Airborne antenna pointing and projection

A computer for pointing a beam of a directional antenna located above ground, the beam being projected downward toward the ground, the computer including processing circuitry configured to:

• receive a beam width 2ϕ;
• determine an angle ψmax such that ψmax+0 is an angle for a projection of maximum signal strength on the ground, ψmax being based on the beam width 2ϕ and tilt angle θ;
• determine an effective ground beam width defined by a total relative gain of the directional antenna and the above the ground to ground range being at half the maximum signal strength on the ground at angles above and below ψmax;
• determining a ground footprint of the beam of the directional antenna based at least in part on the determined effective ground beam width;
• and
• cause the antenna to be pointed based at least in part on the determined ground footprint of the beam of the directional antenna.

A method for pointing a beam of a directional antenna located above ground, the beam being directed downward toward the ground, the method comprising:

• determining a tilt angle θ, the tilt angle θ being determined to be an angle for which a maximum signal strength on the ground is directed toward a selected point;
• receiving a beam width 2ϕ;
• determining an angle ψmax such that ψmax+0 is an angle for a projection of maximum signal strength on the ground, ψmax being based on the beam width 2ϕ and the tilt angle θ;
• and
• determining an effective ground beam width defined by a total relative gain of the directional antenna and the above the ground to ground range being at half the maximum signal strength on the ground at angles above and below ψmax;
• determining a ground footprint of the beam of the directional antenna based on the determined effective ground beam width;
• and
• causing the antenna to be pointed based at least in part on the determined ground footprint of the beam of the directional antenna.