Abstract:
THIS INVENTION PROVIDES IMPROVED ANTENNA ARRAYS HAVING CHARACTERISTICS THAT ARE MATCHED WITH THE GEOMETRIC CONFIGURATION OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES THAT ARE TO BE RADIATED (I.E. TRANSMITTED FORM OR RECEIVED) BY THE ARRAY, FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE. SUCH ARRAYS HAVE A GREATLY INCREASE ANGULAR RANGE OF DIRECTIVITY. ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION, THE SPACING OF THE INDICIDUAL RADIATORS OF THE ARRAY, THE FIELD-STRENGTH-DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF THE ENERGY FED TO OR FROM THE INDIVIDUAL RADIATORS, AND THE PHASE-DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF SAID FEED ENERGY ACROSS THE ARRAY ARE SO PREDETERMINED AND CORRELATED THAT THE BEHAVIOR OF THE ARRAY AS A WHOLE IS MADE TO BE SUBSTANTIALLY IDENTICAL WITH THAT OF AN IMAGINARY, COHERENTLY RADIATING APERTURE HAVING THE SAME OVERALL CONFIGURATION AS THE ARRAY, IN RESPECT TO WAVES OF THE PRESCRIBED GEOMETRIC CONFIGURATION.
Abstract:
A plurality of transmitting and/or receiving radiators made operational in a predetermined sequence, confront a focusing assembly which includes an array of controllable phase shifters for converting planar waves into spherical waves or vice versa, the phase shifts introduced by this array being periodically altered under the control of a timer to center the spherical wave fronts on one side of the array successively upon the several radiators whenever the latter are made operational.