Fast Photonics-Assisted Beamforming Network for Wide-Band, High Bit Rate 5G Communications

We present a fast reconfigurable beamforming network with switching time <; 5 ns, based on photonic integrated circuits. It allows for a complete antenna beam steering, controlling the signal phase over >360°. The proposed beamforming network is tested by transmitting and steering a 2 Gb/s signal, without introducing any signal degradation, demonstrating its suitability to wideband, high bit-rate future 5G communications.