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Pencil Beam Antenna

A pencil beam is „thin like a pencil”.

Figure 1: A beam „thin like a pencil”

Antennas that bundle extremely strongly in azimuth and elevation are often referred to as pencil beam antennas, although they do not actually form their own type of antenna. For example, the phased array antenna can emit a beam “thin as a pencil”. Pencil beam antennas are used as target tracking radar. Real 3D radars like the RRP-117 also use pencil beams. In multi-function radar sets with digital beam forming, different pencil beams are formed simultaneously only on the receiving path, while at the transmitting moment, for example, a wide fan pattern illuminates all directions simultaneously.