alt Hacker NewsNo, this is to concentrate the radio waves into a desired shape. Stronger in this direction, weaker than that.
Think of it very vaguely like a parabolic mirror on a flashlight directing the light vs a naked light bulb putting light out in all directions. (this is a bad metaphor for what's going on but it's the basic idea of the goal)
To change the direction you have to physically move the antenna OR have an active phased array antenna with an electronic component which has a variable phase change to be able to move the beam around while leaving the antenna fixed.
It does do directional steering. No active array components or physical movement are needed.
> If the output ports are connected to individual antennas in an antenna array, this allows shaping the beam in different directions by switching which input port the signal is sent to.
From TFA.
Presumably the geometrical shape of the lens is dictated by solving for useful phase shifts for different input points. Otherwise you could just use a bunch of delay lines.
I wonder if anybody's ever designed a 3D version of this. You might get a wider range of inputs, or more precise steering, by shaping the delays on a non-Euclidean (curved) surface (like a sphere or a saddle).