Abstract: An annular rotary RF coupler for installation about a vertical support structure, particularly the mast of a ship. Two annular troughs are regularly divided in circumferential increments providing a cellular structure of individual waveguide cross-sections. A lower annulus remains fixed, the individual waveguide sections therein being fed from a power-divided, equal-phase, feed configuration. The oppositely facing upper annulus rotates with respect to the lower one about a common mechanical center of rotation of a mechanically rotating antenna system. Connection to the rotating waveguide sections may be through power combiner/divider means, or individual subarrays may be discretely connected to one or more waveguide sections in the rotating annulus. For power tapering across an antenna array aperture, the waveguide section dimensions in the circumferential direction within the rotating annulus are appropriately tailored.

Abstract: The invention involves in-phase power splitting from an input into separate pairs of paralleled input variable circuits which may be linear amplifiers or linear controlled attenuators. The outputs of these circuits feed the input branches of a pair of 180.degree. hybrid circuits, the outputs of those hybrids providing the inputs of a 3 db quadrature coupler. An output of this coupler then provides the overall output which is shifted in phase with respect to the original input as a function of the gain control signal applied differentially between the variable circuits of the aforementioned pairs as the cosine of the desired phase angle in respect to the first pair of circuits and in accordance with the sine of the desired phase angle at the control terminals of the second pair of circuits.

Abstract: A space-fed phased-array arrangement in which the plural antenna elements each include first and second (front and rear) individual radiators. Between these input and output radiators, there is a combined controllable phase shifter and controllable electronic switching arrangement. In accordance with external control signals, the amount of phase shift (phase delay) introduced by each element may be controlled, and by appropriate programming of these phase shifts, beam formation and pointing angle may be determined. The electronic switch devices are programmable to convert any or all of the antenna elements to reflector or retro-directing elements whereby a rear-pointing beam may be generated and scanned in substantially the same way as the forward beam is generated and scanned. In the retro-directive (reflective) mode, energy from the primary feed passes bi-directionally through the reciprocal controllable phase shifter sections.