Electronically step-by-step rotated directive radiation beam antenna

Claim 1

A directive radiation beam antenna of the type wherein said beam is rotated angularly in a step-by-step fashion comprising: a plurality of S identical Yagi-type arrays having a common driven element, each of said plurality comprising: one reflector parasitic element; and a plurality p of director parasitic elements Dk where 1 < OR = k < OR = p; wherein the array angularly ranked Q is derived from the array Q-1 by rotating it by an angle theta 360*/S around the axis of said common driven element; a ground plane comprising a circular metal ground plate having a common axis with said common driven element, the S (1+p) parasitic elements having a height of approximately l/4 and arranged perpendicular to said ground plate; a source of a bias signal; a source of RF energy mounted between the base of said common driven element and said ground plate for feeding said common driven element; a plurality of unidirectional current conducting elements each coupled to said ground plate, said source of bias signal and one of the S (1+p) parasitic elements, the impedance of each of said unidirectional elements being dependent upon said bias signal; and a logic control device for controlling the step-by-step radiation beam rotation, said control device comprising: an S-stage shift register having a clock frequency equivalent to S/ Tau , Tau being the time duration required for a 360* beam rotation; and a plurality of pS three input OR-gates, each having outputs connected to the bias input of each unidirectional current conducting element associated with a director element, each of the S shift register outputs being provided with (1+3p) connections, the first coupled from the Qth stage to the bias input of the unidirectional element associated with the director element angularly ranked Q, p second ones coupled from the Qth stage output to the input of each of the OR-gates having outputs which control unidirectional elements associated with director elements angularly ranked Q, p third ones coupled from Qth stage output to the inputs of each of the p OR-gates whose outputs control the unidirectional elements associated with director elements of arrays angularly ranked (Q+Mk) or (Q+Mk-S) if (Q+Mk) is greater than S, and p fourth ones coupled from the Qth stage to the input of each of the OR-gates whose outputs control unidirectional elements associated with director elements of arrays angularly ranked (Q-Mk) or (Q-Mk+S) if (Q-Mk) is less than 0, where the k values of Mk are independent of Q and are determined by the polar coordinates of the closest director elements Dk of generatrices of a cylinder having a parabolic cross-section having as a focuse the base of the driven element and having as an apex the base of the reflector element of the associated array.