Opto-VLSI-Based Beamformer for Radio-Frequency Phased-Array Antennas

Author

Xiao, Feng ; Juswardy, Budi ; Alameh, Kamal ; Xiao, Shilin ; Hu, Weisheng

Author_Institution

Centre for MicroPhotonic Syst., Edith Cowan Univ., Churchlands, WA, Australia

Volume

4

Issue

3

fYear

2012

fDate

6/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

912

Lastpage

919

Abstract

An Opto-VLSI-based tunable beamformer for radio frequency (RF) smart antennas is reported and its concept is demonstrated. RF beam steering is achieved by uploading appropriate phase holograms onto the Opto-VLSI processor so that RF true-time delays (TTDs) are independently generated for each element of the antenna array by simply using several erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) loops to realize independent tunable fiber lasers in conjunction with a dispersive optical fiber. Experimental results demonstrate RF beam steering up to 30° with a 4-element linear patch antenna array operating at 1.85 GHz.

Keywords

VLSI; adaptive antenna arrays; antenna phased arrays; array signal processing; beam steering; delays; erbium; holography; laser tuning; microstrip antenna arrays; microwave photonics; optical fibre amplifiers; optical fibre dispersion; 4-element linear patch antenna array; EDFA loops; RF beam steering; RF smart antennas; RF true-time delays; TTD; dispersive optical fiber; erbium-doped fiber amplifier; frequency 1.85 GHz; opto-VLSI processor; opto-VLSI-based tunable beamformer; phase holograms; radiofrequency phased-array antennas; tunable fiber lasers; Broadband antennas; Optical amplifiers; Optical fiber dispersion; Optical fibers; Radio frequency; Opto-VLSI; beam steering; microwave photonics; phased arrays;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1943-0655

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOT.2012.2198210

Filename

6196166