Two-Dimensional Phased-Array Receiver Based on Integrated Silicon True Time Delay Lines

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques 2023-03, Vol.71 (3), p.1251-1261
• Main Authors: Zhang, Qiang, Ji, Jun, Cheng, Qiman, Duan, Yanan, Zang, Jiali, Yang, Jianyi, Yu, Hui, Zhang, Xianmin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antenna arrays; Beamforming; Computer networks; Delay lines; Frequency ranges; Microwave photonics; Microwave photonics receiver; Modules; Optical receivers; Optical sensors; Optical signal processing; optical-controlled phased-array antennas; Photonics; Radar equipment; Radio frequency; RF signals; Signal processing; Silicon; silicon photonics; silicon-based microwave photonics; Time lag; true time delay; Wavelength division multiplexing
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2022.3214482

In this work, we first demonstrate a complete 2-D photonics-aided phased-array antenna (PAA) receiver with so far the largest scale of 8 \times 8 by utilizing highly integrated silicon true-time delay line chips. The prototype utilizes the wavelength-division-multiplexing technology to build the crucial optical beamforming network (OBFN) module so as to dramatically reduce the type and amount of silicon binary integrated optical time delay lines. The measured beam scanning range in the frequency range from 2 to 6 GHz is 90^{\circ }\,\,\times \,\,90^{\circ } with a beam-pointing step of 1°. Furthermore, due to the online channelized signal processing module, we systematically characterize sensitivity, RF gain, and dynamic range of the photonics-aided PAA. Considering that we first utilize the photonic integration technology to realize a 2-D PAA demonstrator with the largest scale and the highest technological maturity, we believe that it presents a milestone in the development of future microwave photonics-based radar systems.