An investigation of the channel crosstalk in optical heterodyne controlled phased array radars

The principal objective of this project is to investigate problems associated with achieving the drive/read-out system complexity necessary to control a phased array antenna with optical heterodyne techniques. The approach has been to study the problems associated with device arrays of single sideband modulators that would be necessary to control the amplitudes and phases of all signals delivered to a phased array front end. However, recent results of closely related research, when combined with results for this project, have led to a new viewpoint of the problem. It appears that a greater degree of complexity of control can be achieved by modulating a small number of optical channels and locking them to previously self-locked array of active radiating elements. This approach promises to lead to a better system solution as well as a technical study which uncovers many new interesting problems in the computer aided analysis of nonlinear electromagnetic systems.