Title :
Optical-fiber grating-based beamforming network for microwave phased arrays
Author :
Minasian, Robert A. ; Alameh, Kamal E.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Sydney Univ., NSW, Australia
fDate :
8/1/1997 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A new photonic-based beamforming network that can realize a large number of simultaneous and independent beams in a wide-band phased-array antenna, and which eliminates optical beat-noise interference is presented. It is based on discrete and chirped Bragg-grating true-time delay elements and photodetector arrays at each beam port. This achieves a highly parallel delay-processing structure for signal equalization and eliminates the fundamental optical beat-noise limitation to the realization of large array sizes. Results show a very substantial reduction in the number of interconnects required of 98.4% for a 512-beam array and 99.2% for a 1024-beam array, in comparison to conventional beamforming techniques
Keywords :
antenna phased arrays; array signal processing; diffraction gratings; interference suppression; microwave antenna arrays; optical delay lines; optical fibres; optical information processing; optical interconnections; parallel processing; photodetectors; wavelength division multiplexing; WDM; beamforming network; chirped Bragg-grating true-time delay elements; highly parallel delay-processing structure; microwave phased arrays; optical beat-noise interference; optical fiber grating; photodetector arrays; signal equalization; wideband phased-array; Array signal processing; Broadband antennas; Chirp; Delay; Gratings; Interference elimination; Optical arrays; Optical beams; Optical fiber networks; Photodetectors;
Journal_Title :
Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on
