System, device and method for tuning a remote antenna
AssigneeNsl Comm Ltd
InventorsDaniel SPIRTUS, Raz ITZHAKI-TAMIR, Daniel ROCKBERGER
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An antenna assembly tunable from remote comprising a main reflector a sub-reflector associated with the main reflector, and a feed adapted receive transmission illuminating the main reflector via the sub-reflector, or to transmit transmission to the main reflector via the sub-reflector. The sub-reflector comprising a plurality of actuators disposed over and attached to its outer face. Each of the actuators is adapted to locally deform the surface of the sub-reflector adjacent to that actuator in response to a change in the actuator position.
Claims15
An antenna assembly tunable from remote comprising:
- a main reflector,
- a sub-reflector associated with the main reflector, and
- a feed adapted receive transmission illuminating the main reflector via the sub-reflector, or to transmit transmission to the main reflector via the sub-reflector,
- wherein the sub-reflector comprising:
- a plurality of actuators disposed over and attached to its outer face, each of the plurality of actuators is adapted to locally deform the surface of the sub-reflector adjacent to that actuator in response to a change in the actuator position.
A sub-reflector for use in an antenna assembly comprising:
- a plurality of actuators disposed over and attached to its outer face, each of the plurality of actuators is adapted to locally deform the surface of the sub-reflector adjacent to that actuator in response to a change in the actuator position;
- and
- a control unit adapted to control the position of each of the plurality of the actuators.
A method for tuning an antenna assembly comprising a main reflector, a sub-reflector and a feed, the method comprising:
- receiving initial deforms map of a main reflector;
- receiving at the main reflector steady transmission and recording the signal received at the feed;
- activating an actuator disposed on the outer surface of the sub-reflector and adapted to locally deform the curvature of the sub-reflector there until the signal received at the feed reaches a maximum value, holding the actuator and recording its stratus;
- repeating sequentially the previous step for each of the actuators disposed on the sub-reflector;
- and
- storing the values representing the status of the actuators in a storage in a set indicative of actuators status for maximum-of-maximum.
A method for tuning an antenna assembly comprising a main reflector, a sub-reflector and a feed, the sub-reflector is provided with a plurality of actuators adapted to locally deform the curvature of the sub-reflector in response to an activation signal, the method comprising:
- deploying a plurality of transmission sensors at a target area of the transmission illumination the antenna assembly;
- activating transmission from the antenna assembly;
- measuring and recording level of transmission power at each of the plurality of sensors along with the location of the respective sensor;
- extracting actual antenna assembly illumination footprint map from the recorded values;
- comparing the extracted illumination footprint map to a desired footprint;
- and
- providing activation signals to at least some of the actuators to deform the curvature of the sub-reflector so that the footprint of the illumination by the antenna assembly at the target area matches the desired footprint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.