Broadband Conformal Phased Array with Optical Beam Forming for Airborne Satellite Communication

Abstract

For enhanced communication on board an aircraft, novel antenna systems with broadband satellitebased capabilities are required. The technology will enhance airline operations by providing in-flight connectivity for flight crew information and will bring live TV and highspeed Internet connectivity to passengers. The installation of such systems on board an aircraft requires for aerodynamic reasons the development a very low-profile aircraft antenna, which can point to satellites anywhere in the upper hemisphere. To this end, phased array antennas which are conformal to the aircraft fuselage are attractive. In this paper, two key aspects of conformal phased array antenna arrays are addressed: the development of a broadband Ku-band antenna and an optical beam forming network for tracking satellites. The antenna elements of the conformal array are stacked patch antennas with dual linear polarization which have sufficient bandwidth. For tracking an optical circuit is proposed that consists of a cascade of optical ring resonators. 12

Quasi-single-sideband radio over fiber transmission with a polymer-based waveguide microring resonator

“…2,3 Generally speaking, the majority of MPFs have been implemented with commercially available discrete components such as single mode fibers (SMFs), couplers, fiber Bragg gratings, and one or more optical sources. 1,2 In contrast to discrete components, integrated waveguide MPFs have the potential to bring down volume, weight, and power consumption of signal processing equipments, 4 which is essentially important in aircraft and space satellite communication systems, [5][6][7] especially if integration with electro-optical modulators (EOMs) and photodetectors (PDs) is possible.…”

Novel Ring Resonator-Based Integrated Photonic Beamformer for Broadband Phased Array Receive Antennas—Part II: Experimental Prototype

“…In [6] we presented group delay measurements on a three-ring optical delay device, followed by group delay measurements on single-chip realizations of 4 1 [7] and 8 1 OBFNs [8], and time domain measurements on a 2 1 OBFN [9]. In [10], [12] we presented magnitude response measurements on a chip in which an OSBF was integrated together with a 4 1 OBFN. In [11] these results were extended to demonstrate that the filter successfully suppresses the undesired sideband, and that-when the OBFN is also properly tuned-the RF-to-RF transfer from modulator input to detector output indeed has a linear phase response in the RF range of interest, according to the desired delay.…”

“…This is extensively described here as it is unique to the proposed beamformer concept, and-as will be shown-far from straightforward. The actual dimensioning of all the parameters in the beamformer presented here is based on an experimental demonstrator that was built within the framework of the SMART project [12], [13]. As described in Part I [1], the aim of this project was to investigate the feasibility of a broadband airborne receiver for satellite television reception, using a broadband conformal phased array, and a broadband optical beamformer.…”

“…As described in [12], [13], the experimental demonstrator that has been developed in the SMART project is a simplified version of the system that has been analyzed in Part I [1]. The array is a 64-element rectangular grid, comprising eight rows of eight AEs.…”

Programmable optical processor chips: toward photonic RF filters with DSP-level flexibility and MHz-band selectivity

“…Satellite communications is one of the most interesting application areas for integrated microwave photonics technologies as size, weight, and power consumption are the key aspects of spaceborne or airborne RF devices regarding construction and operation costs [68]. For microwave photonic solutions to the traditional RF functions in this area such as RF filters and beamformers for phased array antennas [69][70][71][72][73], optical filters that are able to provide MHz-band frequency selectivity can play an enabling role in satisfying the standard system requirements.…”