An optically controlled phased array antenna based on single sideband polarization modulation

Yamei Zhang,Dan Zhu,Shilong Pan,Huan Wu

doi:10.1364/oe.22.003761

Abstract

A novel optically controlled phased array antenna consisting a simple optical beamforming network and an N element linear patch antenna array is proposed and demonstrated. The optical beamforming network is realized by N independent phase shifters using a shared optical single sideband (OSSB) polarization modulator together with N polarization controllers (PCs), N polarization beam splitters (PBSs) and N photodetectors (PDs). An experiment is carried out. A 4-element linear patch antenna array operating at 14 GHz and a 1 × 4 optical beamforming network (OBFN) is employed to realize the phased array antenna. The radiation patterns of the phased array antenna at -30°, 0° and 30° are achieved.

Highlights

Phased array antenna plays an important role in multifunctional radars and high-throughput wireless communications [1]
The optical beamforming network is realized by N independent phase shifters using a shared optical single sideband (OSSB) polarization modulator together with N polarization controllers (PCs), N polarization beam splitters (PBSs) and N photodetectors (PDs)
A 4-element linear patch antenna array operating at 14 GHz and a 1 × 4 optical beamforming network (OBFN) is employed to realize the phased array antenna

Summary

Introduction

Phased array antenna plays an important role in multifunctional radars and high-throughput wireless communications [1]. In the phased array antenna, beamforming network is one of the key components. In 1997 and 2005, Riza [10] and Bui et al [11] proposed OBFNs based on vector-sum phase shifting, respectively. In [11], the optical RF signal to be phase shifted is split into two paths with different fiber lengths by a variable directional coupler. Flexible beamforming technologies based on programmable photonic processor comprising a 2-D array of liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) pixels are proposed by Riza [12] and Yi et al [13], respectively. A novel phased array antenna based on a simple OBFN is proposed and demonstrated. A phased array antenna based on the OBFN is experimentally realized. The radiation patterns of the phased array antenna are measured

Principle

Experimental demonstration

Conclusion