Abstract:
A portable device for wireless communication is disclosed. The portable device comprises an antenna array having N array elements distributed on and conforming to the surfaces of the portable device, N being an integer greater than 1. The N array elements output N signals to a frontend unit. The frontend unit receives the N signals and generates N digital signals. A digital beam forming network, coupled to the frontend unit, processes M digital signals selected from the N digital signals, M being an integer less than or equal to N, and generates K beams based on the M digital signals, K being an integer greater than 1. A controlling unit, coupled to the digital beam forming network, computes dynamically a beam weight vector for each of the K beams based on data on orientation and position of the portable device and data on geometry of the antenna array and hub directions. A position information unit, coupled to the controlling unit, generates the data on position and orientation of the portable device. A memory, coupled to the controlling unit, stores the data on geometry of the antenna array and hub directions.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/236,418, entitled “Re-Configurable Array from Distributed Apertures on Portable Devices”, filed on Sep. 19, 2011, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/384,811 filed on Sep. 19, 2010. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates generally to RF subsystems for mobile and portable devices such as portable Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, 3G and 4G personal handheld devices and tablets, and portable WiFi and WiMax devices. GPS receivers are a part of GNSS receivers. More specifically, the present invention relates to unique approaches of distributed transmission/reception apertures that address two key concerns of RF antennas for portable and mobile devices: (1) fitting antennas into the limited space of a handheld device, while (2) maintaining the integrity of broad angular coverage. The same concepts can be extended for the hubs in microcells or those of Wifi and WiMax. Some potential advantages of the present invention include improved flexibility and utility efficiency of existing frequency assets. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Terrestrial wireless communication demands have experienced a massive increase in the last few decades due to the advent of WiFi, WiMax, 3G/4G networks, primarily due to the proliferation of portable hand-held devices that utilize such wireless communications technologies, such as 3G/4G cellular phones, tablet computers, portable music players, etc. This substantial increase in use of these devices has also resulted in a proliferation of IP-based products using ever-increasingly fast fiber optics and satellites for back-bone or transport applications. On the other hand, these high-speed access communications avenues to handheld devices are typically being emanated from ever-increasingly small wireless antennas. These small wireless antennas are required to radiate and receive in broad beams with near omni-directional capabilities, while maintaining suitable gain levels and power efficiencies despite receiving constant reductions in physical size. Therefore, effective spectrum utilization becomes more and more important due to the expeditious increase in demand for wireless “access” communications. 
         [0006]    Currently, there are two key issues associated with these commercial wireless portable devices. Firstly, as the market for 3G and 4G portables continues to expand, demands for higher data rate channels continues to expand as well. With mobile frequency spectra becoming increasingly crowded, bandwidth becomes insufficient to satisfy current demand. Secondly, as a user holding a wireless hand-held device, its radiation/reception patterns or characteristics may change significantly due to interaction of the device and the user, either intentionally or unintentionally. 
         [0007]    Presently, the majority of these wireless communications devices also have a navigational aids baked into the devices as well. It is therefore also desirable to explore antenna geometries that relate to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Specifically, it is desirable to explore antenna geometries that provide nearly full hemispherical coverage, in lieu of omni-directional antennas for data communications purposes. Key parameters of the 4 principle systems are listed in Table 1. 
         [0008]    The United States NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) is currently the only fully operational GNSS. The Russian GLONASS is a GNSS in the process of being restored to full operation (it is practically restored, with 21 of 24 satellites operational by April 2010). On the other hand, the European Union&#39;s Galileo positioning system is a next generation GNSS in the initial deployment phase, with the In-Orbit-Validation (10V) phase taking place in 2010. Full Orbit Constellation (FOC) should be reached in 2015 (but this schedule is very flexible). China is also building up a global system called COMPASS, referred to as Beidou-2. Beidou-1 is a regional augmentation system. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 Key orbital parameters of the 4 GNSS systems. 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 GPS 
                 GLONASS 
                 GALILEO 
                 COMPASS 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Number of 
                 21 + 3 
                 21 + 3 
                 27 + 3 
                 30 + 
               
               
                 Satellites 
                   
                   
                   
                 5 GEO 
               
               
                 Number of 
                 6 
                 3 
                 3 
                 ? 
               
               
                 orbital planes 
               
               
                 Semi-major axis 
                 26600 km 
                 25440 km 
                 29600 km 
                 ? 21500 km 
               
               
                 Orbital revolution 
                 11:58 H 
                 11:15 H 
                 14:07 H 
                 ? 12:35 H 
               
               
                 period 
               
               
                 Inclination 
                 55 deg 
                 64 deg 
                 56 deg 
                 ? 55 deg 
               
               
                 Satellite Mass 
                 1100 kg 
                 1400 kg 
                 700 kg 
                 ? 2200 kg 
               
               
                   
                 (IIR) 
               
