A phased array antenna system operative to broadcast multiple beams that
each include coded data for specific users located within the coverage
area of the corresponding beam. An appropriate receiver then receives and
decodes a particular beam to extract the specific data for a
corresponding user. Multiple users may be assigned to each beam using
frequency division or orthogonal code multiplexing, and the user data may
be encoded into the beams using frequency shift key or phase shift key
encoding. For each coding technique, the encoded antenna control signals
are combined into a total gain and total phase shift control signal,
which drives a single phase and gain control device for each antenna
element. In addition, a single data modulator generates the coding
parameters for the entire communication system.