Patent attributes
An autonomously reconfigurable surface for adaptive antenna nulling includes a lattice of electrically conductive elements (which may be embodied as crossed metallic dipoles) mounted on a thin and preferably conformal surface and aperiodically loaded with reactance tuning elements and/or RF (and typically high power) sensing circuits. Additional elements mounted on this surface include analog to digital convertors (ADCs), digital to analog convertors (DACs), and microcontroller(s). The analog outputs of the DACs are networked to reactance tuning elements via, for example, a network of thin copper traces. The analog inputs of the ADCs are networked to the RF sensing circuits via a network, for example, of thin copper traces. The digital outputs of ADCs and the digital inputs of DACs are networked to microcontroller(s) via a network, for example, of thin copper traces. An embodiment of the adaptive nulling surface can be mounted over antennas and apertures as a retrofit antenna cover or as an overlay applied to existing radomes or over a new design antenna. Once exposed to a high power radio frequency radiation, this surface determines the direction of the incident high power source and adaptively adjusts the reactance of tuning elements in the surface to reconfigure the radiation pattern of the antenna which it is covering to place a null in the direction of the interference while allowing normal operation at other angles.
