Experimental results for a photonic time reversal processor for the adaptive control of an ultra wideband phased array antenna

Henry Zmuda; Michael Fanto; Thomas McEwen

doi:10.1117/12.783968

23 April 2008 Experimental results for a photonic time reversal processor for the adaptive control of an ultra wideband phased array antenna

Henry Zmuda, Michael Fanto, Thomas McEwen

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6975, Enabling Photonics Technologies for Defense, Security, and Aerospace Applications IV; 697504 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.783968
Event: SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, 2008, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

This paper describes a new concept for a photonic implementation of a time reversed RF antenna array beamforming system. The process does not require analog to digital conversion to implement and is therefore particularly suited for high bandwidth applications. Significantly, propagation distortion due to atmospheric effects, clutter, etc. is automatically accounted for with the time reversal process. The approach utilizes the reflection of an initial interrogation signal from off an extended target to precisely time match the radiating elements of the array so as to re-radiate signals precisely back to the target's location. The backscattered signal(s) from the desired location is captured by each antenna and used to modulate a pulsed laser. An electrooptic switch acts as a time gate to eliminate any unwanted signals such as those reflected from other targets whose range is different from that of the desired location resulting in a spatial null at that location. A chromatic dispersion processor is used to extract the exact array parameters of the received signal location. Hence, other than an approximate knowledge of the steering direction needed only to approximately establish the time gating, no knowledge of the target position is required, and hence no knowledge of the array element time delay is required. Target motion and/or array element jitter is automatically accounted for. Presented here are experimental results that demonstrate the ability of a photonic processor to perform the time-reversal operation on ultra-short electronic pulses.

Citation Download Citation

Henry Zmuda, Michael Fanto, and Thomas McEwen "Experimental results for a photonic time reversal processor for the adaptive control of an ultra wideband phased array antenna", Proc. SPIE 6975, Enabling Photonics Technologies for Defense, Security, and Aerospace Applications IV, 697504 (23 April 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.783968

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