Distributing Coherence Among Phased Arrays

We present an approach to maintaining coherence among multiple, physically distributed phased arrays. Maintaining such coherence is essential to realizing high gain afforded by the use of multiple arrays, with the attendant improved signal-to-noise ratio that entails higher data throughput and range. The presented approach works in the context of photonically-enabled RF phased arrays that rely on upconversion of RF signals to optical domain for processing.