Enhanced Data Link Performance in Multipath and Interference Environments

The proposed solution utilizes multiple antenna installations employed in strategically chosen locations on the aircraft carrier to maximize the system's capability to reject multi-path and interference. Each antenna installation employs unique techniques to mitigate the multi-path and interference problems individually or part of a larger system. The key to the system is to combine multiple antenna platforms with unique characteristics into a diverse system. A diverse antenna system which exploits spatial diversity between apertures, frequency diversity, and amplitude diversity within an aperture will provide significant advantages over traditional systems. The three antenna platforms are presented as the optimal approach to attain coverage in the critical regions and mitigate the effects of multi-path and interference. The three antennas can each function as stand alone systems or be combined to form a system providing higher spatial specificity if required. FIRST RF personnel have both past and present history in the understanding, exploitation, and mitigation of multi-path to apply to this problem. FIRST RF has developed innovative beamforming techniques including non-traditional beam/null forming algorithms to maximize rejection of an interference signal. Finally, FIRST RF has validated our models using scaled measurements on the carrier for multi-path predictions and pattern performance.