               
                 Solar panel area 
                 14 m2 
                 23 m2 
                 13 m2 
                 ??? 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0009]    This invention therefore intends to solve both issues in economical and efficient ways. The distributed apertures may be configured to achieve broad beam width with a specified user holding the device. The distributed apertures may also be re-configured to form multiple orthogonal beams in order to enhance throughput for the portable devices. In particular, the applications of multiple small elements to “synthesize” radiation and receiving directional patterns dynamically for terrestrial wireless communications offer many potential advantages, including improved flexibility and utility efficiency of existing frequency assets. 
         [0010]    Due to the technological advances concerning GPS/inertial navigation systems, low cost, mass-production hand-held GPS systems have become commonplace, such as those that use commercial off-the-shelf Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) accelerometers and gyroscopes. It has become very practical to estimate the “orientations” and motion trends of individual personal portable devices with respect to a fixed coordination system. The MEMS inertial measurement unit (IMU) is packaged in a small size and provides the raw IMU data through a serial interface to a processor board where the inertial navigation solution and integrated GPS/inertial Kalman filter is generated. Thus, spatial diversity for better spectrum utility can be implemented by low-cost and reliable processing techniques for consumer wireless communications markets such as receiving handheld devices for navigation, 3G and 4G mobile devices, as well as WiFi and WiMax devices. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    The present invention utilizes multiple low gain elements conformal to the mechanical contours of handheld devices in order to function as arrays. The distributed N element arrays dynamically provide options for: 1) reconfigurable shaped beams with near hemispheric radiations patterns for various handheld orientations and conditions by various users, and 2) multiple orthogonal beams concurrent connecting to multiple hubs. The larger the N number becomes, the more flexibility the residing devices can provide. However, implementation cost also rises with the number of elements. Therefore, an efficient and practical solution is for an N number between 4 and 10. 
       Aperture Size and Orientations 
       [0012]    Shaped beam antennas have been used extensively on commercial satellites. As early as the 1970s, simple beam shaping with 4 to 5 feed array feeds were used for minimum gain (˜18 dB) over a global coverage (±9°) from a geostationary orbital slot. It became commonplace to use multiple feeds on the focal plane of a parabolic reflector to shape RF beams for good contour coverage of a service area. The 1980s brought about extensive use of shaped reflectors with single feeds covering desired service areas for commercial satellites. Both of these implementations are for fixed beam shaping capabilities on satellites. 
         [0013]    However, since the 1990s, fixed and reconfigurable shaped contour beams deployed for mobile applications have been used via large parabolic reflectors with defocused feeds on satellites [2]. The element patterns, or secondary patterns, of those defocused feeds exhibited similar features of those of direct radiating arrays on curved surfaces. One of the features of both types of antennas is the extended coverage, which is the union of fields-of-view (FOV) of individual elements. We will use these features for the design of near-hemispheric coverage for handheld devices. 
         [0014]    One of the goals of the present invention is to minimize aperture size, enabling array elements with large FOVs to see many GNSS satellites or many available hubs simultaneously. However, with distributed apertures using various element orientations, not every array element will view all GNSS satellites in the sky or all the available hubs simultaneously due to blockage of the element apertures themselves. This is an issue for non-planar arrays, as each element provides additional gain over various FOV through the beam forming process. Consequently, as the GNSS satellites and/or user platform move, some of the elements may be blocked with additional elements becoming available. In our inventions, there shall be enough elements with proper orientations to provide a near hemispherical coverage. 
         [0015]    One of the design constraints is the ability to cover multiple discrete frequency bands. For WiFi the elements must cover both 2.4 and 5 GHz band. For communicating in the cellular spectrum, the elements must cover intended band width at UHF and L/S bands. For GPS, two frequency bands of interest are at (1) 1164 MHz to 1300 MHz (136 MHz) and (2) 1559 MHz to 1611 MHz (52 MHz). 
         [0016]    However, the key challenge is how to position (including orientations) a set of small broadband elements to form a beam with a near hemispherical coverage while taking into account all mutual coupling effects among the small elements as well as those of the handsets. 
       Optimization on Element Positions 
       [0017]    With a distributed array antenna, not all array elements can simultaneously view all GNSS satellites available or terrestrial hubs due to blockage of the element apertures. Translational reposition of an element generates biased phase-shifting among signals coming from different directions within its FOV. Quantitatively, phase shifting for those signals coming from a direction θ can be expressed as 
         [0000]      Δφ(in radians)= k*Δd *cos θ,  (1)
 
         [0000]    where k is the wave number, Δd is the translational reposition distance, and θ is the arriving signal direction with respect to the translational moving direction of the element. For incoming directions in parallel to the translational moving direction, or θ=0°, the element reposition will have profound effects on the phase of the received signals. Quantitatively, the equivalent phase shifting for those signals is 
         [0000]      Δφ(in radians)= k*Δd,   (1a)
 
         [0000]    where k is the wave number and Δd is the translational reposition distance. 
         [0018]    On the other hand, incoming signals from a direction perpendicular to the translational moving direction, or θ=90°, the element reposition will have no effects on the phases of the received signals. Quantitatively, the equivalent phases shifting for those signals are 
         [0000]      Δφ(in radians)=0,  (1b)
 
         [0019]    Multi-band low profile antennas using multilayer patch configurations have been successfully developed for consumer products. One such a product is manufactured over four bands at 1.268 GHz (RHCP, RCV), GPS (RHCP, RCV), 1.616 GHz (LHCP, XMIT) and 2.491 GHz (RHCP, RCV) for GNSS applications. For a N-element distributed array, radiation patterns are designed and generated through an iterative process based on desired performance constraints and the array geometry by varying the element weighting on their amplitudes and phases. The weighting, referred to as beam weight vectors (BWV), are implemented in a digital beam forming network (DBFN). 
         [0020]    For production of large quantity of handheld devices, it is very cost effective to implement the 4-to-1 Rcv BFNs digitally with two options (a) L-band in and L-band out, or (2) L-band in and baseband out. 
         [0021]    Because of the large bandwidth, we propose using the low dynamic range high speed approach for digitization with a sampling rate near 1 Gsps and a 1 bit resolution. Processed signals will regain their signal integrity in the digital domain by presuming, demuxing, band pass filtering, and then beam forming. While there are three branches of parallel processing as shown over three subbands, it is possible to do all processing in a single stream processing. The digital BFNs may be programmable. Rx antenna patterns of handheld devices may also be reconfigurable, or adaptable. The entire circuit can be implemented in a Si chip with a “loadable” mechanism via external programming to support optimized BWVs. However, this approach requires high initial investment to reach low-cost production. 
         [0022]    A beam weight vector (BWV) for an array with distributed apertures featuring various N elements in different orientations will be optimized for a shaped beam with desired coverage. There are N-complexed components in a BWV, one complex component per element corresponding to amplitude and phase weighting of the signal. 
         [0023]    Uniqueness of Invention 
         [0024]    The invention features antennas with distributed low gain elements and a beam forming network (BFN) for handheld devices to provide reliable links between GNSS satellites and users for the navigations applications, or between available wireless hubs and users for the communications applications. A portable devices may have different array elements and configurable beam forming networks for navigations and communications individually. The near hemispheric shaped beam antenna arrays provide good RF field-of views for navigation/communications signals to and from the devices, but they have limited capabilities on isolations and directional discriminations. 
         [0025]    Both the multiple beam design and the near omni coverage design approaches for a portable device include:
       (1) locating the positions and orientation of the device   (2) identifying available space in handheld devices for distributed N small elements in different orientations with various radiation patterns,   (3) identifying desired radiation patterns and M key performance constraints according to current device orientations, and elements that are not “blocked” by holding hands,   (4) performing radiation pattern simulations on the selected antenna array geometries with assumed element amplitude and phase weighting in a beam forming network with N o  inputs and 1 or multiple outputs, where N o ≦N,   (5) iteratively optimizing the weighting in the beam forming network to meet radiation patterns constraints,   (6) reducing N and optimizing the element positions and orientation, and then go back to (4) until N is no more than N o . Otherwise, relax the constraints in (3) and then go to (3) through (5).       
 
