Patent ID: 6771218
Filing Date: 2004-08-03
Classification: G01S,H01Q

Abstract:
An electronically agile antenna system comprising:a body having an exterior surface, a longitudinal axis and a plane that is substantially perpendicular to said longitudinal axis; an antenna array that is operatively connected to said body, has at least three elements that are each located in a first ring around a periphery of said body, and is capable of providing a plurality of signals that are representative of the environment about the antenna system, wherein each of said at least three elements is capable of providing one of said plurality of signals; and a beamformer that includes means for selecting a first portion of said plurality of signals provided by a first subset of elements of said plurality of elements to form a first beam and a second portion of said plurality of signals provided by a second subset of elements of said plurality of elements to form a second beam, wherein selections of said first portion and said second portion vary depending on polarization and location parameters of an object in the vicinity of said body andor desired accuracies, said beamformer further including means for processing said first portion of said plurality of signals to form said first beam and means for processing said second portion of said plurality of signals to form said second beam, wherein information is obtained using said first and second portions related to said polarization parameters of the object, with said information related to said polarization parameters of the object being used to determine position information related to the object located in the vicinity of said body.