Electro-optical microwave signal processor for high-frequency wideband frequency channelization

William N. Dawber; Ken Webster

doi:10.1117/12.319409

25 August 1998 Electro-optical microwave signal processor for high-frequency wideband frequency channelization

William N. Dawber, Ken Webster

Proceedings Volume 3388, Advances in Optical Information Processing VIII; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.319409
Event: Aerospace/Defense Sensing and Controls, 1998, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

An electro-optic microwave signal processor for activity monitoring in an electronic warfare receiver, offering wideband operation, parallel output in real time and 100 percent probability of intercept is presented, along with results from a prototype system. Requirements on electronic warfare receiver system are demanding, because they have to defect and identify potential threats across a large frequency bandwidth and in the high pulse density expected of the battlefield environment. A technique of processing signals across a wide bandwidth is to use a channelizer in the receiver front-end, in order to produce a number of narrow band outputs that can be individually processed. In the presented signal processor, received microwave signals ar unconverted onto an optical carrier using an electro- optic modulator and then spatially separated into a series of spots. The position and intensity of the spots is determined by the received signal(s) frequency and strength. Finally a photodiode array can be used for fast parallel data readout. Thus the signal processor output is fully channelized according to frequency. A prototype signal processor has been constructed, which can process microwave frequencies from 500MHz to 8GHz. A standard telecommunications electro-optic intensity modulator with a 3dB bandwidth of approximately 2.5GHz provides frequency upconversion. Readout is achieved using either a near IR camera or a 16 element linear photodiode array.

Citation Download Citation

William N. Dawber and Ken Webster "Electro-optical microwave signal processor for high-frequency wideband frequency channelization", Proc. SPIE 3388, Advances in Optical Information Processing VIII, (25 August 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.319409

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