(1) Photonics Research Group, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798;(2) Department of Electronic Engineering, Xiangtan Universtiy, Xiangtan, Hunan, 411105, P.R. China
Abstract:
In this paper, we present a photonics continuous beamforming system for optically controlled phased-array antenna based on a tunable fiber ring laser source and a novel variable true-time delay network consisting of one single-mode fiber delay line and four tunable chirped grating delay lines. The chirp rate of each chirped grating is tuned by bending a uniform fiber Bragg grating (FBG) bonded at a slant onto the lateral surface of a simply supported beam. This kind of variable true-time delay network can provide five-channel time-delayed signals that can be fed to an antenna array to achieve continuously beam scanning. The proposed true-time-delay unit with 5-element phased array steerer is suitable for phased-array antenna beamforming at frequencies up to 12 GHz.