Photonic radio frequency front end receiver
AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation
InventorsThomas W. Karras, Stephen Robertson, Arthur C. Paolella, William J. Taft
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compact photonic radio frequency front end receiver system including a laser chip source, radio frequency and LO inputs, an optical modulator chip coupled to the laser source and the radio frequency and LO inputs, a millimeter scale optical radio frequency multi-pole filter coupled to the optical modulator, an optical switch array chip coupled to the optical radio frequency multi-pole filter, and a detector chip coupled to the optical switch array, all with micro-optic coupling, heterodyne signal recovery, and wavelength locking.
Claims21
A compact photonic radio frequency front end receiver system, comprising:
- a laser source chip configured to generate laser light;
- radio frequency and local oscillator inputs for radio frequency and local oscillator signals;
- a millimeter scale optical modulator chip coupled to the laser source chip and the radio frequency and local oscillator inputs, the optical modulator chip configured to modulate the laser light with the radio frequency and local oscillator signals, the modulated laser light having an uplink frequency component, a data component, a local oscillator component, and a resulting downlink frequency component;
- a millimeter scale optical radio frequency multi-pole filter coupled to the optical modulator chip and configured to wavelength lock the laser source chip, wherein the optical radio frequency multi-pole filter comprises at least one channel, each of the at least one channel being configured to form a respective modulated and filtered laser light by separating a respective desired spectral band in the modulated laser light by filtering a respective desired downlink frequency component from all other components of the modulated laser light;
- a millimeter scale optical switch array chip coupled to the optical radio frequency multi-pole filter and configured to form a modulated, filtered, and switched laser light by switching and combining a respective modulated and filtered laser light of one or more channels of the at least one channel;
- and
- a millimeter scale detector chip coupled to the optical switch array chip and configured to mix a desired downlink frequency component of the modulated, filtered, and switched laser light with a carrier recovery signal, both carried by the modulated, filtered, and switched laser light, so as to recover, through a heterodyne process, a radio frequency output of the desired downlink frequency component of the modulated, filtered, and switched laser light.
A method of using photonics in a space borne or airborne radio frequency communication system, comprising:
- generating a laser source light;
- converting radio frequency signals from an uplink source to an optical carrier by modulating the laser source light with local oscillator signals and the radio frequency signals, the modulated laser light having an uplink frequency component, a data component, a local oscillator component, and a resulting downlink frequency component;
- wavelength locking the laser source light using an optical radio frequency multi-pole filter, wherein the optical radio frequency multi-pole filter comprises at least one channel, each of the at least one channel being configured to form a respective modulated and filtered laser light by separating a respective desired spectral band in the modulated laser light by filtering a respective desired downlink frequency component from all other components of the modulated laser light;
- switching and combining a respective modulated and filtered laser light of one or more channels of the at least one channel, thereby forming a modulated, filtered, and switched laser light;
- and
- mixing a desired downlink frequency component of the modulated, filtered, and switched laser light with a carrier recovery signal, both carried by the modulated, filtered, and switched laser light, so as to recover, through a heterodyne process, a radio frequency output of the desired downlink frequency component of the modulated, filtered, and switched laser light.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.