Abstract
A novel optical beamformer concept is introduced that can be used for seamless
control of the reception angle in broadband wireless receivers employing a large phased
array antenna (PAA). The core of this beamformer is an optical beamforming network
(OBFN), using ring resonator-based broadband delays, and coherent optical combining. The
electro-optical conversion is performed by means of single-sideband suppressed carrier
modulation, employing a common laser, Mach-Zehnder modulators, and a common optical
sideband filter after the OBFN. The unmodulated laser signal is then re-injected in
order to perform balanced coherent optical detection, for the opto-electrical
conversion. This scheme minimizes the requirements on the complexity of the OBFN, and
has potential for compact realization by means of full integration on chip. The impact
of the optical beamformer concept on the performance of the full receiver system is
analyzed, by modeling the combination of the PAA and the beamformer as an equivalent
two-port RF system. The results are illustrated by a numerical example of a PAA receiver
for satellite TV reception, showing that—when properly designed—the beamformer hardly
affects the sensitivity of the receiver.
© 2009 IEEE
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