Compact high frequency true-time-delay beamformer using bidirectional reflectance of the fiber gratings

A compact high frequency true time delay (TTD) beamformer using bidirectional reflectance of the fiber gratings (FGs) is proposed. The FGs can be a set of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) or chirped fiber gratings (CFGs). The number and the length of the time delay lines are greatly reduced compared to the previous systems. A phase array antennas system using this TTD beamformer has many advantages including being compact, low requirement on the bandwidth of the tunable laser source and working at high microwave frequency. The proof-of-concept experiment results demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

► We propose a compact high frequency true time delay beamformer.
► The proposed system uses the bidirectional reflectance of the fiber gratings.
► The number and the length of the time delay lines are greatly reduced.
► The system has low requirement on the bandwidth of the tunable laser source.
► The system can work at high microwave frequency.