Phased-array coherent transceiver
AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation
InventorsKevin Richard BOCK, Patrick Eliot PERKINS, Christopher William TISCHHAUSER, Danielle Marie Rawles WUCHENICH
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A phased-array coherent transceiver system includes a transceiver array including multiple receive (RX) optical elements, a number of RX optical fibers, and an optical receiver. The RX optical elements are coupled to the optical receiver via the RX optical fibers. The optical receiver includes multiple phase modulators, each phase modulator processes a phase of an optical signal received from an RX optical element.
Claims21
A phased-array coherent transceiver system, the system comprising:
- a transceiver array comprising a plurality of receive (RX) optical elements;
- a plurality of RX optical fibers;
- and
- an optical receiver comprising a photonic integrated circuit coupled to a plurality of balanced detectors,
- wherein:
- the plurality of RX optical elements are coupled to the optical receiver via the plurality of RX optical fibers,
- the optical receiver comprises a plurality of phase modulators, and
- a phase modulator of the plurality of phase modulators is configured to process a phase of an optical signal to correct for disturbance of the phase due to atmospheric turbulences, the optical signal being received from an RX optical element of the plurality of RX optical elements.
(canceled)
A method of providing a phased-array coherent transceiver, the method comprising:
- providing a transceiver array comprising a plurality of receive (RX) optical elements;
- coupling the plurality of RX optical elements via a plurality of RX optical fibers to an optical receiver comprising a plurality of phase modulators;
- configuring a phase modulator of the plurality of phase modulators to process a phase of an optical signal received from an RX optical element of the plurality of RX optical elements to correct for disturbance of the phase due to atmospheric turbulences;
- and
- coupling a first portion of an output light signal of the phase modulator to a multi-input optical combiner,
- wherein the multi-input optical combiner is configured to coherently combine first portions of output light signals of the plurality of phase modulators.
A free-space optical (FSO) communication system comprising:
- at least two FSO transceivers:
- an FSO transceiver of the at least two FSO transceivers coupled via an FSO modem to a network, wherein the FSO transceiver comprises:
- a transceiver array comprising a plurality of receive (RX) optical elements;
- and
- an optical receiver coupled to the plurality of RX optical elements via a plurality of RX optical fibers,
- wherein:
- the optical receiver comprises a photonic integrated circuit including a plurality of phase modulators coupled to a plurality of balanced detectors, and
- a phase modulator of the plurality of phase modulators is configured to process a phase of an optical signal to correct for disturbance of the phase due to atmospheric turbulences, the optical signal being received from an RX optical element of the plurality of RX optical elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.