Active acoustic phased array antenna system
OwnerPrasan Chintawongvanichinventor
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Abstract
A hyper-sound detection and ranging system for remote wind measurements that provides all three orthogonal components of a three dimensional wind field on a single transmission pulse utilizing simultaneous beams of acoustic waves. The present invention measures atmospheric wind by transmitting a broad beam acoustic pulse to illuminate a zone of the atmosphere, and then measuring the Doppler shifts in the backscatter signals arrived at the system from various directions along the broad beam projection utilizing simultaneous receiving beams of narrow beamwidth. The simultaneous receiving beams are obtained by means of a hybrid of analog and digital beamforming technologies that enables simultaneous formation of a programmable number of beams in any direction within the designed fields-of-view.
Claims13
A hyper-sound detection and ranging system for high-resolution remote wind measurements comprising:
- a transmitting array of acoustic transducer elements for transmitting a pulse of broad beam acoustic waves toward a zone spaced from said transmitting array;
- signal transmitting means comprising a signal generating means for generating a transmit signal, and an amplifier for amplifying said transmit signal for driving said elements in said transmitting array;
- a receiving array of acoustic transducer elements for simultaneous reception of reflected acoustic waves scattered by air in the zone from a plurality of directions along the broad beam projection utilizing a plurality of simultaneous receiving beams of narrow beamwidth;
- and
- signal receiving means comprising a hybrid of analog phased array processing means and digital phase array processing means for simultaneous forming of said receiving beams and providing of said plurality of simultaneous receiving beams in multiple planes on said receiving array for simultaneous reception of the reflected acoustic waves.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.