Systems and methods for massive phased arrays via beam-domain processing

1. A method for generating a dynamic tracking beam from an N-element receiving phased array antenna with a digital-beam-forming (DBF) network, N being an integer greater than 100, comprising:

performing digital beam forming to capture a desired signal from a moving source via the N-element phased array, including digitally multiplying received signals in the N-elements by a tracking beam beam weight vector (BWV) for the tracking beam, wherein the tracking beam BMV comprises N I/Q components;

reading M pre-stored spot beam BWVs for M contiguous spot beams from a memory;

determining a new tracking beam BWV for the tracking beam in a next update, wherein the new tracking beam BWV is a weighted sum of the M pre-stored spot beam BWVs of the M contiguous spot beams; and

loading the new tracking beam BWV to a buffer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the new tracking beam BWV comprises optimizing based on performance constraints associated with desired performance of the tracking beam in the next update, wherein the performance constraints comprise at least one of desired beam pointing direction, array gain at the beam peak, desired null directions, side lobe levels, and minimizing phase and amplitude jumps during beam transition for the next update of the tracking beam BWV.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the performance constraints comprise minimizing phase and amplitude jumps during beam transition for the next update of the tracking beam BWV.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the new tracking beam BWV comprises calculating a linear combination of the M pre-stored spot beam BWVs by a weighting vector having M complex components.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the weighting vector is generated by minimizing a cost function.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein digital beam forming is performed on a first platform and the weighting vector is generated on a second platform that is remote from the first platform.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first platform is a moving platform and the second platform is a ground-based platform.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first platform is an air-platform or a satellite.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the memory is a local memory of the first platform.

10. A system comprising:

an N-element receiving phased array antenna with a digital-beam-forming (DBF) network, N being an integer greater than 100, one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs stored in the memory for execution by the one or more processors for:

performing digital beam forming to capture a desired signal from a moving source via the N-element phased array, including digitally multiplying received signals in the N-elements by a tracking beam beam weight vector (BWV) for the tracking beam, wherein the tracking beam BMV comprises N I/Q components;

determining a new tracking beam BWV for the tracking beam in a next update, wherein the new tracking beam BWV is a weighted sum of M pre-stored spot beam BWVs of the M contiguous spot beams; and

loading the new tracking beam BWV to a buffer.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein determining the new tracking beam BWV comprises optimizing based on performance constraints associated with desired performance of the tracking beam in the next update, wherein the performance constraints comprise at least one of desired beam pointing direction, array gain at the beam peak, desired null directions, side lobe levels, and minimizing phase and amplitude jumps during beam transition for the next update of the tracking beam BWV.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the performance constraints comprise minimizing phase and amplitude jumps during beam transition for the next update of the tracking beam BWV.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein determining the new tracking beam BWV comprises calculating a linear combination of the M pre-stored spot beam BWVs by a weighting vector having M complex components.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the weighting vector is generated by minimizing a cost function.

15. The system of claim 13 , comprising a first platform that comprises the phased array antenna and a second platform that is remote from the first platform, wherein the digital beam forming is performed on the first platform and the weighting vector is generated on the second platform.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first platform is a moving platform and the second platform is a ground-based platform.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the first platform is an airborne platform or a satellite.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the M pre-stored spot beam BWVs are stored in a local memory of the first platform.