Reconfigurable radar signal generator based on phase-quantized photonic digital-to-analog conversion

• Published in: Optics letters Vol. 47; no. 10; p. 2470
• Main Authors: Li, Jiading, Xue, Xiaoxiao, Xue, Zhujun, Yang, Bofan, Wang, Mian, Li, Shangyuan, Zheng, Xiaoping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 15.05.2022
• ISSN: 1539-4794
• DOI: 10.1364/OL.458132

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, scheme for reconfigurable radar signal generation is proposed based on the principle of photonic phase-quantized digital-to-analog conversion. Multi-level digital phase modulation with different modulation depths is combined to convert multi-channel digital data to the phase of an optical carrier. Frequency-modulated or phase-modulated radar signals are generated by beating the phase-synthesized optical carrier with a coherent reference light. The proposed radar signal generator features a simple structure, highly reconfigurable modulation format, and flexibly tunable frequency. A 3-bit photonic phase-quantized digital-to-analog converter with a 10-GSa/s sampling rate is constructed experimentally. The generation of linear frequency-modulated, nonlinear frequency-modulated, frequency-stepped, frequency-hopping, binary phase-coded, and polyphase-coded waveforms is demonstrated.