US Patent 11843170 Spherical Luneburg lens-enhanced compact multi-beam antenna

Disclosed is an antenna having a plurality of radiators disposed in a ring or arc around a Luneburg lens. Each of the radiators (e.g., flared-notch radiators) has a center radiating axis that intersects with the center of the Luneburg lens. Each of the radiators radiate into the Luneburg lens such that the Luneburg lens substantially planarizes the beam emitted by each radiator (on transmit) and focuses an incoming wavefront into the radiator (on receiver). This not only enables having numerous well-controlled individual beams, it also allows for combining radiators to create well-defined sector beams with minimal sidelobes and fast rolloff.