Photonic true-time delay unit for broadband adaptive nulling in antenna arrays

Abstract

This paper describes an opto-VLSI-based tunable true-time delay generation unit used for adaptive null steering in phased array antennas. Arbitrary single or multiple true-time delays can simultaneously be synthesized for each antenna element to generate multiple broadband nulls. Simulated azimuth gain patterns for a 4-elements antenna arrays are presented. Experimental results, which demonstrate the principle of the true-time delay unit are also presented.