ULTRA WIDEBAND PHOTONIC CONTROL

OF AN
ADAPTIVE PHASED ARRAY ANTENNA

Joseph L. Cox, Henry Zmuda and Jian Li Pasquale M. Sforza

U. S. Air Force Department of Electrical and Department of Mechanical
Space and Missile Computer Engineering and Aerospace Engineering
Systems Center University of Florida University of Florida
Los Angeles, CA Gainesville, FL Gainesville, FL

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 Ultra Wideband Spectra & Systems
• Low Duty Cycle
Communications
• Ground Penetrating Radar
• Thru-the-Wall Radar
• Radio-frequency ID (RFID)
• Surveillance Systems
• Law Enforcement
• Fire and Rescue
• Research Scientists
• Mining Operations
• Construction
• Military Operations in
Urban Terrain (MOUT)
• Medical Imaging

Ultra Wideband (UWB): BW > 500 MHz UWB in this paper: BW ~ 10 GHz
BWfract > 0.20 BWfract ~ 1.00

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 Advantages of Ultra Wideband
Generally:
1) More resistance to multipath fade
2) Increased operational security
Low probability of intercept
3) Extremely low duty cycles
Lower prime power required
Conventional
PSD
Ultra-wideband
fc
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For Radar:
1) Higher range accuracy/resolution
2) Enhanced target information
Additional spectral information
3) Increased Pd for certain targets
4) Ability to detect very slow targets
5) Immunity to passive interference
6) Less prone to accidental jamming
7) Low probability of detection
Large spread spectrum waveforms
f
R.J. Fontana, “Recent System Applications of Short
Pulse Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Technology,” IEEE
Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques,
Vol. 52, No. 9, pp. 2087-2104, Sept. 2004.
 Photonic-Based Time Reversal Step 1

Desired target
Extraneous target(s)

Array

RF Probe Pulse

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 Photonic-Based Time Reversal Step 2

Desired target
Extraneous target(s)

Array
(Receive Mode)

Time Reversal Processor

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 Photonic-Based Time Reversal Step 3
Extraneous target(s)
(Time gating can remove
energy to extraneous target(s))

Array
(Transmit Mode)

Time Reversal Processor

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 Time Reversal Module
Wavelengths
dispersed
TIME REVERSAL MODULE
in time
max min f(t)
RF Input

f(t) min max

Pulsed Dispersive EOM
Laser Element
Chirped
Bragg
Grating
f( - t + T)
Excess
Delay

Photodetector

Time – Reversed Output

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 Time Lensing
PT • Inject RF probe pulse at P1: sin(ωt0)
t1T=d1T*n1T/c0 • Pulse arrives on target PT: sin(ω[t0+t1T])
t1T=tT1 ... • Pulse arrives at antennas:P1: sin(ω[t0+t1T+t1T])
P2: sin(ω[t0+t1T+t2T])
t2T=d2T*n2T/c0 P3: sin(ω[t0+t1T+t3T])
t3T=d3T*n3T/c0 • Pulses are time-reversed: P1: sin(ω[T - t0 - t1T - t1T])
P2: sin(ω[T - t0 - t1T - t2T])
P3: sin(ω[T - t0 - t1T - t3T])
• Pulses arrive on target:
P1 P2 P3
P1: sin(ω[T - t0 - t1T - t1T+ t1T])
sin(ωt0) P2: sin(ω[T - t0 - t1T - t2T+ t2T])
P3: sin(ω[T - t0 - t1T - t3T+ t3T])
• All pulses are phased matched:
Lensing is independent of PALL: sin(ω[T - t0 - t1T])
• Physical location of antennas
• Indices of refraction
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 Time Reversal
t=t0 t=t0+t1T

Initial RF Probe Pulse Pulse Propagation Towards Target

t=T-t0-t1T-t1T t=T-t0-t1T-t1T+t1T
=T-t0-t1T

Retransmission At Array Zoomed Image Pulse At Target

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 Fiber Dispersion
Fiber Dispersion
dn dn
1 dk d    n   d n   d
   n( )   
vg d d  c c c

L dn 
T  n   
c d 

 d 2n
T   L    2  1
c d 2

 d 2n
Material Dispersion: D  
c d2

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 Fiber Dispersion (part 2)
Fiber Dispersion Analysis (Corning SMF28):

T
1 2 1 2

Ordinary Fiber D  18 ps

(Corning SMF28): nm km

High Chromatic ps
Dispersion Fiber: D  100 nm km

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 Pulse Dispersion

Input: Dispersive Channel Output:

1
      1   o    2   o 
2
f (t ,0)  e at cos ot
2

2 f (t , z )  f a (t , z ) cos  (t , z )

  t  1 z  
2
1 Instantaneous frequency:
f a (t , z )  exp  a 2
4
1   2a  2 z 
2
 1   2  
2 a  z
d  t , z  4a 2  2 z
2 
i   o  t  1 z 
d  t  1 z  1   2a  2 z 
  t , z   arg  f (t , z )   o  t  1 z   o 1 z   o z
1 1 2a 2  2 z
 tan  2a 2 z      
2
t z
1   2a  2 z 
2 1
2

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 Time Reversal
Chirped Bragg Grating

1 L

n0

max min max

no L 
T 
c m ax

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 Antenna Beamforming
Antenna RF Probe
RF Input Pulse
(Receive Mode) (Transmit Mode)
Time T/R
Reversal Mod
Module
1 x N Optical Splitter

Excess Delay PD
Time
Pulsed
Reversed
Laser

...
Output Antenna
Dispersive
Element
Time T/R
Reversal Mod
Module
Excess Delay PD

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 Advantages of Photonic Control
• No Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) required in all-analog control
– Well suited for high bandwidth applications
• No phase shifters are needed
– No squint
– No quantization noise
• Time reversal is easily implemented
• Propagation distortion is negated
– Appropriate for inhomogeneous media
– Independent of index of refraction
• Beamforming independent of array construction
– Conformal arrays are easily produced
– Distributed arrays are possible

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 Potential Laser Sources
• Active research underway in Typical Operational Parameters
wide-bandwidth optical
sources, “supercontinua” Parameter Value Units
• Example: EDFA at 1560nm Laser Temporal Width 20 femtosecond
dispersed in 3 stages of SMF
– 1 psec pulses, 80nm of Laser Spectral Bandwidth 274 nanometers
linearly chirped bandwidth
• Mode locked lasers are Maximum Spectral Variation 0.087 decibels
capable today of pulses of a
few femtoseconds Utilized Spectral Bandwidth 16 nanometers
– Hundreds of nanometers of
Dispersive Fiber Length 1000 meters
optical BW are available
• Notional 10 GHz UWB pulse Maximum RF Time Window 2 nanosecond
will need ~100 picoseconds of
dispersed laser pulse width Grating Length 0.417 meters
– Definitely achievable with
today’s technology Grating Slope 121.5 nm/meter

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 Questions

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