System and method for a digitally beamformed phased array feed

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025055525-A1
Application number	US-202418931705-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 30, 2024
Priority date	Feb 24, 2021
Publication date	Feb 13, 2025
Grant date	—

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 each coupled dipole array antenna element of a plurality of 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 each principal polarization component and each respective orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of 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 each coupled dipole antenna array element;
ii. the respective mission intermediate frequency for each coupled dipole array antenna element;
iii. the respective channel selection for each principal polarization component and each orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array antenna element;
iv. each respective weighting factor of the array of weighting factors for each principal polarization component and each orthogonal polarization component of the coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of coupled dipole array antenna elements; and
v. the respective oscillating signal frequency for each principal polarization component and each orthogonal polarization component of the coupled dipole array antenna element;
wherein the memory includes:
(i) a first mission center radio frequency associated with a first coupled dipole array antenna element;
(ii) a second mission center radio frequency associated with a second coupled dipole array antenna element;
(iii) a first mission intermediate frequency associated with the first coupled dipole array antenna element;
(iv) a second mission intermediate frequency associated with the second coupled dipole array antenna element;
(v) a first channel selection associated with a first principal polarization component and a first orthogonal polarization component on the first coupled dipole array antenna element;
(vi) a second channel selection associated with a second principal polarization component and a second orthogonal polarization component on the second coupled dipole array antenna element;
(vii) a first weighting factor associated with the first principal polarization component and the first orthogonal polarization component on the first coupled dipole array antenna element;
(viii) a second weighting factor associated with the second principal polarization component and the second orthogonal polarization component on the second coupled dipole array antenna element;
(ix) a first oscillating signal frequency associated with the first principal polarization component and the first orthogonal polarization component on the first coupled dipole array antenna element;
(x) a second oscillating signal frequency associated with the second principal polarization component and the second orthogonal polarization component on the second coupled dipole array antenna element;

(d) transporting, from the memory to a first principal polarization frequency converter and a first orthogonal polarization frequency converter:
i. the first mission center radio frequency for the first coupled dipole array antenna element;
ii. the first mission intermediate frequency for the first coupled dipole array antenna element;
wherein the first principal polarization frequency converter and the first orthogonal polarization frequency converter are a part of a first pair of frequency converters of a plurality of pairs of frequency converters of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile;
(e) transporting, from the memory to a second principal polarization frequency converter and a second orthogonal polarization frequency converter:
i. the second mission center radio frequency for the second coupled dipole array antenna element;
ii. the second mission intermediate frequency for the second coupled dipole array antenna element;
wherein the second principal polarization frequency converter and the second orthogonal polarization frequency converter are a part of a second pair of frequency converters of the 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;
(f) transporting, from the memory to a first digital beamformer of a plurality of digital beamformers:
i. the first channel selection for the first principal polarization component and the first orthogonal polarization component of the first coupled dipole array antenna element;
ii. the first weighting factor of the array of weighting factors for the first principal polarization component and the first orthogonal polarization component of the first coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of respective coupled dipole array antenna elements;
iii. the first oscillating signal frequency for the first principal polarization component and the first orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array antenna 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;
(g) transporting, from the memory to a second digital beamformer of the plurality of digital beamformers:
i. the second channel selection for the second principal polarization component and the second orthogonal polarization component of the second coupled dipole array antenna element;
ii. the second weighting factor of the array of weighting factors for the second principal polarization component and the second orthogonal polarization component of the second coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality of respective coupled dipole array antenna elements;
iii. the second oscillating signal frequency for the first principal polarization component and the first orthogonal polarization component of the respective coupled dipole array antenna element
(h) receiving, by the first coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality coupled dipole array antenna elements of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile, a first plurality of modulated signals associated with a first plurality of radio frequencies, wherein the first plurality of radio frequencies is associated with the first mission center radio frequency, (i) receiving, by the second coupled dipole array antenna element of the plurality coupled dipole array antenna elements of the multi-band software defined antenna array tile, a second p

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 Primary

  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

• H04B7/0639

  Using selective indices, e.g. of a codebook, e.g. pre-distortion matrix index [PMI] or for beam selection · CPC title