Patent ID: 7460077

Claim:
A polarization control system for an antenna array comprising: a plurality of first antenna elements comprising flared notch antenna elements having a generally horizontal direction of polarization; a plurality of second antenna elements comprising monopole antenna elements having a generally vertical direction of polarization, the horizontal direction of polarization being substantially orthogonal to the vertical direction of polarization, the plurality of first and second antenna elements are contiguously arranged in a generally planar fashion, the first and second antenna elements having a predetermined amplitude weighting factor that tapers from a central region to an outer perimeter of the plurality of first and second antenna elements; and a beam forming network coupled to the plurality of first and second antenna elements and operable to: attenuate only an amplitude of a first subset of the plurality of first antenna elements, wherein the amplitude is either off or on; and shift a phase of a second subset of the plurality of second antenna elements.