Antenna alignment method and apparatus

A method of automatic alignment of a first directional beam antenna with a second directional beam antenna at a path attenuation, each directional beam having an antenna gain pattern, the aligning being to provide mutual transmission, the method being performed at said first directional beam antenna, the method comprising:

• determining said path attenuation, and a beam width, said beam width being between a first location of minimal detectable connection and a second location of minimal detectable connection, said first and second locations being on either side of a beam maximum in accordance with said antenna gain pattern;
• mapping scan points onto a scan field in a regular pattern, the pattern based on said determined beam width, such that a beam having said determined beam width is detected once if said beam is located in said scan field;
• and
• scanning said first antenna over said mapped scan points and after each scan allowing said second antenna to move to another point of a respective second antenna set of mapped scan points to locate said beam, thereby providing a coarse alignment of said first directional antenna with said second directional antenna to achieve at least said minimal detectable connection.

Apparatus for automatic alignment of a first antenna with a second antenna, the antennas being directional beam antennas, the apparatus comprising:

• a steering unit for steering said first antenna through a predetermined scan pattern;
• a directional beam transmitting unit;
• and
• a received beam quality measuring unit, configured to measure the quality of a received signal from said second antenna while said steering unit carries out said steering, said steering being continued through said predetermined scan pattern until a predetermined quality level indicating a minimal link with said second antenna is found.