Electronically steerable passive array antenna

An array antenna comprising:

• a radiating antenna element excited by radio frequency energy of a radio signal;
• at least one parasitic antenna element;
• at least one voltage-tunable dielectric capacitor connected to said at least one parasitic antenna element;
• each parasitic antenna element receives the radio frequency energy of the radio signal emitted from said radiating antenna element and then re-radiates the radio frequency energy of the radio signal after the radio frequency energy has been reflected and phase changed by each voltage-tunable capacitor;
• and
• a controller that phase changes the radio frequency energy at each parasitic antenna element by applying a voltage to each voltage-tunable capacitor to change the capacitance of each voltage-tunable capacitor and thus enables the steering of the radiation beams and nulls of the radio signal emitted from said radiating antenna element and said at least one parasitic antenna element, and wherein said array antenna is capable of low linearity distortion with an IP3 of up to +65 dBm.

A wireless communication network comprising:

• a hub node having at least one dynamically directionally controllable communications link;
• and
• a network controller for dynamically controlling the direction of the communications link to enable transmission of radio signals between said hub node and a plurality of remote nodes, wherein said hub node includes an array antenna comprising:
• a radiating antenna element;
• at least one parasitic antenna element;
• and
• at least one voltage-tunable dielectric capacitor connected to said at least one parasitic antenna element, wherein said network controller applies a voltage to each voltage-tunable capacitor to change the capacitance of each voltage-tunable capacitor and thus control the directions of maximum radiation beams and minimum radiation beams of the radio signals emitted from said hub node to said remote users, and wherein said array antenna is capable of low linearity distortion with an IP3 of upto +65 dBm.

A method for transmitting communications signals comprising the steps of:

• providing a hub node having at least one dynamically directionally controllable communications link;
• providing a network controller for dynamically controlling the direction of the communications link to enable transmission of radio signals between said hub node and a plurality of remote nodes, wherein said hub node includes an array antenna comprising:
• a radiating antenna element;
• at least one parasitic antenna element;
• and
• at least one voltage-tunable dielectric capacitor connected to said at least one parasitic antenna element, wherein said network controller applies a voltage to each voltage-tunable capacitor to change the capacitance of each voltage-tunable capacitor and thus control the directions of maximum radiation beams and minimum radiation beams of the radio signals emitted from said hub node to said remote users, and wherein said array antenna is capable of low linearity distortion with an IP3 of upto +65 dBm.