OPTICAL SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION IN LARGE PHASED-ARRAY

OPTICALLY BASED RF PHASE DISTRIBUTION AND CONTROL TECHNIQUES FOR MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER-WAVE PHASED-ARRAY SYSTEMS PROVIDE THE ADVANTAGES OF COST EFFECTIVENESS, SYSTEM SIMPLICITY, RAPID PARALLEL PROCESSING, LOW INTERFERENCE, HIGH RADIATION RESISTANCE, AND EFFICIENT 3-D CONNECTIONS. E-TEK WOULD INVESTIGATE, ANALYZE, DESIGN, AND OPTIMIZE: (1) A PRECISE MICROWAVE RF PHASE TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM EMPLOYING AN INNOVATIVE FIBER OPTIC LINK, WITH PHASING ACCURACY OF + OR - 1 DEGREE; AND (2) VARIOUS OPTICAL BEAM FORMING/STEERING TECHNIQUES, INCLUDING OPTICAL CROSSBAR BEAM FORMER (BF), PARTIAL-SUM BF, VECTOR-MATRIX FREQUENCY DOMAIN BF, AND PROGRAMMABLE IMAGE/HOLOGRAPHIC BFS IN PHASE I. THE DETAILED DESIGNS OF THE COMPONENTS/DEVICES CAN DIRECTLY LEAD TO PHASE II HARDWARE FABRICATION, VERIFICATION, AND DEMONSTRATION. AT PRESENT, E-TEK HAS 21 GHZ FIBER OPTIC LINK, PHASE SHIFTERS, LOW COST 1XN FIBER DISTRIBUTION COUPLER, INTEGRATED OPTIC SWITCH, ETC., TO PRACTICALLY IMPLEMENT THE OPTICALLY CONTROLLED PHASED-ARRAYS WITH ARRAY ELEMENTS OF 1,000 TO 10,000.