Essentially you are stacking waves. If you have an array of trasmitters, you can have them send a constructive signal or a destructive signal as a signal "wave" passes them. Using this property, you can change the shape of the wave propagation. Think of it like throwing a stone in a pond, and then throwing in a second or third stone at the exact right moment to combine the ripples, creating a stronger wave in a particular direction depending on when and where you throw the stones.

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 year ago

We use it for talking to distant satellites, but then we also combine arrays of large directional dish antennas with beam shaping algorithms

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Man, I've always wondered how yagi antennas actually managed to produce a directional beam vs something like a dipole. Your comment has really made it click for me, honestly big thanks! Very clear 5-9

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Yep. Now imagine each element on the yagi antenna is its own antenna that can be triggered by a controller, instead of just being one big "dumb" antenna. Now by timing the "firing" of each antenna you can create a directional beam in pretty much any direction.