A Design for an Electro-Optic Implementation of a Wideband Nulling System
Abstract
A wideband nulling antenna system is difficult to build with RF and IF microwave components. The main obstacle to achieving deep, wideband (greater than 1 GHz) nulls is the necessity for extremely accurate channel tracking over the large percentage bandwidth by many components in the receiver chain. Inadequate channel tracking between any two parallel components in the chain could severely degrade the overall nulling performance. Recent advances in optical technology hold the realistic prospect of alleviating much of the channel tracking problem, as well as potentially providing the secondary benefits of reduced weight and volume. Once the RF signal is converted to an optical frequency, the minute percentage bandwidth occupied by the signal should make channel tracking the subsequent optical components a relatively easy task. This report proposes an electro-optical implementation of a wideband nulling antenna system. It is shown that all the required components of an optical nuller are within the current state of art. The chosen electro-optical devices have no inherent limitation that will prevent their being used in a direct RF- to-optical implementation at frequencies up to and including the EHF band.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA230152
Entities
People
- Alexander Sonnenschein
- Warren K. Hutchinson
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology