Antenna system having a reflector with a substantially open construction

Claim 2

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a reflective grid of substantially parallel conductive columns; at least one linearly polarized antenna element for radiating wave energy, arranged with the polarization of said element substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of colinear arrays of selectively tuned reflective elements, said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the tuning of said elements and the location of said arrays with respect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns; and means for supporting said antenna element, said columns and said arrays.

Claim 3

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a reflective grid of substantially parallel conductive columns; a plurality of linearly polarized antenna elements for radiating wave energy, said antenna elements being mounted on at least some of said columns with the polarization of said elements substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of colinear arrays of selectively tuned conductive reflective elements, said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the length of said conductive elements and the location of said arrays with respect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns; and means for supporting said columns and said arrays.

Claim 4

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a reflective grid of substantially parallel conductive columns; a plurality of linearly polarized antenna elements for radiating wave energy, said antenna elements being mounted on at least some of said columns with the polarization of said elements substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of colinear arrays of selectively tuned conductive reflective elements, said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the length of said conductive elements and the location of said arrays with respect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns; and means for supporting said columns and said arrays.

Claim 5

AN antenna system as specified in claim 2 wherein said grid of conductive columns is a planar grid.

Claim 6

An antenna system as specified in claim 3 wherein said parallel conductive columns are equally spaced in said planar grid.

Claim 7

An antenna system as specified in claim 2 wherein said antenna elements are dipoles.

Claim 8

An antenna system as specified in claim 2 which additionally includes transmission lines for supplying energy to said antenna elements, said transmission lines being located within the conductive columns supporting the corresponding antenna elements.

Claim 9

An antenna system as specified in claim 2 wherein there is one of said arrays located in every space between adjacent conductive columns in said grid.

Claim 10

An antenna system as specified in claim 8 wherein each of said arrays is equidistant from said adjacent conductive columns.

Claim 11

An antenna system as specified in claim 2 wherein each of said arrays comprises a column of insulating material having a plurality of conductive reflective elements mounted thereon.

Claim 12

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a planar grid of substantially parallel, equally spaced conductive columns; a plurality of colinear arrays of selectively tuned reflective elements, comprising columns of insulating material having a plurality of conductive reflective elements mounted thereon, said arrays being parallel to said conductive columns and selectively interspersed with said conductive columns, one of said arrays being located in every space between adjacent conductive columns and each of said arrays being equidistant from the nearest pair of said columns; a plurality of dipole antenna elements for radiating wave energy signals, said dipoles being mounted on said columns with the polarization of said dipoles parallel to said columns; and means for supporting said columns and said arrays; whereby when wave energy is radiated by said antenna elements, said reflective elements cause suppression of radiation leakage through said grid of conductive columns.

Claim 13

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a planar grid of substantially parallel, equally spaced conductive columns; a plurality of colinear arrays of selectively tuned reflective elements, comprising columns of insulating material having a plurality of conductive reflective elements mounted thereon, said arrays being parallel to said conductive columns and selectively interspersed with said conductive columns, one of said arrays being located in every space between adjacent conductive columns and each of said arrays being equidistant from the nearest pair of said columns; a plurality of dipole antenna elements for radiating wave energy signals, said dipoles being mounted on said columns with the polarization of said dipoles parallel to said columns; and means for supporting said columns and said arrays; whereby when wave energy is radiated by said antenna elements, said reflective elements cause suppression of radiation leakage through said grid of conductive columns.

Claim 14

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a planar grid of substantially parallel, equally spaced conductive columns, said spacing being less than one wavelength at the operating frequency of the antenna system; a plurality of linearly polarized antenna elements, for radiating wave energy, said antenna elements being mounted on at least some of said columns with the polarization of said elements substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of co-linear arrays of selectively tuned conductive reflective elements, said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the length of said conductive elements and the location of said arrays with respect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns; and means for supporting said columns and said arrays.

Claim 15

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a planar grid of substantially parallel, equally spaced conductive columns, said spacing being less than one wavelength at the operating frequency of the antenna system; a plurality of linearly polarized antenna elements, for radiating wave energy, said antenna elements being mounted on at least some of said columns with the polarization of said elements substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of co-linear arrays of selectively tuned conductive reflective elements, said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the length of said conductive elements and the location of said arrays with respect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns; and means for supporting said columns and said arrays.

Claim 16

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a reflective grid of substantially parallel conductive columns; a plurality of linearly polarized antenna elements for radiating wave energy, said elements being mounted on at least some of said columns with the polarization of said elements substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of co-linear arrays of selectively tuned conductive reflective elements, each of said reflective elements being effectively near 1/2-wavelength in length at the operating frequency of said antenna system, and said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the length of said conductive elements and the location of said arrays with resPect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns; and means for supporting said columns and said arrays.

Claim 17

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a reflective grid of substantially parallel conductive columns; a plurality of linearly polarized antenna elements for radiating wave energy, said elements being mounted on at least some of said columns with the polarization of said elements substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of co-linear arrays of selectively tuned conductive reflective elements, each of said reflective elements being effectively near 1/2-wavelength in length at the operating frequency of said antenna system, and said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the length of said conductive elements and the location of said arrays with resPect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns; and means for supporting said columns and said arrays.

Claim 18

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a reflective grid of substantially parallel conductive columns; a plurality of linearly polarized antenna elements for radiating wave energy, said elements being mounted on at least some of said columns with the polarization of said elements substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of co-linear arrays of selectively tuned conductive reflective elements, each of said reflective elements being less than 1/2-wavelength in length at the operating frequency of said antenna system, and said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the length of said conductive elements, the spacing between adjacent elements in said co-linear arrays, and the location of said arrays with respect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns.

Claim 19

An antenna system having a reflector with an open construction and improved suppression of radiation leakage through said reflector, comprising: a reflective grid of substantially parallel conductive columns; a plurality of linearly polarized antenna elements for radiating wave energy, said elements being mounted on at least some of said columns with the polarization of said elements substantially parallel to said columns; a plurality of co-linear arrays of selectively tuned conductive reflective elements, each of said reflective elements being less than 1/2-wavelength in length at the operating frequency of said antenna system, and said arrays being substantially parallel to said columns and selectively interspersed with said columns, the length of said conductive elements, the spacing between adjacent elements in said co-linear arrays, and the location of said arrays with respect to said columns being selected to cause suppression of leakage of said radiated wave energy through said grid of conductive columns.