Experimental Results for a Photonic Time Reversal Processor for Adaptive Control of an Ultra Wideband Phased Array Antenna

摘要

The process does not require analog to digital conversion to implement and is therefore particularly suited for high bandwidth applications. Significantly, propagation distortion due to atmospheric effects, clutter, etc. is automatically accounted for with the time reversal process. The approach utilizes the reflection of an initial interrogation signal from off an extended target to precisely time match the radiating elements of the array so as to re- radiate signals precisely back to the target's location. The backscattered signal(s) from the desired location is captured by each antenna and used to modulate a pulsed laser. An electrooptic switch acts as a time gate to eliminate any unwanted signals such as those reflected from other targets whose range is different from that of the desired location resulting in a spatial null at that location.