In this paper we describe the first realization of a combined radar and lidar system based on integrated photonic technology, developed within the project “RODI-RF/OPTICAL Combined coherent Transceiver for RADAR/LIDAR and RF/Optical communications in space” funded by the Italian Space Agency for the technological validation of photonic systems for space applications.
We report the design and implementation of a beam-forming network based on packaged integrated photonic circuits. Each of the four PICs emulating a phased-array antenna is optically fed by the 13GHz signal, and is able to adjust the phase exceeding 360° with a precision <1°. Experiments demonstrate an ultrafast antenna reconfiguration in less than 5ns
In recent years, thanks to the innovation in optical and electro-optical components, space based light detection and ranging (Lidar) systems are having great success, as a considerable alternative to passive radiometers or microwave sensors [1]. One of the most important applications, for space based Lidars, is the measure of target's distance and its relative properties as e.g., topography, surface's roughness and reflectivity, gravity and mass, that provide useful information for surface mapping, as well as semi-autonomous landing functionalities on lowgravity bodies (moons and asteroids). These kind of systems are often called Lidar altimeters or laser rangefinders.
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