CONFORMAL TWO DIMENSIONAL ELECTRONIC SCAN ANTENNA WITH BUTLER MATRIX AND ELECTRONIC SCAN ARRAY (ESA) LENS

摘要

An antenna and antenna excitation method. The inventive antenna includes a cylindrical array (20) of radiating elements. Each of the elements is mounted at a predetermined substantially transverse angle relative to a longitudinal axis. A circuit (30) is included for providing an electrical potential between at least two of the elements effective to scan a transmit or a receive beam of electromagnetic energy along an elevational axis at least substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis. In the illustrative embodiment, the array includes a stack of the planar, parallel, conductive, ring-shaped radiating elements, each of which is filled with ferroelectric bulk material. A second circuit (70) is included for exciting at least some of the elements to cause the elements to generate a transmit or a receive beam of electromagnetic energy off-axis relative to the longitudinal axis. In the preferred embodiment, the second circuit is a Butler matrix and is effective to cause the beam to scan in azimuth about the longitudinal axis, the azimuthal axis being at least substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis and the elevational axis.