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HRL Laboratories Awarded Phase III Analog Optical Signal Processing (AOSP) Contract To Develop RF-Photonic Technologies

LOS ANGELES, December 20, 2005 — HRL Laboratories, LLC has been awarded a $2M 17-month Phase III contract from the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Research Laboratories (Wright Patterson Air Force Base) to develop and demonstrate a variety of RF-photonic signal processing technologies to address future wideband radars and electronic support measure (ESM) systems.

The Program team is led by HRL and includes HRL subcontractors Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS, El Segundo, California), Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems (IIS, Garland, Texas), and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech, Pasadena, California). In the Program, the HRL team will demonstrate transversal filters that have gigahertz instantaneous bandwidths (IBWs), high quality-factor (Q > 10⁶) micro-resonators for RF-photonic filtering, and frequency-spread waveforms using photonic oscillators.

The HRL approach uses a variety of advanced wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) photonic technologies and microfabrication techniques that can form resonators about 100 micrometers in diameter with mirror-smooth sidewalls. Exploiting the broadband capabilities of photonics and its precise control/distribution of optical wavelengths near 1550 nm, the HRL team expects to demonstrate transversal filters with high tap-counts and an IBW of 10 GHz. The low propagation loss of light in fibers and these microstructures — resulting in long storage times — also allows them to form low noise, multi-tone RF-photonic waveforms and develop tunable filters several orders of magnitude smaller in physical size than conventional microwave filters. Under the AOSP Phase III Program, the team plans several technology demonstrations to help transition these advanced RF-photonic technologies to future defense platforms.

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HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, California,  is a corporate R&D laboratory owned by Boeing, General Motors, and Raytheon. HRL provides custom R&D and performs additional R&D contract services for its three LLC Members, for the U.S. government, and for other commercial entities.