Broadband Simultaneous Transmit and Receive from a Single Antenna Using Improved Photonic Architecture

The use of a three-port electronic component such as a passive ferrite-based circulator can enable simultaneous transmission and reception (STAR) using a single antenna, but typically only over an RF frequency bandwidth of one octave or less. In comparison to an electronic circulator, a photonics-based three-port network architecture developed a decade ago made single-antenna STAR operation possible over much broader bandwidths. This paper describes an innovative enhancement to the previously demonstrated photonics-based network that significantly improves the performance it can impart to a single-antenna STAR system.