PHASENGESTEUERTES GRUPPENANTENNENSYSTEM

A miniature phased array antenna system is described which employs a substrate having a high dielectric constant. A plurality of antenna elements is located on a surface of the substrate, and a superstrate having a high dielectric constant covers the antenna elements. The dielectric constant, thickness, and shape of the superstrate enable it to act as a dielectric lens for controlling the phase relationship of a signal received by the antenna elements. The design of the superstrate dielectric lens permits a reduction in the physical spacing between the antenna elements while maintaining spatial diversity in phase between signals arriving from different directions. Thus, the antenna array may be significantly smaller than previously proposed phased array antennas while maintaining a similar phase relationship to that achieved using previously proposed phased array antennas. Electronic circuitry coupled to each of the plurality of antenna elements applies complex weights to received signals prior to a summation thereof in order to reconstruct a desired signal and to deconstruct an undesired signal. SAW filters employed in the electronic circuitry are temperature controlled to maintain group-delay and phase-offset stability.