Photonics for microwave measurements

Abstract

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.

Photonic-Assisted Scanning Receivers for Microwave Frequency Measurement

“…Microwave frequency measurement plays a critical role in applications such as radar and electronic warfare to perform real-time microwave spectrum activity monitoring and instantaneous identification of unknown microwave signals. Recently, various photonic-assisted approaches have been proposed to exploit their inherent advantages such as wide instantaneous bandwidth and immunity to electromagnetic interference [1]. These approaches can be loosely categorized into three broad classes.…”

Design and analysis of broadband antipodal Vivaldi antenna for radio over fiber systems

“…Suddenly the low profile, compact, wide bandwidth, lightweight, least dispersive and low cost antennas are developed , due to significant ongoing advancement in the tunable lasers and the high speed photo‐diodes (PDs). In the ROF systems, different types of antennas have been used to achieve high data rate over wireless channels .…”

Tunable Photonic Radio-Frequency Filter With a Record High Out-of-Band Rejection

“…Microwave photonics, which brings together the RF engineering and optoelectronics [12], [13], takes the intrinsic advantages of photonic technologies to provide basic units or devices [14][15][16][17][18] and to enrich or enhance the functions of microwave systems [19]- [35] that are complex or even not directly possible in the electrical domain. Typically, significant functions enabled by microwave photonics include the generation [19]- [21], processing [22], [23], measurement or detection [24]- [28], and distribution [29]- [36] of microwave signals.…”