Frequency-comb-steered ultrawideband quasi-true-time-delay beamformer for integrated sensing and communication.

Mian Wang, Wenxin Zhang, Zeyu Ren, Shangyuan Li, Xiaoping Zheng, Xiaoxiao Xue

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Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

Frequency-comb-steered ultrawideband quasi-true-time-delay beamformer for integrated sensing and communication.Nature communications · 2025
Article

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Authors and funding

6 authors.

Mian WangDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Wenxin ZhangDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Zeyu RenDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Shangyuan LiDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Xiaoping ZhengDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Xiaoxiao XueDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. xuexx@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5044-3737

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 62127805

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Ultrawideband beamforming is essential for next-generation radar and communication systems, however, the instantaneous bandwidth of phase-shifter-based phased array antennas (PAAs) is limited by beam squint. Photonic true-time-delay (TTD) beamformers offer a potential solution, yet their practical deployment is hindered by complex delay-line architectures. Here, we report a frequency-comb-steered photonic quasi-TTD beamforming approach that eliminates delay lines by leveraging frequency-diverse arrays and photonic microwave mixing arrays. This enables squint-free beamforming and continuous beam steering for widely used linear frequency modulation (LFM) waveforms, effectively delivering infinite spatial resolution. We present 16-element linear and 4×4 planar PAA prototypes, achieving 6 GHz instantaneous bandwidth across the entire Ku-band. Furthermore, we demonstrate integrated sensing and communication capabilities, including inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging with 2.6 × 3.0 cm resolution and 4.8 Gbps wireless transmission. This work establishes a compact, robust, and scalable architecture for ultrawideband, large-scale photonic PAAs, paving the way for future integrated radar and communication systems.

Identifiers

PMID40813369

DOI10.1038/s41467-025-62854-z

PMCPMC12354683

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.