Photonic in-situ calibration of a phased array antenna using planar lightwave circuit

An in-situ method to calibrate a phased-array antenna with a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) is described. The PLC permits precise timing control and matrix-addressing which can significantly simplify the hardware complexity from N2 to 2N. A calibration procedure using the matrix-addressable timing network is developed. The proposed calibration procedure relies on the PLC's extremely precise timing relationship as an absolute standard for self-calibration, which dispenses with the need for an additional "calibration of calibration."