Optical feed network using a free-space optical modulator for RF phased antenna arrays
US11233326B2 · kind B2 · utility
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4References
20Claims
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Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 1, 2020 |
| Grant date | Jan 25, 2022 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 9, 2040 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01Q3/46
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An optical feed network (OFN) for an RF phased antenna array includes a single free-space optical beamformer that supports all of the RF electrical feed signals for the RF phased antenna array to steer an RF beam. The free-space optical beamformer can more easily scale to accommodate larger array sizes than either the discrete fiber channel or PIC implementations. Furthermore, certain embodiments of the optical beamformer avoid the complexity of having to compute FFTs for each channel to steer the beam, instead relying on the inherent function of an imaging lens to perform the FFT, which in turn facilitates rapid steering.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.