Beam Steering Method Research Articles

Fast electro-optic switching for coherent laser ranging and velocimetry

The growth of 3D imaging across a range of sectors has driven a demand for beam steering technology. Fields as diverse as autonomous vehicles and medical imaging can benefit from a high speed, adaptable method of beam steering. We present a monolithic, submicrosecond electro-optic switch as a solution toward the need for reliability, speed, dynamic addressability, and compactness. Here, we demonstrate a laboratory-scale, solid-state light detection and ranging system, using the electro-optic switch to launch modulated coherent light into free space and then to collect the reflected signal. We use coherent detection of the reflected light to simultaneously extract the range and axial velocity of targets at each of the several electronically addressable output ports.

Two-dimensional symmetrical radial sub-aperture coherence and the local precision defect elimination method for high-precision beam steering.

Sub-aperture coherence (SAC) is a classical phase control method for high-precision beam steering using liquid crystal optical phased arrays (LCOPA). On this basis, radial sub-aperture coherence (RSAC) and symmetrical radial sub-aperture coherence (SRSAC) were proposed, which guarantee the stability of steering angles when the beam aperture and incident position fluctuate. In this article, the pre-existing one-dimensional SRSAC was firstly extended to a more universal 2D phase generation algorithm. Meanwhile, for the intractable problem of local precision defects caused by the basic two-dimensional variable period grating (2D-VPG) algorithm, we tracked their locations accurately and designed a targeted elimination method carefully. So these remarkable error peaks could be thoroughly removed by using 2D-SRSAC optimized by the local precision defect elimination method. Since then, all the excellent performance of 1D-SRSAC can be perfectly transplanted to 2D, which makes the non-mechanical beam steering technology using LCOPA more mature and competitive in the applications required ultra-high precision.

Beam steering characteristics of highly directive photoconductive dipole phased array antenna for terahertz imaging application

In this paper, the beam-steering characteristics of photoconductive dipole phased array antenna configuration at 1.95 THz is presented. The proposed array antenna configuration with frequency selective surface favourably improves its gain and directivity which is useful to upsurge the imaging capabilities to address the deliberations such as limited depth-of-field (DoF) and size-weight-and-power of the THz source for imaging applications. These are important considerations for applications like stand-off imaging and surveillance of moving targets where the high angular resolution as well as extended DoF are the important parameters for successful detection of concealed explosives. The projected planar profile and compact highly directive $$\left( {2 \times 2} \right)$$ small-gap photoconductive dipole phased array antenna can be castoff for the exposure of concealed explosives such as RDX, TNT, and HMX which illustrate their substantial spectral absorption fingerprints in terahertz (1.4–2.2 THz) regime of the spectrum. A simple method of beam-steering has been explored based on phase controlled optical excitation of highly directive small-gap photoconductive dipole array antenna. Further, the effects of uniform progressive phase shift on the beam-steering of uniform linear array (along x-axis) as well as planar array (x-axis and y-axis) is investigated.

Wide-angular-range and high-resolution beam steering by a metasurface-coupled phased array.

Optical beam steering has broad applications in lidar, optical communications, optical interconnects, and spatially resolved optical sensors. For high-speed applications, phased-array-based beam-steering methods are favored over mechanical methods, as they are unconstrained by inertia and can inherently operate at a higher speed. However, phased-array systems exhibit a tradeoff between angular range and beam divergence, making it difficult to achieve both a large steering angle and a narrow beam divergence. Here, we present a beam-steering method based on wavefront shaping through a disorder-engineered metasurface that circumvents this range-resolution tradeoff. We experimentally demonstrate that, through this technique, one can continuously steer an optical beam within a range of 160° (80° from normal incidence) with an angular resolution of about 0.01° at the cost of beam throughput.

A proposed method for linear accelerator photon beam steering using EPID.

Beam steering is the process of calibrating the angle and translational position with which a linear accelerator's (linac's) electron beam strikes the x‐ray target with respect to the collimator rotation axis. The shape of the dose profile is highly dependent on accurate beam steering and is essential for ensuring correct delivery of the radiotherapy treatment plan. Traditional methods of beam steering utilize a scanning water tank phantom that makes the process user‐dependent. This study is the first to provide a methodology for both beam angle steering and beam translational position steering based on EPID imaging of the beam and does not require a phantom. Both the EPID‐based beam angle steering and beam translational steering methods described have been validated against IC Profiler measurement. Wide field symmetry agreement was found between the EPID and IC Profiler to within 0.06 ± 0.14% (1 SD) and 0.32 ± 0.11% (1 SD) for flattened and flattening‐filter‐free (FFF) beams, respectively. For a 1.1% change in symmetry measured by IC Profiler the EPID method agreed to within 0.23%. For beam translational position steering, the EPID method agreed with IC Profiler method to within 0.03 ± 0.05 mm (1 SD) at isocenter. The EPID‐based methods presented are quick to perform, simple, accurate and could easily be integrated with the linac, potentially via the MPC application. The methods have the potential to remove user variability and to standardize the process of beam steering throughout the radiotherapy community.