         [0032]    Both the multi-beam including orthogonal beams (OB) and the near omni coverage optimization operation for a selected portable device include:
       (1) locating the positions and orientation of the device   (2) identifying available space in handheld devices for distributed N small elements in different orientations with various radiation patterns,   (3) identifying desired radiation patterns and M key performance constraints according to current device orientations, and elements that are not “blocked” by holding hands,   (4) performing radiation pattern simulations on the selected antenna array geometries with assumed element amplitude and phase weighting in a beam forming network with N o  inputs and 1 or multiple outputs, where N o ≦N,   (5) iteratively optimizing the weighting in the beam forming network to meet key performance constraints,       
 
         [0038]    The radiation patterns of a handheld device are highly affected by RF interactions between the device and a user&#39;s hand which holds the device. It is desirable that the selected apertures are located at wherever less sensitive to the interactions with a user body. It is also possible that the selected apertures are re-configurable (or adaptive) depending on how and/or by whom the device is held. The design concepts are a fixed BFN with a set of fixed apertures. They can be extended to include “reconfigurable” apertures. 
       REFERENCES 
       [0000]    
       
         1. www.positim.com/naysys_overview.html 
         2. US patent application publication No. 20080051080, “Ground-Based Beamforming For Satellite Communications Systems”, by J. Walker, filing date: Feb. 28, 2008. 
         3. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/462,145; “Communication System for Dynamically Combining Power from a Plurality of Propagation Channels in order to Improve Power Levels of Transmitted Signals without Affecting Receiver and Propagation Segments,” by D. Chang, filed on Jul. 30, 2009. 
         4. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/122,462; “Apparatus and Method for Remote Beam Forming for Satellite Broadcasting Systems,” by Donald C. D. Chang; filed on May 16, 2008 
         5. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/848,953. “Novel Karaoke and Multi-Channel Data Recording/Transmission Techniques via Wavefront Multiplexing and Demultiplexing,” by Donald C. D. Chang, and Steve Chen, filed on Aug. 2, 2010 
         6. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/847,997; “Polarization Re-alignment for Mobile Satellite Terminals,” by Frank Lu, Yulan Sun, and Donald C. D. Chang; filed on Jul. 30, 2010. 
         7. C. E. Hendrix, G. Kulon, C. S. Anderson, and M. A. Heinze, “Multigigabit transmission through rain in a dual polarization frequency reuse system: An experimental study,”  IEEE Trans. Commun ., vol. 41, pp. 1830-1837, December. 1993. 
         8. L. Ordano and F. Tallone, “Dual polarized propagation channel: Theoretical model and experimental results,” in  Proc.  10 th Int. Conf. Antennas and Propagation , vol. 2, April 1997, pp. 363-366. 
         9. T. S. Chu, “Restoring the orthogonality of two polarizations in radio communication systems I,”  Bell Syst. Tech. J ., vol. 50, no. 9, pp. 3063-3069, November 1971. 
         10. U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/497,852; “Applications of Parallel Processing via Wavefront Multiplexing,” by D. Chang, filed on Jun. 16, 2011. 
         11. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/180,826; “Flexible Multichannel Amplifiers via Wavefront Muxing Techniques,” by D. Chang, filed on Jul. 12, 2011. 
         12. US patent application publication No. 20080291864; “Apparatus And Method For Remote Beam Forming For Satellite Broadcasting Systems,” by D. Chang; filed on May 16, 2008. 
         13. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/951,995, “A receiver with orthogonal beam forming technique,” by DCD. Chang, Y. L. Sun and F. Lu, filed on Nov. 22, 2010. 
         14. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/029,015, “Satellite ground terminal incorporating a smart antenna that rejects interference,” by D. Chang, filed on Feb. 16, 2011. 
       
