Photonic-assisted radio frequency waveform generation for high-range resolution microwave radar

In modern radar systems, the target to achieve high-range resolution poses a high requirement on bandwidth and stability of probe radio frequency (RF) waveforms. We experimentally demonstrate the generation of RF waveforms with a low bandwidth electrical instrument and optical bandwidth multiplication method. Based on the high-order modulation-sideband of electro-optic modulators, wideband optical swept waveforms are generated from narrow band RF swept waveforms with a bandwidth multiplication factor of eight. By heterodyne beating the swept waveforms with a single tone frequency driven on the same dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator, we generate coherent wideband RF waveforms with linearly, V-shaped, and quadric frequency modulation, respectively. These waveforms exhibit high time-bandwidth products up to 2560 and high phase-noise performance. The utility of these generated RF waveforms for ranging radar system has been proven a pulse compression process. (C) 2018 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)