Patent ID: 8179328

Claim:
A direction-finding antenna with electronics for receiving radio signals in a frequency range of about 2 megaHertz to about 18 gigaHertz, said direction-finding antenna comprising: an edge-radiating antenna comprising a first plate and a second plate disposed parallel to each other and radiating into open space, a concentric cylinder connecting the first plate to the second plate, eight feed points disposed equally around the outside of the concentric cylinder with eight feed lines extending from the first plate to the second plate, and a shunt resistor across each feed gap, wherein the eight feed lines are electrically coupled to a first beam forming matrix that finds a direction of a beam; a monopole array comprising eight monopole elements connected to a first center mast, wherein the monopole array is disposed inside the concentric cylinder and resistively modified such that no resonance occurs, and wherein the eight monopole elements are electrically coupled to a second beam forming matrix that finds a direction of a beam; a dipole array comprising eight dipole elements connected to a second center mast, wherein each of the eight dipole elements is resistively loaded to increase bandwidth, and wherein the eight dipole elements are electrically coupled to a third beam forming matrix that finds a direction of a beam; and a first and second biconical horn housing the edge-radiating antenna and dipole array, respectively, the first and second biconical horn each comprising eight ribs connecting a top horn to a bottom horn, wherein the eight ribs are electrically couple to a high impedance resistor disposed at the center of the biconical horn.