     
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0053]      FIG. 1  depicts relative ground observable time of a GPS satellite orbiting through local zenith. 
           [0054]      FIG. 2  illustrates the FOVs of array elements for those of a planar array on the left panel and those of a non-planar array on the right panel. 
           [0055]      FIG. 3A  illustrates various options of elements with linear edges for handheld devices, 
           [0056]      FIG. 3B  illustrates various options of elements with linear edges for laptop devices, 
           [0057]      FIG. 4A  illustrates a 8-to-2 configurable Rx beam forming network featuring digital beam forming (DBF) network for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0058]      FIG. 4B  illustrates a 8-to-2 configurable Rx beam forming network featuring a low loss 8-to-4 switch box before low-noise-blocks (LNB&#39;s) and a 4-to-2 digital beam forming (DBF) network for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0059]      FIG. 4C  illustrates a 8-to-2 configurable Rx beam forming network featuring a 8-to-4 switch box after low-noise-amplifiers (LNA&#39;s) and a 4-to-2 digital beam forming (DBF) network for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0060]      FIG. 4D  illustrates a 8-to-2 configurable Rx beam forming network featuring a wavefront (WF)multiplexing (muxing) device after low-noise-amplifiers (LNA&#39;s) and a digital WF de-muxing device and a 4-to-2 digital beam forming (DBF) network for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0061]      FIG. 4E  illustrates a 8-to-2 configurable Rx beam forming network featuring a wavefront (WF)multiplexing (muxing) device before low-noise-blocks (LNB&#39;s) and a digital WF de-muxing device and a 4-to-2 digital beam forming (DBF) network for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0062]      FIG. 4F  illustrates a 8-to-2 configurable Rx beam forming network featuring two wavefront (WF)multiplexing (muxing) devices before low-noise-blocks (LNB&#39;s) and two digital WF de-muxing devices and a 4-to-2 Rx digital beam forming (DBF) network for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0063]      FIG. 4G  illustrates a 2-to-8 configurable Tx beam forming network featuring a 2-to-4 Tx digital beam forming (DBF) network and a 4-to-8 RF switching unit after block up-converters (BUCs) for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0064]      FIG. 4H  illustrates a 2-to-8 configurable Tx beam forming network featuring a 2-to-8 Tx digital beam forming (DBF) network and two 4-to-4 digital WF muxers, as well as two corresponding 4-to-RF WF demuxers placed after block up-converters (BUCs) for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0065]      FIG. 4I  illustrates a 2-to-8 configurable Tx beam forming network featuring a 2-to-8 Tx digital beam forming (DBF) network and an 8-to-8 digital WF muxer, as well as a corresponding RF 8-8 WF demuxer placed after a bank of 8 block up-converters (BUCs) for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0066]      FIG. 5A  illustrates a multi-element configurable Rx function featuring A/D modules and digital beam forming (DBF) network for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0067]      FIG. 5B  illustrates a multi-element configurable Tx function featuring D/A and up-converter modules and digital beam forming (DBF) network for portable handheld and laptop devices. 
           [0068]      FIGS. 6A and 6B  depict simulated results of a configurable distributed array.  FIG. 6A  illustrates a geometry for a 1.5 GHz distributed array. The four 4 small elements are microstrip dipoles with ground planes oriented in various directions.  FIG. 6B  illustrates two radiation patterns with two different beam weighting vectors (BWV). 
           [0069]      FIG. 7  illustrates an implementation concept of wavefront (WF) multiplexing (muxing) and demultiplexing (demuxing); a signal processing techniques utilizing multiple paths and orthogonal wavefronts among multiplexed independent signals. 
           [0070]      FIG. 7A  illustrates leakages of de-multiplexed signals from a wavefront (WF) multiplexing (muxing) and demultiplexing (demuxing) implementation; WF muxing/demuxing are signal processing techniques utilizing multiple concurrent paths and orthogonal wavefronts among multiplexed independent signals. When these multiple paths are not equalized, leakages among the multiplexed signals occurs as a result of non-orthogonal WFs. 
           [0071]      FIG. 7B  illustrates an implementation concept of power amplifier modules utilizing wavefront (WF) multiplexing (muxing) and demultiplexing (demuxing); a signal processing techniques utilizing multiple paths and orthogonal wavefronts among multiplexed independent signals. 
           [0072]      FIG. 7C  illustrates an implementation concept of A/D modules utilizing wavefront (WF) multiplexing (muxing) and demultiplexing (demuxing); a signal processing techniques utilizing multiple paths and orthogonal wavefronts among multiplexed independent signals. 
           [0073]      FIG. 8  illustrates features of orthogonal beams (OB). A set of 5 OBs generated by a portable device is envisioned. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0074]      FIG. 1   100  illustrates relative time duration  110  of a GPS satellite orbiting through local zenith as a function of local elevation angle  120 . A user has about 40% more time to observe the GPS satellite traveling over low elevations near horizon  111   a  than that near the local zenith  111   b . Naystar GPS satellites are deployed in 6 nearly circular orbital planes, with 4 satellites equally spaced within a plane. The orbital planes are at an inclination of 55 degrees. The GPS satellite series coverage means anywhere from 4 to 12 satellites are above an observer&#39;s horizon, with satellites being visible for many hours above an observer&#39;s horizon. 
         [0075]      FIG. 2   200  illustrates the FOVs of array elements for those of planar array  211  on upper panel  210  and those of non-planar array  221  on lower panel  220 . Markings  211  on panel  210  depict the side view of the planar array. The array consists of 3 identical elements, indicated by 3 bars. The corresponding FOVs of these elements are illustrated in three circles  214   a ,  214   b ,  214   c . Vertical axes  212  and horizontal axes  213  depict the elevation and azimuth angles in degrees. These elements are about 0.4λ wide with a 3 dB beamwidth covering about 140° FOV. Panel  210  illustrates that the FOVs of three elements for a planar array are identical and cover the same area. They can be utilized to form beams and steer nulls, with a smaller beamwidth, pointing to any location within the common FOV through proper amplitude and phase weightings. It is also possible to form 3 orthogonal beams, with every individual beam having 2 additional “degrees of freedom” for nulling in relation to the FOV. A set of orthogonal beams utilize a characteristic in that one beam always peaks at a null of the other beams. 
