Patent ID: 7800537

Claim:
An antenna system, comprising: a reflector antenna including a central feed element and additional feed elements on opposite sides of the central feed element; an antenna positioner configured to mechanically steer the reflector antenna; a beam steering network comprising: a plurality of commandable attenuators each being coupled to a corresponding one of the feed elements, and configured to vary ratios of amplitudes of pairs of adjacent feed elements in order to electronically steer a beam and vary a spatial position of the beam; and beam combining circuitry configured to combine outputs from pairs of adjacent feed elements in hybrids, configured to provide outputs from the hybrids that are a sum (Σ) and difference (Δ) of each of the pairs of adjacent feed elements, and configured to produce tracking signals from the pairs of adjacent feed elements; and an antenna control unit configured to continuously minimize signal power of the difference output of the hybrids; wherein the reflector antenna is connected to the antenna positioner and the beam steering network, and the antenna control unit is connected to the beam steering network.