Wideband direction finding using a photonic robust symmetrical number system technique

Abstract

Abstract. Dual electrode Mach-Zehnder modulators (DE-MZMs) are used to conduct phase detection for direct wideband direction finding (DF) of microwave signals. It is demonstrated theoretically and through simulation and experimentation that the normalized magnitude of the output signal phase detector circuit is equal to j sinðψ∕2Þj, where ψ is the phase difference between the plane waves arriving at the reference and measurement antennas of a linear DF array. A four-element wideband photonic DF system with robust symmetrical number system preprocessing is presented. Simulation and experimental testing results are provided to demonstrate the theoretical concept. The results demonstrate a direct DF receiver using DE-MZMs that achieves fine angular resolution using a much smaller array size than is typically required for linear arrays employing super-resolution signal processing techniques.

Photonics for microwave measurements

“…A host of photonic approaches have been proposed and experimentally demonstrated . In , a simple approach using a two‐tap transversal photonic microwave filter was proposed to measure the AOA.…”

“…The photonic AOA measurement can be facilitated by advanced system theories or intelligent algorithms, such as the robust symmetrical number system (RSNS) , the neuronal algorithm , and the correlative spectrum analysis . Assisted by a photonic RSNS technique, a system to achieve unambiguous AOA measurement was demonstrated with a finer spatial resolution and a smaller array size, than using a conventional linear array.…”