         [0076]    Lower panel  220  of  FIG. 2   200  shows three identical FOVs that are pointed in various directions associated with the surface normal of the element locations  221 . The drawings  221  on the lower left panel depict the side view of the non-planar array. The array consists of 3 identical elements, indicated by 3 black bars. The corresponding FOVs  224   a  and  224   b  and  224   c  of these elements are illustrated in three circles. The vertical axes  222  and the horizontal axes  223  depict the elevation and azimuth angles in degrees. These elements are about 0.4λ wide with a 3 dB beamwidth covering about 140° FOV. Thus, the array antenna coverage area (I+II+III)  224  is enlarged, but the degrees of freedom are reduced. Only a small portion the FOVs from the three elements, indicated by “III”, are overlapped. Areas indicated by “II” are covered by two elements, while most areas are only covered by one element, “I.” The area indicated by “III” will exhibit a full capacity of three degrees of freedom for beam shaping and null steering. Additionally, there will be reduced beam shaping and null steering capacity at regions indicated by “II” and very little beam shaping and null steering capability in the “I” regions. 
         [0077]      FIG. 3A   310  illustrates various antenna elements on a handheld device. There are three options  310   a ,  310   b  and  310   c , each with 9 different element positions and shapes. All options feature one ceramic radiator  311  mounted in the center of the top surface of the handheld devices. Other element  312  candidates include folded dipoles, 2-D L-shaped meandered dipoles, or 3-D short dipoles with L-cross sections. The low profile elements  311  and  312  may be conformal or placed on 1-D curved surfaces including flat areas. The aperture sizes, number of elements, element locations, and element orientations are keys to the performance of a distributed array. 
         [0078]      FIG. 3B   320  illustrates various antenna elements on a laptop computer device. There are three options  320   a ,  320   b  and  320   c , each with 9 different element positions and shapes. All options feature one ceramic radiator mounted  321  in the center of the top surface of the devices. Other element candidates include folded dipoles, 2-D L-shaped meandered dipoles, or 3-D short dipoles with L-cross sections. The low profile elements  321  and  322  may be conformal or placed on 1-D curved surfaces including flat areas. The aperture sizes, number of elements, element locations, and element orientations are keys to the performance of a distributed array. 
         [0079]      FIG. 4A   410  illustrate a method of combining 8 individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  in receiving mode via a 8-to-2 digital beam forming (DBF) processor  405  to form two individual beams  419 . Received signals by an array element  411  is “conditioned” by low noise amplifier (LNA)  412 , filtered by a bandpass filter (BPF) (not shown) and frequency down-converted by a down converter (DC)  413 , and digitized by an A-to-D converter (A/D)  414  before being sent to the 8-to-2 DBF processor  405 , consisting of multiplications  415   a  and summations stages  415   b . The multiplicands are digitized received signals and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  416 . BWVs are calculated by the controllers based the device orientations and positions provided by a unit with MEMS IMU and GNSS receivers  417  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memory units  418 . For a 8 element array, the BWVs for different beams will feature 8 complex components. When 4 elements are not selected for a beam, the associated BWV components will be set to zero. The resulting Rx beam effectively is contributed by the 4 remaining (or selected) array elements. 
         [0080]      FIG. 4B  illustrate a method of selecting 4 out of 8 receiving elements and combining the selected 4 individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  in receiving (Rx) mode via a RF 8-to-4 switching box  412   s  and a 4-to-2 Rx digital beam forming (DBF) processor  415  to form two individual beams  419 . Received signals by an array element  411  are sent to a 8-to-4 switch box  412   s , and the 4 outputs are “conditioned” by a low noise amplifier (LNA)  412 , filtered by a band pass-filter (BPF) (not shown) and frequency down-converted by a down converter (DC)  413 , and digitized by a A-to-D converter (A/D)  414  before sent to the 4-to-2 Rx DBF processor  415 , consisting of multiplications  415   a  and summations stages  415   b . The multiplicands are digitized received signals and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  416 . BWVs are calculated by controllers  416  based on device orientation and positions provided by a unit with MEMS IMU and GNSS receivers  417  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memory units  418 . For a 4 element array, the BWVs for different beams will feature 4 complex components. The low insertion loss switch box is placed before the low noise blocks (LNBs), consisting of LNAs  412  and frequency down converters  413 . Different selections of array elements for various beams are dynamically carried out in controller  416 . 
         [0081]      FIG. 4C  illustrate a method of selecting 4 out of 8 receiving elements and combining selected individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  in receiving (Rx) mode via a RF 8-to-4 switching box  412   s  and a 4-to-2 Rx digital beam forming (DBF) processor  415  to form two individual beams  419 . Received signals by an array element  411  are “conditioned” by a bank of low noise amplifiers (LNAs)  412 , The outputs are connected to a 8-to-4 switch box. Each of the four outputs of the switch box is filtered by a bandpass filter (BPF) (not shown) and frequency down-converted by a down converter (DC)  413 , and digitized by an A-to-D converter (A/D)  414  before sent to the 4-to-2 Rx DBF processor  415 , consisting of multiplications  415   a  and summations stages  415   b . The multiplicands are digitized received signals and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  416 . BWVs are calculated by controllers  416  based on device orientation and positions provided by the unit with a unit of Micro Electro Mechanical Sensor (MEMS) Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and Global navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receivers  417  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memories  418 . For a 4 element array, the BWVs for different beams will feature 4 complex components. The low insertion loss switch box is placed after the low noise amplifiers (LNAs)  412  and before a frequency down converters  413 . Different selections of array elements for various beams are dynamically carried out in the controller  416 . 
