Phased array steering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016164174-A1
Application number	US-201414561937-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 5, 2014
Priority date	Dec 5, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An antenna array system includes a plurality of antenna array elements and an array controller in communication with each of the array elements. Each array element further includes an antenna, a computing device, and a storage device maintaining a position vector uniquely identifying the position of its antenna within the array. The array controller broadcasts, to each array element, a signal including a direction vector representative of a desired beam steering direction. Employing their respective computing devices, each array element calculates its phase based upon stored position vector and the received direction vector. The antenna of each array element further emits an electromagnetic wave based upon its calculated phase. The net electromagnetic wave resulting from combination of the respective emissions of the antenna array elements is aligned with the desired beam steering direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of beam steering in a phased array, comprising:
storing, by a first antenna array element, a first position vector, x 1 , representing a position of an antenna of the first antenna array element with respect to a defined origin and coordinate system; storing, by a second antenna array element, a second position vector, x 2 , representing a position of an antenna of the second antenna array element with respect to the defined origin and coordinate system; broadcasting, by an array controller, a signal including a direction vector, u, to each of the first and second antenna array elements, wherein the direction vector is representative of a command steering direction; calculating, by one or more first processors of the first array antenna element, a first phase, φ 1 , based upon the first position vector and the direction vector; and calculating, by one or more second processors of the second array antenna element, a second phase, φ 2 , based upon the second position vector and the direction vector.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the first position vector by the first antenna array element comprises storing the first position vector in a first storage device in communication with the first antenna array element and wherein storing the second position vector by the second antenna array element comprises storing the second position vector in a second storage device in communication with the second antenna array element, wherein the first and second storage devices are different.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
emitting, by the first antenna, a first electromagnetic wave based upon the first phase; and emitting, by the second antenna, a second electromagnetic wave based upon the second phase.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the first phase is calculated according to Formula (1) and the second phase is calculated according to Formula (2), Formulas (1) and (2) given by:

φ
1

=

(

2

π

λ

)



(

x
1

·
u


u


)

(
1
)

φ
2

=

(

2

π

λ

)



(

x
2

·
u


u


)

(
2
)

where λ is the wavelength of the first and second electromagnetic waves.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the position vectors x 1 and x 2 and the direction vector u are represented in a Cartesian coordinate system.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the position vectors x 1 and x 2 and the direction vector u are not represented in an Euler angle-based coordinate system.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein broadcasting the signal including the direction vector comprises broadcasting the signal simultaneously to the antennas of the first and second antenna array elements.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the first phase and the second phase does not include calculating the first phase and the second phase by the array controller.

9 . A phased array, comprising:
an antenna array including a plurality of antenna array elements; an array controller adapted to broadcast, to each of the plurality of antenna array elements, a signal including a direction vector, u, wherein the direction vector represents a selected steering direction of the antenna array; wherein each antenna array element further comprises:
an antenna;
a storage device adapted to maintain a position vector, x, representing a position of the antenna with respect to a defined origin and the direction vector, u; and
a computing device in communication with the storage device, the computing device adapted to calculate a phase φ for the antenna of its antenna array element based upon the position vector of the antenna of its antenna array element and the direction vector.

10 . The phased array of claim 9 , wherein the array controller is adapted to broadcast the direction vector to each of the plurality of antenna array elements simultaneously.

11 . The phased array of claim 9 , wherein each antenna of the plurality of antenna array elements is further adapted to output an electromagnetic wave based upon the respective phase calculated by its computing device.

12 . The phased array of claim 9 , wherein the phase of the i th antenna array element is calculated, by the computing device of the i th antenna array element, according to Formula (1):

φ
1

=

(

2

π

λ

)



(

x

Assignees

• Raytheon Co

Inventors

• Kullstam Johan A

Classifications

• H01Q3/34 Primary

  by electrical means (active lenses or reflecting arrays H01Q3/46) · CPC title

• H01Q3/26 Primary

  varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture ({H01Q3/12,} H01Q3/22, H01Q3/24 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q3/36

  with variable phase-shifters · CPC title