Optical techniques for reconfiguring microwave phased arrays

Very large phased array antennas, particularly in radar and adaptive receive applications as opposed to communications usages, require large amounts of digital data processing for beamsteering, null-formation, imaging, and signal correlation computations. Such processing requires a computational capability which is effectively proportional to the square of the antenna size, and can readily become one of the main design drivers. This processing bottleneck problem is addressed for large phased array antennas. An approach in terms of parallel processing in the optical domain is presented as a potential solution. The defining equations for a phased array antenna system are given, along with the transfer functions for an embedded optical spatial filter control element. Such a control element is shown to have the potential of rapidly reconfiguring a large phased array antenna without the speed penalties associated with conventional sequential addressing methods. A hypothetical phased array antenna, with optical spatial filter control elements, is simulated in a computer model and performance results are presented