         [0082]      FIG. 4D  illustrate another method of selecting 4 out of 8 receiving elements and combining the selected 4 individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  in receiving (Rx) mode via a RF 8-to-8 wavefront multiplexer (WF Muxer)  412   wfmx , a 8-to 4 digital programmable WF demuxer  412   wfdmx , and a 4-to-2 Rx digital beam forming (DBF) processor  415  to form two individual beams  419 . Received signals by array element  411  are “conditioned” by a bank of low noise amplifiers (LNAs)  412 . The outputs are connected to a 8-to-8 WF muxer  412   wfmux . Each of the eight outputs of the WF muxer is filtered by a bandpass filter (BPF) (not shown) and frequency down converted by a down converter (DC)  413 , and digitized by a A-to-D converter (A/D)  414  before sent to a digital 8-to-4 WF demuxer  412   wfdmx  followed by a 4-to-2 Rx DBF processor  415 , consisting of multiplications  415   a  and summations stages  415   b . The multiplicands are digitized received signals and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  416 . BWVs are calculated by the controllers  416  based the device orientations and positions provided by a unit with MEMS IMU and GNSS receivers  417  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memory units  418 . For a 4 element array, the BWVs for different beams will feature 4 complex components. The low insertion loss WF muxer  412   wfmx  is placed after the low noise amplifiers (LNAs)  412  and before frequency down converters  413 . Different selections of array elements for various beams are dynamically carried out in the controller  416  by reconfiguring the digital WF demuxer  412   wfdmx.    
         [0083]      FIG. 4E  illustrate another method of selecting 4 out of 8 receiving elements and combining the selected 4 individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  in receiving (Rx) mode via a RF 8-to-8 wavefront multiplexer (WF Muxer)  412   wfmx , a 8-to 4 digital programmable WF demuxer  412   wfdmx , and a 4-to-2 Rx digital beam forming (DBF) processor  415  to form two individual beams  419 . Received signals by an array element  411  are connected to a 8-to-8 WF muxer  412   wfmux  Each of the eight outputs of the WF muxer are “conditioned” by a LNB consisting of a low noise amplifier (LNA)  412 , followed by a band-pass filter (BPF) (not shown) and frequency down-converted by a down converter (DC)  413 . The output from an LNB is digitized by a A-to-D converter (ND)  414  before sent to a digital 8-to-4 WF demuxer  412   wfdmx  cascaded by a 4-to-2 Rx DBF processor  415 ; which consisting of multiplications  415   a  and summations stages  415   b . The multiplicands are digitized received signals and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  416 . BWVs are calculated by the controllers  416  based the device orientations and positions provided by a unit with MEMS IMU and GNSS receivers  417  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memory units  418 . For a 4 element array, the BWVs for different beams will feature 4 complex components. The low insertion loss WF muxer  412   wfmx  is placed before the low noise blocks (LNBs)  412  and  413 . Different selections of array elements for various beams are dynamically carried out in the controller  416  by reconfiguring the digital WF demuxer  412   wfdmx.    
         [0084]    The configurations between the digital 8-to-8 WF muxers and the associated 8-to-8 WF demuxers consist of banks of A/Ds are identical to those of smart A/D modules patent-filed by SDS [10]. One of the advantages of using the smart A/D modules is to provide flexibility of number of inputs and enhance dynamic range. 
         [0085]      FIG. 4F  illustrate another method of selecting 4 out of 8 receiving elements and combining the selected 4 individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  in receiving (Rx) mode via two RF 4-to-4 wavefront multiplexer (WF Muxer)  4124   wfmx , two 4-to-2 digital programmable WF demuxer  4124   wfdmx , and a 4-to-2 Rx digital beam forming (DBF) processor  415  to form two individual beams  419 . Received signals by an array element  411  are connected to one of the two 4-to-4 WF muxers  4124   wfmux . Each of the four outputs of a WF muxer is “conditioned” by a LNB consisting of a low noise amplifier (LNA)  412 , followed by a band-pass filter (BPF) (not shown) and frequency down converted by a down converter (DC)  413 . The output from an LNB is digitized by a A-to-D converter (A/D)  414  before sent to one of the two digital 4-to-2 WF demuxer  412   wfdmx  cascaded by a 4-to-2 Rx DBF processor  415 ; which consists of multiplications  415   a  and summations stages  415   b . The multiplicands are digitized received signals and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  416 . BWVs are calculated by the controllers  416  based the device orientations and positions provided by a unit of the MEMS IMU and GNSS  417  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memory units  418 . For a 4 element array, the BWVs for different beams will feature 4 complex components. The two low insertion loss WF muxers  4124   wfmx  are placed before the low noise blocks (LNBs)  412  and  413 . Different selections of array elements for various beams are dynamically carried out in the controller  416  by reconfiguring the digital WF demuxer  4124   wfdmx.    
         [0086]      FIG. 4G   420  illustrates a method of forming two individual beams  429  in transmitting mode using 4 of 8 available individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  via a 2-to-4 Tx digital beam forming (DBF)  425  network and a low loss RF 4-to-8 switch unit  422   s . Signals  429  to be transmitted are processed by the Tx DBF processor  425  in which each beam forming process consisting of replication  425   b  and multiplication  425   a  stages. The multiplicands are replicated digitized signals to be transmitted and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  426 . BWVs are calculated by the controllers  426  based the device orientations and positions provided by the unit with MEM IMU and GNSS receivers  427  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memory units  428 . The weighted signals for individual elements for the two transmitting beams are summed together in the transmitted DBF  425  before converted to analog formats by digital-to analog (D/A) converters  424 . These signals are then frequency up-converted by up-converter (UC)  423  and amplified by power amplifiers  422 . The 4 amplified signals are sent to 4 selected elements from the 8 available elements  421 . The selection mechanism, controlled by the controller  426 , is a low loss RF 4-to-8 switch unit  422   s . The outputs of the switching unit are connected to the 8 individual elements  421 . The radiations of 4 amplified signals by the selected elements are combined in the far field. 