Massive MIMO antenna system for 5G base stations with directive ports and switched beamsteering capabilities

A 72-port (288 antennas) triangular-shaped massive multiple-input-multiple-output (mMIMO) antenna system is presented for fifth generation (5G) base stations. Each side of the antenna system consists of three layers with a total size of 44.4 × 29.6 × 0.1524 cm 3 , and contains 24 ports. Each port (subarray) consists of 2 × 2 patches on the top layer, their feeding network with pre-calculated phases is on the bottom layer and the ground plane is in the middle one. Each port is fed in a way to tilt its beam direction with respect to others to achieve uncorrelated individual patterns. The antenna system is the first to support two operating modes: simultaneous individual port operation (i.e. 72-port MIMO) and mMIMO array operation (i.e. with beam switching). The measured bandwidth is 100 MHz that covers the band from 3.45 to 3.55 GHz. The measured gain of a single port equals to 9.41 dBi. The envelop correlation coefficient does not exceed 0.1198. A beamsteering method to steer the beam of each 24-port side to different locations in the space is presented and applied based on the non-uniform port patterns (unlike most conventional methods). Thirteen switched beams are obtained with centre angle coverage up to 34° in elevation with maximum gain of 19.5 dBi.

Arbitrary multiple beam forming by two cascaded liquid crystal optical phased arrays.

A new method for non-mechanical laser beam splitting and steering is demonstrated. Two cascaded liquid crystal optical phased arrays (LC-OPAs) controllably modulate the amplitude and phase of an incident laser beam to realize the near-field wavefronts of multiple simultaneous beams with arbitrary directions. Diffraction between the two arrays is avoided by precise 4-f imaging from one LC-OPA to the other (array resolution 1×1920). In the method of cascaded amplitude and phase (CAP) devices, numerical simulation results show the characteristics of amplitude and phase modulation profiles, as well as the far-field intensity patterns. Both the numerical and experimental results clearly demonstrate the capabilities of fast multi-beam forming with high efficiency (>85%, 4 beams) and accuracy (deviation <90μrad).

Beam Steering Analysis in Optically Phased Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Array**Supported by the ‘Supporting First Action’ Joint Foundation for Outstanding Postdoctoral Program under Grant Nos Y7YBSH0001 and Y7BSH14001, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 61434006, and the National Key Basic Research Program of China under Grant No 2017YFB0102302.

Beam steering in implant defined coherently coupled vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays is simulated using the FDTD solution software. Angular deflection dependent on relative phase differences among elements, inter-element spacing, element size and emitted wavelength is analyzed detailedly and systematically. We design and fabricate 1×2 implant defined VCSEL arrays for optimum beam steering performance. Electronically controlled beam steering with a maximum deflection angle of 1.6° is successfully achieved in the 1×2 VCSEL arrays. The percentage of the power in the central lobe is above 39% when steering. The results show that the steering is controllable. Compared with other beam steering methods, the fabrication process is simple and of low cost.

Air wedge with variable refractive index for precise laser beam steering in a small range

This paper provides the results of work on a new method for metrological laser beam steering for the purpose of angular stabilization. Frequency stabilized metrological lasers are used for interference measurements of length and angle. Angular deviation of the beam may cause cosine errors when measuring displacements. This paper presents a method for metrological laser beam deflection with an air wedge of variable refractive index. The change in the index is achieved by changing the air pressure in the wedge volume. The implemented system produced a range of angular displacements of the 0.1mrad (10-4 rad; 100μrad) beam with a resolution of 10-7 rad.

Dose Monitoring and Maintain of Varian High Energy Linear Accelerators

The paper analyzes the dose monitoring and control system of Varian C-series high energy linear accelerators systematically from twofold view of machine physics and electromechanical structure. It dissects the structure characteristics of chamber and implementation method of beam steering. It expounds the complete methods of quality control adjustment and troubleshooting.

