RF Architectures Applying Photonic Timing and Routing (RAAPTR)
Funds three to five teams from a $58 million pool to build defense-grade RF systems that use optical timing instead of conventional microwave generation.
RF Architectures Applying Photonic Timing and Routing (RAAPTR) is a DARPA programme that funds three to five teams from a $58 million pool to build defense-grade RF systems that use optical timing instead of conventional microwave generation. Beyond the funding itself, selected performers get direct technical support from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NIST's Precision Photonic Synthesis Group,…
Target component metrics for the photonic oscillator include phase noise below -120 dBc/Hz at a 100 Hz offset and below -150 dBc/Hz at a 10 kHz offset, relative timing error under 1 picosecond across 1-100 second intervals, and an oscillator volume under 300 cubic centimetres. DARPA wants optical technologies used throughout the RF system architecture — optical timing backbones, low-noise frequency synthesis, stable clock distribution, synchronization and high-bandwidth optical data transfer — rather than simply swapping in a new oscillator, with the program concluding in an integrated brassboard prototype tested on a government-furnished airborne platform.
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