Engineering Commons^™

Electromagnetic Transmit Array With Optical Control For Beamforming, Wei Zhang, Javad Meiguni, Yin Sun, Muqi Ouyang, Xin Yan, Xu Wang, Reza Yazdani, Daryl G. Beetner, Donghyun Kim, David Pommerenke

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Proof-Of-Concept Paper Demonstrates the Feasibility of using a Slide Projector to Steer the Beam of a Transmit Array by Adding Solar Cells and Varactor Diodes to Each Unit Cell. by Irradiating Each Solar Cell with the Light of Different Intensities from a Slide Projector, the Measured Phase of the Wave Transmitted by the 4x4 Transmit Array Shifts within 92° at 4.26 GHz, While the Variation in Magnitude is Measured within 4 DB. Different Light Configurations Are Identified Via a Searching Algorithm to Achieve Peak/null Beamforming in a Particular Direction. the Beam of the Prototypical 4x4 Transmit Array Can Be …