The proposed program is an important step towards the commercialization of multi-band phased array antenna for military and civilian use. There is a significant civilian market for low cost phased array antennas, particularly for mobile satellite communications applications. There is a clear market pull for versatile arrays for both military electronics and the commercial broadband wireless and satellite communications arena.
Multi-band photonic phased array antennas can be used for NASA (1) high-data rate communication and (2) remote sensing applications. Potential communications applications include: lunar and planetary exploration, landers, probes, Lunar Relay Satellites, lunar rovers, lunar habitats, lunar surface EVA, suborbital vehicles, sounding rockets, balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's), TDRSS communication, and expendable launch vehicles (ELV's). Potential remote sensing applications include: radiometers, passive radar interferometer platforms, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) platforms for planetary science.
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