Photonic Integrated Circuits for Angle-of-Arrival and Frequency Estimation
Date
2026-02-15
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology
Abstract
This paper demonstrates concurrent spatial and spectral signal classification using two photonic integrated circuits (PICs) implemented in a 30-element Ka-band (26.5-40 GHz) antenna array. The received signals are coherently up-converted to the optical-domain using lithium niobate phase modulators. The up-converted RF signal is beamformed in a star-coupler PIC to instantaneously image angle-of-arrival to a single output channel that is amplified and input to an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) PIC, which instantaneously channelizes the RF frequency into increments of approximately 1 GHz. A switching scheme is used to calibrate the AWG as well as alternate between frequency and beam location measurement. This work implements these devices in a radiometer that can localize RF beams both spatially and spectrally with minimal latency and computational requirements. Future applications will include advanced wireless communications and sensing.
Description
This article was originally published in IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2025.3638647
©2025 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords
Antenna arrays, Arrayed waveguide gratings, Optical fibers, Optical fiber sensors, Integrated optics, Frequency measurement, Frequency modulation, Radio frequency, Optical waveguides, Optical modulation, Microwave photonics, microwave radiometry, phased arrays, photonic integrated circuits, spectrum monitoring
Citation
" H. I. Sinigaglio, M. Gehl, J. Murakowski, T. Creazzo, & D. W. Prather. (2026). Photonic Integrated Circuits for Angle-of-Arrival and Frequency Estimation. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 44(4), 1398–1405. https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2025.3638647 "