Single chip lidar with discrete beam steering by digital micromirror device.

A novel method of beam steering enables a large field of view and reliable single chip light detection and ranging (lidar) by utilizing a mass-produced digital micromirror device (DMD). Using a short pulsed laser, the micromirrors' rotation is frozen in mid-transition, which forms a programmable blazed grating. The blazed grating efficiently redistributes the light to a single diffraction order, among several. We demonstrated time of flight measurements for five discrete angles using this beam steering method with a nano second 905nm laser and Si avalanche diode. A distance accuracy of < 1 cm over a 1 m distance range, a 48° full field of view, and a measurement rate of 3.34k points/s is demonstrated.

Steering the Beam of Medium-to-High Gain Antennas Using Near-Field Phase Transformation

A method to steer the beam of aperture-type antennas is presented in this paper. Beam steering is achieved by transforming phase of the antenna near field using a pair of totally passive metasurfaces, which are located just above and parallel to the antenna. They are rotated independently or synchronously around the antenna axis. A prototype, with a peak gain of 19.4 dBi, demonstrated experimentally that the beam of a resonant cavity antenna can be steered to any direction within a large conical region (with an apex angle of 102°), with less than 3-dB gain variation, by simply turning the two metasurfaces without moving the antenna at all. Measured gain variation within a 92° cone is only 1.9 dBi. Contrary to conventional mechanical steering methods, such as moving reflector antennas with multiaxis rotary joints, the 3-D volume occupied by this antenna system does not change during beam steering. This advantage, together with its low profile, makes it a strong contender for space-limited applications where beam steering with active devices is not desirable due to cost, nonlinear distortion, limited power handling, sensitivity to temperature variations, radio frequency losses, or associated heating. This beam steering method using near-field phase transformation can also be applied to other aperture-type antennas and arrays with medium-to-high gains.

Pattern synthesis for equal-gain coverage in air-to-ground communication

In this article, a new strategy for high-quality and wide-coverage air-to-ground communication is proposed by using pattern synthesis method. The cosecant pattern for equal-gain coverage is synthesized using two switchable patterns, which are provided by switchable feeding networks and a ten-element airborne microstrip antenna array. The merits of the proposed strategy include two folds: first, the antenna array and feeding network are easy to design and with low cost, no need to use beam steering method. Second, the maximum available gain in the required cosecant coverage is achieved by the proposed strategy, providing sufficient path loss margin. We have simulated and fabricated the array prototype, and measured results have proved our idea to achieve equal-gain coverage with a relatively simple antenna structure. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:750–753, 2017

A Two-Dimensional Beam-Steering Method to Simultaneously Consider Doppler Centroid and Ground Observation in GEOSAR

Due to Earth’s rotation and an elliptical satellite orbit, large Doppler centroids along satellite orbit inevitably occur in geosynchronous Earth orbit synthetic aperture radar (GEOSAR). Nonzero Doppler centroid causes a large range migration, which complicates the data acquisition and design of imaging algorithms. Thus, beam steering is used to decrease the centroid. At the same time, the ground observation of interest is prerequisite for applications. Thus, a unique two-dimensional (2-D) beam-steering method to simultaneously consider the reduction of Doppler centroid and ground observation for the GEOSAR is studied. The minimum-Doppler plane is proposed to minimize the centroid and to guarantee the beams that illuminate the area of interest. Subsequently, to achieve required ground coverage, beam directions determined by the minimum-Doppler plane are slightly adjusted. The method has been validated through the simulation of two types of orbits.

최적 공분산 가중 벡터를 이용한 상관성 간섭 신호 추정의 빔 지향 오차

In this paper, we proposed covariance weight matrix using SPT matrix in order to accurate target estimation. We have estimated a target using modified covariance matrix and beam steering error method. We have minimized beam steering error in order to estimation desired a target. This method obtain optimum covariance weight using modified SPT matrix. This paper of proposal method is showed good performance than general method. We updated a weight of covariance matrix using modified SPT matrix. We obtain optimum covariance matrix weight to application beam steering error method in order to beam steering toward desired target. Through simulation, we showed that compare proposal method with general method. It have improved resolution of estimation target to good performance more proposed method than general method.

Laser beam steering for GRACE Follow-On intersatellite interferometry.

