FDTD Analysis of Microwave Active Antennas with Optical Excitation

In this paper, a circuit model of PIN avalanche photodiodes is successfully incorporated into the FDTD analysis of optoelectronic active antennas. As an example, an active patch antenna array with two patches, one PIN-APD, two amplifiers and matching networks is analysed by using the FDTD method. The electromagnetic coupling effects between the microstrip matching network and the patches are investigated. Two different ground plane effects are studied. The effects on the far field patterns are reported. The method and the results will be useful in the development of integrated optoelectronic active antennas modules.