Abstract

The use of photonics for phased-array applications has been discussed for quite some time. Main difficulties up to now have been the component count and cost for relatively complex systems. The advances in photonic integration are very promising to bring down both, as well as reduce volume and weight of phased-array beamforming networks as compared to their electrical counterparts. In addition, photonics allows for increased functionality for wide-bandwidth systems. This paper reports on these advances and indicates the strategy to applicable photonic phased-arrays.