A PHOTONIC METHOD FOR GENERATING DUAL-FREQUENCY RADIOCARRIERS FOR RADIATION PATTERN FORMATION OF LINEAR SYMMETRICAL FREQUENCY DIVERSE ANTENNA ARRAYS

Abstract

A photonic method for generating dual-frequency radio carriers for shaping the radiation pattern (RP) of linear symmetric frequency-diversed antenna arrays (FDAAs). Unlike existing work, the method is based on the use of two-component comb generators, specifically two optical dual-frequency comb generators (ODFGs) with the same repetition rate for each dual-frequency group (intergroup frequency w). The method is theoretically modeled and verified using numerical simulations. In the example under consideration, five groups of radio carriers are generated for a five-element linear symmetric FDAA at frequencies W±nDw. The power unevenness of the frequency components is 0.2 dB with a spurious emission suppression level exceeding 40 dB, which is twice that of known implementations of a similar design level. The feasibility of achieving higher range and angular resolution by increasing the number of channels and elements, as well as the frequency decrement, is assessed.