Ultra wideband photonic control of an adaptive phased array antenna

Joseph L. Cox; Henry Zmuda; Jian Li; Pasquale M. Sforza

doi:10.1117/12.672882

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12 May 2006 Ultra wideband photonic control of an adaptive phased array antenna

Joseph L. Cox, Henry Zmuda, Jian Li, Pasquale M. Sforza

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Proceedings Volume 6243, Enabling Photonics Technologies for Defense, Security, and Aerospace Applications II; 62430V (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.672882
Event: Defense and Security Symposium, 2006, Orlando (Kissimmee), Florida, United States

Abstract

This paper presents a new concept for a photonic implementation of a time reversed RF antenna array beamforming system. The process does not require analog to digital conversion to implement and is therefore particularly suited for high bandwidth applications. Significantly, propagation distortion due to atmospheric effects, clutter, etc. is automatically accounted for with the time reversal process. The approach utilizes the reflection of an initial interrogation signal from off an extended target to precisely time match the radiating elements of the array so as to re-radiate signals precisely back to the target's location. The backscattered signal(s) from the desired location is captured by each antenna and used to modulate a pulsed laser. An electrooptic switch acts as a time gate to eliminate any unwanted signals such as those reflected from other targets whose range is different from that of the desired location resulting in a spatial null at that location. A chromatic dispersion processor is used to extract the exact array parameters of the received signal location. Hence, other than an approximate knowledge of the steering direction needed only to approximately establish the time gating, no knowledge of the target position is required, and hence no knowledge of the array element time delay is required. Target motion and/or array element jitter is automatically accounted for. This paper presents the preliminary study of the photonic processor, analytical justification, and simulated results. The technology has a broad range of applications including aerospace and defense and in medical imaging.

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Joseph L. Cox, Henry Zmuda, Jian Li, and Pasquale M. Sforza "Ultra wideband photonic control of an adaptive phased array antenna", Proc. SPIE 6243, Enabling Photonics Technologies for Defense, Security, and Aerospace Applications II, 62430V (12 May 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.672882

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