A microwave photonic short-time Fourier transform (STFT) system based on stabilized period-one (P1) nonlinear laser dynamics and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is proposed. By using an optoelectronic feedback loop, the frequency-sweep optical signal generated by the P1 nonlinear laser dynamics is stabilized, which is further used in conjunction with an optical bandpass filter implemented by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) to achieve the frequency-to-time mapping of microwave signals and the final STFT. By comparing the experimental results with and without optoelectronic feedback, it is found that the time-frequency diagram of the signal under test (SUT) obtained by STFT is clearer and more regular, and the frequency of the SUT measured in each frequency-sweep period is more accurate. The mean absolute error is reduced by 50% under the optimal filter bandwidth.
Integration of radar, wireless communications, and spectrum sensing is being investigated for 6G with an increased spectral efficiency. Microwave photonics (MWP), a technique that combines microwave engineering and photonic technology to take advantage of the wide bandwidth offered by photonics for microwave signal generation and processing is considered an effective solution for the implementation of the integration. In this paper, an MWP-assisted joint radar, wireless communications, and spectrum sensing (JRCSS) system that enables precise perception of the surrounding physical and electromagnetic environments while maintaining high-speed data communication is proposed and demonstrated. Communication signals and frequency-sweep signals are merged in the optical domain to achieve high-speed radar ranging and imaging, high-data-rate wireless communications, and wideband spectrum sensing. In an experimental demonstration, a JRCSS system supporting radar ranging with a measurement error within $\pm$ 4 cm, two-dimensional imaging with a resolution of 25 $\times$ 24.7 mm, wireless communications with a data rate of 2 Gbaud, and spectrum sensing with a frequency measurement error within $\pm$ 10 MHz in a 6-GHz bandwidth, is demonstrated.
In this article, analog microwave short-time Fourier transform (STFT) with improved measurement performance is implemented in the optical domain by employing stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and channelization. By jointly using three optical frequency combs and filter- and SBS-based frequency-to-time mapping (FTTM), the time-frequency information of the signal under test (SUT) in different frequency intervals is measured in different channels. Then, by using the channel label introduced through subcarriers after photodetection, the obtained low-speed electrical pulses in different channels mixed in the time domain are distinguished and the time-frequency information of the SUT in different channels is respectively obtained and spliced to implement the STFT. For the first time, channelization measurement technology is introduced in the STFT system based on frequency sweeping and FTTM, greatly reducing the frequency-sweep range of the required frequency-sweep signal to the analysis bandwidth divided by the number of channels. In addition, channelization can also be used to improve the time and frequency resolution of the STFT system. A proof-of-concept experiment is performed. 12-GHz and 10-GHz analysis bandwidth is implemented by using a 4-GHz frequency-sweep signal and 3 channels and a 2-GHz frequency-sweep signal and 5 channels. Measurement performance improvement is also demonstrated.
A photonics-assisted analog wideband RF self-interference (SI) cancellation and frequency downconversion approach for in-band full-duplex (IBFD) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with adaptive digital amplitude and delay pre-matching is proposed based on a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DP-MZM). In each MIMO receiving antenna, the received signal, including different SI signals from different transmitting antennas and the signal of interest, is applied to one arm of the upper dual-drive Mach-ehnder modulator (DD-MZM) of the DP-MZM, the reference signal is applied to the other arm of the upper DD-MZM, and the local oscillator signal is applied to the lower DD-MZM. The SI signals are canceled in the optical domain in the upper DD-MZM and the frequency downconversion is achieved after photodetection. To cancel the SI signals, the reference signal is constructed in the digital domain, while the amplitude and delay of the constructed reference are adjusted digitally by upsampling with high accuracy. Experiments are performed when two different SI signals are employed. The genetic algorithm and least-squares algorithm are combined with segmented searching respectively for the SI signal reconstruction and amplitude and delay pre-matching. A cancellation depth of around 20 dB is achieved for the 1-Gbaud 16 quadrature-amplitude modulation orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing signal.
A photonics-based leakage cancellation and echo signal de-chirping approach for frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar systems is proposed based on a dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DD-MZM), with its performance evaluated by the radar measurement and imaging. The de-chirp reference signal and the leakage cancellation reference signal are combined and applied to the upper arm of the DD-MZM, while the received signal including the leakage signal and echo signals is applied to the lower arm of the DD-MZM. When the amplitudes and delays of the leakage cancellation reference signal and the leakage signal are precisely matched and the DD-MZM is biased at the minimum transmission point, the leakage signal is canceled in the optical domain. The de-chirped signals are obtained after the leakage-free optical signal is detected in a photodetector. An experiment is performed. The cancellation depth of the de-chirped leakage signal is around 23 dB when the center frequency and bandwidth of the linearly frequency-modulated signal are 11.5 and 2 GHz. The leakage cancellation scheme is used in a radar system. When the leakage cancellation is not employed, the leakage signal will seriously affect the imaging results and distance measurement accuracy of the radar system. When the leakage cancellation is applied, the imaging results of multiple targets can be clearly distinguished, and the error of the distance measurement results is significantly reduced to 10 cm.
