A transmission system comprises a plurality of antenna elements; a plurality of power amplifiers, each of power amplifiers being connected to one of the antenna elements; a plurality of waveform/beam synthesizer assemblies, each of the waveform/beam synthesizer assemblies being connected to one of the power amplifiers; a processor for controlling modulation and beam forming/steering functions of the waveform/beam synthesizer assemblies; and a master clock for synchronizing operation of the processor and waveform/beam synthesizer assemblies, wherein each of the waveform/beam synthesizer assemblies generates a transmit element signal with embedded phase offset and amplitude adjustments in response to control signals from the processor, and each of the plurality of antenna elements radiates one of the transmit element signals. A method of producing one or more beams using an array of antenna elements is also provided.