Microwaves Photonic Links: Components and Circuits

Preface

Two important areas of applications of microwave photonic links are electromagnetic sensors and radio-over-fiber (RoF) applications.

Electromagnetic sensor microwave systems of the future will principally use active phased-array antennas. The development will be determined by reliability requirements, resistance to interference, and total emission flexibility of the beamforming networks. This type of antenna would therefore be used in a diverse range of applications, e.g. radar, communication, and countermeasures. To satisfy this multifunctional approach, it will be necessary to distribute these antennas all over the surface area of strategic platforms (planes, drones, boats, etc), While, on the ground, the multistatic mode of operation will force multiple antennas to be deported from their processing unit.

This will require links with very low loss and noise, enabling remote-control antennas and the distribution and processing of very wide bandwidth microwave signals (typically 1-20 GHz; 40 GHz will be seen in the future).

Currently the maturity and performance, notably in terms of spectral purity and opto-electronic component linearity, are such that it is possible to consider both optical distribution and processing of these electrical signals. Thus, the optical transmission of microwaves offers as well as propagation of broad frequency bands, advantages regarding weight, volume, and flexibility characterized by a decrease in the weight of the wiring by 90% in comparison ...