Low-loss, fault-tolerant antenna interface unit

A fault tolerant antenna interface unit for selectively connecting multiple RF receivers and multiple RF transmitters to a common antenna, comprising:

• a substantially zero failure rate unitary RF power combiner/splitter having a plurality of inputs and an output connectable to the antenna;
• a plurality of transmit/receive channels connected to said plurality of inputs of the unitary RF power combiner/splitter;
• a respective plurality of fault tolerant circuit means connected to the plurality of transmit/receive channels for coupling transmit RF signals and receive RF signal to and from said unitary RF power combiner/splitter;
• a plurality of receive channels, respectively corresponding to a respective plurality of RF receivers connected to said fault tolerant circuit means for coupling, said RF receivers thereby being connectable to the antenna via said plurality of transmit/receive channels and through said unitary RF power combiner/splitter;
• a plurality of transmit channels, respectively corresponding to a respective plurality of RF transmitters connected to said fault tolerant circuit means for coupling, and including,
• a substantially zero failure rate transmit signal RF power combiner including a plurality of inputs respectively connected to the transmitters, receiving signals transmitted by said transmitters via said plurality of inputs and producing a corresponding combined transmit signal,
• a plurality of split RF transmit signal paths,
• a substantially zero failure rate transmit signal RF power splitter connected between the transmit signal RF power combiner and the split RF transmit signal paths, receiving the combined transmit signal produced by the transmit signal RF power combiner and producing split transmit signals for said split RF transmit signal paths,
• a plurality of summed RF transmit signal paths equal in number to the number of transmit channels,
• a plurality of RF transmit signal summers equal in number to said summed RF transmit signal paths connected between the split RF transmit signal paths and the summed RF transmit signal paths, and producing and feeding summed RF transmit signals to the circuit means for coupling and then to said unitary RF power combiner/splitter via said summed RF transmit signal paths and said transmit/receive channels, respectively.

A fault tolerant power amplifier having fault tolerant T/R switching in an antenna interface unit which connects multiple receivers and multiple transmitters to an antenna, the receivers being connected to the amplifier through respectively corresponding receive signal channels and the transmitter being connected to the amplifier through a substantially zero failure rate transmit signal RF power combiner, the amplifier comprising:

• a plurality of common transmit/receive signal channels at least equal in number to the number of receive signal channels;
• a plurality of transmit channels;
• a substantially zero failure rate transmit signal RF power splitter connected to the transmit signal RF power combiner, receiving a combined transmit signal from said RF power combiner and producing a plurality of split transmit signals which are coupled to said plurality of transmit channels;
• a substantially zero failure rate RF power combiner/splitter connectable to the antenna and said common input/output signal channels, and
• respective fault tolerant T/R switching means equal in number to the number of receive signal channels and the number of said common input/output signal channels, each said fault tolerant T/R switching means being connected to a respective receive signal channel, a respective common input/output signal channel and a respective transmit signal channel, and selectively allowing either the corresponding receive signal channel to receive signals from the antenna via the RF power combiner/splitter or the corresponding transmit signal channel to transmit signals to the antenna via the RF power combiner/splitter.