Andrew J. Stark

Photonic components and subsystems for Electronic Warfare

Given the rapid pace of technology development in the field of Electronic Warfare (EW), a tremendous burden exists in maintaining the survivability of aircraft in a contested electromagnetic (EM) environment. Among forward-looking techniques for addressing that burden, photonics stands out as a versatile technology for mitigating current and future EW challenges.

Advanced signaling technologies for high-speed digital fiber-optic links

We summarize the most recent research of the Georgia Tech Terabit Optical Networking Consortium and the state-of-the-art in fiber telecommunications. These results comprise high-capacity single-mode fiber systems with digital coherent receivers and shorter-reach multimode fiber links with vertical cavity surface emitting lasers. We strongly emphasize the capabilities that sophisticated digital signal processing and electronics add to these fiber-based data transport links.

Agile micro- and millimeter-wave communication using photonic frequency conversion

Broadband wireless transmission with tunable 5-40GHz carrier is demonstrated using photonic frequency conversion. The agile tuner allows ~4 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth for both up- and down-conversion paths, without banding or channelization.

Integrated photonics for electromagnetic maneuver warfare

Photonic components have yet to match the power handling, dynamic range, and form factor of RF designs. Comprehensive comparison requires consideration of system-wide performance. Analysis of recent advances in the context of modern electronic warfare system requirements shows photonics-based architectures to be a promising solution.

Integration of an X-band antenna array with high power photodiodes

Demonstration of low conversion loss through the novel integration and packaging of high power photodiodes and a fragmented aperture antenna for a fiber-fed RF array.

RF switch matrix design and trade study in photonics

Photonic components and technologies enable complimentary capability to enhance traditional RF and digital EW jammer system architectures. A trade study between RF and photonic architectures is performed to address switch matrix design for EW applications.

Photonics for electronic warfare

Photonic components and technologies augment and enhance traditional RF and digital EW jammer system architectures. Four identified capabilities enabled by photonics are simultaneous transmit and receive, frequency conversion, true-time delay, and photodiode/antenna integration.

A reconfigurable architecture to support dynamic communications, radar, and sensing

This paper presents an architecture that will enhance currently fielded and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems by providing wideband frequency maneuverability, collaboration between systems, and an integrated operator view of the electronic battlespace. The architecture is composed of a software control system and a photonic radio frequency (RF) front end. The architecture is designed to wrap the existing system between a control system and the photonics tuner to create a system-of-systems hierarchy with ultra-wide RF bandwidth. The current implementation of the architecture utilizes a prototype photonics RF front end that provides 40GHz of tunable frequency range and 4GHz of instantaneous bandwidth. The control and data communication occurs through an Ethernet local area network that forms a system-of-systems consisting of legacy or COTS systems.

Cyclostationarity-based classification of OFDM waveforms over photonic-assisted wireless links

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is employed extensively in wireless communication networks to reduce receiver side computational complexity, improve tolerance to fading, improve spectral efficiency, and ease synchronization; it is also being considered for 5G systems. Traditionally, communication links operate with shared knowledge of modulation parameters, here we focus on developing a smart receiver that can identify and demodulate OFDM signals without a priori knowledge. Motivation for autonomous receivers lies in network monitoring and diagnostics and recovery from failures. Photonic-assisted wireless links exploit the low-loss characteristics of optical fiber and high-bandwidth photonic components to offer multi-octave, flexible signal generation and transport with large available instantaneous bandwidths. These characteristics synergize well with the flexibility of OFDM waveform design.