- a base carried by the housing,
- a pair of spaced apart elongate, dipole antenna elements arranged in a linear array, each elongate, dipole antenna element having a proximal end coupled to the base and a distal end extending outwardly from the base, and
- a phase shifter coupled to the pair of antenna elements to define an antenna pattern having a pair of opposing nulls;
- an RF receiver coupled to the antenna;
- and
- a controller coupled to the RF receiver and configured
- to control the propulsion arrangement to orient the frame to rotate the antenna pattern while determining received signal strengths of received RF signals, configured to stop rotation of the antenna pattern at a desired received signal strength, and configured to selectively operate a first one of the pair of spaced apart elongate, dipole antenna elements while selectively switching out a second one of the pair of spaced apart elongate, dipole antenna elements based upon a received signal strength being above a threshold.
A method for operating a vehicle with a radio frequency (RF) device, the RF device comprising an antenna comprising a housing, a base carried by the housing, a pair of spaced apart antenna elements arranged in a linear array, each antenna element comprising an elongate omni-directional antenna element having a proximal end coupled to the base and a distal end extending outwardly from the base, and a phase shifter coupled to the pair of antenna elements to define an antenna pattern having a pair of opposing nulls, the method comprising:
- operating an RF receiver coupled to the antenna;
- operating a controller to control the propulsion arrangement to orient the frame to steer the antenna pattern based upon the RF receiver, and to selectively operate a first one of the pair of spaced apart antenna elements while selectively switching out a second one of the pair of spaced apart antenna elements based upon a received signal strength being above a threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.