         [0087]      FIG. 4H  illustrates a method of forming two individual beams  429  in transmitting mode using 4 of 8 available individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  via a 2-to-8 Tx digital beam forming (DBF)  455  network, two digital WF muxers  4224   wfmx  featuring 4-inputs and 4-outputs, and two RF WF demuxers  4224   wfdmx  also featuring 4-inputs and 4-outputs. Signals  429  to be transmitted are processed by the Tx 2-to-8 DBF processor  455  in which each beam forming process consists of a replication  425   b  and a multiplication  425   a  stages. The multiplicands are replicated digitized signals to be transmitted and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  416 . BWVs are calculated by the controllers  416  based the device orientations and positions provided by a unit with MEMS IMU and GNSS receivers  417  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memories  418 . The weighted signals for individual elements for the two transmitting beams are summed together in the transmitted DBF  455  and become the inputs of the digital WF muxers  4224   wfmx . The outputs from the digital WF muxers  4224   wfmx  are converted to analog formats by digital-to analog (D/A) converters  424 , and. These signals are then frequency up-converted by up-converter (UC)  423 , and amplified by power amplifiers  422 . Two sets of 4 amplified signals are sent to the inputs of the two 4-to-4 WF demuxers  4224   wfdmx , and their outputs are connected to the 8 available elements  411 . The selection mechanism, controlled by the controller and drivers  416 , is the BWVs for the DBF  455  network. 
         [0088]    The configurations between the WF muxers and the associated two WF demuxers consisting of banks of power amplifiers are identical to those of smart PA modules patent-filed by SDS [10,11]. One of advantages of using the smart PA modules is to provide equal loading to all the PAs. The outputs of the WF demuxers  4224   wfdmx  are connected to the 8 individual elements  411 . The radiations by the 8 elements  411 , amplified by the 2 smart PA modules driven by signals dynamically configured by the 2-to-8 DBF  455 , are combined in the far field accordingly. 
         [0089]      FIG. 4I  illustrates a method of forming two individual beams  429  in transmitting mode using 4 of 8 available individual radiating elements  411  of distributed arrays shown in  FIGS. 3A   310  and  3 B  320  via a 2-to-8 Tx digital beam forming (DBF)  455  network, an 8-to-digital WF muxers  422   wfmx  featuring 8-inputs and 8-outputs, and a 8-to-8 RF WF demuxers  422   wfdmx  also featuring 8-inputs and 8-outputs. Signals  429  to be transmitted are processed by the Tx 2-to-8 DBF processor  455  in which each beam forming process consisting of a replication  425   b  and a multiplications  425   a  stages. The multiplicands are replicated digitized signals to be transmitted and the multipliers are the beam weight vector (BWV) components supplied by the controller and drivers  416 . 
         [0090]    BWVs are calculated by the controllers  416  based on device orientations and positions provided by a unit of MEMS IMU and GNSS receivers  417  or equivalent functions, and information on array geometries and hub locations recorded in local memory units  418 . The weighted signals for individual elements for the two transmitting beams are summed together in the transmitted DBF  455  and become the inputs of the digital WF muxers  4224   wfmx . The 8 outputs are converted to analogue formats by digital-to analogue (D/A) converters  424 , then frequency up converted by up-converter (UC)  423 , and amplified by power amplifiers  422 . The 8 amplified signals are the inputs of the 8-to-8 WF demuxers  422   wfdmx , and their outputs are connected to the 8 available elements  411 . The selection mechanism, controlled by the controller and drivers  416 , is the BWVs for the DBF  455  network. 
         [0091]    The configurations between the digital 8-to-8 WF muxers and the associated 8-to-8 WF demuxers consisting of banks of power amplifiers are identical to those of smart PA modules patent-filed by SDS [10, 11]. One of the advantages of using the smart PA modules is to provide equal loading to all the PAs. The outputs of the WF demuxers  422   wfdmx  are connected to the 8 individual elements  411 . The radiations by the 8 elements  411 , amplified by the 2 smart PA modules driven by signals dynamically configured by the 2-to-8 DBF  455 , are combined in the far field accordingly. 
         [0092]      FIG. 5A  illustrate an alternate cost-effective method of digitizing receiving signals from multiple elements  411  through a single frequency down converter and A/D device  513  before DBF processor  514 . The received signals from multiple elements  411  are conditioned first by LNAs  412  and BPFs (not shown). The conditioned received signals delivered to element signal input ports  511  are then combined via an analogue code-division multiplexing processor  512 . The corresponding CDM demuxing process is accomplished digitally after A/D in the DBF processor  514  to recover original received signals in base-band. The element selection processing is accomplished in base-band as a part of the DBF processing  514 . Some of their beam outputs  515  will be used as diagnostic data for dynamic and autonomous array configuration management. 
         [0093]      FIG. 5B  illustrate a cost effective alternative method of delivering multiple transmitting beam signals  525  by using multiple beams to select radiating element signal output ports  521 . The multi-channel frequency up-conversion and conversion to analog formats from transmitting DBF processor  524  via a single Digital-to-Analog (D/A) device and a signal frequency up-conversion chain  523 . The code division multiplexing among transmitting signals for multiple elements are processed digitally in DBF  524 , while the CDM demux  522  features RF processing to recover the signals to be transmitted by individual elements  521  in RF after power-amplification (not shown). The element selection processing is accomplished in base-band as a part of the DBF processing  524 . 
         [0094]      FIGS. 6A and 6B  depict simulated results of a distributed array. The weighting in the DBF, referred to as beam weight vectors (BWV), are generated by a pattern optimization process.  FIG. 6A  and  FIG. 6B  illustrate an example of two unique radiation patterns from the same distributed array on the surface of a docking station, which is about 2″×2″× ¼″. 
         [0095]      FIG. 6A   610  illustrates a geometry for a 1.5 GHz distributed array. The four 4 small elements  612  are printed microstrip dipoles on dielectric substrates  611  with ground planes  613 . These elements  612  are oriented in various directions. The dielectric constant for the substrates is roughly 10 with a very good loss tangent. They are on a portion of a pyramid shaped structure, with tilting angles of ˜30° above the horizontal. The distances between the diagonal corners are about a quarter of wavelength in free space. As indicated, the elements on opposite sides of the pyramid are with the same polarization but are “built” in opposite directions or out of phase by 180° spatially. 
         [0096]    The upper left panels  621  of  FIG. 6B  illustrates a half “donut” shaped radiation pattern from 4 element distributed array  610  controlled by a unique beam weighting vectors (BWV). The 4 components of the BWV are identical. As a result, the received signals from the 4 antenna elements are added in phase. The low left panel depicts two planar cuts of the shaped radiation pattern  621 , one in elevation  622  and the other in azimuth  623 . The shaped beam  621  features the following unique characteristics:
       (1) a “scalar” beam, independent of polarization,   (2) a deep null at boresight,   (3) omnidirectionality in azimuth, and   (4) “peaking” up at ˜10 degree in elevation for all azimuth angle with gain about −5 dB.       
 
