Adaptive beam forming apparatus

Claim 1

An antenna system, comprising: (a) an antenna for receiving energy from a desired signal source and a plurality of interfering signal sources, such interfering signal sources being at different angles θ I ; (b) a desired signal port; (c) a plurality of interfering signal ports; (d) means, coupled to the antenna and responsive to the received energy for producing a desired signal at the desired signal port representative of a beam directed at the desired signal source and for producing signals at the plurality of interfering signal ports representative of differently directed beams; (e) means, coupled to the antenna, for detecting the presence of an interfering signal source, or sources, and wherein the producing means produces signals at the interfering signal port, or ports, representative of a beam, or beams, directed at the detected interfering signal source, or sources; (f) gating means having: an input coupled to the plurality of interfering signal parts; an output; and, being responsive to the detecting means, for coupling to the output the portion of the interfering signal port, or ports, producing signals from the detected interfering signal source, or sources, and for inhibiting from passing to the output the remaining portion of the intefering signal port, or ports; and, (g) processor means, coupled to the desired signal port and the output of the gating means, for combining the desired signal at the desired signal port with the signal, or signals at the output of the gating means into a composite signal and for weighting the undesired signal, or signals, passing to the output of the gating means by a factor, W, to equalize the product W G I (θ I ) and G T (θ I ) where G T (θ I ) is the gain of the beam directed at the desired signal source at the angle θ I .