Methods os selecting receive beam postitions in multiple beam forming antenna systems

Several methods of selecting simultaneous receive beams from a multiple beam forming antenna are presented. The number of switching junctions required for each method is discussed together with the flexibility of operation of the matrix. It is shown that the amount of flexibility of a switching matrix is dependent on the number of switching junctions used and therefore is dependent on the cost of the matrix. A block selection technique is presented which groups the total input beam positions into blocks of beam positions. This technique, together with a method of selecting clusters of beam positions, is shown to be the most efficient method for selecting simultaneous receive beams. This design requires less than five percent more switching junctions than the total number of receive beam positions.