A Reconfigurable Microwave Photonic Channelized Receiver Based on Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing Using an Optical Comb

A photonic approach to implementing a microwave channelized receiver based on dense wavelength division multiplexing using an optical comb is proposed. In the approach, a flat optical comb with 11 comb lines is generated using two cascaded Mach-Zehnder modulators. Frequency analysis of a microwave signal with multiple-frequency components is realized by using the optical comb together with an optical etalon with a periodic transfer function, a wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) and a photodetector array. The system is investigated numerically. Frequency measurement of a multi-frequency signal with a measurement range from 0.5-11.5 with an accuracy of ± 0.5 GHz is achieved. The reconfigurability of the system realized by tuning the comb-line spacing and the peak positions of the etalon is also evaluated. The improvement of the dynamic range of the system using an optimized periodic filter is also discussed.