Beam Steering Antenna Control Technique

A technique which reduces the requirement for constructing high accuracy phase shifters for steering the main beam in a small (less than 20 elements) linear antenna array is described. The key hardware components are the phase detectors which monitor the phase difference between adjacent radiating elements and a microcomputer to read the phase differences and adjust phase shifters to obtain the desired antenna performance. This closed loop technique will also provide a means for future investigations to verify theoretical versus experimental phase distributions and other element effects in small antenna arrays.