A digital-assisted photonic analog wideband radio-frequency multipath self-interference cancellation (SIC) and frequency downconversion method based on a dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator and the recursive least square (RLS) algorithm is proposed and demonstrated for in-band full-duplex systems. Besides the reference for the direct-path self-interference (SI) signal, the RLS algorithm is used to construct another reference for the residual SI signal from the direct path and the SI signals from the reflection paths. The proposed method can solve the performance limitation in the previously reported SIC methods of constructing the multipath SI signal using a single reference caused by the limited dynamic range of the digital-to-analog converter when the direct-path SI signal is much stronger than the sub-weak reflection-path SI signals. An experiment is performed. When the carrier frequency of the multipath SI signal is 10 GHz and the direct-path SI signal is much stronger than the sub-weak multipath SI signal, the cancellation depths of about 26.7 and 26.1 dB are realized with SI baud rates of 0.5 and 1 Gbaud. When the direct-path SI signal and sub-weak multipath SI signal own closer power, the corresponding cancellation depths are 24.7 and 20.8 dB, respectively.
A photonics-based digital and analog self-interference cancellation approach for in-band full-duplex communication systems and frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar systems is reported. One dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator is used to implement the analog self-interference cancellation by pre-adjusting the delay and amplitude of the reference signal applied to the dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator in the digital domain. The amplitude is determined via the received signal power, while the delay is searched by the cross-correlation and bisection methods. Furthermore, recursive least squared or normalized least mean square algorithms are used to suppress the residual self-interference in the digital domain. Quadrature phase-shift keying modulated signals and linearly frequency-modulated signals are used to experimentally verify the proposed method. The analog cancellation depth is around 20 dB, and the total cancellation depth is more than 36 dB for the 2-Gbaud quadrature phase-shift keying modulated signals. For the linearly frequency-modulated signals, the analog and total cancellation depths are around 19 dB and 34 dB, respectively.
A photonic approach for radio-frequency (RF) self-interference cancellation (SIC) incorporated in an in-band full-duplex radio-over-fiber system is proposed. A dual-polarization binary phase-shift keying modulator is used for dual-polarization multiplexing at the central office (CO). A local oscillator signal and an intermediate-frequency signal carrying the downlink data are single-sideband modulated on the two polarization directions of the modulator, respectively. The optical signal is then transmitted to the remote unit, where the optical signals in the two polarization directions are split into two parts. One part is detected to generate the up-converted downlink RF signal, and the other part is re-modulated by the uplink RF signal and the self-interference, which is then transmitted back to the CO for the signal down-conversion and SIC via the optical domain signal adjustment and balanced detection. The functions of SIC, frequency up-conversion, down-conversion, and fiber transmission with dispersion immunity are all incorporated in the system. An experiment is performed. Cancellation depths of more than 39 dB for the single-tone signal and more than 20 dB for the 20-MBaud 16 quadrature amplitude modulation signal are achieved in the back-to-back case. The performance of the system does not have a significant decline when a section of 4.1-km optical fiber is incorporated.
A simplified Doppler frequency shift measurement approach based on Serrodyne optical frequency translation is reported. A sawtooth wave with an appropriate amplitude is sent to one phase modulation arm of a Mach-Zehnder modulator in conjunction with the transmitted signal to implement the Serrodyne optical frequency transition, as well as the optical phase modulation of the transmitted signal on the frequency-shifted optical carrier. The echo signal is applied to the other phase modulation arm of the Mach-Zehnder modulator. The optical signals from the two arms are combined in the Mach-Zehnder modulator, whose lower optical sidebands are selected by an optical bandpass filter and then detected in a photodetector. By simply measuring the frequency of the output low-frequency signal, the value and direction of DFS can be determined simultaneously. An experiment is performed. DFS from -100 to 100 kHz is measured for microwave signals from 6 to 17 GHz with a measurement error of less than 0.03 Hz and a measurement stability of 0.015 Hz in 30 minutes when a 500-kHz sawtooth wave is used as the reference.
A photonic-assisted multiple radio frequency (RF) measurement approach based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and frequency-to-time mapping with high accuracy and high-frequency resolution is reported. A two-tone signal is single-sideband (SSB) modulated on an optical carrier via a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator to construct one SBS gain and two SBS losses for SBS gain bandwidth reduction. The unknown RF signal is also SSB modulated on a carrier that has been modulated by a sweep signal, thus the unknown RF signal is converted to a sweep optical signal along with the sweep optical carrier. The bandwidth-reduced SBS gain spectrum is detected by the sweep optical signals at different specific time, mapping the RF frequencies to the time domain. An experiment is performed. RF frequencies from 0.3 to 7.6 GHz are simultaneously measured with a root mean square error of less than 1 MHz. In addition, the frequency resolution of the measurement can be much lower than 10 MHz, which is now the best result in the RF frequency measurement methods employing the SBS effect.