Photonic Radar Systems

Problems with electronic radar system:

• Rely on large instantaneous bandwidth

• the data storage and signal processing in multiple receivers is quite resource-
consuming and complex
Distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars represent a breakthrough in the
radar world, overcoming the traditional concept of radar as a standalone and local system.
Their main advantage stands in their multistatic configuration, which allows observing the
same scene from different viewpoints. This is of use when trying to detect complex targets
characterized by a high variability. Moreover, distributed MIMO radars permit increasing
the resolution in the orthogonal direction to the radar-target line (cross-range resolution),
and to better estimate the target velocity vector. Similarly, to multi-band radars, distributed
radars require a coherent processing of the collected data. Nowadays, electronic multistatic
radars do exist but, generally, every single radar in the multistatic system independently
operates a data pre-processing. Then, it sends through a communication link the pre-
processed data to a central processor in charge of recovering the data coherence and
implementing the data fusion. Thus, due to electronic technology issues in data coherent
processing and transmission, a certain amount of information content is inevitably lost.
Instead, a coherent elaboration of the raw data would heavily reduce the computational
complexity.
Group 1: Zhang, Gao and co.
Paper 1: Photonics-based real-time ultra-high-range-resolution radar with broadband
signal generation and processing (2017)
In this, a high-range-resolution radar based on photonic generation and processing of
broadband linear frequency modulation (LFM) signals is proposed.
At the transmitter end, broadband LFM signals are generated by photonic frequency
quadrupling of a low frequency electric signal and the received echo is de-chirped to a low
frequency signal by photonic frequency mixing. The photonics-based broadband de-chirp
processing transfers the target information from the radar echo to a low frequency signal,
which effectively reduces the required sampling rate of the digital receiver and ensures a
fast or real-time signal processing.
Problem Solved: Bandwidth limitations due to electronic signal generation. Provides ultra-
high range resolution.
Experiment Setup:

Specs: 8 GHz LFM, Sampling rate 500 MSa/s, for a target at 3.5 m an error of 4 mm is
observed.

Paper 2: Photonics-based MIMO radar with high resolution and fast detection capability
(June 2018)
Proposal: Photonic based MIMO radar in which wavelength division multiplexed microwave
photonics signal generation and processing are adopted to achieve large bandwidth and an
echo de-chirping and separation.
Transmitter array: multiple orthogonal LFM signals generated by photonic frequency
multiplication.
Receiver array: De-chirping and separation of radar echoes from different channels are
implemented by photonic frequency mixing.
Work done: 2x2 MIMO radar. 4 GHz bandwidth in each channel and a 100 MSa/s sampling
rate in the receiver.
Setup:
Paper 3: Fiber-distributed ultra-wideband radar network based on wavelength reusing
transceivers (July 2018)

A fiber-distributed UWB radar network is proposed and demonstrated based on wavelength

reusing transceivers. The transceiver applies phase modulation to intensity modulation
conversion to generate UWB pulses and performs wavelength reuse by intensity
remodulation. To identify the signals received by different transceivers, wavelength-division
multiplexing technology is implemented, and to identify the pulses emitted from different
transmitters, the carrier wavelengths of different transceivers are placed at different slopes
of the optical frequency discriminators to generate UWB pulses with different polarities and
shapes.
An experiment was carried out to locate a target in the radar detection area, showing that
the radar network has a localization accuracy of around 1 cm. The proposed radar network
may find applications in distributed radar systems.
Group 2: Paolo Ghelfi and co.
Paper 4: A fully photonics-based coherent radar system (2014)
The proposed architecture exploits a single pulsed laser for generating tunable radar signals
and receiving their echoes, avoiding radio-frequency up- and down conversion and
guaranteeing both the software-defined approach and high resolution. Its performance
exceeds state-of-the-art electronics at carrier frequencies above 2 GHz, and the detection of
non-cooperating aeroplanes confirms the effectiveness and expected precision of the
system.
Paper 5: Toward a New Generation of Radar Systems Based on Microwave Photonic
Technologies (Jan 2019)
In this paper, a detailed description of the main functionalities used for developing a
photonics-based multi-band radar is presented. The enhanced performance and innovative
capabilities of this radar system are described. In particular, the ability of synthesizing ultra-
wide bands through the use of many coherent sparse bands is treated. Moreover,
photonics-based distribution is introduced applied to the concept of coherent MIMO radar
systems, which are demonstrated to improve the accuracy in target detection.
Group 3: Xiao and co.
Paper 6: Photonics-based wideband distributed coherent aperture radar system (Dec
2018)
Motivation: Requirement of high power-aperture-gain product, high signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR) and large bandwidth for high precision. It is quite difficult for a monostatic radar to
meet with the above requirements due to the large size, high cost and poor transportability.
To overcome such this, the concept of the distributed coherent aperture radar (DCAR)
consisting of N radar units with small apertures and a central controlling system is proposed.
Full coherence is achieved with 3 consecutive modes namely,
i) MIMO mode: transmits orthogonal waveforms to estimate time delay parameter
of each radar unit
ii) Coherence-on-transmit mode: Coherent waveforms are generated and their
transmit times are controlled so that they reach the target at the same time and
superimpose coherently. This improves the echo wave power N*N times.
iii) Coherence-on-receive mode: The outputs from the previous mode are time and
phase aligned and thus full coherence is achieved.
In the present DCAR systems, electrical cables are used to connect the central controlling
system and the radar units. As such transmission media have limited bandwidth and
significant loss, generation and processing of the radar signals have to perform in each radar
unit, resulting in cost and complexity of the system.
Working: Coherent LFMs are generated by a reconfigurable multi-channel optical arbitrary
waveform generator (RMOAWG). Then the optical signals are distributed to the remote
transceivers through the optical fiber-based time synchronization network, and converted
into transmitted microwave waveforms. The echo waves from the target are also
transferred back to the central controlling system through the optical fibers for signal
processing.
Advantages: As the radar signals are generated through the photonics based methods,
bandwidths of them can be large, leading to a high detection resolution of the system.
Besides, the centralized signal generation and processing simplify the remote transmitters
and receivers, reducing the system complexity. The fiber-based distribution also ensures low
loss, good transportability, and great flexibility.
Issues: Wideband orthogonal/coherent waveforms generation, switching and time
synchronization
Two-unit DCAR system operating in X-band with a bandwidth of 3 GHz is presented. And
SNR gains of 8.3 dB and 8.33 dB are separately obtained over a single radar for these two
radar units when full coherence is realized. Theoretically, the range detection precision can
be improved to about 2.6 times that of a single radar with such SNR gain.