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US 8,427,384 B2Granted
Communication system with broadband antenna
AssigneeAeroSat Corporation
InventorsRichard Clymer, Frank Blanda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A communications system including an antenna array and electronics assembly that may be mounted on and in a vehicle. The communication system may generally comprise an external subassembly that is mounted on an exterior surface of the vehicle, and an internal subassembly that is located within the vehicle, the external and internal subassemblies being communicatively coupled to one another. The external subassembly may comprise the antenna array as well as mounting equipment and steering actuators to move the antenna array in azimuth, elevation and polarization (for example, to track a satellite or other signal source). The internal subassembly may comprise most of the electronics associated with the communication system.
Claims32
An antenna array comprising:
- a plurality of horn antenna elements arranged in at least one row of horn antenna elements extending from a first end of the antenna array to a second end of the antenna array, each horn antenna element of the plurality of horn antenna elements configured to receive an information signal and to provide the information signal at a feed point of the horn antenna element;
- and
- a waveguide feed network coupling the plurality of horn antenna elements to a common array feed point, the waveguide feed network configured to sum the information signals from the plurality of horn antenna elements to provide a summed signal at the common array feed point;
- wherein a center-to-center horn spacing between adjacent ones of the plurality of antenna elements in the at least one row is approximately equal to one wavelength at substantially a highest transmit frequency of the antenna array;
- and
- wherein each row of horn antenna elements comprises 32 horn antenna elements;
- wherein each row of horn antenna elements includes an interior horn antenna element, a third horn antenna element, a second horn antenna element, and an end horn antenna element;
- wherein the third horn antenna element is smaller than the interior horn antenna element and is located closer to the first end of the antenna array than the interior horn antenna element;
- wherein the second horn antenna element is smaller than the third horn antenna element and is located adjacent to the third horn antenna element and closer to the first end of the antenna array than the third horn antenna element;
- and
- wherein the end horn antenna element is smaller than the second horn antenna element and is located adjacent to the second horn antenna element and at the first end of the antenna array.
8 more elements
An antenna array comprising:
- a plurality of horn antenna elements arranged in N parallel rows extending from a first end of the antenna array to a second end of the antenna array, each row comprising 32 horn antenna elements, each horn antenna element configured to receive an information signal and to provide at a feed point of the horn antenna element an antenna output signal;
- a corresponding plurality of orthomode transducers, each respective orthomode transducer coupled to a respective horn antenna element of the plurality of horn antenna elements and configured to split the respective antenna output signal into a first component signal and second component signal such that the plurality of orthomode transducers provides a corresponding plurality of first component signals and a corresponding plurality of second component signals;
- a waveguide feed network coupling the plurality of horn antenna elements to a common array feed point, the waveguide feed network comprising a first path to guide the first component signal and a second path to guide the second component signal, the first and second paths comprising a same number of bends in each direction, wherein the first path of the waveguide feed network sums the plurality of first component signals received from the plurality of orthomode transducers to provide a first summed component signal at the common array feed point, and wherein the second path of the waveguide feed network sums the plurality of second component signals received from the plurality of orthomode transducers to provide a second summed component signal at the common array feed point;
- and
- a polarization converter unit coupled to the common array feed point and configured to receive the first and second summed component signals and to compensate for polarization skew between the antenna array and a source of the information signal;
- wherein N is an integer selected from the group consisting of 1, 2, 4 and 8;
- wherein the waveguide feed network includes both E-plane summing elements and H-plane summing elements, and wherein the E-plane and H-plane summing elements are configured to provide weight an amplitude contribution of each of the first component signals to the first summed component signal, and to weight an amplitude contribution of each of the second component signals to the second summed component signal, to provide an amplitude taper across the plurality of horn antenna elements of the antenna array.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.