1. An antenna array system, comprising:
a launcher comprising an antenna configured to establish and steer a wavefront; and
an array of Yagi-Uda director trains coupled to the launcher and located in a path of the wavefront, wherein:
the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to influence a beamwidth of the launcher;
the array of Yagi-Uda director trains comprises alternating layers of printed circuit cards and structural layers;
the alternating layers of the printed circuit cards and the structural layers comprise a first printed circuit card arranged adjacent to a second printed circuit card with a corresponding structural layer therebetween; and
the first printed circuit card is arranged between the antenna and the second printed circuit card.
2. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the launcher comprises:
a line array of antenna elements.
3. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the launcher comprises:
at least one of a linearly polarized antenna, a circularly polarized antenna, or a dual-polarized antenna.
4. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the launcher comprises:
an antenna array having at least one row of antenna elements.
5. The antenna array system of claim 4, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to produce a narrow beamwidth in a plane perpendicular to the row of antenna elements.
6. The antenna array system of claim 4, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to produce a narrow beamwidth in a plane parallel to the row of antenna elements.
7. The antenna array system of claim 4, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to facilitate a larger antenna element spacing in the antenna array.
8. The antenna array system of claim 4, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to facilitate a larger row spacing in the antenna array.
9. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein each of the printed circuit cards comprises plural crossed-dipole elements printed on a thin film.
10. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the structural layers are foam.
11. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein each Yagi-Uda director train includes plural dipole elements.
12. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to influence a gain of the launcher.
13. The antenna array system of claim 12, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to increase the gain of the launcher.
14. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in a first direction substantially orthogonal to a second direction in which the antenna is configured to emit the wavefront, such that the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in the path of the wavefront.
15. An antenna array system, comprising:
means for launching a wavefront, the launching means including an antenna; and
means coupled to the launching means for focusing the wavefront, wherein:
the focusing means is configured to produce a narrow beamwidth in a plane perpendicular to the launching means;
the focusing means comprises an array of Yagi-Uda director trains;
the array of Yagi-Uda director trains comprises alternating layers of printed circuit cards and structural layers;
the alternating layers of the printed circuit cards and the structural layers comprise a first printed circuit card arranged adjacent to a second printed circuit card with a corresponding structural layer therebetween; and
the first printed circuit card is arranged between the antenna and the second printed circuit card.
16. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the launching means comprises:
a line array of antenna elements.
17. The antenna array system of claim 16, wherein the line array of antenna elements comprises:
a waveguide line array.
18. The antenna array system of claim 16, wherein the focusing means is configured to produce a narrow beamwidth in a plane parallel to the line array of antenna elements.
19. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the launching means is configured to establish the wavefront and change a direction of the wavefront.
20. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the structural layers are foam.
21. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein each Yagi-Uda director train comprises:
plural crossed-dipole elements.
22. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein each Yagi-Uda director train comprises:
plural dipole elements.
23. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the focusing means is configured to influence a gain of the launching means.
24. The antenna array system of claim 23, wherein the focusing means is configured to increase the gain of the launching means.
25. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein each of the printed circuit cards comprises plural crossed-dipole elements printed on a thin film.
26. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in a first direction substantially orthogonal to a second direction in which the antenna is configured to emit the wavefront, such that the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in the path of the wavefront.
27. A method for beam steering, comprising:
launching a wavefront generated by an antenna through an array of director elements, the array of director elements comprising alternating layers of printed circuit cards and structural layers; and
steering the wavefront, wherein the array of director elements focuses the wavefront and influences gain of the antenna over plural steering angles, wherein:
the alternating layers of the printed circuit cards and the structural layers comprise a first printed circuit card arranged adjacent to a second printed circuit card with a corresponding structural layer therebetween; and
the first printed circuit card is arranged between the antenna and the second printed circuit card.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the launching comprises:
launching the wavefront generated by a line array of antenna elements.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein the array of director elements produces a narrow beamwidth in a plane perpendicular to the line array.
30. The method of claim 28, wherein the array of director elements produces a narrow beamwidth in a plane parallel to the line array.
31. The method of claim 27, wherein the launching comprises:
launching the wavefront generated by a line array of antenna elements through an array of Yagi-Uda director trains coupled to the line array.
32. The method of claim 27, wherein the array of director elements increases the gain of the antenna over plural steering angles.
33. The method of claim 27, wherein the structural layers are foam.
34. The method of claim 27, wherein each of the printed circuit cards comprises plural crossed-dipole elements printed on a thin film.
35. The method of claim 27, wherein the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in a first direction substantially orthogonal to a second direction in which the antenna is configured to emit the wavefront, such that the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in the path of the wavefront.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A machine implemented method comprising:
(a) characterizing an object by color regions; and
(b) identifying the object in accordance with at least said color region based characterization of the object.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) comprises characterizing a plurality of color regions by their colors.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) comprises characterizing a plurality of color regions by their sizes.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) comprises characterizing a plurality of color regions by their relative positions to each other.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) comprises analyzing and associating pixels of a frame of video signals of the object to form the color regions.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein (b) comprises assigning an identity of a selected one of a plurality of color characterized reference objects to the object, in accordance with at least said color region based characterizations.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the object and the selected reference object have consistent color region based characterizations.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein said method further comprises
(c) generating output response in accordance with the result of (b).
9. The method of claim 8 wherein (c) comprises rendering audio response.
10. A storage medium having stored therein a plurality of machine executable instructions, wherein when executed, the instructions characterize an object by color regions, and identify the object in accordance with at least said color region based characterization of the object.
11. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their colors.
12. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their sizes.
13. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their relative positions to each other.
14. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions analyze and associate pixels of a frame of video signals of the object to form the color regions.
15. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions assign an identity of a selected one of a plurality of color characterized reference objects to the object, in accordance with at least said color region based characterizations.
16. The storage medium of claim 15 wherein the object and the selected reference object have consistent color region based characterizations.
17. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions further generate output response in accordance with the identification result.
18. The storage medium of claim 17 wherein the instructions render audio response.
19. An apparatus comprising:
(a) a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of machine executable instructions, when executed, the instructions characterize an object by color regions, and identify the object in accordance with at least said color region based characterization of the object; and
(b) an execution unit coupled to the storage medium to execute the instructions.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their colors.
21. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their sizes.
22. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their relative positions to each other.
23. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions analyze and associate pixels of a frame of video signals of the object to form the color regions.
24. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions assign an identity of a selected one of a plurality of color characterized reference objects to the object, in accordance with at least said color region based characterizations.
25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the object and the selected reference object have consistent color region based characterizations.
26. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions further generate output response in accordance with the identification result.
27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the instructions render audio response.