High-resolution phased array radar imaging by photonics-based broadband digital beamforming.

Abstract

A photonics-based broadband phased array radar is demonstrated to realize high-resolution imaging based on digital beamforming. This photonics-based phased array radar can achieve a high range resolution enabled by a large operation bandwidth, and can realize squint-free beam steering by digital true time delay (TTD) compensation. In addition, the photonic dechirp processing applied in the receiver can alleviate the hardware requirements for data sampling and storage, and hence remarkably enhance the real-time signal processing capability. In a proof-of-concept experiment, target imaging by a photonics-based 1 × 4 phased array radar that has a bandwidth of 4 GHz (22-26 GHz) is demonstrated, of which the range and azimuth resolution is measured to be 3.85 cm and 2.68°, respectively. The proposed scheme provides good solution to overcoming the bandwidth limitation and implementing high-resolution imaging in a phased array radar.