R EIEW A R TCLE Abstract As an emerging topic, photonic-assisted microwave measurements with distinct features such as wide frequency coverage, large instantaneous bandwidth, low frequencydependent loss, and immunity to electromagnetic interference, have been extensively studied recently. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in photonic microwave measurements, including microwave spectrum analysis, instantaneous frequency measurement, microwave channelization, Doppler frequency-shift measurement, angle-of-arrival detection, time–frequency analysis, compressive sensing, and phase-noise measurement. A photonic microwave radar, as a functional measurement system, is also reviewed. The performance of the photonic measurement solutions is evaluated and compared with the electronic solutions. Future prospects using photonic integrated circuits and software-defined architectures to further improve the measurement performance are also discussed.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/lpor.201600019

Photonics for microwave measurements

A recent renaissance in Brillouin scattering research has been driven by the increasing maturity of photonic integration platforms and nanophotonics. The result is a new breed of chip-based devices that exploit acousto-optic interactions to create lasers, amplifiers, filters, delay lines and isolators. Here, we provide a detailed overview of Brillouin scattering in integrated waveguides and resonators, covering key concepts such as the stimulation of the Brillouin process, in which the optical field itself induces acoustic vibrations, the importance of acoustic confinement, methods for calculating and measuring Brillouin gain, and the diversity of materials platforms and geometries. Our Review emphasizes emerging applications in microwave photonics, signal processing and sensing, and concludes with a perspective for future directions. Acousto-optical interactions within integrated optics platforms are reviewed with a discussion of the useful chip-based devices such as lasers, amplifiers, filters, isolators and more besides that can result.

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Brillouin integrated photonics

Spectrum analysis is a key functionality in modern radio frequency (RF) systems. In particular, fast and accurate estimation of multiple unknown RF signal frequencies over a wide measurement range is crucial in defense applications. Although photonic techniques benefit from an enhanced frequency estimation range along with reduced size and weight relative to their RF counterparts, they have been limited by a fundamental trade-off between measurement range and accuracy. Here, we circumvent this trade-off by harnessing the photon and phonon interactions in a photonic chip through stimulated Brillouin scattering, resulting in an accurate estimation of multiple RFs of up to 38 GHz with a record-low error of 1 MHz.

Wide-range, high-precision multiple microwave frequency measurement using a chip-based photonic Brillouin filter

An original and simple approach to the design of fully reconfigurable multi-band microwave bandpass filters (BPFs) with an arbitrary number of passbands is reported in this paper. It exploits the use of an innovative quasi-BPF configuration made up of different sets of controllable mono-frequency resonators to separately shape each tunable passband. Thus, high-selectivity multi-band bandpass filtering transfer functions exhibiting independent control in terms of center frequency, bandwidth, and transmission zeros can be synthesized. Furthermore, as an unprecedented frequency-agility feature of the proposed reconfigurable multi-band BPF structure when compared to the state-of-the-art, its passbands can be merged together to form broader, and for certain realizations, higher order transmission bands. This allows even more degrees of reconfiguration to be achieved in the devised circuit, which can also operate as ultra-wideband BPF with flexible in-band notches or self-equalized flat-group-delay quasi-elliptic-type BPF. The theoretical foundations of the described reconfigurable multi-band BPF scheme, along with guidelines for its design and a triple-passband filter synthesis example based on the coupled-node formalism, are expounded. In addition, as an experimental proof-of-concept, two microstrip prototypes with high- $Q$ tuning implemented through mechanically variable capacitors are manufactured and tested. They are a wideband dual-band BPF and a quadruple-band BPF with narrow-bandwidth passbands.

Reconfigurable Multi-Band Microwave Filters

Microwave technology plays a more important role in modern industrial sensing applications. Pushed by the significant progress in monolithic microwave integrated circuit technology over the past decades, complex sensing systems operating in the microwave and even millimeter-wave range are available for reasonable costs combined with exquisite performance. In the context of industrial sensing, this stimulates new approaches for metrology based on microwave technology. An old measurement principle nearly forgotten over the years has recently gained more and more attention in both academia and industry: the six-port interferometer. This paper reviews the basic concept, investigates promising applications in remote, as well as contact-based sensing and compares the system with state-of-the-art metrology. The significant advantages will be discussed just as the limitations of the six-port architecture. Particular attention will be paid to impairment effects and non-ideal behavior, as well as compensation and linearization concepts. It will be shown that in application fields, like remote distance sensing, precise alignment measurements, as well as interferometrically-evaluated mechanical strain analysis, the six-port architecture delivers extraordinary measurement results combined with high measurement data update rates for reasonable system costs. This makes the six-port architecture a promising candidate for industrial metrology.

Six-Port Based Interferometry for Precise Radar and Sensing Applications.

Quadrature phase discriminators, the core of wideband instantaneous frequency measurement (IFM) receivers and multiple base-line interferometry for accurate direction finding (DF), were invented in 1957, by S.J. Robinson of Mullard Research Laboratories (MRL). Digital instantaneous frequency measurement (DIFM) receivers have been universally used operationally for wideband monitoring of radar environments in naval, airborne and ground-based electronic support measures (ESM) systems all over the world for over 50 years. Their importance is such that many countries have developed their own IFM manufacturing capability with just minor architectural changes to the original design. This study describes the invention sequence, the development history, IFM design and performance principles, its general use and limitations in modern electronic warfare (EW) systems and ends with a projection for the future.

P.W. East

Papers

Fifty years of instantaneous frequency measurement