Patent ID: 7741997

Claim:
A phased array antenna system including one or more switchable sub-groups, each switchable sub-group comprising: M controller circuits, where M is a positive integer greater than one, each controller circuit having a controller input and a controller output; a first switching network having X first network inputs, where X is a positive integer greater than one, each first network input being configured to receive a waveform signal, the first switching network having M first network outputs, each first network output corresponding to one of the M controller inputs, the first switching network being configured to switchably associate one or more of the waveform signals with one or more of the M controller circuits by switchably associating connections between the X first network inputs and the M first network outputs; N antenna elements, where N is a positive integer greater than one; and a second switching network disposed between the M controller circuits and the N antenna elements, the second switching network having M second network inputs, each second network input corresponding to one of the M controller outputs, the second switching network having N second network outputs, each second network output corresponding to one of the N antenna elements, the second switching network being configured to switchably associate one or more of the M controller circuits with one or more of the N antenna elements by switchably associating connections between the M second network inputs and the N second network outputs, wherein the second switching network includes one or more switches and at least one of a combiner and a divider by which the M second network inputs are switchably associated with the N second network outputs.