FOUR INPUT STACKED MICROWAVE ANTENNA

A UNIQUE AND BENEFICIAL CONFIGURATION FOR A MULTIPLE INPUT OMNIDIRECTIONAL MICROWAVE ANTENNA IS DESCRIBED, IN WHICH A CIRCULAT PHASED ARRAY OF EIGHT ANTENNA ELEMENTS IS FED BY AN EIGHT INPUT BUTLER NETWORK. PROPER DESIGN OF THE ARRAY GEOMETRY AND NETWORK WILL ALLOW UP TO SEVEN TRANSMITTERS TO SHARE THE SAME ANTENNA SIMULTANEOUSLY WITHOUT INTERFERENCE, EACH TRANSMITTER PRODUCING AN OMNI-DIRECTIONAL RADIATION PATTERN. THE TRANSMITTERS ARE ISOLATED FROM ONE ANOTHER BY THE BUTLER NETWORK. A PHASE I STUDY IS PROPOSED TO INVESTIGATE THE CRITICAL DESIGN ASPECTS OF THE CONFIGURATION THROUGH ANALYSIS, COMPUTER MODELING AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENT. PHASE I WOULD RESULT IN THE COMPLETE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF THE MULTIPLE INPUT ANTENNA. CRITICAL ASPECTS OF THE DESIGN WILL BE VERIFIED THROUGH TESTING IN THE LABORATORY, THEREBY PROVIDING THE FEASIBILITY OF THE CONCEPT AND ELIMINATING THE RISK FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IN PHASE II.