Abstract
For many applications, ranging from commercial, surveillance, or defense,
it is essential to analyze the frequency components of a captured microwave
signal over a wide bandwidth in real time and with high resolution. Various
photonic approaches have been proposed for the processing of wideband microwave
signals in order to overcome limitations imposed by conventional electronic
frequency measurements. Here, we present the performance analysis and characterization
of a parametric channelized receiver with 275 MHz resolution defined by the
Fabry–Perot 3 dB bandwidth and 1 GHz step. Our approach relies on the
generation of high quality copies of the RF input by self-seeding wavelength
multicasting in a two-pump parametric mixer. Periodic filtering using off-the-shelf
elements is then performed on the multicast beam. Ease of filtering is thus
achieved by relying on frequency nondegeneracy of the newly generated copies.
In this paper, instantaneous analysis of the incoming microwave signal is
demonstrated by simultaneous monitoring five of the generated parametric copies
while transmitting a frequency-hopping pattern. Operating margins in terms
of optical and microwave powers are studied using the five-channel data simultaneously
collected on a real-time oscilloscope. Dynamic range adjustments through optical
power tuning of the input signal seed are demonstrated. Finally, the effects
of frequency mapping detuning are observed to determine optimal operating
conditions.
© 2012 IEEE
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