Viasat, Inc.
ANTENNA ARRAY SYSTEM WITH DISPARATE BEAM FORMING NETWORKS AND NON-LINEAR FILTERING TO MITIGATE INTERFERENCE

Abstract:

Disclosed is an antenna array system including an antenna array of N .gtoreq.2 antenna elements that output N antenna signals; an interferer-nulling beam forming network (IN-BFN) coupled to the antenna array, N non-linear filters coupled to the IN-BFN, and a desired signal BFN. The IN-BFN may include N "null BFNs" to generate N null signals, each null BFN applying a respective nulling beam weight set to the N antenna signals to generate a respective one of the N null signals. Each respective nulling beam weight set corresponds to a different respective set of (N-1) independent nulls. Each of the N non-linear filters may filter a respective one of the N null signals to provide a respective one of N filtered signals. The desired signal BFN may apply a desired signal beam weight set to the N filtered signals to generate an output signal.