System and method for a digitally beamformed phased array feed

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11721900-B2
Application number	US-202217690779-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2022
Priority date	Feb 24, 2021
Publication date	Aug 8, 2023
Grant date	Aug 8, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for a digital beamformed phased array feed. The system may include a radome configured to allow electromagnetic waves to propagate; a multi-band software defined antenna array tile; a power and clock management subsystem configured to manage power and time of operation; a thermal management subsystem configured to dissipate heat generated by the multi-band software defined antenna array tile; and an enclosure assembly. The multi-band software defined antenna array tile may include a plurality of coupled dipole array antenna elements; a plurality of frequency converters; and a plurality of digital beamformers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
(a) receiving, from a digital software system interface via a system controller by memory of a multi-band software defined antenna array tile, for a respective coupled dipole array antenna element of a plurality of respective coupled dipole array antenna elements of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile:
i. a respective mission center radio frequency;
ii. a respective mission intermediate frequency;
wherein each coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of coupled dipole array antenna elements includes a respective principal polarization component oriented in a first direction and a respective orthogonal polarization component oriented in a second direction;

(b) receiving, from the digital software system interface via the system controller by the memory of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile, for a respective principal polarization component and a respective orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of respective coupled dipole array antenna elements:
i. a respective channel selection;
ii. a respective weighting factor as part of an array of weighting factors;
iii. a respective oscillating signal frequency;

(c) storing, by the memory operatively connected to the system controller:
i. the respective mission center radio frequency for the respective coupled dipole antenna array element;
ii. the respective mission intermediate frequency for the respective coupled dipole array antenna element;
iii. the respective channel selection for the respective principal polarization component and the respective orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array antenna element;
iv. each respective weighting factor of the array of weighting factors for the respective principal polarization component and the respective orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of respective coupled dipole array antenna elements; and
v. the respective oscillating signal frequency for the respective principal polarization component and the respective orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array element;

(d) transporting, from the memory to a respective principal polarization frequency converter and a respective orthogonal polarization frequency converter:
i. the respective mission center radio frequency for the respective coupled dipole array antenna element;
ii. the respective mission intermediate frequency for the respective coupled dipole array antenna element;
wherein the respective principal polarization frequency converter and the respective orthogonal polarization frequency converter are a part of a respective pair of frequency converters of a plurality of pairs of frequency converters of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile,
wherein each pair of frequency converters of the plurality of pairs frequency converters is operatively connected to a respective coupled dipole array antenna element, and
wherein each pair of frequency converters of the plurality of pairs frequency converters comprises the respective principal polarization converter corresponding to a respective principal polarization component and the respective orthogonal polarization converter corresponding to a respective orthogonal polarization component;

(e) transporting, from the memory to a respective digital beamformer of a plurality of digital beamformers:
i. the respective channel selection for the respective principal polarization component and the respective orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array element;
ii. each respective weighting factor of the array of weighting factors for the respective principal polarization component and the respective orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of respective coupled dipole array antenna elements;
iii. the respective oscillating signal frequency for the respective principal polarization component and the respective orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array element,
wherein the plurality of digital beamformers are operatively connected to the plurality of pairs of frequency converters, and
wherein each digital beamformer is operatively connected to one of the respective principal polarization frequency converter and the respective orthogonal polarization frequency converter;

(f) receiving, by a first coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality coupled dipole array antenna elements of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile, a plurality of respective modulated signals associated with a plurality of respective radio frequencies, wherein the plurality of respective radio frequencies is associated with the respective mission center radio frequency,
(g) receiving, by a first principal polarization frequency converter of a first pair of frequency converters of the plurality of pairs of frequency converters of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile, from a first principal polarization component of the first coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of coupled dipole array antenna elements, respective first modulated signals associated with the respective radio frequencies of the plurality of respective radio frequencies,
(h) converting, by the first principal polarization frequency converter of the first pair of frequency converters, the respective first modulated signals associated with the respective radio frequencies of the plurality of radio frequencies into respective second modulated signals having a first intermediate frequency, wherein the first intermediate frequency is associated with the respective mission intermediate frequency;
(i) receiving, by a first digital beamformer of the plurality of digital beamformers of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile, from the first principal polarization frequency converter, the respective second modulated signals associated with the first intermediate frequency,
(j) converting, by the first digital beamformer, the respective second modulated signal from an analog signal to a digital data format;
(k) generating, by the first digital beamformer, a first plurality of channels of first digital data by decimating the first digital data using a first polyphase channelizer and filtering using a first plurality of cascaded halfband filters;
(l) selecting, by the first digital beamformer, a first channel of the first plurality of channels, wherein the first channel is associated with the respective channel selection;
(m) applying, by the first digital beamformer, a first weighting factor to the first digital data associated with the first channel to generate a first intermediate partial beamformed data stream, wherein the first weighting factor is associated with the array of weighting factors;
(n) combining, by the first digital beamformer, the first intermediate partial beamformed data stream with the plurality of other intermediate partial beamformed data streams to generate a first partial beamformed data stream;
(o) applying, by the first digital beamformer, a first oscillating signal to the first partial beamformed data stream to generate a first oscillating partial beamformed data stream, wherein the first oscillating signal is associated with the respective oscillating signal frequency;
(p) applying, by the first digital beamformer, a first three-stage halfband filter to the first oscillating partial beamformed data stream to generate a first filtered partial beamformed data stream;
(q) applying, by the first digital beamformer, a first time delay to the first filtered partial beamformed data stream to generate a first partial beam; and
(r) transmitting, by the first digital be

Assignees

• Bluehalo Llc

Inventors

• Pace Michael Thomas
• Baur David Gregory
• Schuler-Sandy Theodore Lyman
• Kennedy William
• Micono Jeffrey Gerard
• Walker William Louis
• Newell Garrett James

Classifications

• H01Q21/0068

  Dielectric waveguide fed arrays · CPC title

• H04B7/0617

  for beam forming · CPC title

• H01Q3/2658

  Phased-array fed focussing structure · CPC title

• H01Q3/2605

  Array of radiating elements provided with a feedback control over the element weights, e.g. adaptive arrays · CPC title

• H04B7/0848

  Joint weighting · CPC title