Simulation of two-dimensional target motion based on a liquid crystal beam steering method

Abstract

A simulation platform is established for target motion using a liquid crystal (LC) spatial light modulator as a nonmechanical beam steering control device. By controlling the period and orientation of the phase grating generated by the spatial light modulator, the platform realizes two-dimensional (2-D) beam steering using a single LC device. The zenith and azimuth angle range from 0 deg to 2.89 deg and from 0 deg to 360 deg, respectively, with control resolution of 0.0226 deg and 0.0300 deg, respectively. The response time of the beam steering is always less than 0.04 s, irrespective of steering angle. Three typical aircraft tracks are imitated to evaluate the performance of the simulation platform. The correlation coefficients between the theoretical and simulated motions are larger than 0.9822. Results show that it is highly feasible to realize 2-D target motion simulation using the LC spatial light modulator.