| CPC H04B 1/10 (2013.01) [H01Q 3/36 (2013.01); H04B 7/086 (2013.01); H04B 7/0865 (2013.01)] | 13 Claims |
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1. A wireless, satellite communications terminal comprising:
an antenna array having a plurality of m antenna elements arranged linearly and displaced from one another such that the displacement between each pair of adjacent antenna elements within the antenna array is substantially equal, wherein m is a number representing the plurality of antenna elements, and wherein each of the antenna elements include transmit/receive modules;
a first plurality of m−1 phase shifters, wherein each phase shifter of the first plurality is coupled to a unique one of the antenna elements and is configured to receive, from the antenna element to which it is coupled, a signal received by the antenna element and to apply a complex weight to it to generate a complex-weighted version of the signal received by the antenna element;
a plurality of m−1 first-stage signal combiners, wherein each first-stage signal combiner corresponds to a unique one of the pairs of adjacent antenna elements within the antenna array, is coupled to a first one of the pair of adjacent antenna elements and a phase shifter from the first plurality of phase shifters that is coupled to the second of the pair of adjacent antenna elements, and is configured to:
receive, from the first of the pair of adjacent antenna elements, a signal received by the first antenna element,
receive, from the phase shifter coupled to the second of the pair of adjacent antenna elements, the complex-weighted version of the signal received by the second antenna element, and
combine the signal received by the first antenna element and the complex-weighted version of the signal received by the second antenna element to generate an output signal;
a second plurality of m−1 phase shifters, wherein each phase shifter of the second plurality is coupled to a unique one of the first-stage signal combiners and is configured to receive, from the first-stage signal combiner to which it is coupled, the output signal output by the first-stage signal combiner and to apply a complex weight to it to generate a complex-weighted version of the output signal;
a second-stage signal combiner coupled to each of the phase shifters of the second plurality and configured to combine the complex-weighted versions of the output signals output by the phase shifters of the second plurality to generate an interference-mitigated output signal for the antenna array;
a first controller to set the complex weights applied by the first plurality of phase shifters to the signals received by the antenna elements to which they are connected to generate complex-weighted versions of the signals received by the antenna elements to which they are connected that model interference from a co-located wireless communication terminal;
a second controller to set the complex weights applied by the second plurality of phase shifters to steer a main beam of the antenna array to facilitate reception of a desired signal; and
wherein the signals received by the antenna elements, the complex-weighted versions of the signals received by the antenna elements, the output signals generated by the first-stage signal combiners, the complex-weighted versions of the output signals, and the interference-mitigated output signal for the antenna array all are RF signals;
wherein individual antenna elements include transmit/receive modules;
wherein the antenna array is configured to transmit signals in addition to receiving signals and individual antenna elements are configured to transmit signals in addition to receiving signals; and
wherein the second controller is configured to set the complex weights applied by the second plurality of phase shifters to steer the main beam of the antenna array to facilitate reception of a desired signal from a satellite.
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