Patent ID: 6078287
Filing Date: 2000-06-20
Classification: H01Q

Abstract:
A beam forming network for an antenna having an array of feeds, said beam forming network comprising:a network of power dividers wherein each power divider in said network has an input coupled to a feed in said array of feeds, each power divider in said network has a power division ratio defining a plurality of outputs;a network of phase shifters having a plurality of inputs wherein each input is coupled to an output of said network of power dividers, said network of phase shifters producing a plurality of phase shifted outputs, and wherein each input is phase shifted independently of the other inputs in said network of phase shifters thereby defining individual phase shifted outputs; anda network of power combiners having a plurality of inputs, wherein each input of said network of power combiners is coupled to an individual phase shifted output of said network of phase shifters, each power combiner in said network of power combiners having a single output derived from a combination of said plurality of inputs from said network of power combiners, said combiners operating in conjunction with said network of power dividers to determine an amplitude weight for a signal from each feed in said array of feeds and thereby define a beam.