A radiating antenna capable of generating or receiving radiation using a plurality
of feeds and a dielectric resonator is disclosed. The purpose of using multiple
feeds with a single dielectric resonator antenna is to produce several beams each
having a boresight (that is, a direction of maximum radiation on
transmit, or a direction of maximum sensitivity on receive) in a different direction.
Several such beams may be excited simultaneously to form a new beam in any arbitrary
direction. The new beam may be incrementally or continuously steerable and may
be steered through a complete 360 degree circle. The invention may be combined
with an internal or external monopole antenna so as to cancel out the antenna backlobe
or otherwise resolve the front/back ambiguity that arises with this type of dielectric
resonance antenna. When receiving radio signals, electronic processing of such
multiple beams may be used to find the direction of those signals thus forming
the basis of a radio direction finding device. Further, by forming a transmitting
beam or resolving a receiving beam in the direction of the incoming radio signal,
a smart or intelligent antenna may be constructed.
The excitation of several beams together can, in some combinations, produce a system
with a significantly greater bandwidth than a beam formed by exciting a single
probe or aperture. The dielectric resonator is mounted on a ground plane, is preferably
substantially cylindrical, and is fed, for example, by a number of internal probes
or external ground plane apertures. An internal or external monopole antenna may
be added to improve performance.
