Robert R Boothe

US Patent:

42977053, Oct 27, 1981

Filed:

Mar 3, 1980

Appl. No.:

6/126516

Inventors:

Robert R. Boothe - Huntsville AL

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army - Washington DC

International Classification:

H01Q 326
H01Q 1310

US Classification:

343771

Abstract:

In a serpentine feed structure for a frequency scanned antenna a switching etwork is provided which allows the serpentine to be fed from either end on alternate or random scans. This variable transmission system significantly increases the frequency bandwidth that must be jammed by detrimental countermeasure systems. The feed switching network comprises first, second and third switching circulators coupled to receive radiant energy from a radar transmit-receive switch and selectively couple this energy to one or the other end of a serpentine feed structure for controlling the direction of electromagnetic radiation energy coupled through the serpentine structure. The serpentine feed structure supplies radiant energy to an antenna array of a frequency scanned antenna for controlling the sector scanning of the antenna. Reversing the direction of energy flow through the serpentine causes a change in the particular frequencies scanning a given sector of the scan. This allows two separated frequencies to be alternately used for directing a beam toward a particular direction thereby reducing the effects of countermeasure systems.