| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus are provided for producing multiple, frequency-addressable beams (66-80) employed in a satellite communication system. The beams (66-80) are effectively scanned over an area of the earth in order to communicatively interconnect small communication terminals on the earth. Multiple beams are formed which can be scanned independently of each other in the direction of scanning. Two or more beam formers (104, 106) are coupled in parallel and feed a single array of antenna elements. The outputs of the beam formers (104, 106) are combined in summers (98) and are then amplified by power amplifiers 38 and applied to excite the array elements (30). Phase shifters (92-96) are coupled between the beam formers (104, 106) and the array elements (30) to shift the phase of the beam signals and thereby aim or shift the beams in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction in order to provide the desired coverage over the earth.
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