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A novel wideband radio frequency measurement based on photonic signal processing
Author(s) -
Khalid Ammar,
Aljohani Abdulah J.,
Ghafoor Salman
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
microwave and optical technology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.304
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1098-2760
pISSN - 0895-2477
DOI - 10.1002/mop.32734
Subject(s) - frequency modulation , wideband , photodetection , radio frequency , intermediate frequency , center frequency , photonics , signal processing , signal (programming language) , laser linewidth , sideband , laser , frequency multiplier , frequency deviation , optical carrier transmission rates , optics , bandwidth (computing) , physics , computer science , telecommunications , radar , automatic frequency control , photodetector , band pass filter , radio over fiber , programming language , optical fiber
Photonic signal processing is a suitable alternative of electronics based processing for wideband frequency detection. We propose a novel technique for the detection of a wide range of frequencies based on photonic signal processing. The unknown frequency to be measured is used to modulate a tunable optical source by implementing single sideband suppressed carrier modulation. The modulated signal is combined with two fixed frequency optical carriers to perform heterodyne detection. The frequency of the tunable laser source is swept until significant power of the beat signal is observed after photodetection. A mathematical expression is presented that can be used to measure the frequency of the unknown electrical signal based on value of the center frequency of tunable laser source. The effect of increasing laser linewidth up to 100 MHz and instantaneous shift in laser center frequency up to 200 MHz has also been demonstrated. It has been shown that the proposed technique can measure almost any radio frequency by simply varying the frequency of the tunable laser source.