摘要 |
The elements of a phased array antenna are driven by different frequencies, rather than the same frequency, to realize a scanning beam. The scan rate of the beam may be set arbitrarily high according to the frequencies used to drive the phased array, without expensive phase modulators. In particular, each successive element of the phased array antenna is driven with a frequency that is offset from the frequency used to drive the previous element in direct proportion to the spacing between antenna elements. Thus, for a straight line implementation of a phased array antenna with an antenna spacing offset of lambda/2, the frequency offset between adjacent antenna elements is constant. For implementations of phased array antennas with another linear or a non-linear spatial relationship between antenna elements, the frequency offset between adjacent antenna elements is determined based on a linear or non-linear spatial relationship of the antenna.
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