Large Phased-Array Antenna Multi-Beam Beamformers

DARPA has identified the need for very large mobile phased array antennas. The need includes theater area ground based systems, airborne systems, and space based systems. The antennas will range from 100,000 elements to greater than 1,000,000 elements. High performance beamforming networks are required. The antenna systems will require wide instantaneous bandwidth necessitating that the beamformers efficiently implement true time delay processing. Saraswati has developed a optical beamforming network concept called Corona that is very size, weight, and cost effective in implementing high degrees of time delay. The heart of the beamformer is a 3-D MEMs photonic cross connect switch (PXC). Saraswati is partnering with Calient, the leader in MEMs PXCs. The Calient PXC meets the demanding environmental and lifetime requirements of the telecom market making it an excellent candidate for military applications. The chief objectives for this Phase II project are to: (a) demonstrate the innovative techniques of the Corona beamformer, and (b) develop a test bed to validate the performance models, and (c) develop a brassboard version of the custom receive MEMs PXC and optical time delay units, and (d) identify sources for each component that are qualifiable to the military environment.