A phased array antenna includes a plurality of radiating elements, a feed line assembly, a ground plane positioned between the plurality of radiating elements and the feed line assembly, with the ground plane having a plurality of openings positioned between the plurality of radiating elements and the feed line assembly, and a plurality of voltage tunable dielectric phase shifters coupled to the feed line assembly.

Serially-fed phased array antennas with dielectric phase shifters

A microwave-frequency microstrip antenna (10) simultaneously usable for both transmitting and receiving microwave-frequency signals that have dual orthogonally polarized components. The components may be either linearly or circularly polarized. A radiating patch (26) is mounted on a first dielectric (12). A ground plane (20) abuts the first dielectric (12) and has two elongated coupling apertures (32,31) at right angles to each other. A second dielectric (22) abuts the ground plane (20) and has embedded thereon two substantially identical conductive planar feed networks (52,51) that are disposed at right angles to each other. At least one additional optional dielectric layer (16,18) having a conductive patch (36,34) may be interposed between the first dielectric (12) and the ground plane (20) for purposes of broadening the bandwidth of the antenna (10). A meanderline polarizer (45) or a 3 dB 90° hybrid coupler (40) may be used for converting from linear polarization to circular polarization.

Planar dual polarization antenna

A method for steering an agricultural vehicle comprising: receiving global positioning system (GPS) data including position and velocity information corresponding to at least one of a position, velocity, and course of the vehicle; receiving a yaw rate signal; and computing a compensated heading, the compensated heading comprising a blend of the yaw rate signal with heading information based on the GPS data. For each desired swath comprising a plurality of desired positions and desired headings, the method also comprises: computing an actual track and a cross track error from the desired swath based on the compensated heading and the position; calculating a desired radius of curvature to arrive at the desired track with a desired heading; and generating a steering command based on the desired radius of curvature to a steering mechanism, the steering mechanism configured to direct the vehicle.

Satellite based vehicle guidance control in straight and contour modes

A device is provided for use with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that receives and modulates a radio frequency (RF) signal. A substrate of the device includes a first short dipole antenna structure that backscatters a received RF signal to produce a first radiation pattern having nulls. A set of connection pads couple the RF signal from the antenna to a frontend transmitter circuit of the RFID chip. A second antenna structure backscatters the received RF signal by electromagnetic coupling to the first antenna structure and produces a second radiation pattern that complements the nulls in the first radiation pattern.

Antenna structures and methods for omni directional radiation patterns

A global navigation satellite sensor system (GNSS) and gyroscope control system for vehicle steering control comprising a GNSS receiver and antennas at a fixed spacing to determine a vehicle position, velocity and at least one of a heading angle, a pitch angle and a roll angle based on carrier phase position differences. The roll angle facilitates correction of the lateral motion induced position errors resultant from motion of the antennae as the vehicle moves based on an offset to ground and the roll angle. The system also includes a control system configured to receive the vehicle position, heading, and at least one of roll and pitch, and configured to generate a steering command to a vehicle steering system. The system includes gyroscopes for determining system attitude change with respect to multiple axes for integrating with GNSS-derived positioning information to determine vehicle position, velocity, rate-of-turn, attitude and other operating characteristics. A vehicle control method includes the steps of computing a position and a heading for the vehicle using GNSS positioning and a rate gyro for determining vehicle attitude, which is used for generating a steering command. Alternative aspects include multiple-antenna GNSS guidance methods for high-dynamic roll compensation, real-time kinematic (RTK) using single-frequency (L1) receivers, fixed and moving baselines between antennas, multi-position GNSS tail guidance (“breadcrumb following”) for crosstrack error correction, guiding multiple vehicles and pieces of equipment relative to each other and earth-moving equipment and method applications.

Gnss guidance and machine control

A parasitically coupled, complementary slot dipole antenna element includes a driven, cavity-backed slot antenna element and a parasitic dipole element transverse to the slot of the cavity-backed slot antenna element. The cavity-backed slot and parasitic dipole antenna elements resonate at about the center frequency of the excitation signals supplied to the cavity-backed slot antenna element in order to generate a relatively symmetrical electromagnetic signature and an increased bandwidth.

Richard J. Coe

Papers

Parasitically coupled, complementary slot-dipole antenna element