Broadband Radio-Frequency Signal Synthesis by Photonic-Assisted Channelization

A channelized radio-frequency (RF) signal synthesis scheme is proposed to generate broadband RF signals with reconfigurable waveform, center frequency and instantaneous bandwidth. Based on dual optical frequency combs (OFCs) with different free spectrum ranges (FSRs), multiple narrowband signals are up-converted and synthesized into a broadband signal. Reconfigurable waveforms are generated in the simulation, including a symmetrical triangular linear frequency modulation continuous wave (STLFMCW) signal and a binary phase shift keying (BPSK) signal. In addition, to realize phase stability among channels, dual OFCs are differently modulated through polarization-multiplexing electro-optical modulators (EOMs). An RF signal synthesis experiment shows the relative phase fluctuation among channels is only 1.8°.