Disclosed herein is a swappable modular-based radiofrequency (RF) frontend that is reconfigurable to form transmitting (TX) and receiving (RX) phased array systems for diverse applications. Such swappable RF frontend may be used with unique spatial and spectral optical processing of complex RF signals over an ultra-wide frequency band. The swappable RF front end may be used in conjunction with an optically upconverted imaging receiver and/or in conjunction with optically addressed phased array technologies transmitters.

An apparatus includes a tunable optical carrier source configured to generate a tunable optical carrier and a fixed wavelength optical carrier source configured to generate a fixed wavelength optical carrier. The apparatus also includes first and second optical modulators configured to modulate the tunable optical carrier and the fixed wavelength optical carrier based on first and second of multiple input signals. The apparatus further includes a delay element configured to delay the modulated tunable optical carrier, first and second optical detectors coupled to the delay element, and third and fourth optical modulators coupled to the first and second optical detectors. In addition, the apparatus includes a wavelength division demultiplexer optically coupled to the third and fourth optical modulators, a plurality of optical 90-degree hybrid elements optically coupled to the wavelength division demultiplexer, and a plurality of optical detectors optically coupled to corresponding ones of the optical 90-degree hybrid elements.

The subject matter described herein relates to various antenna element configurations, antenna array configurations, their operations including various systems and methods to generate modulated data for transmission by an RF antenna array via an optical processing engine. The subject matter includes optical processing engine structure and methods (e.g., modulating in the optical domain, MIMO and spatial modulation via RF beam formation, coherent transmission of RF signal components, coherent operation of spatially separate RF antenna arrays) that may be implemented with the various RF antenna array structures. In some examples, the system combines the virtues of digital, analog and optical processing to arrive at a solution for scalable, non-blocking, simultaneous transmission to multiple UE-s. Much of the system architecture is independent of the RF carrier frequency, and different frequency bands can be accessed easily and rapidly by tuning the optical source (TOPS). In some examples, multiple communication channels may be transmitted simultaneously to different locations. The transmitter may be formed by an array of optically fed antennas.

The invention provides an optical generator and method comprising an Optical Frequency Comb configured to generate a plurality of frequency tones and fed to a first demultiplexer, wherein the first demultiplexer is configured to injection lock at least one desired frequency tone; and a second demultiplexer connected to the first demultiplexer and configured to injection lock a second frequency tone from said plurality of frequency tones wherein the output of the second demultiplexer comprise two injection locked frequency tones separated by a desired frequency. The invention enables the generation of high frequency signals (>30 GHz) that exhibit high levels of purity (required for many applications). Moreover, the invention simplifies the architecture, by reducing the real estate occupied by the components. This is most important when all the devices involved are integrated onto a single chip.

A method for generating millimeter wave noise with a flat RF (radio frequency) spectrum includes the following steps. A noise optical signal with an optical spectrum in Gaussian shape is output by a first optical emission module. The noise optical signal is transmitted to an optical coupler. n beams of noise optical signals with optical spectra in Gaussian shape is output by a second optical emission module. The noise optical signals is transmitted to the optical coupler. The noise light generated by the first optical emission module and the second optical emission module is coupled to the optical coupler. The coupled optical signals is transmitted to a photodetector. The beat frequency is performed by the photodetector to realize mapping transformation from the optical spectra to the RF spectra. The flat millimeter wave noise is output.

A method performed by a CU (202, 302) for enabling at least two DUs, to generate an RF carrier. In one embodiment the method includes the CU using a single light source (212) to generate two or more optical carriers, wherein the generated optical carriers are all phase coherent with one another. The method also includes the CU generating a first single sideband (SSB) signal for a first DU using two of the generated optical carriers and generating a second SSB signal for a second DU using two of the generated optical carriers. The method also includes the CU transmitting the first SSB to the first DU and transmitting the second SSB to the second DU.

This disclosure provides a method of operating a central node in a telecommunications network, the telecommunications network including an optical network and a plurality of distributed nodes each configured to use a first optical signal at a first wavelength, the method including producing a first optical signal at a second wavelength; directing the first optical signal into a first path for the first optical signal and a second path for the first optical signal, wherein the first path for the first optical signal is connected to a first optical stabilizer to stabilize the first optical signal produced by the central node, and the second path for the first optical signal provides the first optical signal to the optical network for distribution to each of the plurality of distributed nodes, wherein the second wavelength has a lower transmission loss than the first wavelength.

A radio frequency (RF) link includes a link transmitter that includes a data modulator for modulating a data waveform together with an RF carrier, a photonic encoder coupled to the data modulator, and a transmitter antenna for transmitting an RF signal, wherein the RF signal comprises an output of the photonic encoder, and a link receiver including a receiver antenna for receiving the RF signal, a first laser source, a photonic limiter coupled to the first laser source and to the receiving antenna, a photonic decoder coupled to the photonic limiter, a photo-receiver coupled to the photonic decoder, and a demodulator coupled to the photo-receiver for demodulating an output of the photo-receiver with the RF carrier to form a data output.

The present disclosure relates to an optical line terminal that can be used in an optical fiber access system based on passive optical networks. The present disclosure further relates to a PON system; in particular the optical line terminal can be configured such that colourless components can be employed in a PON system using the optical line terminal and such that wireless communication can be directly employed in a PON system. One embodiment relates to an optical line terminal for a passive optical network, comprising at least a first transmitter for generating a time division multiplexed (TDM) optical carrier signal, said first transmitter comprising a first time lens optical signal processor configured to convert the TDM optical carrier signal to an wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical carrier signal for distribution to a plurality of users/ONUs, at least a second transmitter for generating a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) downstream optical data signal for distribution to said plurality of users/ONUs, and at least one receiver for receiving and processing an upstream signal from said users.

RF processing systems and methods. An RF processing system includes an optical storage module, a processing module, and an electro-optical modulation module. The electro-optical modulation module is configured to receive the first signal from the optical storage module, receive the modulation signal from the processing module, and electro-optically modulate the first signal based on the modulation signal.