US Patent:
20170170561, Jun 15, 2017
Inventors:
- Palo Alto CA, US
Michael Aliamus - San Jose CA, US
Behzad Tavassoli Hozouri - Sunnyvale CA, US
Robert Jones - Union City CA, US
Michael Grall - Santa Cruz CA, US
International Classification:
H01Q 5/28
H01Q 21/00
H01Q 3/36
Abstract:
A spacecraft communications payload includes a beam forming network (BFN), wherein the BFN includes a first feed waveguide and a first set of branch waveguides, each branch waveguide in the first set operating in a frequency band having a characteristic waveguide wavelength λ. A proximal portion of the first set of branch waveguides is communicatively coupled with the first feed waveguide. A distal portion of the first set of branch waveguides is communicatively coupled by way of an array of slots with a plurality of radiating elements. A separation distance between adjacent slots in the array is approximately equal to λ, and the array of slots is configured as a honeycomb-like triaxial lattice. In some implementations, a compact BFN may be configured to simultaneously operate at two different polarizations (“dual-polarized”) and/or frequency bands (“dual-band”).