Optically-remoted probes for airborne RF sensors

We detail new concepts of optically-remoted probes that can be applied to sense and calibrate RF systems used in airborne domain. The proposed sensors produce minimal perturbation on the probed electromagnetic fields since they are built from non-metallic material (expect for the tiny integrated antenna element). The inherent low sensitivity and cross-talk to electromagnetic waves of fibre-based transmissions allow the introduction of these probes in the vicinity of the radiating antennas. These approaches lead to significant improvements since they will enable the calibration of the full RF system (starting from its radiating elements up to the RF processing unit), while they can operate not only during integration phases but also during operations.