Conformal ultra-wideband optically addressed transmitting phased array and photonic receiver systems

In this paper we present an ultra-wideband optically addressed transmitting phased array antenna, consisting of ultra-wideband and tunable RF synthesizer, optically addressed phase feeding network, and high-speed photodetector integrated wideband antenna array. RF source generation and optical feed network are capable of cover the frequency range up to 50GHz. A set of 4×4 antenna arrays, such as horn and patch antennas in Ka band are designed, fabricated and characterized, ready for the further integration to the 1×4 ultra-wideband transmitting array system. The array is designed to able to sweep over ±30° from the broadside. To realize the transceiver function, an optical based receiver is implemented to measure the far field of the transmitting phased array. Embedded electronic control is developed for both RF synthesizer and optical feed network control. The system is consolidated into a portable cart for field test.