Phased-array radio frequency receiver

An RF receiver comprising:

• a phased-array antenna including a plurality of antenna elements arranged in a first pattern configured to receive RF signals from at least one RF source;
• a plurality of electro-optic modulators corresponding to the plurality of antenna elements, each modulator configured to modulate an optical carrier with a received RF signal to generate a plurality of modulated optical signals;
• a plurality of optical channels configured to carry the plurality of modulated optical signals, each of the plurality of optical channels having an output to emanate the corresponding modulated optical signal out of the corresponding optical channel;
• a composite signal channel, adjacent to the plurality of outputs of the plurality of optical channels, configured to receive the plurality of modulated optical signals to form a composite optical signal;
• and
• a first detector configured to receive at least a portion of the composite optical signal and to extract a first encoded signal from the composite optical signal,
• wherein the first encoded signal comprises a frequency-division multiplexed signal comprising multiple carrier signals that are orthogonal to each other.

A method of RF signal processing comprising:

• receiving an incoming RF signal provided by a plurality RF sources at each of a plurality of antenna elements that are arranged in a first pattern;
• converting the incoming RF signal at each of the plurality of antenna elements to a corresponding plurality of optical signals by optically modulating at least one optical signal with the incoming RF signals to generate a plurality of modulated optical signals;
• directing each of the plurality of modulated optical signals along a corresponding one of a plurality of optical channels, each of the plurality of optical channels having an output, the outputs of the plurality of optical channels arranged in a second pattern relating to the first pattern;
• forming a composite optical signal using optical signals from the outputs, the composite optical signal comprising spatially separate information bearing signals each corresponding to a different one of the RF sources;
• and
• simultaneously extracting an encoded signal for each of the spatially separate information bearing signals of the composite signal,
• wherein each of the extracted encoded signals comprises a frequency-division multiplexed signal comprising multiple carrier signals that are orthogonal to each other.