Reversible time delay beamforming optical architecture for phased-array antennas
First Claim
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1. A phased array antenna system comprising:
- a plurality of antenna elements arranged in an array, said array being operable in a transmit or a receive mode;
an optical signal processing system coupled to said array, said system generating differentially time-delayed optical control signals to control output beam radiation patterns transmitted from said array and to optically process return radiation patterns detected by said array; and
a modulated laser source optically coupled to said signal processing system and having means for dividing light from said laser source into a plurality of collinear light beams;
said optical signal processing system comprising;
a plurality of spatial light modulators optically coupled to associated free space delay units so as to selectively time delay each of said plurality of light beams,means for converting said optical control signals into corresponding electrical signals to excite said antenna elements in said transmit mode,means for converting electrical signals produced by said antenna elements in response to detected electromagnetic radiation in said receive mode into corresponding return optical signals, andmeans for converting said return optical signals after said optical processing into electrical signals.
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Abstract
A phased array antenna system has optical architecture comprising free space delay units and associated spatial light modulators compatible for operation with temporally incoherent or coherent laser light to produce signals having selected time delays to actuate antenna elements of an antenna array to transmit electromagnetic radiation at a selected beam angle from the phase array. The same optical architecture is used to process electromagnetic signals detected by the antenna array to produce an output signal for display or processing which corresponds to the radiation detected at the selected beam angle.
86 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A phased array antenna system comprising:
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a plurality of antenna elements arranged in an array, said array being operable in a transmit or a receive mode; an optical signal processing system coupled to said array, said system generating differentially time-delayed optical control signals to control output beam radiation patterns transmitted from said array and to optically process return radiation patterns detected by said array; and a modulated laser source optically coupled to said signal processing system and having means for dividing light from said laser source into a plurality of collinear light beams; said optical signal processing system comprising; a plurality of spatial light modulators optically coupled to associated free space delay units so as to selectively time delay each of said plurality of light beams, means for converting said optical control signals into corresponding electrical signals to excite said antenna elements in said transmit mode, means for converting electrical signals produced by said antenna elements in response to detected electromagnetic radiation in said receive mode into corresponding return optical signals, and means for converting said return optical signals after said optical processing into electrical signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A phased array radar system comprising:
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an array control computer, an antenna array having a plurality of elements, said array being operable in a transmit or receive mode, a post detection display and analysis system, a modulated laser source, and an optical signal processing system electrically coupled to said antenna array and said post detection display and analysis system and optically coupled to said laser source, said array control computer being coupled to said antenna array, said post detection display and analysis system, said modulated laser source and said optical signal processing system to control the combined operation thereof in said transmit and receive modes, said signal processing system comprising; an optical architecture having an input polarizing beam splitter, a cascade of spatial light modulators and associated free space delay units to delay signals passing therethrough, said cascade being optically coupled to receive light beams from said input polarizing beam splitter, an optical adder optically coupled to said cascade to uniformly polarize light passing from said cascade, and an output polarizing beam splitter optically coupled to said adder, an array of photodiodes to convert time delayed optical signals passing from said optical architecture into corresponding electrical signals, an array of laser diodes to convert electrical signals generated by said antenna array in response to detected electromagnetic radiation into corresponding optical signals for application to said optical architecture, and a detector assembly optically coupled to said optical architecture to convert said optical signals into an electrical output. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification