Compact photonic integrated phase and amplitude controller for phased-array antennas

Abstract

Abstract-Feasibility of an extremely compact photonic integrated circuit for controlling phase and amplitude of a 16-element phased-array microwave antenna has been demonstrated experimentally.

RF Engineering Meets Optoelectronics: Progress in Integrated Microwave Photonics

“…Higher delay resolution (required for antennas operating at high frequency) can also be improved with an integrated photonics approach. A number of photonic integration platforms have been used, such as polymer technology [37]- [39], silica [40]- [43], LiNbO 3 [44], GaAs [45], [46], and InP [47], [48]. A recent example [49] using ultralow-loss Si 3 N 4 substrate showed a fully integrated 4-bit TTD line capable of delays above 12 ns, corresponding to about 2.4 m of propagation length, on a chip area of 4.5 cm # 8.5 cm, with waveguide losses as low as 1 dB/m (Figure 7).…”

Programmable RF photonic phase shifters based on FD-OP for optically controlled beamforming

“…It is difficult for the others techniques [7,[9][10][11][12] to operate multiple independent phase shifters, and so the optically controlled beam forming system is complex. Recently, Fourier-domain optical processor (FD-OP) is extensively applied in microwave photonic filter [14], photonic microwave phase shifters [15] and true-time-delay beam forming [16].…”

“…In recent years, various methods for microwave photonic phase shifter have been proposed, for example, based on true-time-delay elements [4][5][6], homodyne mixing techniques [7,8], vector sum techniques [9,10], and nonlinear effects [11][12][13]. It is difficult for the others techniques [7,[9][10][11][12] to operate multiple independent phase shifters, and so the optically controlled beam forming system is complex.…”

A Simultaneous Variable Optical Weight and Delay in a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier for Microwave Photonics

“…There are many microwave photonic analog signal processing applications where the simultaneous control of weight and delay is necessary, such as radio-frequency interference cancellation [8]- [10] and optical phased-array antennas [5], [11]. However, most integrated optical delay technologies inadvertantly affect the signal weight, or transmission, while adjusting the delay, making it difficult to simultaneously control both weight and delay.…”