A radar antenna suitable for a drone is provided, which is able to compensate for the agility of drone motion. The radar antenna contains a sandwich of two printed circuit boards between three conductive plates. A first printed circuit board comprises a preferably circular array of first antenna elements such as dipoles. A second printed circuit board, parallel to the first printed circuit board, comprises an array of second antenna elements. One of the array of first antenna elements and the array of second antenna elements is an array of transmission antenna elements and the other an array of reception antenna elements. The first printed circuit board is located below the second printed circuit board. Three conductive plates are used to shape the antenna patterns from the antenna elements so that the main lobes of the antenna patterns are directed obliquely downwards and the antenna patterns from the different array at least partly overlap, suppressing vertical side lobes. A first conductive plate separates the first and second printed circuit boards. A second conductive plate is located above the second printed circuit board, extending radially outward beyond the first conductive plate. A third conductive plate is located below the first printed circuit board. The first conductive plate extends radially outward beyond the third conductive plate.

An antenna apparatus includes a number of antenna devices disposed to surround a center. M switches are connected to the plurality of antenna devices, M being an integer equal to or greater than 1. The of antenna devices include N antenna device groups and each of the N antenna device groups includes M antenna devices. N is an integer equal to or greater than 1. For each of the M switches, the m.sup.th switch is connected to the m.sup.th antenna device of the each of the N antenna device groups, m being an integer ranging from 1 to M.

An ultra-wideband (UWB) beam forming system is disclosed. In one or more embodiments, the UWB beam forming system includes a plurality of radiating elements forming a circular, cylindrical, conical, spherical, or multi-faceted array and a beamformer coupled to the radiating elements. The beamformer includes one or more transformable reconfigurable integrated units (TRIUNs) configured to independently control individual radiating elements or groups of radiating elements of the plurality of radiating elements.

A method of optimizing a sensor antenna for a vehicle (10) includes operating a sensor antenna using a first predetermined antenna beam pattern from a plurality of predetermined antenna beam patterns. A map location of a vehicle is determined, and a second predetermined antenna beam pattern is selected from the plurality of predetermined antenna beam patterns based upon the map location of the vehicle (10). The second predetermined antenna beam pattern is then used with the vehicle sensor (14).

A Reconfigurable, Flexible Multi-User (RFMU) electronically steered antenna (ESA) includes a top panel and a number of side panels that enable many contacts simultaneously with varying gain requirements from a single, in situ, installation. The top panel includes multiple subarrays and can communicate with flyover satellites, and the side panels can communicate with satellites flying past a side of the ESA. The top panel and the side panels can achieve a beam steering that covers a full or partial, variable gain, hemispheric field-of-view (FoV). The RFMU ESA terminal top and side panels are scalable using flexible modular building blocks. This enables increased contacts, increased gain or a combination thereof sized to meet desired performance.

Systems and methods for detecting and reducing signal interference affecting wireless communication with a mobile vehicle includes generating an interference signature based on a correlation multiple signal-quality characteristics of a desired target-signal that is received at an antenna assembly attached to the mobile vehicle, and adjusting the orientation of the antenna assembly based on a change or degradation in the interference signature to thereby improve wireless communication with the vehicle.

A wireless millimeter-wave (mmWave) system in a vehicle and methods for the wireless mmWave system involve determining a direction and orientation for a link from the wireless mmWave system to a node outside the vehicle. A method includes computing an array of antenna elements of the wireless mmWave system to produce a radiation pattern to form the link. The array of the antenna elements is a subset of all the antenna elements of the wireless mmWave system. The array of the antenna elements of the wireless mmWave system are configured to communicate with the node over the link.

A directional antenna apparatus capable of radiating radio signals in various directions may include first, second, third and fourth main director elements forming a square; first, second, third and fourth sub-director elements extending from the center portion of the square to the first, second, third and fourth main director elements, respectively, inside the square; first, second, third and fourth radiators disposed in parallel with the first, second, third and fourth main director elements, respectively, outside the square; and a selection switch configured to selectively connect any one of the first, second, third and fourth radiators to an external device.

An example antenna system includes a plurality of dielectric rod stacks and a control circuit. The control circuit includes a plurality of independently controlled output circuit boards. Each independently controlled output circuit board includes a respective dielectric rod stack. The respective dielectric rod stack includes a plurality of respective dielectric rods. The control circuit selects: (i) the dielectric rod stacks, and (ii) the respective dielectric rods of the respective dielectric rod stack to adjust a beam of emitted or received radio frequency (RF) waves.

Aspects of the disclosure provide an antenna system for a high-altitude platform (HAP). The antenna system may include a central panel including a first set of antenna elements. The antenna system may also include a plurality of auxiliary panels arranged around the central panel and at an angular offset from the central panel. Each auxiliary panel of the set of auxiliary panels may include a second plurality of antenna elements. The first plurality of antenna elements may be configured to provide network coverage within a first area having a first radius and each of the second sets of antenna elements are configured to provide network coverage within a second area beyond the first radius.