An acousto-optically controlled phased array beamsteering system

A novel acoustooptic beamsteering control system for monolithic-microwave-integrated-circuit (MMIC)-based phased array antennas that uses parallel optical signal processing is presented. The approach is compatible with existing MMIC digital phase shifter and gain controller designs and offers several advantages over conventional beamsteering control systems. An overview of the system architecture, comparison to other beamsteering control alternatives, discussion of several key design issues, and experimental results validating the approach are given.<
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