the.com/array antenna
A crowd of antennas voting on which direction to scream loudest, no moving parts required.
means An array antenna is a set of multiple antenna elements working together, whose combined signals can be electronically steered and focused in a chosen direction without physically moving anything.
from "Array" comes through Old French "areer," to put in order or prepare for battle — rooted in a sense of arranging troops in ranks. "Antenna" is Latin for a ship's sail-yard, the spar that holds the sail; 19th-century naturalists borrowed it for insects' feelers, and radio pioneers borrowed it again for the wire that catches signals out of the air. So an array antenna is, quite literally, feelers drawn up in ranks like soldiers.
- beam steering
- Aims by tweaking signal timing, not by turning
- phased radar
- Tracks hundreds of targets simultaneously, electronically
- constructive math
- Waves add up where you want, cancel elsewhere
- starlink dishes
- Flat panels using thousands of tiny elements
- radio astronomy
- Linked arrays span continents to see distant galaxies
phased array radar — used in air traffic control and military systems worldwide, steering beams electronically without moving the antenna
very large array — 27 radio telescopes in new mexico, discovered neutron stars and mapped cosmic structure since 1980
massive mimo — 5g base stations with 64+ antenna elements per unit, deployed in south korea and major cities 2019+