Paul Douglas Cramer

US Patent:

45034362, Mar 5, 1985

Filed:

Dec 10, 1982

Appl. No.:

6/448441

Inventors:

Paul W. Cramer - San Gabriel CA

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Washington DC

International Classification:

H01Q 324

US Classification:

343876

Abstract:

A feed element-to-beam interconnection network is provided for an antenna that transmits and receives a large number of beams, such as 87 contiguous narrow beams that cover the United States. The network, which is connected to a layer of 134 feed elements that transmit and receive microwaves, consists of a pair of circuit boards (160c, 162c in FIG. 7) parallel to the feed element layer. One of the two boards has 87 dividers (e. g. 51td, FIG. 5) that each divide a signal to be transmitted into seven portions, and the other board has 134 combiners (e. g. 38tc) that each collect seven transmit signal portions and deliver the sum to one of the feed elements. A similar arrangement is used to handle received signals, with 134 receive signal dividers (e. g. 38rd) on the one board, and 87 receive signal combiners (e. g. 51rc) on the other board.