Patent ID: 10735127

Abstract:
A wavelength division multiplexing (WDM)-based photonic radar architecture is disclosed. The WDM-based photonic radar incorporates a WDM photonic input of N component wavelengths modulated by an IF-LFM input signal and its 90-degree phased counterpart. The modulated WDM photonic signal is split one branch sent to a photodetector for generation of an RF outbound signal and transmission of the signal, which is reflected by a target and received as an RF echo signal after a time delay. The other branch has each component wavelength time-adjusted by a second time delay for each wavelength. The resulting time-delayed WDM photonic signal is modulated again based on the received RF echo signal and split into wavelength selective channels. Filters in each channel extract two adjacent photonic signals converted to RF output signals by photodetectors. RF filters select a single RF signal for processing based on the closest difference between the two time delays.