Acoustooptic control of MMIC T/R modules for phased array beamsteering

A novel beamsteering technique is presented which uses parallel optical signal processing within an acoustooptic (AO) cell to distribute phase and/or gain control signals to MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) T/R (transmit/receive) modules which utilize digital phase shifters and/or gain controllers. An overview of the basic operating principles is presented along with experimental results which validate the technique.<>