The GRACE Follow-On satellites will use, for the first time, a Laser Ranging Interferometer to measure intersatellite distance changes from which fluctuations in Earth's geoid can be inferred. We have investigated the beam steering method that is required to maintain the laser link between the satellites. Although developed for the specific needs of the GRACE Follow-On mission, the beam steering method could also be applied to other intersatellite laser ranging applications where major difficulties are common: large spacecraft separation and large spacecraft attitude jitter. The beam steering method simultaneously coaligns local oscillator beam and transmitted beam with the laser beam received from the distant spacecraft using Differential Wavefront Sensing. We demonstrate the operation of the beam steering method on breadboard level using GRACE satellite attitude jitter data to command a hexapod, a six-degree-of-freedom rotation and translation stage. We verify coalignment of local oscillator beam/ transmitted beam and received beam of better than 10 μrad with a stability of 10 μrad/ √Hz in the GRACE Follow-On measurement band of 0.002...0.1 Hz. Additionally, important characteristics of the beam steering setup such as Differential Wavefront Sensing signals, heterodyne efficiency, and suppression of rotation-to-pathlength coupling are investigated and compared with analysis results.

Method of Beam Steering with FWM in ICF: Compensation and Generation of a PC Beam for a Foam Target

Method of Beam Steering with FWM in ICF: Compensation and Generation of a PC Beam for a Foam Target

Spatial Aliasing Effects in a Steerable Parametric Loudspeaker for Stereophonic Sound Reproduction

SUMMARY Earlier attempts to deploy two units of parametric loudspeakers have shown encouraging results in improving the accuracy of spatial audio reproductions. As compared to a pair of conventional loudspeakers, this improvement is mainly a result of being free of crosstalk due to the sharp directivity of the parametric loudspeaker. By replacing the normal parametric loudspeaker with the steerable parametric loudspeaker, a flexible sweet spot can be created that tolerates head movements of the listener. However, spatial aliasing effects of the primary frequency waves are always observed in the steerable parametric loudspeaker. We are motivated to make use of the spatial aliasing effects to create two sound beams from one unit of the steerable parametric loudspeaker. Hence, a reduction of power consumption and physical size can be achieved by cutting down the number of loudspeakers used in an audio system. By introducing a new parameter, namely the relative steering angle, we propose a stereophonic beamsteering method that can control the amplitude difference corresponding to the interaural level difference (ILD) between two sound beams. Currently, this proposed method does not support the reproduction of interaural time differences (ITD).

Electrically controlled diffraction employing electrophoresis, supercapacitance, and total internal reflection

The reflectance of a surface can be altered by controlling the concentration of dye ions in a region adjacent to an optically transparent and electrically conductive thin film. We present a method for nonmechanical light deflection achieved by altering the reflectance of a diffraction grating, an approach that creates new diffraction peaks that lie between those associated with the original grating spacing. We have demonstrated this effect by applying an electrical potential difference between interdigitated indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrodes and measuring the intensity of one of the new diffraction peaks. The measured diffraction peak intensities were found to reversibly deflect approximately 7% of the reflected light to previously nonexistent peaks. The diffraction grating was formed by patterning a thin film of planar, untreated ITO on a glass substrate using standard photolithography techniques. The size scale for this method of electrically controlled diffraction is limited only by the lithographic process; thus there is potential for the grating to deflect light to angles greater than those achievable using other methods. This approach could be used in applications such as telecommunications, where large deflection angles are required, or other applications where alternate beam-steering methods are cost prohibitive.

Steerable parametric loudspeaker with preprocessing methods

The emerging applications of the parametric loudspeaker, such as 3D audio, require both directivity control and high fidelity at the audible frequency (i.e. the difference frequency of the primary frequencies generated by the parametric loudspeaker). Although the phased array techniques have been applied and proved adequate to adjust the steering angles of the parametric loudspeaker, and preprocessing methods have been studied to reduce the harmonic distortions, there is no published work on the effectiveness of the combination of the beamsteering method and the preprocessing methods for the broadband steerable sound beam system. This paper aims to investigate on this unexplored problem. Firstly, the relation between the phases of the primary waves and the difference frequency wave is explored to prove the feasibility of achieving a broadband steerable sound beam from the parametric loudspeaker with preprocessing methods. Secondly, based on the derived relation, the beamsteering structure is proposed. Lastly, preprocessing methods are proposed for the steerable parametric loudspeaker using double sideband modulation (DSBAM) and square root amplitude modulation (SRAM) methods. Spatial performances of the steerable parametric loudspeaker with preprocessing methods are presented in this paper.