Abstract
The complete scheme of the first photonics-based fully digital coherent radar
system demonstrator is presented. The proposed architecture relies on a novel flexible
photonic transceiver, based on the software-defined radio paradigm, capable of
generating and receiving signals with arbitrary waveform and carrier frequency. The
system core is a single mode-locked laser, whose inherent phase and amplitude stability
allows generating high-quality carriers over an extremely broad frequency range, as well
as directly digitizing high-frequency signals with unprecedented precision. The
implementation of the field trial demonstrator is presented in detail, focusing on both
the photonic transceiver and the antenna's front-end, as well as on the employed digital
signal processing. The excellent performance is proved by the results of the in-field
experiments carried out with noncooperative targets in real scenarios. The outcomes from
the aerial and naval target detections are here presented and discussed.
© 2014 IEEE
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