         [0101]    As the spacing among the elements increases (not shown), the donut pattern will become flatter with a higher “peak” gain at lower elevation angles. When the distance between two diagonal corners increases to half a wavelength, the peak gain at ˜5° in elevation will be better (by at least 3 dB). 
         [0102]    The upper right panel  631  of  FIG. 6B  illustrates another radiation patterns from the 4 element distributed array  610  controlled by a unique beam weighting vectors (BWV). The low right panel depicts two planar cuts of the shaped radiation pattern  631 , one in elevation  632  and the other in azimuth  633 . When the individual elements are weighted properly with a set of phase progressive weighting (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°), the corresponding beam features a RHCP receiving pattern with a peak of −3.5 dB at boresight (the direction along z-axis). The aperture efficiency for this antenna is less than 50%. 
         [0103]      FIG. 7   700  illustrates an implementation concept of wavefront (WF) multiplexing (muxing) and demultiplexing (demuxing). There are a 4-to-4 WF muxing device  710 , and a 4-to-4 WF de-muxing device  720 , and 4 identical transmission lines  715  connecting the muxing and the demuxing devices. WF muxing/demuxing techniques are for signal processing utilizing multiple propagation paths. As indicated there are three independent signal streams  701 , as indicated by a solid oval, a hollow oval and an oval with a number “1” in it, at the 3 or the 4 inputs of the WF muxing device  710 . As a result of the WF muxing, each of the input signal streams appears in all 4 transmission lines but with different spatial (amplitudes and phase) distributions as indicated by smaller ovals  711  accordingly. The three signals streams are “multiplexed” and propagated concurrently through the 4 parallel paths. Furthermore, each of the 4 paths features an aggregated signal channel resulting from a linear combination of the three independent signal streams. These spatial distributions among the 4 propagation paths for the three signal streams are characterized mathematically as 3 orthogonal wavefronts. The spatial distributions of the three input signals  701  are indicated by the various slopes among the small solid ovals  711   a , among the small hollow ovals  711   b , and among the small ovals with  711   c . Reconstruction of the signal streams  721  via WF demuxing device  720  is possible because each wavefront is spatially orthogonal to each other. 
         [0104]      FIG. 7A  illustrates some effects of non-orthogonality among the three WFs due to unequal propagation delays among the 4 propagation paths in between a wavefront (WF) multiplexing (muxing) and demultiplexing (demuxing) processors. 4-to-4 WF muxing device  710  and 4-to-4 WF de-muxing device  720  and 4 identical transmission lines  715  connect the muxing and the demuxing devices. WF muxing/demuxing techniques are for signal processing utilizing multiple propagation paths. As indicated there are three independent signal streams  701 , indicated by a solid oval, a hollow oval and an oval with a number “1” in it, at the 3 or the 4 inputs of the WF muxing device  710 . As a result of the WF muxing, each of the input signal streams appears in all 4 transmission lines but with different spatial (amplitudes and phase) distributions as indicated by smaller ovals  711  accordingly. The three signals streams are “multiplexed” and propagating through the 4 parallel paths concurrently. Furthermore, each of the 4 paths features an aggregated signal channel resulting from a linear combinations of the three independent signal streams. These spatial distributions among the 4 propagation paths for the three signal streams indicated by the ovals ( 711   a    711   b  and  711   c ) are characterized mathematically as 3 orthogonal wavefronts. There are additional sections of unequal paths  715   a  inserted between WF muxing and demuxing devices. As a result, the spatially wavefronts become un-orthogonal at the inputs of the WF demuxing device, the three associated 3 signals streams  721  signals cannot be “reconstructed” and “recovered” via a WF demuxing device  720  as depicted. There are leakage signals  722  among the 4 output channels. 
         [0105]      FIG. 7B  illustrates an implementation concept of a smart power amplifier module using wavefront (WF) multiplexing (muxing) and demultiplexing (demuxing). There are a 4-to-4 WF muxing device  710 , and a 4-to-4 WF de-muxing device  720 , a bank of 4 identical power amplifiers (PAs), and 4 identical transmission lines  715  connecting the muxing device and the PAs followed by the demuxing device  720 . WF muxing/demuxing techniques for signal processing utilize multiple propagation paths. As indicated, there are three independent signal streams  701 , indicated by a solid oval, a hollow oval and an oval with a number “1” in it, at the 3 or the 4 inputs of the WF muxing device  710 . As a result of the WF muxing, each of the input signal streams appears in all 4 transmission lines but with different spatial (amplitudes and phase) distributions as indicated by smaller ovals accordingly. The three signals streams are “multiplexed” and propagating through the 4 parallel paths concurrently. Furthermore, each of the 4 paths features an aggregated signal channel resulting from a linear combination of the three independent signal streams. These spatial distributions among the 4 propagation paths for the three signal streams indicated by the ovals ( 711   a    711   b  and  711   c ) are characterized mathematically as 3 orthogonal wavefronts. The 4 power amplifiers (PAs)  713  provide amplifications for the 4 aggregated signal channels individually. The resulting three WFs for the amplified signals in the 4 propagation paths remain orthogonal. It is because of the spatially orthogonal wavefronts, the three associated 3 amplified signals streams  721  can be “reconstructed” and “recovered” via a WF demuxing device  720  as depicted. 
         [0106]    Furthermore, the WF muxing processor  701  can be digitally implemented at baseband (not shown). The associated outputs of the WF muxer  710  must be converted to analogue format at a RF frequency consistent with the operation frequency band of the PAs. 
         [0107]      FIG. 7C  illustrates an implementation concept of A/D module using wavefront (WF) multiplexing (muxing) and demultiplexing (demuxing). There are a 4-to-4 WF muxing device  710 , and a digital 4-to-4 WF de-muxing device  7201 , a bank of 4 identical direct-conversion analogue to digital converters (A/Ds)  714 , and 4 identical transmission lines  715  connecting the muxing device and the A/Ds  714  followed by the demuxing device. WF muxing/demuxing techniques are for signal processing utilizing multiple propagation paths. As indicated there are three independent signal streams  701 , indicated by a solid oval, a hollow oval and an oval with a number “1” in it, at the 3 or the 4 inputs of the WF muxing device  710 . As a result of the WF muxing  710 , each of the input signal streams appears in all 4 transmission lines but with different spatial (amplitudes and phase) distributions, as indicated by smaller ovals accordingly. The three signals streams are “multiplexed” and propagated concurrently through the 4 parallel paths. Furthermore, each of the 4 paths features an aggregated signal channel resulting from a linear combinations of the three independent signal streams. These spatial distributions among the 4 propagation paths for the three signal streams indicated by the ovals ( 711   a ,  711   b , and  711   c ) are characterized mathematically as 3 orthogonal wavefronts. The 4 direct-conversion A/Ds  714  provide direct sampling at RF and analog to digital conversions for the 4 aggregated signal channels individually. The resulting three WFs for the digitized signals in the 4 propagation paths remain orthogonal. It is because of the spatially orthogonal wavefronts, the three associated 3 digitized signals streams  7211  can be “reconstructed” and “recovered” via a digital WF demuxing device  7201  as depicted. 
         [0108]    Furthermore, the WF muxing processor  701  can be implemented digitally at baseband 9 not shown). The associated outputs of the WF muxer must be converted to analog format at a RF frequency consistent with the operation frequency band of the PAs. 
         [0109]      FIG. 8  illustrates key features of Orthogonal Beams  810 . There are 5 panels with vertical axes  801  indicating the antenna gains for various beams and the horizontal axes  802  the azimuth angles of a user antenna with various directions where five base stations (BS) are located. The directions for the five BSs are indicated by N4, N2, O, P2, and P4. These multiple beams from the user device are not conventional beams with “high gain and low sidelobes.” They are orthogonal beams (OBs), meaning that any of the five beams always peaks at nulls of all other beams. As the user, these five OB beams will move accordingly under the constraints that all five dynamic beams are always peaked at various desired directions while the beam-peak of a beam is always at nulls of all other 4 beams. As a result, the user device can concurrently communicate to the five BSs via the same spectrum.