Reconfigurable zonal beam forming system for an antenna on an orbiting satellite and optimisation procedure for the reconfiguration

摘要

The system divides (SP) an incoming signal into a number of channels. Each channel has a variable phase shifter and amplifier (Amp1-Amp4) which inputs a Butler matrix (FCN). The Butler matrix outputs feed a number of variable channel phase shifters and the phase-shifted outputs feed antenna source radiating elements (S1-S4). By setting the input and output variable phase shifters, the amplitudes of the signals from the radiating elements can be made equal and the shape of the zone can be configured. A variable attenuator can be cascaded with the input phase shifters.