Photonic generation and independent steering of multiple RF signals for software defined radars

Abstract

As the improvement of radar systems claims for digital approaches, photonics is becoming a solution for software defined high frequency and high stability signal generation. We report on our recent activities on the photonic generation of flexible wideband RF signals, extending the proposed architecture to the independent optical beamforming of multiple signals. The scheme has been tested generating two wideband signals at 10 GHz and 40 GHz, and controlling their independent delays at two antenna elements. Thanks to the multiple functionalities, the proposed scheme allows to improve the effectiveness of the photonic approach, reducing its cost and allowing flexibility, extremely wide bandwidth, and high stability.