Multiple arm spiral antenna system with multiple beamforming capability

A multifunction antenna system for transmitting and receiving radiating signals in selected beam patterns, said antenna system comprising:

• antenna beamforming means having an array of N elements for transmitting and receiving signals, said antenna beamforming means further having N analytic voltage signals associated with said N elements;
• weight source means for providing a plurality of combination of N vector weight coefficients which represent predetermined beam patterns;
• processing means for selecting a set of N vector weight coefficients which are representative of a desired beam pattern;
• and
• weighting means for multiplying said N vector weight coefficients by an input transmit signal to produce said N analytic voltage signals when transmitting signals within a selected beam pattern, said weighting means multiplying said N vector weight coefficients by said N analytic signals received so as to enable processing of data received from a selected beam pattern when receiving.

A multifunction antenna system comprising:

• a multiple arm spiral antenna having an array of N elements associated therewith for transmitting and receiving radiating signals, said multiple arm spiral antenna further having N analytic signals associated with the N elements;
• memory means for providing a plurality of combinations of N vector weight coefficients which represent predetermined beam patterns;
• processing means for selecting a set of N vector weight coefficients from said memory means which are representative of a predetermined beam pattern;
• and
• weighting means for multiplying the N vector weight coefficients by an input transmit signal to produce said N analytic voltage signals when transmitting signals within a selected beam pattern, said weighting means multiplying the N vector weight coefficients by said N analytic signals to provide N weighted receive signals when receiving signals which enables processing of data received from a selected beam pattern.