Photonically Generated True Time Delay for Phased Array Applications

Several relatively new photonic components have recently come to the forefront in applications related to the photonic processing of broadband microwave signals. Included in this set of photonic elements are the wavelength tunable laser, high dispersion optical fiber, and the Bragg reflection grating. These components hold the promise of revolutionizing the field of broadband photonic processing. This report documents the performance characteristics of these components and shows how they can be used for two broadband phased array applications, beamforming and null steering. Two systems are described. A technical overview is presented for each system with experimental data provided to demonstrate the performance of each system. Both systems described herein maximize component reuse and fully integrate transmit and receive modes in efficient hardware compressive topologies.