HEIGHT FINDING ANTENNA APPARATUS AND METHOD OF OPERATION

Assignee

ITT CORPORATION, A CORP. OF DE

Filed

Oct 11, 1988

Granted

Sep 17, 1996

Location

THOUSAND OAKS CA US

Abstract

A ground based radar antenna system and method for determining the elevation angle φ of a tracked target having a shaped reflector and a pair of spaced feedhorns for transmitting radiated energy to and receiving returned signals from the tracked target T, the shaped reflector and feedhorns cooperating to increase the range of coverage of the elevation angle φ beyond the coverage previously available with a standard parabolic reflector and to increase the gain of the signals returned to the ground based radar antenna system while simultaneously eliminating elevation angle ambiguities over prior systems employing only feedhorns for collecting returned signals. The radar system includes a construction which approximates a cosecant-squared antenna pattern, permits the calculation of the target height and three-dimensional position, and is economical to manufacture.

Source: Google Patents