Photonic approach to the simultaneous measurement of the frequency, amplitude, pulse width, and time of arrival of a microwave signal

Lü

Laser & Photonics Reviews

et al. 2016

Self Cite

304

As an emerging topic, photonic-assisted microwave measurements with distinct features such as wide frequency coverage, large instantaneous bandwidth, low frequencydependent loss, and immunity to electromagnetic interference, have been extensively studied recently. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in photonic microwave measurements, including microwave spectrum analysis, instantaneous frequency measurement, microwave channelization, Doppler frequency-shift measurement, angle-of-arrival detection, time-frequency analysis, compressive sensing, and phase-noise measurement. A photonic microwave radar, as a functional measurement system, is also reviewed. The performance of the photonic measurement solutions is evaluated and compared with the electronic solutions. Future prospects using photonic integrated circuits and software-defined architectures to further improve the measurement performance are also discussed.

Section: Instantaneous Frequency Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photonics for microwave measurements

Lü

Laser & Photonics Reviews

et al. 2016

Self Cite

304

“…Especially, a number of photonic approaches to microwave measurements, for instance, spectrum analysis [14][15][16][17], frequency estimation [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], angle-of-arrival measurement [34][35], and DFS measurement [36][37][38][39], have been proposed recently. For DFS measurement, based on transversal filtering concept, a reconfigurable microwave photonic in-phase and quadrature detector is designed for DFS estimation in [36], wherein precise wavelength control is required.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wideband Microwave Doppler Frequency Shift Measurement and Direction Discrimination Using Photonic I/Q Detection

Lü

et al. 2016

J. Lightwave Technol.

An enhanced approach to realizing wideband microwave Doppler frequency shift (DFS) measurement and direction discrimination based on photonic in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) coherent detection is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. In the proposed approach, the DFS between the transmitted microwave signal and the received echo signal is converted into two quadrature low-frequency electrical signals through the coherent detection by using an optical hybrid and two balanced photodetectors (BPDs). The microwave DFS of interest can be estimated with an unambiguous direction, and in particular with a greatly improved resolution. Meanwhile, photonic coherent and balanced detection effectively eliminates the optical signal to signal beating interferences. In the proof-of-concept experiment, the DFSs from -90 to +90 kHz are successfully estimated for microwave signals at 10, 14, 18, and 38 GHz. The measurement errors are estimated to be less than 5.8 Hz which are an order of magnitude lower than those (i.e., 60 Hz) released before. Such results provide a high resolution for radial velocity measurement as well. In addition, the performance of the proposed approach in term of the signal-to-noise ratio and stability is discussed.Index Terms-Doppler frequency shift measurement, microwave photonics, I/Q coherent detection, optical microwave processing. 0733-8724 (c)

“…Therefore, a number of approaches on photonics-assisted microwave frequency measurement or instantaneous frequency measurement (IFM), have been realized by monitoring microwave powers [3] or optical powers [4,5]. To achieve multiple-frequency components measurement, other approaches have been proposed, by using photonic microwave channelizers [6], stimulated Brillouin scattering [7], and temporal channelization [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photonic approach to microwave frequency measurement under large-signal modulation

Xia

2015 14th International Conference on Optical Communications and Networks (ICOCN)

et al. 2015

A photonic approach to microwave frequency measurement under large-signal modulation is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Under the case of large-signal modulation, the microwave signal with its frequency to be measured is applied to externally modulate the optical carrier inside a phase modulator. Then the phase-modulated optical signal is equally divided and sent to two dispersive elements with different chromatic dispersions (e.g., single mode fiber), to perform phase modulation to intensity modulation (PM-IM) conversion. Subsequently, the fundamental component and the DC component at the output of photodetector (PD) are measured and used to establish a relationship between the microwave frequency and the power ratio, while the large modulation index arising from large-signal modulation is completely removed. Therefore, a microwave power-independent microwave frequency measurement has been realized under large-signal modulation. The proposed approach is then verified by a proof-of-concept experiment. Within the range of 7-13GHz, measurement errors less than ±0.3GHz are achieved.