Patent ID: 11923618
Assignee: NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 15:
16. A phased-array antenna system comprising:
a plurality of discrete antenna modules arranged in an array and configured to be disposed conformally with a surface of a platform, each antenna module comprising:
an antenna element to emit and/or absorb radio frequency (RF) signals;
a digital input/output port to send and/or receive digital signals;
an electronics unit including at least one of an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter and a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter to provide an interface between the antenna element and the digital input/output port; and
a housing in which the antenna element and electronics unit are integrally packaged;

a digital distribution system comprising a digital communications medium to convey digital signals to and/or from respective digital input/output ports of the antenna modules; and
a controller system to supply the digital signals to the antenna modules and/or to receive digital signals from the antenna modules via the digital distribution system, wherein the controller system controls relative phases of the digital signals to enable the antenna elements to form a directive antenna beam pattern,
wherein the electronics unit comprises a digital communications converter comprising:
the A/D converter and D/A converter;
an analog interface to supply analog RF signals from the antenna element to the A/D converter and to receive analog RF signals from the D/A converter;
a digital interface to receive digital signals from the A/D converter and to supply digital signals to the D/A converter, the digital interface being coupled to the digital input/output port.