Patents by Inventor Alan Rattray

Alan Rattray has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10833405
    Abstract: Steerable antenna on platforms, fixed or mobile, are tracked to form an RF communication link by setting the width of the main lobe of the antenna beam pattern to be greater than the initial pointing uncertainty region and then concurrently scanning and progressively reducing the widths of the main lobes as the pointing uncertainty region is reduced to first acquire and then track the opposing antenna. The width of the main lobe is reduced such that the width of the main lobe is approximately fixed for each block. The antennas at opposite ends of the communication link may be scanned with scan patterns that are orthogonal to each other such that the demodulation of the received signal levels to signal direction of arrival at each platform is solely a function of the scan pattern of the receive antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Brown, Alan Rattray, Travis B. Feenstra, Samuel De La Torre, Johan A. Kullstam, Arlin L. Pierce
  • Publication number: 20180277948
    Abstract: Steerable antenna on platforms, fixed or mobile, are tracked to form an RF communication link by setting the width of the main lobe of the antenna beam pattern to be greater than the initial pointing uncertainty region and then concurrently scanning and progressively reducing the widths of the main lobes as the pointing uncertainty region is reduced to first acquire and then track the opposing antenna. The width of the main lobe is reduced such that the width of the main lobe is approximately fixed for each block. The antennas at opposite ends of the communication link may be scanned with scan patterns that are orthogonal to each other such that the demodulation of the received signal levels to signal direction of arrival at each platform is solely a function of the scan pattern of the receive antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2016
    Publication date: September 27, 2018
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Brown, Alan Rattray, Travis B. Feenstra, Samuel De La Torre, Johan A. Kullstam, Arlin L. Pierce
  • Patent number: 9490862
    Abstract: A low-loss band and polarization-selectable gender-selectable transceiver for use with a reflector-type antenna suitable for the E-band frequency allocation as well as other RF bands in which the upper and lower bands are separated by a stop band. In addition to providing the gender-selectable combination of the upper and lower bands for transmit and receive, this topology allows for the selection of transmit, and receive polarizations. A transceiver may transmit and receive on the same or on orthogonal polarizations. Paired transceivers may transmit on the same or on orthogonal polarizations. This is accomplished by integrating a rotatable polarizer (e.g. a ¼ wave plate) and a polarization duplexer (e.g. an orthomode transducer) in a FDD (Frequency-Domain Duplexed) system. The rotatable polarizer allows for selection of both transmit and receive bands and polarizations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Brown, Travis B. Feenstra, Alan Rattray, Samuel De La Torre
  • Publication number: 20160226551
    Abstract: A low-loss band and polarization-selectable gender-selectable transceiver for use with a reflector-type antenna suitable for the E-band frequency allocation as well as other RF bands in which the upper and lower bands are separated by a stop band. In addition to providing the gender-selectable combination of the upper and lower bands for transmit and receive, this topology allows for the selection of transmit, and receive polarizations. A transceiver may transmit and receive on the same or on orthogonal polarizations. Paired transceivers may transmit on the same or on orthogonal polarizations. This is accomplished by integrating a rotatable polarizer (e.g. a ¼ wave plate) and a polarization duplexer (e.g. an orthomode transducer) in a FDD (Frequency-Domain Duplexed) system. The rotatable polarizer allows for selection of both transmit and receive bands and polarizations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2014
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Applicant: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Brown, Travis B. Feenstra, Alan Rattray, Samuel De La Torre
  • Publication number: 20070040725
    Abstract: A portable weapon comprises a non-lethal portion and a lethal portion. The lethal portion may comprise a rifle, and the non-lethal portion may comprise a millimeter-wave directed energy weapon. The non-lethal portion may comprise a kit to add non-lethal capability to a lethal weapon. The non-lethal portion may comprise an output antenna to generate a high-power millimeter-wave initial wavefront, a main reflector, and a sub-reflector to reflect the initial wavefront to the main reflector. The main reflector may direct the reflected wavefront in a bore-sighted direction toward a target. The wavefront directed by the main reflector may have a power density selected to deliver a non-lethal deterring effect on the target. In some embodiments, the non-lethal portion may include a replaceable energy-storage module.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2005
    Publication date: February 22, 2007
    Inventors: Reid Lowell, Kenneth Brown, A-Lan Reynolds, Alan Rattray
  • Publication number: 20050219138
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a microwave source that produces a microwave feed beam, and a first pair of microwave sensors that each intercept and receive a portion of the microwave feed beam. The two microwave sensors are spaced apart from each other along a first-pair axis. A first phase-comparison device has as it inputs the output signals of the two microwave sensors, and as an output a first phase comparison of the first-sensor output signal and the second-sensor output signal. A first geometrical calculator has as an input the first phase comparison and as an output a geometrical relationship of the first-pair axis to an other feature. This geometrical relationship output may be used to generate a control signal that is used to alter the geometrical relationship. There may be additional microwave sensors operating in a similar manner but spaced to provide information for other geometrical axes or allow improvements in geometrical measurements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2004
    Publication date: October 6, 2005
    Inventors: Thomas Obert, Kenneth Brown, Alan Rattray, John Gerstenberg, James Gallivan